My Time Dining Questions

[Baggies58]

Hi All, thank you all for your help so far.

 

We are on our first cruise in August on Serenade Of The Seas and on My Time Dining. Just a few questions.

 

The earliest we are allowed to book is from 6.30pm. so just to have reservations, I have booked all nights for 7pm which I know can be changed.

 

Is there a reason I could not book earlier  (assuming the MDR opens earlier) ?

What impact will this time have on shows ?

If I have a reservation and there is a queue when we arrive, do we by pass that queue as we have a reservation ?

I have read in some posts that there may be a separate queue for those with The Key which we have, is that correct ?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Clarea]

Royal has not publicly shared the reason for not allowing earlier MTD reservations.

 

There is normally a line for those without reservations and a line for those with reservations.

 

 

[Ourusualbeach]

I know that on Oasis class ships they have started with the earliest MTD being 6:30 because they use all 3 dining rooms for traditional early seating.  Perhaps they are doing this on Serenade as well. 

[Baggies58]

Thank you.

 

Is 7pm for dining a bad time then in relation to show times. Are there different show times and what is the normal times ??.

[Clarea]

26 minutes ago, Baggies58 said:

Thank you.

 

Is 7pm for dining a bad time then in relation to show times. Are there different show times and what is the normal times ??.

 

The shows are normally timed to be convenient for the two traditional (fixed) dining times. 

[CH5220]

We ran into the same problem for our Oasis cruise in March. Most of the MTD reservations we got were for around 7pm, which was fine for the nights we booked shows at 9:45 or 10. But a couple of the nights the show reservations we got were for 8:15 and 8:30. I just figured on those two nights we'd either just get a bunch of apps at dinner then rush over to the show, or try to get an earlier reservation at Solarium Bistro or a specialty restaurant those nights.

[davekathy]

I'd like to see RC do the same as Celebrity does for their Select Dining.  As soon as your cruise is booked you can go to your CP and make reservations for SD times. Once the option opens on RC in our CP I've been able to get 6:PM reservations for MTD. 

Edited January 9, 2020 by davekathy

[Baggies58]

Thank You All for your very helpful replies.

 

Just another question if I may, I know I can change the times on our Trip Planner but as stated the earliest is 6.30pm. Is it possible when we board on the first day or even after it, to go to the Head Waiter on any of the days if we want an earlier time like 5.30pm as we are on MTD or is that a No No.

 

Thanks in advance

[cb at sea]

Just go to the dining room on boarding day, around 2pm, and you can make new requests.  They WANT you to get what you want!

 

[Baggies58]

5 minutes ago, cb at sea said:

Just go to the dining room on boarding day, around 2pm, and you can make new requests.  They WANT you to get what you want!

 

Thanks CB at Sea.  As it is our first cruise, we have the Key so we get lunch on boarding. As far as I know, that is from the Chops Grill menu but in the MDR. Would that be a good time to ask and actually see the tables up on level 2 which have more space ?

 

Thanks

[Ourusualbeach]

29 minutes ago, Baggies58 said:

Thank You All for your very helpful replies.

 

Just another question if I may, I know I can change the times on our Trip Planner but as stated the earliest is 6.30pm. Is it possible when we board on the first day or even after it, to go to the Head Waiter on any of the days if we want an earlier time like 5.30pm as we are on MTD or is that a No No.

 

Thanks in advance

I doubt it if you just want earlier dining for a couple of days.  They are using both dining rooms for fixed early seating which is why they are not starting MTD until 6:30. 

 

If you want early dining for every day then it is definitely possible. 

Edited January 10, 2020 by Ourusualbeach

[Clarea]

2 hours ago, cb at sea said:

Just go to the dining room on boarding day, around 2pm, and you can make new requests.  They WANT you to get what you want!

 

 

I would go to the dining room as early as possible and not wait until 2pm.

[Hackpba]

You did the right thing to make reservations even though it is my time dining.  Recently on the Ovation of the seas we just went when we wanted and went through the “I have reservations line”. They were happy to accommodate us every night.