My Time Dining

Wow, lesson learned! I went on-line to sign up for reservations for MTD - we leave on the Oasis in two weeks. EVERYTHING after 5:30 was FULL, up until 8:45 p.m. Not much of a choice! I think the movement to MTD is in full swing now that prepaid tips are no longer an option. If you want to eat at a certain time, better get those reservations made or face the possibility of a long wait for a table! :eek:

Wow, lesson learned! I went on-line to sign up for reservations for MTD - we leave on the Oasis in two weeks. EVERYTHING after 5:30 was FULL, up until 8:45 p.m. Not much of a choice! I think the movement to MTD is in full swing now that prepaid tips are no longer an option. If you want to eat at a certain time, better get those reservations made or face the possibility of a long wait for a table! :eek:

Go by the MDR as soon as you board........all is not lost -- YET! :);)

I have done MTD several times...all without reservations & have never had more than a 5 min. wait....with all the eating venues on Oasis I highly doubt you will face a long wait time even without a reservation...

While never being on the Oasis, i have done MTD on all but one cruise. I have never made a standing reservation, either on board or online. It was never a problem to eat when I wanted to with a reservation or without. I would suggest heading down to the MTD main entrance as soon as you get on board and set your reservation with the head waiter/host.

We also did MTD and never made a reservation and were seated in minutes. They can allow more space for MTD based on the number of people that sign up for Traditional or MTD. One cruise on the Enchantment they only used half of the balcony...a few months later, they used the entire balcony for MTD.

Wow, lesson learned! I went on-line to sign up for reservations for MTD - we leave on the Oasis in two weeks. EVERYTHING after 5:30 was FULL, up until 8:45 p.m. Not much of a choice! I think the movement to MTD is in full swing now that prepaid tips are no longer an option. If you want to eat at a certain time, better get those reservations made or face the possibility of a long wait for a table! :eek:

With MTD you CAN dine when you want. You do not need to reserve. Just go. :)

I agree with the others. Had MTD on a celebrity cruise and what a pleasure it was to eat whenever we wanted. I think the longest I waited was 10 mins...and that was going at like 7pm!

I'd like to think you are all right about this! On-line, it says "full" for EVERY MTD reservation time except before 5:30 and after 8:45. Why would they post that if you can actually just walk in and eat whenever you want? Curious...

...Not much of a choice! I think the movement to MTD is in full swing now that prepaid tips are no longer an option. If you want to eat at a certain time, better get those reservations made or face the possibility of a long wait for a table! :eek:

With all due respect, you do not know this for certain. I think it's really unfair of you to say this when you haven't even experienced it yet. We have never booked ahead of time for MTD and have never waited more than 2 minutes for a table.

I don't even fully understand the MTD! why do they try and make you pick (when it is MY time?). We did not make reservations and just showed up on our last cruise and never had a wait!

With all due respect, you do not know this for certain. I think it's really unfair of you to say this when you haven't even experienced it yet. We have never booked ahead of time for MTD and have never waited more than 2 minutes for a table.

OK! Langley cruiser - I'll follow YOUR advice in 10 days when I'm on the Oasis, and if I have trouble getting a table, I will certainly be back here to let you know!;)

I don't even fully understand the MTD! why do they try and make you pick (when it is MY time?). We did not make reservations and just showed up on our last cruise and never had a wait!

Because it's easier for the ship if you pick a time. However, reservations are NOT required.

in all honesty, the only time there may be a wait without a reservation is the FIRST night of the cruise

last time we did MTD, we showed up about 10 minutes before our reservation time( yes I went online and booked the same time every night)

they had it divided into 2 lines.. those with reservations and those without. the line w/out was extremely long and the headwaiter was going down the line asking for table size requests, whereas we just walked in, gave our cabin number and were whisked away.

every night thereafter, there was no line no matter what time we walked in/by the entrance.

Wow, thanks for the info Spookwife - I really appreciate the input. That helps immensely! ;)

Thanks to you too, Bob. I appreciate your input!

First time we used MTD we couldn't get the times we wanted. Once we got on board, we booked them on the first nighr no problem.

We queried this and we were told that they only allow so many to pre-book their slot as they have to hold back as many as they can for people who can't book via the internet.

We prefer MTD as it is a much quicker service all round.

With all due respect, you do not know this for certain. I think it's really unfair of you to say this when you haven't even experienced it yet. We have never booked ahead of time for MTD and have never waited more than 2 minutes for a table.

 

OK! Langley cruiser - I'll follow YOUR advice in 10 days when I'm on the Oasis, and if I have trouble getting a table, I will certainly be back here to let you know!;)

Hi,

Normally we choose the late dining time. But now that gratuities are charged automatically, will likely try my time dining. So, I understand your thinking - if a number of people decide to do this too, then my time dining will be busier than before. Guess it's a wait & see. But I know on our last RC cruise, they said they were allotting more space for my time dining - maybe cuz they knew it would be busier??

NJ :)

I can't find it again (curse that RCCL website) but when I was trying to figure out which type of dining to use I read in one of the descriptions that they only open up a certain percentage of available dining slots to reservations before the cruise and another chunk to reservations during the cruise and there is always a portion left open for walkin's. My memory is terrible but I think it was 25, 30 and 45 respectively.

Given the feedback from Spookwife, try and get a reservation for the first night at least as soon as you're onboard.

I don't even fully understand the MTD! why do they try and make you pick (when it is MY time?). We did not make reservations and just showed up on our last cruise and never had a wait!

They do it because it is more convenient for them and assists them by letting them know what time many or most of their guests will arrive so that they can allocate their resources most effectively, but as you and I have both experienced, reservations are not "required", only "suggested" or "recommended", and rarely, if ever is there a lengthy wait for those who simply arrive when they want to dine. Some people may feel more comfortable if they have reservations but it is not a requirement, and with, or without, reservations my time dining allows guests to dine according to their personal schedule when that schedule doesn't fit into the two traditional dining times.

I'm one of those people who jumps on making MTD reservations as soon as they're available online. For DS & I, early traditional dining is practically lunch time, and late dining cuts into teen activities that my son hates to miss. So I aim for a time around 7, and that works perfectly for us. :)

-gina-

I had a similar issue for our FOS cruise this May. Majority of the times were already gone and we chose 7:30pm. I am going to try to change it to either 6:45 or 7:00pm once we board. Good luck!

On the same topic, but if you want to book a table for two and you already have MTD through prepaying tips, is there likely to be a longer wait than about 10 mins? When you prebook MTD, can you select a table size?

TIA!

I am going to assume all the "reservations" are filled, but I will also assume that the rest of the dining room will be available for walk-ins. I would assume that only a percentage of the tables are for on line pre-reservations. Otherwise, MTD would not work.

I don't have any real knowledge, but that's how it works for excursions. You may find excursions filled up when you try and book on line, but when you get on the ship, you will find they have held back a certain percentage of the excursions for people who book AFTER they get on the ship.

I agree that it is becoming more popular - but if everyone is making reservations, why not sign up for early or late regular seating?

I have cruised many times, but this Sunday on Allure will be my first anytime dinning - did not make reservations. Want to see how things go, with 3 generations, we do not know what time we want to eat yet - if we need to make reservations, to me that is not Anytime.

Will comment after my cruise on how things worked!

There is no absolute formula for MTD no reservation wait times. On the Allure last December the no reservation line was 50-60 feet long. On the Explorer in February there were no lines at all. We always do late seating and happened to be on the same deck as MTD. (Is there more than one?)

I have a question. How do MTDr's do the shows that are scheduled around early and late seating? There are other threads where posters are complaining the service is so slow they are missing shows.

Now it seems the OP is going to go through all that anxiety and grief worrying about dinner time. Wasn't that what MTD was supposed to alleviate?