Adventure of the Seas My Time Dining Nightmare.

[HicksRA]

18 minutes ago, yogimax said:

As of yesterday, Deck 5 was still in use.

[cruiselvr04]

We are normally traditional seating but late is getting too late for us, yet 5 is too early.  All our future cruises are MTD.  However I guarantee the DH won't wait more than 15 minutes to be seated and we'll leave for the WJ.  Waiting 30 minutes is really just not acceptable.  If you signed up for a time, and we have, you should be seated within a few minutes at most. I do not go on a cruise to stand in lines.  

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, HicksRA said:

I just took a look at the app for an upcoming Adventure cruise in October and it only lists main dining on decks 3 and 4. They’ve stopped using deck 5 altogether. 

The apps are notorious for not being up to date 

[BirdTravels]

30 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

We are normally traditional seating but late is getting too late for us, yet 5 is too early.  All our future cruises are MTD.  However I guarantee the DH won't wait more than 15 minutes to be seated and we'll leave for the WJ.  Waiting 30 minutes is really just not acceptable.  If you signed up for a time, and we have, you should be seated within a few minutes at most. I do not go on a cruise to stand in lines.  

Have you ever gone to a land-based restaurant? Just saying. 

[Cruise a holic]

We were on the Adventure end of May.  Never again.  We love Royal Oasis class ships, but the Adventure was a nightmare- not enough staff, not enough food- Crowds all over the ship.  We had fixed dining.  The wait staff was fine- food not so.  Windjammer a mess and worst food that we have ever had on Royal. One person making omletes for the crowd and they gave us a buzzer!    We are going on an Oasis Cruise in a few weeks and looking forward to a better experience.

Edited June 19, 2022 by Cruise a holic

[HelenaCruiser2012]

I thought MTD was so we could have dinner whenever we wanted to without being locked into a time?  That's how we've been looking at it, like going to any restaurant.  I saw online that we could make MTD reservations but we didn't really understand why people would do that.  We were so happy they had the MTD option this time around, it worked well for us on our last two cruises on Norwegian.  Are we wrong thinking that we can be this flexible with dinner?  Thanks.

[sjb317]

MTD  had the same problem with long lines the first 2 nights whether you had a reservation or not. The second night line reached from inside doors past elevators into art area towards Studio B.  And this was at 8pm.  No lines nights 3 & 4, dining room was not busy at all.  Maybe people had given up?🙄

 

On night 2 when the line was out into the art area,  a woman walked up to the desk and asked where the line was for the suite people, she was waved over to the long line.  She was not happy😂

 

Sherri🙂

[Biker19]

28 minutes ago, HelenaCruiser2012 said:

Are we wrong thinking that we can be this flexible with dinner?

No, just realize that the wait for a table can be much longer without a booking at high demand times.

[mandyleighflies]

18 hours ago, yogimax said:

Just off Adventure of the Seas today and totally disappointed with the MTD experience.

 

I made reservations months ago.  One the first night, we arrived on deck three to find long lines at both counters for those with and without reservations.  The "with reservations line" snaked around the dining room entrance and into the passenger corridor on Deck Three.  Thirty minutes in line to gain entry despite having made reservations.

 

I talked to the head Waiter and mentioned that we were D+ (which I really don't like to do).  He said he would talk to his manager and have the problem fixed.  Nothing happened.  O.k., on leaving, I stopped by the reservation desk and asked for the same table tomorrow.  "No problem," was told but would still have to wait on line.

 

Night Two - Again long lines snaking into the passenger corridors.  When we reached the check in desk, we asked for the same table or waiter and mentioned I had reserved that.  "Oh, we don't reserve tables, just times," was the response.  Really?  Moved to a new table and noted that our reserved time was 7:30 and we weren't seated until 8PM.  So much for "reserved times."  Also, half the tables in the area were empty.

 

Night Three - Arrived at 7:25 hoping the problem was fixed.  Nope.  Again, long lines into the passenger corridors with people opening cabin doors to find a horde of folks in the hallway.  Again, a thirty minute wait.

 

Night Four - While waiting in the hallway, our waiter from the previous two nights poked his head around the corner and beckoned us to our table.  He was checking to see if any of his guests were waiting.  This waiter should be promoted immediately.

 

I spoke with numerous people regarding this nonsense including the Food and Beverage Manager.  Apparently, the agreed upon excuse was that too many people had signed up for early dining at 5:30.  Not sure what this had to do with 7:30.

 

Bottom line is that something went terribly wrong and no one took responsibility.  Never met or saw the Hotel Director who I would assume had ultimate responsibility.

 

In essence, absolutely nothing was done.   As Mrs. Yogimax said, "If this were my first cruise on Royal, i would never be back."

 

Just writing this as a warning to those who have future reservations on Adventure of the Seas where the adventure will be standing in long lings where pre-made reservations don't mean anything!

 

THIS.

 

We were also on this sailing of Adventure OTS and we only tried to MTD ONCE. We usually eat dinner in the MD but night one we waited in line, in the passenger corridor for almost an hour and moved up twice. It was chaos. We finally gave up and had dinner at WJ. We booked specialty dining for the rest of the sailing, but even that was slow. Giovanni's took 3 hours and our main courses took 1.5 of them...we received 30% off for our wait. The staff were very nice and I know they are having issues staffing but Royal really needs to do something to address this pronto. The poor employee's were taking the brunt of the anger from passengers and they do not deserve the that. 

[broadwaybaby123]

We had a similar experience on NCL Bliss. The way Norwegian has things set up includes NOBODY having the option to sign up for Traditional Dining. We had to make reservations the day before.

 

We had my niece with us, who was then 7. One day, we went on a tour to Kennedy Space Center and opted to take the later dining time (around 8PM) as we weren't sure our tour would be back in time for early dining. We got back around 6 and she was starving. So we called the MDR and asked if we could move our reservation up. We were told no, since the dining rooms were already open, however we were advised to visit several dining rooms and WAIT IN LINE on the off-chance one of them could take us. Try telling that to a starving 7 year old! Ultimately, we went to the buffet. 

 

On the nights we were in the MDR, we had to wait NO LESS THAN 2 hours for our food because of staff shortages and the MTD people!

 

Since then, we've never gone on NCL and don't plan to. They were so disorganized it was ridiculous. We also won't be signing up for MTD.

[cruisegal40]

We have MTD on in September. Hopefully some of this will be worked out by then.  I will just be happy to be on a cruise since it will be 3 years hiatus. 

[alfaeric]

Everyone wants to eat between first and second MD seating.  This was true well before COVID.  

 

Since we eat early, we've never had an issue with MTD, since few are there at 5:30, and we can always get the same table.  As we are leaving, pretty much every table is filled, and there are lines that go on for a long time.

 

If there's a failing of MTD, it's the fact that they allow too many people to participate so they ALL show up when the tables are already full.  Other than that, what can anyone do?  There's a fixed amount of tables and space to serve people, so I honestly don't see what actions can be taken to make sure you can get sat at the same table every night when the tables are all taken.  Should they kick people out when they are finishing their first course for you?

 

When I read about issues with Coastal Kitchen and Jr Suites- it's the exact same thing- we've never had problems getting in because we eat when nobody else is.  But every suite wants to eat between 6:30 and 8 to start- which means there are no tables for JS.

 

Adding staff isn't going to add tables, it's not going to make the area larger, it's not going to make people eat faster to clear the room, etc.  It could speed things up in the kitchen- to a point, since it's also space limited.

 

You want to have peace in MTD?  Eat when other people are not, not when every single other person wants to.

[davekathy]

5 hours ago, HelenaCruiser2012 said:

I thought MTD was so we could have dinner whenever we wanted to without being locked into a time?  That's how we've been looking at it, like going to any restaurant.  I saw online that we could make MTD reservations but we didn't really understand why people would do that.  We were so happy they had the MTD option this time around, it worked well for us on our last two cruises on Norwegian.  Are we wrong thinking that we can be this flexible with dinner?  Thanks.

We did a B2B on the Explore (March) and had early (6:PM) TD. When leaving the MDR each evening the line for MTD stretched back where Studio B is. Even nwith reduced occupancy for both legs. We prefer at set time. TD or MTD. We don't care to stand in line waiting for who know how long. Don't compare your NCL dining experience with RCs current MTD. We use to do MTD all the time, but post covid, it isn't the same. Glad we switched from MTD to TD prior to our sail date. But for those who don't mind waiting, then MTD will work. 

Edited June 19, 2022 by davekathy

[yogimax]

43 minutes ago, alfaeric said:

 There's a fixed amount of tables and space to serve people, so I honestly don't see what actions can be taken to make sure you can get sat at the same table every night when the tables are all taken.  Should they kick people out when they are finishing their first course for you?

No, the tables were not "all taken."  When finally seated after 1/2 hour, 50% of the tables in our section were empty.  It's not a matter of not being able to add tables, it's a matter of effectively and efficiently managing the numbers.  Everyone should have the ability to eat at their desired time, especially considering the prices folks are paying for their cruises.

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, yogimax said:

No, the tables were not "all taken."  When finally seated after 1/2 hour, 50% of the tables in our section were empty.  It's not a matter of not being able to add tables, it's a matter of effectively and efficiently managing the numbers.  Everyone should have the ability to eat at their desired time, especially considering the prices folks are paying for their cruises.

They are short staffed and everyone should have the ability to understand that.

[alfaeric]

6 minutes ago, yogimax said:

No, the tables were not "all taken."  When finally seated after 1/2 hour, 50% of the tables in our section were empty.  It's not a matter of not being able to add tables, it's a matter of effectively and efficiently managing the numbers.  Everyone should have the ability to eat at their desired time, especially considering the prices folks are paying for their cruises.

So when 1000 people want to occupy 500 tables, they should all be able to?   Just because they want to?  At some point, there IS a limit to space and table numbers- you can't seat the entire ship at once.

 

Again, when we've left, the entire MTD area is full, so we have different experiences.  This has been happening for many years (well before the pandemic break) when eating at 5:30.  IMHO, you are seeing the massive turn over of people eating just before you do.

Edited June 19, 2022 by alfaeric

[Diver2014]

We just got off Mariner last Monday.  We had traditional dining at 5:30, which is when we normally eat dinner.   We were on deck 4, table 444 (easy to remember).  The lines for MTD would start well before we walked into the dining room to our table.  We commented on why anyone would wait that long for a table when they could have chosen traditional dining and be eating already.  Same when we were leaving the dining room, long lines of MTDer's.  There was no staff shortage that we could see, just impatient people showing up way too early and standing in lines.  To each his own but I feel sorry for the waiters that had to double take care of everyone with more coming all the time.  I guess on deck 4 where we were, we were all traditional early diners except for the few who always came in late and sat at the same tables, much to the waiters chagrin.

[vettesale]

4 hours ago, broadwaybaby123 said:

We had a similar experience on NCL Bliss. The way Norwegian has things set up includes NOBODY having the option to sign up for Traditional Dining. We had to make reservations the day before.

 

We had my niece with us, who was then 7. One day, we went on a tour to Kennedy Space Center and opted to take the later dining time (around 8PM) as we weren't sure our tour would be back in time for early dining. We got back around 6 and she was starving. So we called the MDR and asked if we could move our reservation up. We were told no, since the dining rooms were already open, however we were advised to visit several dining rooms and WAIT IN LINE on the off-chance one of them could take us. Try telling that to a starving 7 year old! Ultimately, we went to the buffet. 

 

On the nights we were in the MDR, we had to wait NO LESS THAN 2 hours for our food because of staff shortages and the MTD people!

 

Since then, we've never gone on NCL and don't plan to. They were so disorganized it was ridiculous. We also won't be signing up for MTD.

We are Royal fans and recently started doing NCL but... not to turn this thread into a Royal versus NCL dining experience, I find that NCL's freestyle system is much better organized than Royal's MTD or MDR system. We were on NCL end of April and had no issues walking up to a restaurant and being seated. And, yes, the ship was at 90% capacity. We were even able to choose port/starboard side to see the sunsets.

 

We were on the Allure at end of May and MTD was a mess! Plus you could not change to MDR since we opted for MTD. Given all the issues we experienced with Royal's MTD and from what I see here, we quickly changed to MDR on our upcoming cruise on the Explorer OTS. No way I will do MTD again until it is fixed.

[mjkacmom]

5 hours ago, broadwaybaby123 said:

We had a similar experience on NCL Bliss. The way Norwegian has things set up includes NOBODY having the option to sign up for Traditional Dining. We had to make reservations the day before.

 

We had my niece with us, who was then 7. One day, we went on a tour to Kennedy Space Center and opted to take the later dining time (around 8PM) as we weren't sure our tour would be back in time for early dining. We got back around 6 and she was starving. So we called the MDR and asked if we could move our reservation up. We were told no, since the dining rooms were already open, however we were advised to visit several dining rooms and WAIT IN LINE on the off-chance one of them could take us. Try telling that to a starving 7 year old! Ultimately, we went to the buffet. 

 

On the nights we were in the MDR, we had to wait NO LESS THAN 2 hours for our food because of staff shortages and the MTD people!

 

Since then, we've never gone on NCL and don't plan to. They were so disorganized it was ridiculous. We also won't be signing up for MTD.

NCL doesn’t have early or late seating, you can make a reservation or just show up. On all of our NCL cruises we’ve never made a reservation and never waited for a table for our family of 7 in a MDR.

[F27TW]

2 hours ago, LGW59 said:

They are short staffed and everyone should have the ability to understand that.

 

Then they shouldn't be filling their ships to the extent they are when they already know that they can't handle the load.   Stop making excuses for these cruise lines.  THEY need to be realistic about what they can actually deliver.

[LGW59]

Just now, F27TW said:

 

Then they shouldn't be filling their ships to the extent they are when they already know that they can't handle the load.   Stop making excuses for these cruise lines.  THEY need to be realistic about what they can actually deliver.

Oh I agree with you on that, but I’m just stating the obvious to folks that expect stellar service when they are not able to provide it.

[taglovestocruise]

43 minutes ago, F27TW said:

 

Then they shouldn't be filling their ships to the extent they are when they already know that they can't handle the load.   Stop making excuses for these cruise lines.  THEY need to be realistic about what they can actually deliver.

The reality is they have burned through and borrowed billions during the pandemic.  Now they are scratching out every penny they can.  We can put up with the slow service and cutbacks as long as they don't touch our daily 10 free drink vouchers. 

[Norwich Cruiser]

We’ve had exactly the same problems on our past few cruises.

 

I really think that waiting up to nearly forty five minutes on certain evenings for a reserved dining time is simply not on.

 

For our last two cruises we’ve gone back to traditional dining and have traditional booked again for our next cruises.

[coffeebean]

On 6/18/2022 at 3:09 PM, ZoeyVictoria said:

We had the same experience on a Princess ship - long lines for MTD both with and without reservations, being told that a table was reserved for us at a certain time, then the next night being told rudely that tables are never reserved in MTD.  The fix seemed to be to eat very early, as soon as the dining room opened.  
 

We used to enjoy MTD, but when the earliest time changed to 6:45 p.m., we changed all our cruises to early seating.  I am sure a lot of other people did the same and this is the result.  If they would change MTD back to earlier availability, the problem might ease.

Is there also a problem with MTD for a later time to dine, such as 8:30 PM or is it just the earlier times?

[coffeebean]

22 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

That was when ships were sailing at 50% or less. Now kids are out of school and cruising is picking up faster than they can hire crew. Add to that the effect of most MTD wanting to eat as early as possible , MTD room is pretty empty at 8:30..

 

This post just answered my concern.