My Time Dining Questions

[CruisinFred]

My wife and I enjoyed our MTD experience. The entire Mozart Dining room (Deck 5) was dedicated to MTD. We always had a table for two. I would estimate that they were never past 70% capacity at any time. After the 2nd or 3rd night we got to really know our waitstaff, from Moustafa the head waiter to Valentine our waiter and Carridon our assistant waiter. We were able to walk in and bypass any line and got called over to our tables like we owned the place. All tips were already prepaid but the service fealt like they were really trying to do extra! When we were in the WJ for lunch, we found out that Carridon has a section that he works there and he was really great at getting us drinks and clearing plates when we were done. I know that he already got prepaid tips from dinner but I gave him a few bucks extra for his excellent service in the WJ, and our waiter Valentine also got a few bucks extra for doing such an excellent job.

 

 

This is based on a August 23, 2009 sailing on the AOS.

[A.S.]

Why do they put vouchers in your cabin if you already pre paid your tips?

 

Everyone says you can ignore them, but what is the purpose of them?

 

If you hand a voucher to a waiter, does that mean he gets a better share?

 

Very confusing.

[John Henry on CC]

Why do they put vouchers in your cabin if you already pre paid your tips?

 

Everyone says you can ignore them, but what is the purpose of them?

 

If you hand a voucher to a waiter, does that mean he gets a better share? No.

 

Very confusing.

 

It's just their SOP. (standard operating procedure)

 

It's easier for them to use one method instead of figuring out WHO prepaid because of MTD and WHO prepaid because they got the gratuities free from their TA and WHO prepaid because they wanted to pay for everything before they left home and WHO prepaid by voluntarily putting them on their SeaPass account on Day #4 of the cruise......................

 

:)

[Jsme]

I would never do the normal timed seating again if I can help it. I love the MTD. We booked it on our B2B's and loved it.

 

Negative is to have a good time and to sit alone you really need to make reservations. At first this was a real downer but then I realized I could make my ressies by looking at the Compass and deciding what I wanted to do and when to do it.

 

We do not care for the shows and all that so this was perfect for us. We always reserved early and requested a table for 2. This way we could hurry thru the dinner and do as we wanted. By hurry I mean not spend 2 hours in the diningroom with people I do not know.

[cruisin4kicks]

We did MTD on a TA on the Jewel this past May and NEVER made reservations. We just showed up when we were ready to eat. Other than the first evening (about 10 minutes), we never had to wait and always got escorted to our table as soon as we arrived. We always had a table for 2 and we always ate in the same area and for most of the time had the same wait staff. We loved the flexibility it offered.

 

Tim

[A.S.]

It's just their SOP. (standard operating procedure)

 

It's easier for them to use one method instead of figuring out WHO prepaid because of MTD and WHO prepaid because they got the gratuities free from their TA and WHO prepaid because they wanted to pay for everything before they left home and WHO prepaid by voluntarily putting them on their SeaPass account on Day #4 of the cruise......................

 

:)

 

Thanks for taking the time to answer. Your explanation makes sense. Any which way they do it, we are going to do MTD. It would be so nice to have our own table.

[donnap]

Just returned yesterday from AOS and MTD and we loved it just as we have on NCL ships. We had not arranged this before our trip, so we went to the head waiter as soon as possible on the first day. There was not a table for 2 available (for ANY time that evening) but the HW encouraged us to return at 9:30AM the following morning. We did, and were set up for MTD. We did not make a reservation any night, and only had a very, very short wait one evening. Worked out very well for us!

[mccasey]

Just got back from my cruise on the Mariner. I totally agree with Kurbanfan about MTD on the Mariner being more like My Reservation Dining. We hadn't planned on doing MTD before we got on board (although we had considered it and weren't opposed to it) but we had asked for a table for 2 and ended up being assigned to a table for 12 in the Sound of Music dining room on deck 5, which is also the MTD dining room. We went straight to the dining room when we got on to see if we had gotten our table for 2 and when we were told that we in fact had a table for 12 the maitre d' suggested we do MTD. He said that they specialize in tables for 2. He said that so many people had pre-made their reservations online and so it was very busy for the entire cruise but he could guarantee us a table for 2 every night after 8:00 pm, which was fine with us because we had taken the second seating anyway. We enjoyed MTD for the fact that we could eat at more flexible house than 6:00 (which I find a bit too early) or 8:30 (which we sometimes find a bit late). But some nights we felt like going in a bit early and called to see if they could squeeze us in and they couldn't. He suggested we come and wait and try our luck so we did and waited about 10 minutes, which isn't so bad. It just would have been nice to be able to call in the morning every day and reserve whatever time we wanted for that day, or to just walk in and not have to wait really at all and still get a table for 2.

 

Just as a side note, the maitre d' also offered to make our reservations for Chops & Portofino's for us and suggested which nights were best to go to each place. We thought that was very nice of him but when we got to Chops that first night (the night he suggested we go) he in fact hadn't made a reservation at all. They covered for him quite well though and fit us in because the first night is always quiet in the specialty restaurants from what we were told. So the next morning I called Portofino's to double check and he hadn't reserved for us there either. Just an oversight on his part I'm sure, as he was quite busy, but still a bit frustrating.

 

We had the same wait staff all but 1 night, which was nice. But I have a gripe about pre-paying the gratuities. I understand that since you don't always have the same wait staff when doing MTD you should prepay gratuities, however, it's frustrating to be forced to then pay the amount "suggested" by Royal Caribbean instead of leaving it to your discretion. For example, we went to both specialty restaurants, so the dining room staff did not have to wait on us those nights so it would have been nice to be able to adjust the gratuities accordingly. Also, it is so frustrating to be forced to include a tip for the head waiter when we did not see him once all week. We didn't even know who he was to give it to him. I'm all in favor of tipping generously when it is merited but it's frustrating to have to tip someone for nothing!

 

Gratuities are included in the cover charge for the specialty restaurants but we always added an extra because the service was outstanding at both places.