Loyal My Time Diner changed to late dining

[davekathy]

We always get a two top. TD or MTD. 

[Jimbo]

20 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Totally agree. 

 

Wish we could have taking you up on your offer to have diner with you and Bucky that one evening. I can only imagine the conversations the four of us would have had concerning that cruise. The Head Waiter would have had to escort the four of us out as we would have been considered homesteaders at the table or charged us for the table.  😉

Why was there a lot of issues? It would have turned into a Complainer's Table?

[Jimbo]

12 minutes ago, davekathy said:

We always get a two top. TD or MTD. 

+1

[davekathy]

1 minute ago, Jimbo said:

Why was there a lot of issues?

 

It would have turned into a Complainer's Table?

Who said anything about about a lot of issues? Never mind you assumed that. I said concerning that cruise. Lot lots of fun and good times.

 

Only if you were seated with us.   🤣

[Starry Eyes]

1 hour ago, poocher said:

On my cruise, the MTD line was very long at 6:30 also.  But that was because it opened at 6:30.  Once it did, the lines diminished very quickly and, as I’ve said, we never waited more than 10 minutes after opening to be seated. IMHO, the problem is everyone who had MTD wanted their time to be 6:30.  

In all likelihood some of those MTD in line for 6:30 probably wanted their time to be 6:00.  Or maybe 5 or 5:30, as they wanted to catch an early show. But as 5:00, 5:30, and 6:00 were not options (MTD was not open then), they lined up along with the people who wanted to eat at 6:30.  Oh, and perhaps some of the people who wanted to eat closer to 7:00 saw that long line forming, so they joined, too, wanting to be sure they’d get served at a reasonable time.           So, it seems unlikely all those passengers really wanted 6:30; that rush of passengers was created by Royal’s MTD structure.  They could structure MTD differently with different results.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

OK, you guys are making me nervous.  We currently have MTD for our Mariner cruise next month with reservations at 7p.  

 

1) Will that be time to see the evening "shows"?  

2) Looking at the app, early seating is showing 5:30p-6:30p and late seating is 8p-9p (except Dining room 3 shows 6:45p-9p)

 

I'm wondering if we should switch to early seating.  It's hard to judge what time to eat when you don't know the entertainment schedule. 😛

 

[chines03]

Does making reservations for MTD even matter or are you still stuck in the same line as everyone that walks up?

[island lady]

43 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Totally agree. 

 

Wish we could have taking you up on your offer to have diner with you and Bucky that one evening. I can only imagine the conversations the four of us would have had concerning that cruise. The Head Waiter would have had to escort the four of us out as we would have been considered homesteaders at the table or charged us for the table.  😉

 

LOL!   That table we ended up being assigned, was indeed a "four top"....we were shocked he gave us that one right next to the window, since it was just the two of us.  We did tip him well later, plus gave him a bottle of "bubbly" that he was excited about.  

 

That was the ship that we finally had it with MTD....and upon request was able to change to early dining for the rest of that cruise and the one after it.  

 

Funny thing, is that same dining host, ended up transferring over to Mariner.  Was good to see him again!  And yup, we did early dining on that ship as well.  

[davekathy]

9 minutes ago, chines03 said:

Does making reservations for MTD even matter or are you still stuck in the same line as everyone that walks up?

Use to be two different lines for MTD. One reservations and the other line for no reservations. Not sure currently. Worked great. 

Edited June 20, 2022 by davekathy

[Jimbo]

10 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

OK, you guys are making me nervous.  We currently have MTD for our Mariner cruise next month with reservations at 7p.  

 

1) Will that be time to see the evening "shows"?  

2) Looking at the app, early seating is showing 5:30p-6:30p and late seating is 8p-9p (except Dining room 3 shows 6:45p-9p)

 

I'm wondering if we should switch to early seating.  It's hard to judge what time to eat when you don't know the entertainment schedule. 😛

 

Do early seating at 530pm, guaranteed you won't miss any shows.

[island lady]

43 minutes ago, karena1 said:

Totally agree with you.  We have one MTD since it started and would never go back to traditional.  I would rather have to wait a little bit (on Explorer, I think we waited 20 minutes one night), than to be stuck at a huge table and be forced to sit through a 3 hour dinner.  With MTD, once we are seated at a 2 top (which we love) we are done and out of there in 1 to 1.5 hours max.  Works perfect for us.

 

We always ask for a 2 top....even with traditional dining.   Has been granted for each cruise since then.  Had the one four top, but no one else assigned to it but us.  

[davekathy]

2 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

LOL!   That table we ended up being assigned, was indeed a "four top"....we were shocked he gave us that one right next to the window, since it was just the two of us.  We did tip him well later, plus gave him a bottle of "bubbly" that he was excited about.  

 

That was the ship that we finally had it with MTD....and upon request was able to change to early dining for the rest of that cruise and the one after it.  

 

Funny thing, is that same dining host, ended up transferring over to Mariner.  Was good to see him again!  And yup, we did early dining on that ship as well.  

So you did get rid of the bottle of bubbly. That was funny you tried giving it to us and we were trying to get rid of ours. 🥂 We gave our second one to our cabin attendant. 

[island lady]

25 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Who said anything about about a lot of issues? Never mind you assumed that. I said concerning that cruise. Lot lots of fun and good times.

 

Only if you were seated with us.   🤣

 

Yup, the laughter and merriment would have been attracting a lot of attention.  😉  Just like it did anytime the four of us got together.  😄 

[island lady]

13 minutes ago, chines03 said:

Does making reservations for MTD even matter or are you still stuck in the same line as everyone that walks up?

 

The line on EX for those with reservations was longer than the "no reservations" line...every night.  

[island lady]

3 minutes ago, davekathy said:

So you did get rid of the bottle of bubbly. That was funny you tried giving it to us and we were trying to get rid of ours. 🥂 We gave our second one to our cabin attendant. 

 

LOL...yup, pawned that off on the dining host...... with two straws.   I had asked him the day before if he was allowed to accept it.  His partner next to him quipped "only if you bring two straws".  😄 😄 

[poocher]

I guess this just isn’t as big an issue for us.  Somehow, some way we always manage to eat.  There are no “must see” shows for us.  If we miss something, it’s fine.  

[Diver2014]

16 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

We always do MTD and would never change. We've done 4 post-restart cruises and have not had an "problems". We would never get stuck/constrained by early or late dining. Royal needs to give up on early/late dining like other cruise lines. 

NO WAY!!!!

[Luckynana]

3 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Funny thing is, used to be a waitlist for MTD....but now seems a wait list on some cruises for traditional dining.   I don't think we are alone.  😉 

Absolutely, Pat!  I remember when MTD started years ago, I was on a wait list for MTD prior to a cruise.   From then on, I made sure our TA set us up for MTD as soon as we booked a cruise.  They should've kept it that way...so many passengers for so many slots, if full, you do traditional time.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  Unfortunately, it is now broken..☹️

[karena1]

3 hours ago, island lady said:

 

We always ask for a 2 top....even with traditional dining.   Has been granted for each cruise since then.  Had the one four top, but no one else assigned to it but us.  

We have had that also, just have no desire to go back to Traditional.  We love MTD and will never switch back, service is quicker and we can get in/out without 2-3 hours of sitting there.

 

[davekathy]

2 minutes ago, karena1 said:

We have had that also, just have no desire to go back to Traditional.  We love MTD and will never switch back, service is quicker and we can get in/out without 2-3 hours of sitting there.

 

TD or MTD we have always received served at our pace. If we have plans that require quicker service, we politely let our wait staff the night before and a polite reminder the evening of.  Two top, 6:00 PM. Not sure if that has anything to do with it, but consistently our experiences. 

[karena1]

4 minutes ago, davekathy said:

TD or MTD we have always received served at our pace. If we have plans that require quicker service, we politely let our wait staff the night before and a polite reminder the evening of.  Two top, 6:00 PM. Not sure if that has anything to do with it, but consistently our experiences. 

That is the issue, we have no desire to eat at 6.  We like to go to dinner when we feel like it, not on a scheduled time. We typically go eat around 7:30ish when we travel.

[davekathy]

3 minutes ago, karena1 said:

That is the issue, we have no desire to eat at 6.  We like to go to dinner when we feel like it, not on a scheduled time. We typically go eat around 7:30ish when we travel.

That's why we switched back to TD as we have no desire to eat 7 or after. Personal choices and options are great. Hope RC never does away with the different dining options like back in the day when we use to have only early and late TD.  

[karena1]

1 minute ago, davekathy said:

That's why we switched back to TD as we have no desire to eat 7 or after. Personal choices and options are great. Hope RC never does away with the different dining options like back in the day when we use to have only early and late TD.  

Totally agree, different options for everyone.

 

[2chiefs]

21 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

We always do MTD and would never change. We've done 4 post-restart cruises and have not had an "problems". We would never get stuck/constrained by early or late dining. Royal needs to give up on early/late dining like other cruise lines. 

Just because you don't like TD, Royal should do away with it? Wow. Besides, not all other cruise lines have done away with it. You make it sound like Royal is the only one sticking with TD.

 

There are many of us that like TD so it makes sense that Royal should offer both.

[Norwich Cruiser]

22 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

We always do MTD and would never change. We've done 4 post-restart cruises and have not had an "problems". We would never get stuck/constrained by early or late dining. Royal needs to give up on early/late dining like other cruise lines. 

Really.

 

It certainly doesn’t work on “ o “ class in the Mediterranean