My Time Dining Flexibility

[Garycruz]

I have chosen My Time Dining for my upcoming August cruise on Adventure of the Seas. We are now able to schedule dinner time for each night of the cruise on the Cruise Planner. The MTD times are from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The last few cruises I have used My Time Dining instead of Traditional Dining and have found it to be preferable due to the flexibility it offers. However, to the best of my recollection we just showed up and were seated at a table. I don't remember selecting a time in advance as that would seem to defeat the primary advantage of MTD which is to not be locked into a particular time. Of course it's possible we did have the option of scheduling in advance and I just don't remember.

 

I have read concerning stories on these boards from people who had very bad experiences recently with MTD and having to wait in long lines. Obviously I want to avoid that at all costs. OTOH, I really don't want to commit to a particular time each evening either. Due to the complaints I've read, I think I will be using MTD and selecting a time for each evening thereby forgoing the advantage of flexibility. The issue I am having now as I try to decide the best time is that we like to go to the shows, so we want to make sure the dining time doesn't conflict with the show times. 

 

With all this in mind, is there a particular show schedule for early and late seating times that we can use as a guide so we can book our MTD dinner times? Do the times change or are they the same for each sailing on a particular ship? If so, is there a way to find out the show times? Or do you think we would be able to keep our preferred flexibility and just show up at the time of our choosing without much of a wait?  I don't recall having to worry about this in the past as MTD seemed to work very smoothly.

 

Thanks in advance for any help or insight.

 

 

[boogybaby]

2 minutes ago, Garycruz said:

I have chosen My Time Dining for my upcoming August cruise on Adventure of the Seas. We are now able to schedule dinner time for each night of the cruise on the Cruise Planner. The MTD times are from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The last few cruises I have used My Time Dining instead of Traditional Dining and have found it to be preferable due to the flexibility it offers. However, to the best of my recollection we just showed up and were seated at a table. I don't remember selecting a time in advance as that would seem to defeat the primary advantage of MTD which is to not be locked into a particular time. Of course it's possible we did have the option of scheduling in advance and I just don't remember.

 

I have read concerning stories on these boards from people who had very bad experiences recently with MTD and having to wait in long lines. Obviously I want to avoid that at all costs. OTOH, I really don't want to commit to a particular time each evening either. Due to the complaints I've read, I think I will be using MTD and selecting a time for each evening thereby forgoing the advantage of flexibility. The issue I am having now as I try to decide the best time is that we like to go to the shows, so we want to make sure the dining time doesn't conflict with the show times. 

 

With all this in mind, is there a particular show schedule for early and late seating times that we can use as a guide so we can book our MTD dinner times? Do the times change or are they the same for each sailing on a particular ship? If so, is there a way to find out the show times? Or do you think we would be able to keep our preferred flexibility and just show up at the time of our choosing without much of a wait?  I don't recall having to worry about this in the past as MTD seemed to work very smoothly.

 

Thanks in advance for any help or insight.

 

Hi, onJewel we were able to turn up when it suited us ans we rarely waited for a table

 

 

[Luckynana]

We've been doing MTD for years and always loved it.  We did two cruises this past year, one on Celebrity in February, and one on Royal in April, using MTD.  It may have been a little more chaotic than pre-Covid, but it wasn't that bad.  I've been reading on the CC boards of how "broken" MTD has become,  and many complaints about Adventure of the Seas MTD.  We will be on Adventure this September, and am hoping that the situation will be resolved with regard to eating at the time we have booked.🤞

Enjoy your cruise next month!😊

[Garycruz]

2 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

We've been doing MTD for years and always loved it.  We did two cruises this past year, one on Celebrity in February, and one on Royal in April, using MTD.  It may have been a little more chaotic than pre-Covid, but it wasn't that bad.  I've been reading on the CC boards of how "broken" MTD has become,  and many complaints about Adventure of the Seas MTD.  We will be on Adventure this September, and am hoping that the situation will be resolved with regard to eating at the time we have booked.🤞

Enjoy your cruise next month!😊

Yes it does seem that Adventure of the Seas is a ship where a lot of complaints are coming in regarding MTD. I'm also hoping the situation will be resolved by my cruise in August but am not so sure I want to take a chance. I'd be willing to choose a time (although prefer not to be locked into a time) but want to make sure it doesn't conflict with the shows. Maybe there is a way to find out the showtimes in advance? I was glad to see the 6:00 PM timeslot listed as I've read that sometimes the earliest time slot is 7:00 PM so maybe that means there will be less of a chance of long lines?

 

Have a great cruise in September!

[Luckynana]

@GarycruzThank you!  I actually booked 7:00 on a daily basis.  We'll see!  Good luck to you also!😉

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

41 minutes ago, Garycruz said:

Maybe there is a way to find out the showtimes in advance?

This is not a guarantee, but one thing you can try... Install (if you haven't already) the app on your phone.  

Click the person icon at the top.  It should take you to your profile.

Under the cruise you're scheduled for, click "Select a different sailing"

Toward the bottom of the page click "Get more details on ships we support"

Select the Ship you are sailing

Click the date for a sailing with your identical itinerary (might need to go online to find that out).

Click "Daily Planner"

You can now scroll through each day (filter for just entertainment if you'd like) to find out the schedule.

 

That will give you an idea.  There's no guarantee things won't change, but I would think the main production shows would stay similar.

 

Yes, it's a very clunky way of doing it. 

 

[Garycruz]

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

This is not a guarantee, but one thing you can try... Install (if you haven't already) the app on your phone.  

Click the person icon at the top.  It should take you to your profile.

Under the cruise you're scheduled for, click "Select a different sailing"

Toward the bottom of the page click "Get more details on ships we support"

Select the Ship you are sailing

Click the date for a sailing with your identical itinerary (might need to go online to find that out).

Click "Daily Planner"

You can now scroll through each day (filter for just entertainment if you'd like) to find out the schedule.

 

That will give you an idea.  There's no guarantee things won't change, but I would think the main production shows would stay similar.

 

Yes, it's a very clunky way of doing it. 

 

 

This was a great idea. Apparently my sailing is the last 9 day cruise with the Caribbean itinerary on AOS. There are some 9 day cruises going to Canada on the same ship so I assume that should also have the same show schedule? Right now the Daily Planner shows that it's too far out but to come back when the date is closer to the sailing. I will do that and hopefully will be able to schedule MTD based on the showtimes if the times are still available. 

 

Thank you. Much appreciated.

[LeeW]

Showing up without reservations when the dining room opens seldom works.  For the most part the dining room is used before that for fixed seating and even guests with reservations may have to wait for a table.  Just like on land, there may be a long wait if the dining room is full.

 

On Symphony this spring they were taking people from that line to the other dining rooms if they didn't want to wait but took a few days to get this organized.  Waits were an hour or more.