My Time Dining - reservation?

[anandaindonesia]

Please tell me.

We are assigned My Time Dining for our next cruise as both main and late seating is fully booked. How to reserve our dinner time day by day prior to the cruise? I guess it can be done on the web, but how?

 

Thank you for your help.

[pennielz]

In the Cruise Planner under Dinong & Beverage. RCI does not open MTD reservations unti approximately 59 days before embarkation.

[anandaindonesia]

[emoji106] Thank you, pennielz.

[KeywestK]

You also have the option of calling RCI and having the customer service rep do it for you. If you booked through a TA, I'm not sure if that will still be an option. BUT, either way you do it, I recommend that you go to the MTD desk as soon as you board the ship to verify all of your reservation times. We have had issues with this on our past 2 RCI cruises and on our Celebrity cruise. For reasons unknown to me, they decided to randomly change our reservations without bothering to inform me. I stood firm my ground and ultimately got what I wanted, but it was more than annoying. If a person makes reservations, one would think they would be honored. Apparently, RCI thinks it's merely a suggestion:( So be sure to follow up on it when you get on board.

[rucingok]

I have a couple of questions on this subject.

If we want to go to the 9pm show, what time should we make our dinner reservation for? We want to go directly form dinner to show with maybe 15-30 min in between.

We are a party of 2, will they seat us by ourselves each night or with others sometimes? We are open to both. Will we have the same wait staff?

Thanks

[Clarea]

I have a couple of questions on this subject.

If we want to go to the 9pm show, what time should we make our dinner reservation for? We want to go directly form dinner to show with maybe 15-30 min in between.

We are a party of 2, will they seat us by ourselves each night or with others sometimes? We are open to both. Will we have the same wait staff?

Thanks

I'd shoot for dinner at 7pm or so. You could go later if you like, but I like to be finished at least 30 minutes before the show. It's your choice if you sit by yourselves or with others, however unless you show up with others you want to sit with, it's more likely you will sit by yourselves. If you ask for the same wait staff, they will do their best to accomodate you.

[grannybarrister]

You also have the option of calling RCI and having the customer service rep do it for you. If you booked through a TA, I'm not sure if that will still be an option. BUT, either way you do it, I recommend that you go to the MTD desk as soon as you board the ship to verify all of your reservation times. We have had issues with this on our past 2 RCI cruises and on our Celebrity cruise. For reasons unknown to me, they decided to randomly change our reservations without bothering to inform me. I stood firm my ground and ultimately got what I wanted, but it was more than annoying. If a person makes reservations, one would think they would be honored. Apparently, RCI thinks it's merely a suggestion:( So be sure to follow up on it when you get on board.

 

Assuming no reservations are made prior to sailing, what is the best procedure once onboard?? This is my first experience with MTD.

 

Edited January 9, 2015 by grannybarrister
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[Clarea]

Assuming no reservations are made prior to sailing, what is the best procedure once onboard?? This is my first experience with MTD.

 

You can either show up whenever you like, or go to the MTD desk (entrance to dining room) after you board and try to make reservations.

[sippican]

I really enjoyed MTD when it was really "my time", you could just show up when you wanted; we didn't mind the short wait. Theoretically you can still do that if you are willing to subject yourself to the disdain of the staff.

The high pressure to have reservations really defeats the purpose IMHO. On our last cruise, we tried to change a couple of times on the actual day and were told it was not possible. We ended up going to the Windjammer, which was lovely. The next evening we'd get questioned by our servers or the host/hostess, "We missed you, what happened?"

Has anyone tried just showing up lately?

[hamrag]

I have a couple of questions on this subject.

If we want to go to the 9pm show, what time should we make our dinner reservation for? We want to go directly form dinner to show with maybe 15-30 min in between.

Thanks

The post immediately following yours is good advice i.e. 7.00pm. If you are running late you can skip dessert, and arrange with the waiter to come back for it after the show....or have a cake or dessert elsewhere on the ship.

[ddoescruise]

I really enjoyed MTD when it was really "my time", you could just show up when you wanted; we didn't mind the short wait. Theoretically you can still do that if you are willing to subject yourself to the disdain of the staff.

The high pressure to have reservations really defeats the purpose IMHO. On our last cruise, we tried to change a couple of times on the actual day and were told it was not possible. We ended up going to the Windjammer, which was lovely. The next evening we'd get questioned by our servers or the host/hostess, "We missed you, what happened?"

Has anyone tried just showing up lately?

We have MTD, and I'm debating making reservations. There's 6 of us and I know people's whims will change. We're also travelling with a baby, so his mood will determine when and where we eat, but I also don't want to end up with 9pm slot for dinner. I was hoping MTD would allow us to really do just that, but it looks like reservations are the thing to do. I'm thinking about just making reservations for the week and changing/cancelling as we go.

 

Did you feel like those time you tried to change your reservations or went somewhere else despite the reservation and received flak to be "the way it is"? Would you still make reservations just in case?

[SunshineCruiser24]

I really enjoyed MTD when it was really "my time", you could just show up when you wanted; we didn't mind the short wait. Theoretically you can still do that if you are willing to subject yourself to the disdain of the staff.

The high pressure to have reservations really defeats the purpose IMHO. On our last cruise, we tried to change a couple of times on the actual day and were told it was not possible. We ended up going to the Windjammer, which was lovely. The next evening we'd get questioned by our servers or the host/hostess, "We missed you, what happened?"

Has anyone tried just showing up lately?

 

My first experience with RCI, I thought that their MTD worked like Carnival's Anytime Dining. I just showed up when I was ready for dinner. The hostess looked like I'd slapped her when I said I didn't have a reservation. She ended up seating me at a table with people who had the early set dining time, they were mostly through their dinner when I was seated and they assumed I belonged to their table, I was just REALLY late. The waiter did a fantastic job getting food ordered and out ASAP. I felt AWFUL for making his job harder, and very awkward ordering my appetizer while people were working on dessert...

 

Especially because the people I sat with were very very kind and didn't want to leave me sitting all by myself, they decided to wait until I was done to leave.

 

Originally I booked the late dining for my next cruise, but I switched to MTD to give it a second try. I don't want to make reservations, though, because I feel like that defeats the purpose of MTD. I'd read here that my experience with just showing up is not the norm, so I'm going to give it another try. hope it works better for us.

[dcgrumpy]

My first experience with RCI, I thought that their MTD worked like Carnival's Anytime Dining. I just showed up when I was ready for dinner. The hostess looked like I'd slapped her when I said I didn't have a reservation. She ended up seating me at a table with people who had the early set dining time, they were mostly through their dinner when I was seated and they assumed I belonged to their table, I was just REALLY late. The waiter did a fantastic job getting food ordered and out ASAP. I felt AWFUL for making his job harder, and very awkward ordering my appetizer while people were working on dessert...

 

Especially because the people I sat with were very very kind and didn't want to leave me sitting all by myself, they decided to wait until I was done to leave.

 

Originally I booked the late dining for my next cruise, but I switched to MTD to give it a second try. I don't want to make reservations, though, because I feel like that defeats the purpose of MTD. I'd read here that my experience with just showing up is not the norm, so I'm going to give it another try. hope it works better for us.

 

Isn't it a separate dining room?

[Clarea]

Isn't it a separate dining room?

Sometimes MTD is an entire deck of the dining room, other times it's only a portion of a deck.

[vivi9909]

My first experience with RCI, I thought that their MTD worked like Carnival's Anytime Dining. I just showed up when I was ready for dinner. The hostess looked like I'd slapped her when I said I didn't have a reservation. She ended up seating me at a table with people who had the early set dining time, they were mostly through their dinner when I was seated and they assumed I belonged to their table, I was just REALLY late. The waiter did a fantastic job getting food ordered and out ASAP. I felt AWFUL for making his job harder, and very awkward ordering my appetizer while people were working on dessert...

 

Especially because the people I sat with were very very kind and didn't want to leave me sitting all by myself, they decided to wait until I was done to leave.

 

Originally I booked the late dining for my next cruise, but I switched to MTD to give it a second try. I don't want to make reservations, though, because I feel like that defeats the purpose of MTD. I'd read here that my experience with just showing up is not the norm, so I'm going to give it another try. hope it works better for us.

 

I also expected MTD to work like Select Dining on Celebrity: just show up when ready and possibly have to wait 5 to 10 minutes for our table to be ready.

 

Based on what I read here, does it means that Royal expect us to make a reservation for every night? Should we do that before cruise or while on board? How many days in advance?

 

We are a party of five and will sail on the Jewel.

[Clarea]

I also expected MTD to work like Select Dining on Celebrity: just show up when ready and possibly have to wait 5 to 10 minutes for our table to be ready.

 

Based on what I read here, does it means that Royal expect us to make a reservation for every night? Should we do that before cruise or while on board? How many days in advance?

 

We are a party of five and will sail on the Jewel.

You don't need a reservation. They may strongly encourage you to make a reservation, but it's up to you. Many people have reported little or no waiting time without reservations.