Dining questions: early vs mytime & windj

[RedIguana]

1 hour ago, poocher said:

And we had MTD, still never saw it, but by day 3 they were waving us through to our table without waiting in line.  Maybe that was them?

No. They still check for availability, print a ticket, and take you to your table. At least for a two-top.

[RedIguana]

1 hour ago, Mum2Mercury said:

We were directed to that same podium on Explorer on the first night /continued to use it each evening.  We were not in a suite. 

All I can say is on night one when the lines were packed 20 deep I asked someone outside if there was a suite line and they escorted us straight to that podium.

[Mum2Mercury]

I'm at a loss to understand why our experiences were different.  We were on Explorer last month -- September 2022 -- so what I'm saying is current:  

 

- We had reservations for each evening. 

- On the first night we presented ourselves at the MTD area, and we were shown to the podium we both described.  At the podium we gave our room number and were escorted to our tables. 

- No printed tickets of any kind, but the lady at the podium looked at a computer screen and seemed to "check us in".  I can't say exactly what she did.  

- We had the same table and same wait staff each evening.  Our table was always available -- that might've been luck.  

[poocher]

44 minutes ago, RedIguana said:

No. They still check for availability, print a ticket, and take you to your table. At least for a two-top.

Nope, not my experience on Harmony.  After a couple of nights, they just gestured us in.  

[RedIguana]

3 hours ago, poocher said:

Nope, not my experience on Harmony.  After a couple of nights, they just gestured us in.

So you just picked any available table?

 

[RedIguana]

3 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I'm at a loss to understand why our experiences were different.  We were on Explorer last month -- September 2022 -- so what I'm saying is current:

Royal is known for being consistently inconsistent 😆. My sailing was August 6th. Capacity may or may not play a roll. Although they kept us in the same section, we were never at the exact same table 2 nights in a row. Ship was pretty full, and it appeared that a few of the tables were still being occupied from the early seating at times.

[Spurschick]

On 9/15/2022 at 8:05 AM, Midway7934 said:

Anyone have experience with Adventure of the Seas? I am a diamond member in a suite. There is no separate suite restaurant for dinner (yes, for breakfast only). I made 7o’click reservations for MTD. Also, my husband is disabled (blind). Can I get any priority for dinner or will I be standing in line? We book suites for the assistance they provide to make our travel easier for me with my husband.  This ship was chosen by my sister for a cruise to celebrate her birthday, and we are going along. Should I speak to the Matre’d or concierge? 

If you are in a full suite i.e. grand suite or above then the suite concierge will reach out 1 week prior to you and you can request your reservation times through them. 
 

if in a JS then the Diamond concierge may be able to help when you board - however we only use the suite concierge not the diamond concierge.

[Spurschick]

11 hours ago, bluecruise456 said:

I booked my time and then bought package of 3 specialty restaurants,  when I get on ship to make the chops, wonderland, etc. reservations are the my time dining reservations deleted?

They are not automatically deleted no so when you book the specialty restaurants let them know to cancel your mtd reservations for that night. We just got off Harmony and when we booked specialty our original dining plans were still in our planner.

[Illbcruzn4life]

On 9/14/2022 at 9:50 PM, taglovestocruise said:

You can ask and usually get the same table, time and waitstaff in MTD. All ships have gone to a 6:45 MTD start time, and it starts slow. MTD shares the same dining room as early traditional. As tables open and clear they let MTD into the dining area. A lot of traditional early diners still want a slow 1.5 hour dinner and MTD just have to wait.  No escargot in Windjammer, but I would guess if you asked one of the roaming waiters they would make a run to the MD for you.

My wife and I had MTD last week on the Allure. We had 6:30pm every night and the app said to get there 15 minutes early.

 

We were usually seated by 6:30pm except for the lobster night but it might have been 6:40pm.

 

Only used the dining room 3 nights though. The rest of the nights we just ate in the windjammer.

[poocher]

7 hours ago, RedIguana said:

So you just picked any available table?

 

No we sat at the same table every night.  Once they knew we knew where it was, they let us walk in on our own.

[Donsyb]

15 hours ago, DukeASUGirl said:

 

Maybe reservations only open 2-3 weeks early on the app, but if you make your reservations through the Cruise Planner on the website, then it's open at least 6 months in advance, maybe more. We made MTD reservations in April for our October sailing.

Nope, it opens earlier in the app as well. I booked months out in the app, and changed times.