What's going on with the later MyTime Dining start time?

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, poocher said:

It has been widely reported here for quite some time.  I’m sorry you didn’t see it.  

Haven't paid much attention to anything RCL - related the past 4 months or so cause we had alot of details and preparation to work out for our May cruise with Viking, and then even more to do for another upcoming winter cruise with Viking. Some of these RCL and X cruises we have booked are carryovers from covid-related cancellations. Can't wait till we're done with them and no longer have to worry about using FCC. Rebookings of rebookings - something we're all pretty familiar with. So, yeah, I admittedly have not kept up with whatever's going on with RCL since our March cruise with them. Didn't feel the need to being that on the Enchantment it was the same as always - booked MTD times around 5:15 or so - no problems. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by OnTheJourney

[rg123]

I am in agreement that MTD starts too late now and TD is too early. (I am feeling somewhat like Goldilocks.)We used to love MTD and enjoyed eating 5:45 to 6:15. We always got in at our chosen time, received great service and were always ready to start activities by 7 in the evening. But with MTD not starting until 6:45 in some cases, the early show is definitely out. TD at 5:15 is too early, but not much choice 

[OnTheJourney]

Just now, rg123 said:

But with MTD not starting until 6:45 in some cases, the early show is definitely out. TD at 5:15 is too early, but not much choice 

I don't like it....just...too much hassle. I'm surely NOT going to stand in a long line to wait to eat. I'll trot over to the buffet before I do that. 

[L454S]

We got to see this first hand on our Jewel sailings last month.

 

MTD is much later because they are using the same dining room as early fixed seating(deck4), and trying to avoid using the deck 5 dining room. You have to wait till fixed early dining is done before MTD starts.

 

Yes it sucks, and hope this does not last much longer.

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

1 hour ago, taglovestocruise said:

Demand for traditional is increasing. They have replaced early MTD with additional space for early traditional.  We had late dinning on Independence and looking down to the lower deck it was 90% empty for MTD.

OK, so you change how much of the floors you have blocked out for traditional vs MTD.   More people wanting TD doesn't explain why MTD needs to start late.  Lack of crew on the other hand might.  BUT, if you allow MTD to start at 5:30 (along with TD), couldn't some of the TD serving crew also take care of MTD pax?  

 

If you don't have enough crew to service the customers on board, then limit how many customers are on board.  

[OnTheJourney]

25 minutes ago, L454S said:

Yes it sucks, and hope this does not last much longer.

Well, not only sucks, I won't do it. I'll go to early seating before allowing this MTD thing to become a PITA. 

[OnTheJourney]

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

If you don't have enough crew to service the customers on board, then limit how many customers are on board.  

Ahh but that = a lesser ($) bottom line. The game has become one of...where can we cut corners and still provide a satisfactory product. That said, the dining / wait staff, as we all know, is VERY concerned about getting high marks on surveys. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by OnTheJourney

[Wolf 8]

3 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

We're scheduled on the Adventure in the near future, and I just noticed today that MTD - as we're typically assigned to beCAUSE of being able to eat early - is now listed as not starting till 6:30 - an hour later than the early MDR seating. I'm not happy. 6:30 is way too late for us especially since we like to catch the earlier show time. I'm thinking we should have our TA change us to the early seating so as to get in by 5:00 - 5:30. Not sure I can do this myself on the website.  If we do the MDR though and can't reserve a table for two, we'll probably scratch the MDR completely and just do the buffet, and then might strongly consider not cruising with RCL in the future. 

 

An answer to your dilemma would be revising your booking to Star class.  It includes complete specialty dining and a concierge to arrange both satisfactory mealtimes and a table 4 2.

[Ourusualbeach]

3 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

I'm thinking that there are probably more times available than they have listed...will research it further. Thanks for replies! 

Unfortunately there are not.

 

There has been such a high demand for eatly seating that they are using all 3 dining rooms for early seating and then as these diners on deck 3 leave that dining room changes to MTD and the other 2 dining rooms are for late seating.  This means that MTD starts at 6;30 at the earliest and in some cases people end up being closer to 7:00 before they can get seated for MTD. 

[reallyitsmema]

2 minutes ago, Wolf 8 said:

 

An answer to your dilemma would be revising your booking to Star class.  It includes complete specialty dining and a concierge to arrange both satisfactory mealtimes and a table 4 2.

 

Adventure doesn't have Royal Suite Class.

[OnTheJourney]

10 minutes ago, Wolf 8 said:

Star class.

Never heard of this....

 

8 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

This means that MTD starts at 6;30 at the earliest and in some cases people end up being closer to 7:00 before they can get seated for MTD. 

That's crap. I see that on Day 1 the earliest available is 7:30. That's also crap. Sounds like it'll either be the early seating WITH  table for two or else the buffet - and probably little cruising with RCL in the future unless things change. I will neither wait in a long line nor settle for a later time - even 6:30. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by OnTheJourney

[Ourusualbeach]

2 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Never heard of this....

 

That's crap. I see that on Day 1 the earliest available is 7:30. That's also crap. Sounds like it'll either be the early seating WITH  table for two. If not, we hit the buffet I suppose. 

You are seeing 7;30 because thr earlier slots(and they aren't that much earlier) have been booked.

 

Unfortunately the option for MTD and getting a reservation before 6:30 / 7:00 no longer exists.

[poocher]

1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

Haven't paid much attention to anything RCL - related the past 4 months or so cause we had alot of details and preparation to work out for our May cruise with Viking, and then even more to do for another upcoming winter cruise with Viking. Some of these RCL and X cruises we have booked are carryovers from covid-related cancellations. Can't wait till we're done with them and no longer have to worry about using FCC. Rebookings of rebookings - something we're all pretty familiar with. So, yeah, I admittedly have not kept up with whatever's going on with RCL since our March cruise with them. Didn't feel the need to being that on the Enchantment it was the same as always - booked MTD times around 5:15 or so - no problems. 

That time was not available on Harmony in March.  6:30 was the earliest you could book.

[OnTheJourney]

2 minutes ago, poocher said:

6:30 was the earliest you could book.

Most interesting for sure. As I've said, we had zero issues on the Enchantment. Booked 5:30 and then they told us to come earlier. Worked for us. 

[OnTheJourney]

11 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You are seeing 7;30 because thr earlier slots(and they aren't that much earlier) have been booked.

Of course...I realize that. I understand the issue, but don't like it. There are options other than Royal Caribbean. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by OnTheJourney

[Wolf 8]

16 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

Adventure doesn't have Royal Suite Class.

You are indeed correct that RCL Adventure has no Royal Suite Class.  It does however have suite categories of sufficient expense to ameliorate the needs of those who book passage in steerage then yip because they failed to read the details of when they'll take their meals.  My bad.

[OnTheJourney]

3 minutes ago, Wolf 8 said:

It does however have suite categories of sufficient expense to ameliorate the needs of those who book passage in steerage then yip because they failed to read the details of when they'll take their meals. 

Well, if it makes any difference, we always book a GS...so maybe whichever concierge we have can pull some strings. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by OnTheJourney

[poocher]

31 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Of course...I realize that. I understand the issue, but don't like it. There are options other than Royal Caribbean. 

But now that you are aware of the issue, you can choose early TD in the future.

[Starry Eyes]

Now that you understand the issue, if you tend to dine early, just try to swap to early dining and then request a table for two.  
 

This new system started on some ships before the pandemic…before the visa issues/staff shortages.  I don’t like it, but I do not think it is automatically going away when staffing improves.

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, poocher said:

you can choose early TD in the future.

I think that's the best option. I don't want to obsess over this. I'll have our TA change us to early seating (for two) and done. Have alot more important things to be concerned with. 

[Russ Lomas]

Just off the Explorer this past weekend, and we had MTD booked for 6:45 (the earliest they would let us book MTD) each evening.  We asked about this and below is what we were told.

 

They said that early seating dining has become much more popular lately and therefore the level that used to be reserved for MTD now had an early seating (I think the reason early seating is becoming much more popular is that RCCL will not let you book "MTD" prior to 7 pm, which is too late for many with families).

 

We were told that we likely would not be seated even at our 6:45 reservation and likely would have to wait until 7:15 each evening because someone was sitting in the seats we had (we always ask for the same time each evening with the same waiters) because waiters now serve early fixed, then a MTD, then a late seating at the same table.  We were not permitted to sit for dinner until the early seating guests finished their coffees, and they reset the tables for us, often not until half an hour after our reservations we set for (or later if the early seating guests start their dinner late).

 

MTD is really now just a 2nd fixed dinner time when you may come to the MDR between 6:45 and 8 pm, but if your preferred time is prior to 6:45 (or later in our case last week), then you are out of luck.

 

Someone else asked if you are booking MTD at 6 pm, why not just book early seating?  Two reasons for me - 1 - I do stand up Flowriding and the flowrider session on some ships (like the Explorer or Odyssey is often 5-6 pm and is bodyboard only for most of the day). 2- We stay in some ports late and wish for a later dinner on those days (for example, RCCL cancelled our full day in Curaçao last week, and we did not arrive until 1 pm and all aboard was 7:30 pm.  We did not want to have to be back on the ship after a couple of hours to make a 5 pm early dinner seating.

[RobInMN]

@Russ Lomas posted while I was typing this. I think we're thinking the same way, but I'll leave my post as-is. It's somewhat redundant.

 

What I think happened with MTD was that too many people were trying to get in from 6:00-7:00 and they could only get 1 seating.

So now, as others have explained, they get the early TD seated, and then start back-filling with MTD as the early diners start leaving. And yes, we started seeing this on ships pre-pandemic also.

I think it's basically a feedback loop. Limit MTD, increase Early TD, which causes MTD to be pushed back, which causes more demand on early TD, etc. 

I also think that there is such an increase in demand for the early seating because if you want 6:00-6:30, and you can't book a MTD until 6:45-7:30, your best option is to book early TD. That's what we ended up doing.

5:30 is a little early for us, but we also do not want to start dinner at 7:30 or after. No thank you.

 

I will say that on a couple cruises at limited capacity during the pandemic, we really had zero problems walking up at 6:00 and getting seated almost right away, but come 6:30, the wait list line was pretty long. This was when the first reservation times were about 6:45.  At full capacity, I don't know if that would really work

 

IMO, they have just really screwed up MTD.

[Russ Lomas]

4 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

@Russ Lomas posted while I was typing this. I think we're thinking the same way, but I'll leave my post as-is. It's somewhat redundant.

 

What I think happened with MTD was that too many people were trying to get in from 6:00-7:00 and they could only get 1 seating.

So now, as others have explained, they get the early TD seated, and then start back-filling with MTD as the early diners start leaving. And yes, we started seeing this on ships pre-pandemic also.

I think it's basically a feedback loop. Limit MTD, increase Early TD, which causes MTD to be pushed back, which causes more demand on early TD, etc. 

I also think that there is such an increase in demand for the early seating because if you want 6:00-6:30, and you can't book a MTD until 6:45-7:30, your best option is to book early TD. That's what we ended up doing.

5:30 is a little early for us, but we also do not want to start dinner at 7:30 or after. No thank you.

 

I will say that on a couple cruises at limited capacity during the pandemic, we really had zero problems walking up at 6:00 and getting seated almost right away, but come 6:30, the wait list line was pretty long. This was when the first reservation times were about 6:45.  At full capacity, I don't know if that would really work

 

IMO, they have just really screwed up MTD.

Perfectly said and explained.  MTD was a good thing, but RCCL has managed to screw it up, so now more and more of us are switching to early seating instead (I emailed our travel agent tonight to move my groups (usually about 20 people) from MTD to early seating for our next two cruises based on our experience last week on the Explorer.

 

MTD worked great last August at half capacity (the Odyssey was at 17% capacity when we were on it), but now that ships are at 100% capacity again, MTD is really messed up.

[ONECRUISER]

6 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

I'm thinking that there are probably more times available than they have listed...will research it further. Thanks for replies! 

Might not, 8 Cruises, 2 Ships and MyTime has been either 6:30 or 6:45 inc my next 4 Cruises(6:45) this Fall. I'm doing 5:30 Early Traditional instead as always

[mets07]

We are still signing up for MTD, but clearly it is not working as originally designed. The whole idea was to give you flexibility as to when you dined (from an early to a late time ... and varying every night if desired). We never had an issue with it until lately. You should not have to switch to early traditional dining.

 

I documented this concern in my last survey and hope others are as well. We met a couple waiting on line (for a long time) for MTD on a recent cruise and they told us it was their first Royal cruise and they would not be sailing again with Royal because of this issue. They indicated it works fine on other cruise lines and it is important to them.