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Flexible eating times?


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1 minute ago, AF-1 said:

retiredgram;  thanks for the answer.  I guess I won't worry about making reservations until next year.  My cruise is way off anyways.  

Sooner the better especially if you prefer eating before 7:00 PM. 

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Just now, davekathy said:

Sooner the better especially if you prefer eating before 7:00 PM. 

No worries;   I will make them sometime;  if the slots are not available for my choice I will just eat in Windjammer or somewhere else on the ship.  Happy Easter

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49 minutes ago, AF-1 said:

davekathy;  thank you so much for the explanation.  Two more quick questions.  You can make MTD reservations in your cruise planner;  is that correct?  Also I was browsing the Royal website and was looking at suite benefits;  one says priority dining reservations.  Does that mean someone makes your dinner reservation every night if you want them to?  And who would do that?  Thanks and Happy Easter

Is you are staying in a GS or above the concierge will contact you about a week before sailing.  You can request them to make dinner reservations for you then or they can do it once you are on board

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6 hours ago, Sunshine7777 said:

When we booked, we were asked if we wanted specific meal times or flexible. We chose to be flexible. I understand this means we won’t have an assigned table etc each time, but do we just turn up at a time that suits us and hope there’s a table? Or do we have to book each evening? Does this apply to both MDR and speciality? Or is there more flexibility with speciality restaurants? 
 

Thank you 🙂 

It does sound confusing, saying you can eat at anytime you wish, but people make reservations for a specific time. 

We have always done MTD, or whatever they call it on other cruise lines. You eat when you feel like eating and no need to rush back from days in ports or excursions just to be able to eat dinner at your time. 

That said, if you prefer a dining time of say 6:30 you can make a reservation on line for it. It doesn't cost anything and if you decide that night , you prefer to eat at a different time, just go when you wish. You are NOT locked into any specific time, but by making a reservation at a popular time, you can usually just walk in as they are holding a reservation for you, opposed to others who may have to wait. Also, the MTD is done on a different level than the regular dining options, usually upstairs. 

 

 

Cheers

Len

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29 minutes ago, Giantfan13 said:

It does sound confusing, saying you can eat at anytime you wish, but people make reservations for a specific time. 

We have always done MTD, or whatever they call it on other cruise lines. You eat when you feel like eating and no need to rush back from days in ports or excursions just to be able to eat dinner at your time. 

That said, if you prefer a dining time of say 6:30 you can make a reservation on line for it. It doesn't cost anything and if you decide that night , you prefer to eat at a different time, just go when you wish. You are NOT locked into any specific time, but by making a reservation at a popular time, you can usually just walk in as they are holding a reservation for you, opposed to others who may have to wait. Also, the MTD is done on a different level than the regular dining options, usually upstairs. 

 

 

Cheers

Len

Usually just make MTD reservations for formal nights. Now earliest you can reserve MTD is 6:30. There are two lines going into dining room one for reservations & the other no reservations. 

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18 hours ago, molly361 said:

Is you are staying in a GS or above the concierge will contact you about a week before sailing.  You can request them to make dinner reservations for you then or they can do it once you are on board

Thank you for this info.  Appreciate it

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17 hours ago, LorraineP said:

Usually just make MTD reservations for formal nights. Now earliest you can reserve MTD is 6:30. There are two lines going into dining room one for reservations & the other no reservations. 

For you specific cruise and that might be due to the earlier time slots are all reserved. 

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22 hours ago, davekathy said:

MTD will be in the MDR, but on a different floor. If you don't have reservations for a specific time no biggie. There will be two lines for MTD. One line for those with reservations and one line for those without reservations. You can request a table size at the time you arrive to eat.  

 

Actually a 3rd line for suites and Pins😉

 

No need to wait in line with everyone else.🤣🤣

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48 minutes ago, LorraineP said:

Never saw that line. 

 

Definitely on the Oasis class ships 

 

Podium behind one on right

 

Other ships you just walk up to the podium and they seat you.  Nice perk

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5 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Definitely on the Oasis class ships 

 

Podium behind one on right

 

Other ships you just walk up to the podium and they seat you.  Nice perk

Guess I never needed to use so didn’t take notice. 

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11 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

Other ships you just walk up to the podium and they seat you.  Nice perk

We are able to do this also with MTD reservations. We make a consistent 6:30pm time through the whole week and the dining room manager tells us to just come straight to the podium and they will seat us. Kind of nice to bypass the line.

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FWIW

We still like traditional dining and always choose late dining.We book and enjoy a large table and getting to know the friends we eat with every night. Lately, we've noticed less Americans at traditional dining vs Europeans. Not sure if this is an accurate observation but my take is that more Europeans enjoy the traditional dining.

 

 

 

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29 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Definitely on the Oasis class ships 

 

Podium behind one on right

 

Other ships you just walk up to the podium and they seat you.  Nice perk

 

Anthem also has a separate line for suites.  You just walk to a host at the front and you are usually sent to the second podium on either the right or the left, whichever is available.  

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9 minutes ago, 2chiefs said:

FWIW

We still like traditional dining and always choose late dining.We book and enjoy a large table and getting to know the friends we eat with every night. Lately, we've noticed less Americans at traditional dining vs Europeans. Not sure if this is an accurate observation but my take is that more Europeans enjoy the traditional dining.

 

Was always a big fan of traditional dinner.

 

But after multiple times eating practically alone at an 8 top, We gave up on it

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41 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Was always a big fan of traditional dinner.

 

But after multiple times eating practically alone at an 8 top, We gave up on it

Yeah, that's happened to us several times as well. When we've tried to switch tables, they would balk at switching us. We were going to give up on it but we kept it up figuring if no one showed up, we'd simply walk up to MTD.

 

Lately though, we haven't had that problem. I'm wondering if it's because more of those people that would normally not show up have actually booked MTD instead?

 

Also, to your point, a lot of people like to spend extra for the specialty dining, so that affects it too. That being the case, even with an 8-top, some nights are 4 or 6 due to people taking nights off for specialty dining.

 

Also, for lunches, we always ask for a large table so we can meet other people. It's fun and it's a different group everyday.

 

A little story: We recently attended a Bluegrass Festival at Jekyll Island, GA. We waited in a long line to get into a restaurant one evening and when we finally got seated, they put us at a table for four. Since the line was so long, in the spirit of cruising, we told the waitress that if there was another couple in line that didn't mind sitting with us, they would be welcome. They sat a very thankful couple with us and we quickly became friends...

 

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Thanks everyone for all the great info for MTD.  I have a cruise for August 2022;  having not sailed with Royal since  2011;  all this is new to me.  Appreciate your comments.  Cheers

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4 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Actually a 3rd line for suites and Pins😉

 

No need to wait in line with everyone else.🤣🤣

We've never cruised on any ships larger than the Freedom class. I'll have to take your word on that one. Show off! 😛

Edited by davekathy
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2 hours ago, 2chiefs said:

FWIW

We still like traditional dining and always choose late dining.We book and enjoy a large table and getting to know the friends we eat with every night. Lately, we've noticed less Americans at traditional dining vs Europeans. Not sure if this is an accurate observation but my take is that more Europeans enjoy the traditional dining.

Right with you. Always get a large table late seating and usually are one of the last tables to leave. We do feel a little guilty as we tend to do more and more specialty, we always let our server and table mates know if we will miss the next night..  Last cruise on Symphony we had 11 nights specialty and a few nights at windjammer or the Bistro. happy cruising

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5 hours ago, 2chiefs said:

FWIW

We still like traditional dining and always choose late dining.We book and enjoy a large table and getting to know the friends we eat with every night. Lately, we've noticed less Americans at traditional dining vs Europeans. Not sure if this is an accurate observation but my take is that more Europeans enjoy the traditional dining.

 

 

 

We loved the big tables for traditional dinning and usually have really interesting table mates but it is a bit luck of the draw, we've had some not so good too 

 

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On 4/4/2021 at 9:52 AM, Sunshine7777 said:

When we booked, we were asked if we wanted specific meal times or flexible. We chose to be flexible. I understand this means we won’t have an assigned table etc each time, but do we just turn up at a time that suits us and hope there’s a table? Or do we have to book each evening? Does this apply to both MDR and speciality? Or is there more flexibility with speciality restaurants? 
 

Thank you 🙂 

We rarely make reservations and normally never wait more than 5-10 minutes to get seated.  This is for MTD only.  Specialty restaurants require reservations.  We love the flexibility of MTD.  We want to get eat when we feel like it, that is the whole point.  We normally have a table for 2, but you can sit with others if you want. 

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20 minutes ago, Hogbay said:

Traditional for us , no line-up , table ready same server's .Those twin tables are too close for me .Always have a chuckle at the big line up at MTD 🤣

so does MTD usually have long lines to get in?

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