"Anytime dining" on the Serenade of the Seas

[CruisinNole]

1 hour ago, RogerDodger247 said:

Just off Serenade (Aug. 12-17 2023) and can confirm the 5:00 pm main seating and 7:45 second seating seems to be here to stay.

 

I tried MTD for this first time and did not pre-reserve in the cruise planner.  What's the point of "My Time" if you have to plan everything in advance?  As soon as I got on board, I checked the app and the only MTD times available to reserve, for the whole week, were 8:15pm and later.  Useless.  Luckily, I eat late (7:30 or later) and the No Reservations line generally only took a few minutes to get seated except on night 1 when it took about 15.

 

Back to fixed dining next time.... but that 5pm early time.  Ugh.

 

Did you try Chops or Giovanni's? We purchased the UDP because of the negative things we've been hearing about MTD reservations and traditional dining. I mean, we're old but we don't care for the early bird dining at 5pm. Just too early for us!

[RogerDodger247]

4 minutes ago, CruisinNole said:

Did you try Chops or Giovanni's? We purchased the UDP because of the negative things we've been hearing about MTD reservations and traditional dining. I mean, we're old but we don't care for the early bird dining at 5pm. Just too early for us!

 

I wanted to try the new MDR menus so we only did a Chops Grille lunch on embarkation day.  A good way to start the cruise by avoiding the Windjammer chaos (plus it was very cheap).  Showed up for a 1:30 reservation and at first, they didn't believe me until they looked it up.  It was completely empty so you'd think being the ONLY occupied table in a restaurant would get you good service.  Nah, they seemed to forget we were there.

 

As for the food, the appetizers (wedge salad and beef carpaccio) were very good and they nailed the temperature on my filet entree.  The sides (mac and cheese, gruyere tots, asparagus) were pretty meh.  Dessert was a decent key lime pie with way too much mousse (the random slice of pie I had in Key West the next day was better).  That said, Chops was probably the best meal I had on board.

 

Next time I'll do more specialty dining.  Hope the UDP works out for you.  And good luck finding Izumi... it's a bit out of the way up there on the sports deck 🤣

 

[CruisinNole]

26 minutes ago, RogerDodger247 said:

 

I wanted to try the new MDR menus so we only did a Chops Grille lunch on embarkation day.  A good way to start the cruise by avoiding the Windjammer chaos (plus it was very cheap).  Showed up for a 1:30 reservation and at first, they didn't believe me until they looked it up.  It was completely empty so you'd think being the ONLY occupied table in a restaurant would get you good service.  Nah, they seemed to forget we were there.

 

As for the food, the appetizers (wedge salad and beef carpaccio) were very good and they nailed the temperature on my filet entree.  The sides (mac and cheese, gruyere tots, asparagus) were pretty meh.  Dessert was a decent key lime pie with way too much mousse (the random slice of pie I had in Key West the next day was better).  That said, Chops was probably the best meal I had on board.

 

Next time I'll do more specialty dining.  Hope the UDP works out for you.  And good luck finding Izumi... it's a bit out of the way up there on the sports deck 🤣

 

Thanks for the info. Thanks also about the search for Izumi!  On Brilliance,  it's down a dark corridor. Kind of creepy. I'm a native Floridian so I'm picky about my Key Lime Pie. We stop in Key West week after next and I'm looking forward to some good pie and conch fritters.

[island lady]

11 hours ago, CruisinNole said:

Thanks for the info. Thanks also about the search for Izumi!  On Brilliance,  it's down a dark corridor. Kind of creepy. I'm a native Floridian so I'm picky about my Key Lime Pie. We stop in Key West week after next and I'm looking forward to some good pie and conch fritters.

 

Down a dark corridor?   All four sisters have Izumi up where the old Sea View Cafe used to be, which is the deck (12) right over the open air part of the WJ on the aft.  You have to go outside on the sports deck to access the entry door on the starboard side.   

[CruisinNole]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Down a dark corridor?   All four sisters have Izumi up where the old Sea View Cafe used to be, which is the deck (12) right over the open air part of the WJ on the aft.  You have to go outside on the sports deck to access the entry door on the starboard side.   

I must have been thinking of a Celebrity ship.

[LadyZolt]

On 8/14/2023 at 7:51 AM, green snakes said:

 Anyone else had to pre-pay for MTD or is this just a scam from my TA?  I have used him many years & he always seemed to look after our best interests but maybe not.🤷‍♀️

I always pre-pay gratuities because that just seems easier for us, but I have no idea why your TA would (1) require you to pre-pay them if you want to use MTD instead of traditional dining; or (2) care if you pre-pay them or not.  If you don't pre-pay, they just add the per person per day gratuity to your daily accounting for your final bill.  Do ask your TA as I'd be interested in hearing the answer.  🙂 

[retired dude]

On 8/12/2023 at 4:19 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

I'll be on Serenade in Sept and on past sailings on her the 1st seating for traditional dining was 5 to 5:15 so if you go at 630ish the 1st seating should be clearing out around 630ish

we have found that 6:45 reservations work(booked ahead of time on the rccl app that she keeps on her phone), without a wait most nights. only problem nights are the first night and what used to be lobster night  if they still will do it in the future...

[land64shark]

I've never understood why all the negative posts about MTD. I only do MTD and it's equivalent on other lines. I do not want to make reservations because I want the flexibility in my plans. Sometimes there is a wait, but never more than like 20 mins in my experiences, so we go and grab a drink at the bar while waiting. Simple and enjoyable. What's the big deal?

[island lady]

1 hour ago, land64shark said:

I've never understood why all the negative posts about MTD. I only do MTD and it's equivalent on other lines. I do not want to make reservations because I want the flexibility in my plans. Sometimes there is a wait, but never more than like 20 mins in my experiences, so we go and grab a drink at the bar while waiting. Simple and enjoyable. What's the big deal?

 

They don't give you a beeper to let you know when your table is ready.  

[land64shark]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

They don't give you a beeper to let you know when your table is ready.  

Yes, that just stupid. Really, how much can that cost them? Or in the app, like Carnival?

Edited August 30, 2023 by land64shark

[island lady]

On 8/30/2023 at 3:08 PM, land64shark said:

Yes, that just stupid. Really, how much can that cost them? Or in the app, like Carnival?

 

And that is why I don't do MTD any longer.  Not a fan of standing in that line.  Get out of line...lose your place in line.  😞 

[itsanita]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

And that is why I don't do MTD any longer.  Not a fan of standing in that line.  Get out of line...lose your place in line.  😞 

We have MTD for our cruise next month, and have already made reservations for the 4 of us for each night at 7:30.   

The reason I choose that is because we do the same thing on Celebrity.  We never had to wait, and we had the same table and waiters each night.  It was ready for us at our reservation time.  It worked great.  I guess I just assumed RC would be similar.  I guess I will see how it works.

[island lady]

8 minutes ago, itsanita said:

We have MTD for our cruise next month, and have already made reservations for the 4 of us for each night at 7:30.   

The reason I choose that is because we do the same thing on Celebrity.  We never had to wait, and we had the same table and waiters each night.  It was ready for us at our reservation time.  It worked great.  I guess I just assumed RC would be similar.  I guess I will see how it works.

 

Indeed you will....good luck.  Though usually by 7:30 things have eased a bit.  It's 6:30-7:00 that is some of the worst back ups occur.  Which is mostly first seating pax lingering over their meal.  

[Big_G]

On 9/2/2023 at 1:25 PM, island lady said:

 

Indeed you will....good luck.  Though usually by 7:30 things have eased a bit.  It's 6:30-7:00 that is some of the worst back ups occur.  Which is mostly first seating pax lingering over their meal.  

 

If I remember correctly we were on the same Serenade cruise as you and MTD didn't open until 6:45. We only ate there one night...the last night. Did two specialties and the Jammer the rest of the week.

[KroozNut]

On 8/13/2023 at 9:22 AM, KeywestK said:

We had My Time Dining on Serenade in April.  We went into the dining room around 5:45 to 6 pm each night and were seated immediately.  We will be on her again in 2 weeks, and expect to have no problems with being seated at similar times.

Did you also already have set reservations for each night that you made prior to your sailing?

[KeywestK]

The earliest reservation time for MTD is 6 30.  We just walked in between 5 30 and 6 pm and were seated immediately.  We were on Serenade again last week and we had no issues going in to the dining room at those times. If you plan to use MTD anytime after 6 30, you should probably make a reservation.

[KroozNut]

23 minutes ago, KeywestK said:

The earliest reservation time for MTD is 6 30.  We just walked in between 5 30 and 6 pm and were seated immediately.  We were on Serenade again last week and we had no issues going in to the dining room at those times. If you plan to use MTD anytime after 6 30, you should probably make a reservation.

Great, so the 6:45pm reservations we currently have each night of our upcoming sailing on Explorer should work out just fine... thanks.

[KeywestK]

Happy to help.☺️🛳️

[island lady]

18 hours ago, KroozNut said:

Did you also already have set reservations for each night that you made prior to your sailing?

 

MTD dining does not even start until 6:45.....hmmmm....  😉 

[island lady]

17 hours ago, KroozNut said:

Great, so the 6:45pm reservations we currently have each night of our upcoming sailing on Explorer should work out just fine... thanks.

 

😄 

[KroozNut]

7 hours ago, island lady said:

 

MTD dining does not even start until 6:45.....hmmmm....  😉 

Hmmmmm... 😉

[KroozNut]

7 hours ago, island lady said:

 

😄 

 

🤣

[taglovestocruise]

12 hours ago, island lady said:

 

MTD dining does not even start until 6:45.....hmmmm....  😉 

Maybe empty tables from early seating no shows.  Or perhaps they had early dining and just showed up late?

[island lady]

13 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Maybe empty tables from early seating no shows.  Or perhaps they had early dining and just showed up late?

 

Could very well be the case.  I know they give up your assigned early dining table if you are not there by a time specified by the ship.  We always inform the host in advance, if we are not going to dine at our table that night. 

 

There are always some pax from early dining that will have other plans at different times. though the no show tables are in the minority.  MTD pax can't all assume they will get one of those of course.   

[RedIguana]

16 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Maybe empty tables from early seating no shows.  Or perhaps they had early dining and just showed up late?

Serenade, Brilliance, Jewel since restart and the 6:45 start time. If we showed up at 6:30 there was no line and we were seated quickly. 6:45 to 7 was a longer line and a little bit more of a wait. So even though reservations start at 6:45, it appeared there were plenty of free tables from either no shows or the first seating having mostly cleared out by then. Granted it's been a year since the Jewel cruise as we did Princess for Alaska this year.