Dining??

[CruisingLover]

Hi

 

Ok, so we've been on several RCCL cruises and when we sailed, we had a choice of booking our dinner time at 6 or 8:30pm. We LOVED that because we had the same table, same waiter/waitress, same drink person. Our servers got to know us and our likes etc. A couple of years ago we sailed on a different cruise line to Alaska (it was for my hubby and his bros and father going to Alaska, which was the last state they needed to visit before completing all 50 states). Anyway.........they had something called freestyle dining. We HATED it!! There were 19 of us and we were never able to sit together, which is understandable but we rarely even sat NEXT to each other. Servers never knew us or our wants and so on. So, now I am hearing of something called My Time Dining on RCCL lines. Is this the same type of dining that we do not like? Never same table, servers etc? I've also seen something called Dynamic Dining.....what is that?

 

So, to sum it up, what kind of dining does RCCL (specifically Oasis) offer for dinners?

 

Thanks!

Tracy

[Clarea]

Hi

 

Ok, so we've been on several RCCL cruises and when we sailed, we had a choice of booking our dinner time at 6 or 8:30pm. We LOVED that because we had the same table, same waiter/waitress, same drink person. Our servers got to know us and our likes etc. A couple of years ago we sailed on a different cruise line to Alaska (it was for my hubby and his bros and father going to Alaska, which was the last state they needed to visit before completing all 50 states). Anyway.........they had something called freestyle dining. We HATED it!! There were 19 of us and we were never able to sit together, which is understandable but we rarely even sat NEXT to each other. Servers never knew us or our wants and so on. So, now I am hearing of something called My Time Dining on RCCL lines. Is this the same type of dining that we do not like? Never same table, servers etc? I've also seen something called Dynamic Dining.....what is that?

 

So, to sum it up, what kind of dining does RCCL (specifically Oasis) offer for dinners?

 

Thanks!

Tracy

Currently Oasis has both traditional (two fixed dining times, same table) and My Time.

[cb at sea]

MTD is where you go to the MDR at the time of your choice. You are seated with your own party..so that means large groups will really need to reserve a time, so they can get a large table ready for you.

 

DD is similar, except you go to different restaurants, rather than getting a different dining room menu nightly. Each restaurant will have the same menu every day...sort of like making a choice between Chili's and Asian Cafe....if you want American food, you'll go to the American restaurant...if you want "healthy" food, you'll go to the "healthy" restaurant, etc....

 

Right now, DD has been put on hold....so your choice is traditional seating (that you like) or MTD....

[CruisingLover]

Right now they have us waitlisted for traditional at 8:30. He said he's doing that in case they do away with MTD. Wondering if I should call RCCL and find out what's up.......

[Clarea]

Right now they have us waitlisted for traditional at 8:30. He said he's doing that in case they do away with MTD. Wondering if I should call RCCL and find out what's up.......

If they do away with MTD, they will also do away with traditional dining. You can call Royal if you like, but I suspect that the folks who answer the phones don't know any more than we do at this point.

[CruisingLover]

Sorry, I meant do away with Dynamic Dining.

 

I spoke with RCCL just now and she said they probably will not have DD on Oasis by the time we sail (January 2016). For DD, they have to revamp the main dining rooms into a few different "restaurants" to give options for DD and she doesn't see that happening. She said they should know that by March of this year.

 

I am waitlisted for 8:30 traditional dining but that's because they didn't have any availability......what the heck? The sailing is a YEAR away and they are already all booked for 8:30 dining??

[akcruz]

Sorry, I meant do away with Dynamic Dining.

 

I spoke with RCCL just now and she said they probably will not have DD on Oasis by the time we sail (January 2016). For DD, they have to revamp the main dining rooms into a few different "restaurants" to give options for DD and she doesn't see that happening. She said they should know that by March of this year.

 

I am waitlisted for 8:30 traditional dining but that's because they didn't have any availability......what the heck? The sailing is a YEAR away and they are already all booked for 8:30 dining??

 

I have found that they open up pockets of availability for dining as the time goes on. Have heard varying reasons for why they do this, but not really sure. As long as you are on the waitlist I would say you will be fine. Keep checking your reservation periodically and I am betting you will be in 8:30 traditional before you know it.

[Clarea]

Sorry, I meant do away with Dynamic Dining.

 

I spoke with RCCL just now and she said they probably will not have DD on Oasis by the time we sail (January 2016). For DD, they have to revamp the main dining rooms into a few different "restaurants" to give options for DD and she doesn't see that happening. She said they should know that by March of this year.

 

I am waitlisted for 8:30 traditional dining but that's because they didn't have any availability......what the heck? The sailing is a YEAR away and they are already all booked for 8:30 dining??

I think they already did the re-vamping of the main dining room into three restaurants during the dry dock. However, each restaurant is currently serving the same MDR food now.

 

Regarding not being able to get an MDR time a year in advance, it's been happening for a while now on many ships. I don't know what's up with that, but it's not unique to Oasis.