Planning dilemma.Very few options for dining times

We have booked a cruise on RCCL Navigator of the seas September 30, 2018. Our dining request was for My Time Dining and was told it was solidly booked and they were no longer putting anyone on the waiting list. The only options were 6pm and 8:30pm traditional dining. This was told to us by our travel agent. I find this to be absurd. Maybe the month before sailing but not this far out. Can anyone give me some advice on this? An email for the ship's maitre de on the Navigator possibly. And when should I contact them closer to sailing or now?

This is really problematic for us as we are booking private tours and some return late. We enjoy the dining room experience but neither one of these times work for us. Any help would be appreciated...

We have booked a cruise on RCCL Navigator of the seas September 30, 2018. Our dining request was for My Time Dining and was told it was solidly booked and they were no longer putting anyone on the waiting list. The only options were 6pm and 8:30pm traditional dining. This was told to us by our travel agent. I find this to be absurd. Maybe the month before sailing but not this far out. Can anyone give me some advice on this? An email for the ship's maitre de on the Navigator possibly. And when should I contact them closer to sailing or now?

 

This is really problematic for us as we are booking private tours and some return late. We enjoy the dining room experience but neither one of these times work for us. Any help would be appreciated...

This far out, you have two basic options - keep trying. RCI opens up more choices as it gets closer to your cruise, I think they also allow you to be put on waiting list for what you want. Second option is to pick one of the fixed times and then change it when you board. There will be people who want fixed dining, people who are doing specialties, so the maitre de can change things for you. We did this one our Navigator cruise. We had MTD and wanted to change to fixed early seating. We contacted suite concierge a week or two before we sailed, and confirmed with MDR after we boarded - no issues.

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Take the late seating and then ask to waitlist for My Time and if you don't get it before the cruise, ask as soon as you board. However My Time ends around 9 pm. Late seating is 8:30. Ports where your tours get you back later than 8:30 would likely not be compatible with My Time Dining either. On those nights, eat in port or grab something at the Windjammer. You can also explain the dilemma to the Dining Staff and see if they can accommodate you on those few nights a bit later, or try a Specialty restaurant.

OP stated that the wait list is full. Just go check once onboard and see if you can switch. Also have your TA keep checking

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Your cruise is so far away that I would pick the traditional dinning slots that suits you best and ask to be put on the waitlist for MTD. If you don't manage to get switched to MTD before your cruise then go and see the restaurant manager as soon as you board and see what he/she can do. There will be plenty of others wanting to go one way or the other and I am sure they will do whatever they can to keep everyone happy.

Sometimes it is just not possible to accommodate everyone. In which case, you are left with your traditional dinning slot and on the days when you arrive late, you might want to consider a different option like speciality dinning or WJ.

I don't usually like using tips to buy favours but in this kind of situation, it might help.

I understand your frustration we booked a cruise over a year in advance and got waitlisted for early dinning.

There is probably a group they put into one seating type...once onboard, folks will rearrange their times. Go to the dining room when you board, and tell them your desire. They WANT you to be happy., If it doesn't happen on night 1, it almost certainly will by night 2.

This is really problematic for us as we are booking private tours and some return late. We enjoy the dining room experience but neither one of these times work for us. Any help would be appreciated...

I agree that you should have your TA keep checking. Also, if no changes can be made, go to the dining room as soon as you board to see what can be done.

Traditional seating, second seating, is about as late as you can get anyway. I think MTD takes their final reservations for 8:30 or 9:00. If you are going to be back so late as not to make second seating you might want to consider other dining options for those nights. I am not sure, but I think Windjammer also is done around 8:30 or 9:00 too.

Thank you all for your quick responses. We are not late eaters and with MTD we will be able to arrive somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30 at the dining room most nights. We enjoy sitting with lots of different people as well. Most often it's an enjoyable experience. I have been on 54 cruises and in the beginning there was no such thing. Once they instituted this we loved it and never had a problem getting it.

I will consider all your advice. Thanks

I understand your frustration we booked a cruise over a year in advance and got waitlisted for early dinning.

We usually book close to final payment and have never had a problem getting our dining preference. The one exception was when we booked what became a placeholder cruise with next cruise 9 months out - that one we were told traditional early and late were full and we on the waitlist until we changed the cruise just before final. And we got our late seating on the new ship new date when we changed.

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We have 2 cruises booked before this Med cruise in September. The one in March on Holland to the western Caribbean booked in January no problem getting MTD. The one in April on RCCL to Cuba we just booked this past week and again no problem getting MTD. Something just doesn't seem right.

We usually book close to final payment and have never had a problem getting our dining preference. The one exception was when we booked what became a placeholder cruise with next cruise 9 months out - that one we were told traditional early and late were full and we on the waitlist until we changed the cruise just before final. And we got our late seating on the new ship new date when we changed.

Sorry Nealstuber I meant this to be a quote anyway I don't know what a place holder is but I appreciate your response.

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