A risk switching to MTD once on board the Allure?

[denamo]

Anyone have any experience on the Allure with MTD being completely booked and not being able to switch once on board if desired?

[setsail]

Not a problem the first day, just pay the tips

[runner15km]

No issue.

[denamo]

Thanks! We cruised in May on the Navigator and couldn't switch once on board because MTD was totally booked.

[Russ Lomas]

We currently have a late sitting for dinner which is not good for our 6 year olds. We have always had early seating for dinner but was told that early seating was full and there was no waitlist spots available, even though our cruise was almost a year out from sailing (Allure next March).

 

I know that you get different stories each time you call back, so I tried calling a few times and got the same response. I was told that seating opens up later on when people cancel, so just keep calling back. I do not like being put on hold for an hour to simply be told, "Nope, still nothing available. Keep trying back."

 

We could switch to MTD, but I do not wish to pre-pay tips since we have tons of OBC I want to use to pay the tips. What are the chances of switching over to MTD when boarding on the first day and then having them post the tip charges to the account at that time so OBC can be used to pay for them?

[Merion_Mom]

Thanks! We cruised in May on the Navigator and couldn't switch once on board because MTD was totally booked.

 

I didn't try to do it on Allure, but I have tried and failed on other ships. :(

[The Big Booper]

We had late traditional on Allure this past December and were seated at a table for 10. The first night we were the only ones at our table for the entire meal. The second night 15 minutes in nobody else had showed up. We then flagged the head waiter down and asked to be moved to MTD. He led us to the podium at the entrance way and 5 minutes later we had been switched to MTD.

 

This is a big ship and with 18 restaurants on board it represents a far different situation then the small ships ( and for the purposes of this discussion, Freedom class is a smaller ship!)

[dancinman66]

We currently have a late sitting for dinner which is not good for our 6 year olds. We have always had early seating for dinner but was told that early seating was full and there was no waitlist spots available, even though our cruise was almost a year out from sailing (Allure next March).

 

I know that you get different stories each time you call back, so I tried calling a few times and got the same response. I was told that seating opens up later on when people cancel, so just keep calling back. I do not like being put on hold for an hour to simply be told, "Nope, still nothing available. Keep trying back."

 

We could switch to MTD, but I do not wish to pre-pay tips since we have tons of OBC I want to use to pay the tips. What are the chances of switching over to MTD when boarding on the first day and then having them post the tip charges to the account at that time so OBC can be used to pay for them?

 

 

You should be able to do that

I've done it before

Depends how obliging the maître d wishes to be mostly I've found

 

 

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[dz9yvr]

Based on several previous discussions about MTD, a lot of people have difficulties switching to MTD on board the ship. If MTD is important to you, I would suggest that you book MTD prior to your cruise and pay the gratuities. Once on-board. I would go to the Casino to retrieve the on-board credit as Casino Entertainment. The cashier will give you cash after a 5 percent fee. The 5 percent of the gratuities is not a significant amount to lock in your dining choice.

[138east]

Based on several previous discussions about MTD, a lot of people have difficulties switching to MTD on board the ship. If MTD is important to you, I would suggest that you book MTD prior to your cruise and pay the gratuities. Once on-board. I would go to the Casino to retrieve the on-board credit as Casino Entertainment. The cashier will give you cash after a 5 percent fee. The 5 percent of the gratuities is not a significant amount to lock in your dining choice.

 

I agree with this strategy, particularly if children are involved. Get the MTD set up for your family now while it can still be done. Then start calling RCL again before final payment to see if you can switch to early dining. If not, you'll just end up spending some of your funny money OBC to cash out non refundable OBC. For a 7 day cruise it will cost you $4.20/pp to do this.

 

Are you a C&A member? You can also call the C&A desk ( tel:1-800-526-9723) and ask what they can do for you. I did this recently because I was unable to get late dining and was only offered MTD for a cruise that was 16 months out! They took care of it for me.