So, how long does it take to eat in the MDR?

[sjwoody1167]

I have seen some comments that the service is very slow in the MDR. How slow is slow? Does this apply to breakfast and lunch too?

[Krazy Kruizers]

we have pretty good service in the dining room -- so far

we eat elsewhere for breakfast -- usually the pinnacle grill as we are deluxe suite guests -- so can't help you there

but we have had some very slooooow times for lunch

[kazu]

I have never found service slow in the MDR. Assuming you are going to appetizer, soup, salad, main entree and desert and perhaps a cheese tray, I would allow 2 hours. It really depends upon how large your table is, how quickly some people eat, etc.

I have seen others done in 1 and 1/2 hours.

when we go to a nice restaurant, we don't expect to get out in 45 mintues ;)

It is called a relaxing meal. I have always found breakfast very quick and lunch maybe 45 minutes? again, it depends upon what you are ordering.

hope this helps a bit :)

[trophy_23]

I have to agree I really enjoy a relaxing dinner onboard. Some people treat eating like refueling a vehicle, just a quick fill up, if one falls into this category the MDR is not for you. We had a couple beside us and the gentleman did nothing but complain about how long dinner took, I guess the football game was more important than a relaxing meal.

[Typhoon1]

Eat at your own pace. We normally have a leisurely dinner and are done in a 1 1/2 - 2hours, sometimes slightly longer. We're not in any rush to leave the MDR.

Breakfast again is relaxing, at least an hour, the same for lunch.

What's the rush? You're on vacation. If you're in a rush, the Lido is the place.

[jhannah]

Two hours is just about right, from our experience. I agree that dinner should be an enjoyable and relaxing occasion. I don't want a "quickie" evening meal.

[sandiego1]

We eat dinner in the MDR every night. On last cruise, it took a min of 2 hrs. But we were at a table of 8 incl my in-laws and 4 friends we met on a prior HAL cruise. Lots of talking! We hadn't seen eachother in several yrs so I thought they were going to have to kick us out on the 1st night.

I avoid the MDR for bkfast and lunch. It just takes too darn long (over an hr). And my eggs were not cooked to my liking and were cold by the time I got them. Much easier and quicker for me to eat in Lido. Only did room service 1 or twice on all my cruises.

[sail7seas]

We almost always find MDR service to be very, very good. We don't have every course but we like a leisurely dinner. It's usually about an hour and a half or hour 45 minutes for us. Sometimes we linger over coffee. We aren't normally in any rush.

[mamaofami]

On our last cruise, at a table for four, we noticed that we were always the last people to be served desert on our side of the MDR. Dinner took about two hours, but I liked it. I never felt rushed, even though we were first seating.

[piscesgal223]

I didn't think it was slow; granted, the two times I've been on HAL, I went to dinner at the same time( 6 P.M.) almost every night and it wasn't too bad. It's not McDonald's(stating the obvious there perhaps, but it had to be said)

[SwissMyst]

We find it pays to show up right when the doors open. Those that come in later end up very delayed in the serving queues. If we get our orders in right away, then things move very quickly between courses. Then we need to kill some time before the shows start.

[HeatherInFlorida]

I haven't found the service slow at all in the MDR. However, it usually takes us about 2 hours, but that's by choice. We always seem to meet wonderful people at our tables and love to linger as long as we can over dinner.

But many people are gone within an hour and a half, can't imagine it taking much less time than that. Again, that's not because the service is slow ... you are having 4 courses, after all:)

[Crazy Gramps]

Figure 90 minutes
You're dining not just eating.
Relax and enjoy it.

You're not really going anywhere

Gramps

[BruceMuzz]

In just about every restaurant in the world - floating or otherwise - you have 2 basic options:

1. Just sit down and hope the waiter can read you mind about how fast or slow you want to eat. You take a chance that his ESP abilities are not the best.

2. Before you sit down, tell the dining room manager / waiter how fast or slow you want to eat. Then there is no question and you get what you want.

I have many times witnessed 2 tables in the dioning room - side by side - ordering the same number of courses. One table is out in 55 minutes; the other barely gets out in 2 hours.

[aliaschief]

We have found the time exceptable for the dining experience. One thing that helps is to have a good idea what you want for dinner.

One thing that can really get you behind is the tablemate that takes six minutes to decide what they want for dinner.

[opelmanta1900]

When my girlfriend and I were on the Oosterdam a few weeks back, we had a table for 2, fixed seating at 7:45 in the MDR... We always showed up a few minutes before 7:45 and were always done by 9... Sometimes done by 8:30... We definitely noticed being a table for 2 sped up delivery of our dishes...

[iriemon]

We do the AYW dining and usually arrive 7:30 - 8:00 - yes I know the worst time, but it fits our schedule. Dinner usually takes about 2 hours. We usually find a waiter we like in the first couple of days and then we make reservations for their area. If we are traveling with friends we usually have a table by ourselves, if not we will join a table. With a reservation, especially on formal nights you don't have to wait at all which works out great. You can only make the reservations for 3 days so we just keep renewing it.

[fann1sh]

I'm yet another person who doesn't want to be rushed at dinner.

However, you can make it out of the MDR in about half an hour for either breakfast or lunch if you tell the waitstaff you really need to do so (and order accordingly).

[Hlitner]

It might surprise some folks who like to "eat and run" that some of us actually enjoy the dining experience. On most HA cruises our dinners take at least 2 hours because we usually manage to share large tables with groups of folks who enjoy the socialization. When you have a good group nobody wants to rush out of the dining room and dinner becomes a true social event (this can even happen at lunch). Our tables have often been among the last to leave the dining room (we usually eat about 8 or 8:30). To be honest, we would have more of a problem with a watier that tried to rush us through our meal!

Hank

[Tampa Girl]

Do you have somewhere else to go? And, if so, why? You are on a cruise. Enjoy it! Time doesn't matter.

[ironin]

We are currently aboard the Zuiderdam and find the timing, and the staff, quite responsive to our apparent wishes. We've dined relatively quickly and slowly. At no time have we felt either like we were waiting for Godot to show up with the next course or that the MDR was about to burn down around us. Note: we are dining relatively late and whenever we choose to dine, rather than fixed dining. YMMV, of course.

[Mary Ellen]

We do the AYW dining...So does every other passenger on every HAL ship in the fleet. Those who wish to eat in the Lido, Pinnacle Grill or Room Service are going to take a different amount of time than those who opt for the MDR.

[Typhoon1]

Figure 90 minutes
You're dining not just eating.
Relax and enjoy it.

You're not really going anywhere

Gramps

:):):):)

[RetiredMustang]

I agree with pretty much what everyone has posted -- it will take 1.5 to 2 hours or so. And, we are OK with that, as we like leisurely dining

We usually ask for and receive tables at the early fixed dining. Recently, we have asked for and lucked into tables for 2. But, simply for information, I offer the following:

1. When you are in a group at a table, the stewards try to serve the same course at as near the same time as possible. I have no problem with this and even applaud the effort, but it took me a couple of cruises to realize that if I had only a salad, I may wait a while for the others to have their soup as well before we went to the entree. And, sometimes a tablemate would ask for two of an appetizer (or three if it was something great, like snails), so we would all wait until it was "time" for the next course. We have lived in Italy for years, and are OK with that, but be advised if you are not used to it.

2. Even at a 2-top, we have found lately in the fixed dining that the courses are somewhat at the same time as tables around us, and if we have only one starter, we may wait a while for the entree as our servers are busy with the other tables. Again, we are good with that, and on the last cruise noticed that our stewards were timing the courses at their tables to minimize waits for everyone (so, we tipped extra, especially for the one the other crew members called "Kung Fu Panda" -- he was outstanding!)

So, bottom line, if you eat in the MDR, plan on having a nice, unhurried experience. If you are in early fixed dining, there is a deadline that they have to get you out by in order to seat for the late fixed dining, but we have never really felt rushed. Enjoy the experience, and maybe even converse with your table-mates and pay attention, even if (especially if!) she has been your table-mate for 35+ years!

Dave

[bet410]

We usually eat at a table for six or eight. We've noticed that the more people at the table, the longer it takes to eat. We've found that if a few people are missing, it probably knocks at least five minutes off. As RetiredMustang indicated, they try to time the courses so everyone at the table is served at the same time. We've been at tables where it took an hour and a quarter, and we've been at other tables where it's taken up to two hours. We've found that around an hour and a half to three quarters is the norm for us. We enjoy the leisurely time with friends, and like the chance to get caught up on what everyone has been doing during the day, so the time is usually not an issue for us.

We opt for early dining, and they have to move us out more quickly in order to set up for the late seating. On very rare occasion (probably about twice in our cruise history) we want to finish more quickly, and then we explain why and ask our tablemates and stewards if they would mind if we were served our courses more quickly. That way they aren't rushed, and we can be on our way. Also, out of respect for our tablemates and stewards, if we know that we will miss a meal in the MDR, we try to let someone know so they aren't waiting for us.

We hate to miss meals in the MDR because we so enjoy the relaxing time with friends and the attentiveness of our stewards.

[Hlitner]

The waiters and assistant waiters pick-up the food from the various stations inside the galley (if you have never done a galley tour its fascinating). Most waiters have several tables, especially when they include tables for 2, and do not generally like to make the trek all the way to the galley (and it can be far for some of the stations) to pick-up food for just one of their 2 tops. So even a 2 top can find themselves waiting a bit until their waiter is ready to get a tray full of items. The reality is that the MDR is not supposed to be a fast food restaurant. For those who really want to gulp down their food and get through dinner in a few minutes, there is always the Lido.

Hank

[GetOnABoat]

Dinner, 1.5 to 2 hours. Lunch, 1 hour. Breakfast, 1.25 hours.

I don't know why, but breakfast is always much slower than lunch, even though it's basically one course versus 3. All those eggs is my guess, plus everyone coming at once.

I like eating in the MDR for breakfast and lunch, though. Half of cruising is getting to know all the people and hearing all their stories. I tend to go alone and ask for a table with others. No matter who you sit with for breakfast and lunch, it always seems to take about the same amount of time, and people mind less if you excuse yourself before everyone's finished than they do at dinner.

We usually sit with a table of 8-10 for dinner, so it usually takes a while, but with that many people there are usually some good conversations going, and a lot of the time is people talking, not the speed of the service. We've never had a speed of service issue, although after the first night on the last cruise, the DR Manager seemed to have asked all the stewards to hurry things along, as people were barely making it to the show afterward, but we still ended up taking our time. There's nowhere to run off to until the show anyway ;)

[sevenseasnomad]

We find it pays to show up right when the doors open. Those that come in later end up very delayed in the serving queues. If we get our orders in right away, then things move very quickly between courses. Then we need to kill some time before the shows start.

We're always early too, (at a table for 2 or 4) and sometimes we're last to be served in our area. A lot depends on the wait staff, how busy they are, how many tables they have, how many people at those tables show up for dinner etc. It seems these poor guys are given more & more tables to serve each time we cruise. We're sometimes amazed that everyone appears to be served in a reasonable amount of time. We truly wish HAL would go back to having more waiters who serve fewer tables so that personable service doesn't completely go by the wayside. Once-upon-a-time, we could actually engage in conversations with our waiters. Now, they're too busy to say much beyond "How are you this evening?"

If we're hoping to catch a show, we'll alert the waiter as he hands us the menus. Usually, we're out in time to get decent seats for the show. More nights than not, however, we're happy to enjoy a leisurely meal that generally takes an hour and a half.