Dining Questions from someone coming from NCL

[PATRLR]

First RCCL cruise since 2009 - lots has changed no doubt.  We're on Oasis August 20, 2023 sailing.  Right now I'm trying to figure out dining.  We have purchased the 3-night dining package.  

 

1. I see they made a courtesy reservation and I understand that is hardly ever used.  I was still curious as to exactly which venue it made the reservation in but I don't see that.  Further, I only see that reservation on the web version of the calendar, not the app version. 
2. The app will allow me to make reservations at specialty restaurants, but, it wants me to pay for the dinner.  Is it safe to say that with the 3-night package, I can only make reservations to use purchased package when I get on the ship?
3. We have MTD for the other nights.  Again - do I have to wait until I'm on the ship to make reservations for MTD?  And just how important is making reservations for MTD?  We will be a party of 2 that tends to like to eat a bit later, 7:00-7:30PM would be a sweet spot for us.  On NCL we never make reservations for MDR and typically never have to wait more than a few minutes.
   
   Thanks for your help.  Looking forward to our first RCCL cruise in 14 years (wow!).

[firefly333]

Yes, as soon as you board find a dining restaurant or kiosk and make all 3 reservations. I try and avoid lobster night, the 2nd dress up night. Cant make reservations ahead for discounted packages. 

 

I've seen some very long lines for prime times for any time dining. That's why people make reservations. Rarely is it only a few minutes wait imo. I'm done with anytime dining on rcl. I do it on carnival but not rcl. I don't have the patience. I hate lines and waiting.

[PATRLR]

2 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Yes, as soon as you board find a dining restaurant or kiosk and make all 3 reservations. I try and avoid lobster night, the 2nd dress up night. Cant make reservations ahead for discounted packages. 

 

I've seen some very long lines for prime times for any time dining. That's why people make reservations. Rarely is it only a few minutes wait imo. I'm done with anytime dining on rcl. I do it on carnival but not rcl. I don't have the patience. I hate lines and waiting.

@firefly333 thank you for your response.  

And to be clear, as soon as I board I should not only make the specialty dining reservations, I probably should also make MTD reservations too, right?  I assume all can be done at the same place?

[Biker19]

3 hours ago, PATRLR said:

•  
• We have MTD for the other nights.  Again - do I have to wait until I'm on the ship to make reservations for MTD? 

No, that should be available in the planner now. You may have a shorter wait if you book something instead of just showing up. 

Edited July 30, 2023 by Biker19

[silentbob007]

Make MTD reservations now if they are available. They will fill up. You don’t have to make reservations for MTD but the wait to eat will depend on how the ship is handling it and how many people are in line at that time. This is not something RCI does well for some reason. 
 

The others all have to be done onboard. Lots of other people in same boat and they hold spaces for booking onboard. 

[crzndeb]

3 hours ago, PATRLR said:

Again - do I have to wait until I'm on the ship to make reservations for MTD?  And just how important is making reservations for MTD?  We will be a party of 2 that tends to like to eat a bit later, 7:00-7:30PM would be a sweet spot for us.  

My daughter and granddaughter were recently on the Wonder, and made no reservations for MTD. They never had a problem with a wait. She did notice that for the 2 of them it was less of a wait than larger parties. 

[PATRLR]

18 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

No, that should be available in the planner now. You may have a shorter wait if you book something instead of just showing up. 

thank you everyone for the help.  

I see no way to make MTD reservations.  Then I noticed on the app that it says I have 7:30 PM seating.   What is frustrating (and this seems to be a theme) is the web seems to be telling me something different the app.  The picture below is on my cruise docs, so I assumed I got the MTD I requested.  But perhaps not.  My guess is that an asterisk is significant but I can't find anywhere what it means (probably means MTD requested which we did).  So, as soon as we board (we have the 10:00 - 10:30 slot) we go straight to a dining room, make Specialty Dining reservations, beg for MTD and then make those reservations if they concede to my groveling 😉 . 

 

Any other advice?

 

 

 

[jonyboy]

Can anyone explain to me the difference between Main Dining Room 4, Main Dining Room 5 and My time dining room and if you prefer any of them 

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, jonyboy said:

Can anyone explain to me the difference between Main Dining Room 4, Main Dining Room 5 and My time dining room and if you prefer any of them 

MDR 4 on Deck 4. MDR 5 on Deck 5. On some ships, it is the same room, just different deck. Food is the same. 

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, PATRLR said:

thank you everyone for the help.  

I see no way to make MTD reservations.  Then I noticed on the app that it says I have 7:30 PM seating.   What is frustrating (and this seems to be a theme) is the web seems to be telling me something different the app.  The picture below is on my cruise docs, so I assumed I got the MTD I requested.  But perhaps not.  My guess is that an asterisk is significant but I can't find anywhere what it means (probably means MTD requested which we did).  So, as soon as we board (we have the 10:00 - 10:30 slot) we go straight to a dining room, make Specialty Dining reservations, beg for MTD and then make those reservations if they concede to my groveling 😉 . 

 

Any other advice?

Hmmm... On the cruise planner specialty dining page, you would normally have a MTD option if you are assigned MTD. But, if you are assigned late dining, you will not be allowed to do MTD. 

 

If you have MTD, you can show up like NCL. But there are a lot more people with reservations and they will get seated faster (not necessarily first, but faster). We normally book our MTD at the same time every night and ask the hostess to seat us with the same waiter. If something comes up, then we just do a walk in MTD. 

 

Dining package reservations can be made once you are onboard. 

 

The courtesy reservation is normally on Day 1, maybe Chops. We normally use it and choose the others as soon as we figure out the entertainment schedule. 

 

You can try reaching out to rcldining@rccl.com (they normally only respond about 3 weeks prior to departure) to figure out your dining assignment. You can put in a request for a 2-top table if you are on late dining. 

[Biker19]

4 hours ago, PATRLR said:

Any other advice?

Don't look at either the app or online  - look at the original booking invoice for the type of dining you have.

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, jonyboy said:

Can anyone explain to me the difference between Main Dining Room 4, Main Dining Room 5 and My time dining room and if you prefer any of them 

On Oasis, if you have MTD, you probably won't get a choice on which deck you'll be seated. With traditional dining, you can be assigned to any deck. There's little diff between the decks other than the view, which is a personal preference.

[Amn5547]

Following… I’m confused about the dining package as well. We just purchased the 3 night dining package for our upcoming cruise on the Liberty of the Seas. We picked a day and time for the first courtesy reservation, but there was no place to choose the specialty restaurant. I’m aware we will have to make the other reservations on boarding day. We would just like to know which restaurant we have reservations at or if we get to pick. Thanks for any further insight  

Edited August 2, 2023 by Amn5547

[Biker19]

13 hours ago, Amn5547 said:

We would just like to know which restaurant we have reservations at or if we get to pick.

You won't before you board - fix it all then.

[Amn5547]

Thank you!

[sgmn]

On 7/30/2023 at 7:57 PM, PATRLR said:

I see no way to make MTD reservations. 

In your cruise planner under dining, the last item is to book MTD slots. You have to book each day separately . You can change your time or cancel altogether if your plans change. 

If you can't get the times you want, there should be someone to help with dining questions in the main restaurant on boarding day.

 

For your three night package, though they book a random restaurant on the first night, you can cancel it and rebook at the same time as you book the two other specialised dinners. At any of the specialised restaurants once you board.

 

[taglovestocruise]

On 8/2/2023 at 2:47 PM, Amn5547 said:

Following… I’m confused about the dining package as well. We just purchased the 3 night dining package for our upcoming cruise on the Liberty of the Seas. We picked a day and time for the first courtesy reservation, but there was no place to choose the specialty restaurant. I’m aware we will have to make the other reservations on boarding day. We would just like to know which restaurant we have reservations at or if we get to pick. Thanks for any further insight  

The day and time you picked is just a place holder. We have a package on every cruise we take, not once in the last 10 years has a pre reservation been made. Sabor would be a waste of a package night, double up on Chops or Giovannis. 

[Amn5547]

On 8/3/2023 at 8:41 PM, taglovestocruise said:

The day and time you picked is just a place holder. We have a package on every cruise we take, not once in the last 10 years has a pre reservation been made. Sabor would be a waste of a package night, double up on Chops or Giovannis. 

Thank you!