Horizon Your Time Dining Questions

[Billoftt]

Yet another YTD question.  I promise, this one is different.

 

So, I finally got my wife's parents to splurge on a cruise. They are used to their beach time-share and the work involved (cooking, laundry, etc..) and I finally convinced them that once on board, the only thing you need to do is eat, sleep, and be entertained. Of course our trip for last Spring Break/Master's with Princess got cancelled and I went ahead and cancelled the October 2020 trip with MSC on account that with my diabetes and Mother-in-Law's cancer treatments, neither one of us feel too comfortable getting on a ship before a vaccine is developed. So we booked Carnival Horizon for April 2021 leaving Miami and steaming to the ABC Islands.  (The ABC's were Mommy's and Daddy's first cruise.)  They will be travelling with us (a family of six, children aged 14, 11, 8 and 1.5) in two adjoining (at the balcony) rooms with two adults and two children in each room for a total of 8 in the group.

 

For whatever reason, even though I booked this a year ahead of time I have been wait-listed for the 6:00 service in the MDR. The 8:15 service is WAY too late for the kids so I put all of us on MTD and wait-listed the 6:00 service.  Now I understand how it works and during peak times I will most certainly have to wait a bit if all of us are going to get a table. What I AM curious about is do ALL of us or at least all of the occupants of one room have to dine together at the same time? For example, will my wife and her mother (different rooms but same booking) be allowed to go together earlier at say 6:00ish while I take my two older kids separately (one of which is assigned a different room than myself and the other) later at 7:00ish while my Father-in-Law takes the 8-year-old for pizza somewhere else?

 

I'm sorry if this sounds like a ridiculous question, I just never did MTD before and don't know exactly how flexible it really is? I just don't want any surprises.

 

Also, I heard a rumor that Carnival updated the Hub App to include the MDR menus as well, any truth to that? If so, do they only show it for that day (one day at a time) or can you look ahead for the duration of the trip?

 

Thank you fellows so much.

[CarnivalCruiser875]

I know your main question is regarding Anytime Dining, however I am not familiar with this as we always do Early Dining.

 

However, I can tell you that yes, the Carnival Hub app will show you the MDR menu for the day. If you're curious about a specific day, Guest Services is always happy to provide the week's menus to peruse at the desk. Many people do this to find out when their favorite dessert will be served, or plan what night they'd like to eat at a specialty restaurant if the MDR menu is not appealing to them. Hopefully this helps some.

 

Prayers for you and your MIL as she goes through her cancer treatments!

[E@syPe@zy]

I'm having a little trouble understanding your dining preference.  It sounds like you want to try the "Your Time Dining", but for some reason have the early dining wait listed.  Choose your preference and let Carnival know your first choice.   

YTD is very flexible.  It's up to you where you eat and how many of the party go to the dining room, if any at all.  Even with a set time, it doesn't have to be the entire party.  Or your entire group may decided to eat elsewhere on a night. 

Of course with a set time, you will need to be timely if you decide to eat in the MDR on any night.  That's really about the only difference.

[PhillyFan33579]

35 minutes ago, CarnivalCruiser875 said:

However, I can tell you that yes, the Carnival Hub app will show you the MDR menu for the day. If you're curious about a specific day, Guest Services is always happy to provide the week's menus to peruse at the desk.

The Carnival Hub App has the menus for the entire cruise. It has been that way since at least 2018 when someone on their first Carnival cruise (I was Platinum at the time) told me about it. Prior to that I only thought you could see the current day’s menu. 

[Billoftt]

1 hour ago, E@syPe@zy said:

I'm having a little trouble understanding your dining preference.  It sounds like you want to try the "Your Time Dining", but for some reason have the early dining wait listed. 

As I said, my preference is to have assigned seating at 6:00 but I was wait-listed for that and either have to choose MTD or the 8:15 seating.

[dallasdan]

With your time dining, you do not have to dine with the same people in your cabin at the same time.  So, your wife could go earlier in the evening and you could go later.  It works great for our group.  We pick a time to meet and whoever shows up goes together.  If you don't show up no big deal.

[Billoftt]

36 minutes ago, dallasdan said:

With your time dining, you do not have to dine with the same people in your cabin at the same time.  So, your wife could go earlier in the evening and you could go later.  It works great for our group.  We pick a time to meet and whoever shows up goes together.  If you don't show up no big deal.

Thank you much.  I assumed as much, but I prefer to verify rather than be surprised.

[Jasalth]

The only thing is if you all WANT to eat together for 8 people there is probably going to be a significant wait for 1 large tablet or 2 together that are kind of like eating together. 

 

When my kids still sailed with us (crazy young adults didn't want to vacation with mom and dad anymore..) we never ate together. Our 22 yr old would still rather have pizza and chicken fingers every night (though he finally eats steak and non-breaded fish after 20 years!!) and our 18 yr old wanted to go to dinner every night with us so he could have 2-3 pieces of salmon and a baked potato and then jet for his friends he made. 

 

So with YTD their last 14 days at see with us, all 4 of us ate together 2 times, 3 of us about 9-10 and the rest was just DH and I. My youngest's last cruise on NCL he ate with use 2 times in the Haven... and we basically never saw him again unless we went off the ship or slept.