My Time Dining.......but not really?

[Morecruisesplz]

28 minutes ago, rg123 said:

Good grief!

You might get someone who cares. We can hope! But this has been our experience more times than not. Good luck.

[mo&fran]

Prior to shutdown, MTD had a dedicated dining room. We laways used MTD with no issue.

When the restart happened, they didn't have enough wait staff , and ships with 3 floors of dining rooms, only had 2 open. So MTD started later, and early seating used the MTD room.

And that caused an issue with the tables being open it time for the first MTD.

 Now, they have had all 3 dining rooms open, but are still seating early in the MTD room.

So now, early MTD times get jammed up waiting for tables to become open.

 Also, you have the people who have early TD, who show up late.  In the old days, you don't show up at your scheduled time, you did not get seated. Not anymore. 

 Our last cruise, we ended up in traditional early dining, and I found they were staggering the early seating, like some at 500, some 515, and finally 530. WE were B2B, so we went to the MTD dining room, and had no issue getting our preferred 630 MTD seating. For the second cruise.

 This was on Grandeur , which has 2 dining rooms. Never any lines.

Edited March 30, 2023 by mo&fran

[Starry Eyes]

6 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

Prior to shutdown, MTD had a dedicated dining room. We laways used MTD with no issue.

When the restart happened, they didn't have enough wait staff , and ships with 3 floors of dining rooms, only had 2 open. So MTD started later, and early seating used the MTD room.

And that caused an issue with the tables being open it time for the first MTD.

 Now, they have had all 3 dining rooms open, but are still seating early in the MTD room.

So now, early MTD times get jammed up waiting for tables to become open.

 Also, you have the people who have early TD, who show up late.  In the old days, you don't show up at your scheduled time, you did not get seated. Not anymore. 

 Our last cruise, we ended up in traditional early dining, and I found they were staggering the early seating, like some at 500, some 515, and finally 530. WE were B2B, so we went to the MTD dining room, and had no issue getting our preferred 630 MTD seating. For the second cruise.

 This was on Grandeur , which has 2 dining rooms. Never any lines.

No, the new MTD scheme started Before the shutdown on some ships.  It was not created after covid or due to covid.  That may be when You first experienced it, but enough of us experienced the revised MTD scheme Before the shutdown that you must accept that fact.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Starry Eyes

[luckyinpa]

this thread confirms ill stay in CK and the bbq joint and solarium for dinners. easier ..not as packed together like sardines either! 

[poocher]

I guess the Royal dining gods just like me.  2 before, 2 after shutdown all MTD.  Always same table and waitstaff.  Never packed in like sardines, longest wait 15 minutes as early diners were taking a little longer but we were offered another table if we didn’t want to wait.  Hope I didn’t just tempt fate for our May Harmony cruise!

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

1 minute ago, poocher said:

I guess the Royal dining gods just like me.  2 before, 2 after shutdown all MTD.  Always same table and waitstaff.  Never packed in like sardines, longest wait 15 minutes as early diners were taking a little longer but we were offered another table if we didn’t want to wait.  Hope I didn’t just tempt fate for our May Harmony cruise!

Out of curiosity, what time did you request your MTD (if you remember)?

[poocher]

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

Out of curiosity, what time did you request your MTD (if you remember)?

I have always chosen the earliest time available so 6:30-6:45.  We have 6:45 in May.

[mo&fran]

Our last cruise prior to shutdown was the first week of February 2020 on Serenade. 

If there were fixed time in our room, I wasn't aware of it.  Nothing seemed different from previous cruises.

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

1 hour ago, poocher said:

I have always chosen the earliest time available so 6:30-6:45.  We have 6:45 in May.

Would you want to eat earlier though?  Say 6?  Or 530?  

 

Unrelated... while typing, I had a colon before the number and want to see what happens when I do it... 🕠.  huh... 🕙 so if you put clock<time> in between colons, ":clock230:" gives you the option to have it display. 🕝 Only works for top/bottom of the hour.

[rg123]

Our cruise isn’t until Oct and the earliest MT available was 7:30 a couple months ago meaning we won’t leave the table until close to 8:30. I feel for folks who are booking from here on out. And I am getting more anxious and unhappy as time goes on. This really is unacceptable.

[poocher]

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

Would you want to eat earlier though?  Say 6?  Or 530?  

 

Unrelated... while typing, I had a colon before the number and want to see what happens when I do it... 🕠.  huh... 🕙 so if you put clock<time> in between colons, ":clock230:" gives you the option to have it display. 🕝 Only works for top/bottom of the hour.

Probably not. This gives me time to hang out on the pool deck til 5 and get cleaned up for dinner.  We regularly eat between 6:30-7 at home.

[poocher]

7 minutes ago, rg123 said:

Our cruise isn’t until Oct and the earliest MT available was 7:30 a couple months ago meaning we won’t leave the table until close to 8:30. I feel for folks who are booking from here on out. And I am getting more anxious and unhappy as time goes on. This really is unacceptable.

I book our MTD reservations as soon as we book the cruise (booked last August for the May cruise).   I can always move things around later but I have the time I want to start.

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

10 minutes ago, poocher said:

Probably not. This gives me time to hang out on the pool deck til 5 and get cleaned up for dinner.  We regularly eat between 6:30-7 at home.

Then yea, starting at 645 isn't really much of a change.  We generally eat earlier (530-6), so traditional dining works for us.  BUT, I still feel MTD should be available whenever the dining room is open.  Not starting it until 645 isn't "MY time dining".  

[LobsterStalker]

13 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

That's why I have always said it should be called "Their Time Dining." Everyone posts... just go to MDR upon boarding but that no longer works! We are D+ with nearly 50 cruises and have been denied early dining many times when trying to change MTD to main early. So Windjammer it is!

Disappointed , as we are just turning D I hoped stsus might matter

[LobsterStalker]

5 hours ago, rg123 said:

Very frustrating and discouraging. We enjoy WJ and usually do breakfast and lunch there each day, with a few Solarium Bistros thrown in. But we don’t want to do dinner there each evening as well. Would like (and expect) a more upscale dinner service without paying extra for the specialty restaurants. 
Meals in the dining room don’t seem like much to ask for considering this is all part of the cruise experience that we pay for. 

And it is my belief that there is a long term strategy to have more people steered toward specialty dining options , and therefore the entire main dining experience would continue to go downhill

[LobsterStalker]

3 hours ago, mo&amp;fran said:

Prior to shutdown, MTD had a dedicated dining room. We laways used MTD with no issue.

When the restart happened, they didn't have enough wait staff , and ships with 3 floors of dining rooms, only had 2 open. So MTD started later, and early seating used the MTD room.

And that caused an issue with the tables being open it time for the first MTD.

 Now, they have had all 3 dining rooms open, but are still seating early in the MTD room.

So now, early MTD times get jammed up waiting for tables to become open.

 Also, you have the people who have early TD, who show up late.  In the old days, you don't show up at your scheduled time, you did not get seated. Not anymore. 

 Our last cruise, we ended up in traditional early dining, and I found they were staggering the early seating, like some at 500, some 515, and finally 530. WE were B2B, so we went to the MTD dining room, and had no issue getting our preferred 630 MTD seating. For the second cruise.

 This was on Grandeur , which has 2 dining rooms. Never any lines.

If this is the case , and MTD has been proven to work effectively in the past , can anyone hazard a guess to why Royal would not revert back to that working model ?

[LobsterStalker]

3 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

No, the new MTD scheme started Before the shutdown on some ships.  It was not created after covid or due to covid.  That may be when You first experienced it, but enough of us experienced the revised MTD scheme Before the shutdown that you must accept that fact.

And scratch my above response ... Lol

Then again same follow up question , just different reason... Why would they not change back to a proven system , when new system is clearly a $hitshow ?

[LobsterStalker]

3 hours ago, poocher said:

I guess the Royal dining gods just like me.  2 before, 2 after shutdown all MTD.  Always same table and waitstaff.  Never packed in like sardines, longest wait 15 minutes as early diners were taking a little longer but we were offered another table if we didn’t want to wait.  Hope I didn’t just tempt fate for our May Harmony cruise!

I don't think your situation addresses the biggest issue many have . If you are ok with that time then it works for you. 

My situation as follows has turned out horribly last 3 cruises..

 

Prefer to eat at 6 PM at latest 

They confirm Early for us on all 3 cruises

We arrive and are told we have no table at all

We are then left with dining times of 7:30 or later to choose from .

...And hoards of passengers waiting in line on boarding day to 'Beg and Plead' , (even saw 1 woman cry) , to get a table

Whole system presently in shambles ,..it's inexcusable  !

[LobsterStalker]

47 minutes ago, rg123 said:

Our cruise isn’t until Oct and the earliest MT available was 7:30 a couple months ago meaning we won’t leave the table until close to 8:30. I feel for folks who are booking from here on out. And I am getting more anxious and unhappy as time goes on. This really is unacceptable.

 

         !!!!!!!!!!!

[poocher]

50 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

I don't think your situation addresses the biggest issue many have . If you are ok with that time then it works for you. 

My situation as follows has turned out horribly last 3 cruises..

 

Prefer to eat at 6 PM at latest 

They confirm Early for us on all 3 cruises

We arrive and are told we have no table at all

We are then left with dining times of 7:30 or later to choose from .

...And hoards of passengers waiting in line on boarding day to 'Beg and Plead' , (even saw 1 woman cry) , to get a table

Whole system presently in shambles ,..it's inexcusable  !

Yes and if that time didn’t work, I wouldn’t choose MTD.  I do understand that there are serious issues with MDR as a whole and MTD in particular.  I am just fortunate that I have not had any.

[sowhat]

4 hours ago, poocher said:

I guess the Royal dining gods just like me.  Never packed in like sardines

Table for 2 on Wonder of the Seas

Edited March 30, 2023 by sowhat

[keishashadow]

On 3/23/2023 at 3:40 PM, taglovestocruise said:

Show up when you want. There is a line for no reservations and a line for those with reservations. May have a slight wait when the doors open at 6:45 but not unusual to have no wait time after 8pm.

For upcoming may cruise AoS, doing MTD, early on could only grab 7:30 - 7:45 pm for table of 2.   Prefer 7 pm.  I see no way to modify the time once you select other than cancelling it completely & starting over.  Could be missing something there as still learning the in’s & out’s of the app

 

Are you no longer to request a table for 2 when you board or at the podium when checking in for dining?

 

is it permissible to have a res in hand but, just show up early and hope to be seated accordingly?

[poocher]

35 minutes ago, sowhat said:

Table for 2 on Wonder of the Seas

On Explorer in October we had a beautiful table by a window.  At least 6-8 feet between us and surrounding tables.  

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, sowhat said:

Table for 2 on Wonder of the Seas

What a joke, last cruise we were at a table for 6 and had much more space between us than what is shown.  Late dining, large table and a 2 hour dinner is perfect for us. 

[paulco]

Spent 2 weeks on Ex and  2 weeks on En last year, late sitting, shared table, was just fine.  Spent 1 week on Crown Princess also last year,  long lines of cranky people with reservations every night.  Was irritating every night!