Not eating in MDR, should we let them know ahead?

We will be eating dinner in the WJ through our cruise. We were given the choice of traditional dining or my time. We don’t want a table held for us, do we let them know or just leave it as my time and not show?

We will be eating dinner in the WJ through our cruise. We were given the choice of traditional dining or my time. We don’t want a table held for us, do we let them know or just leave it as my time and not show?

If you are assigned to My Time, and have no reservations, then you don't need to let them know.

If you have traditional seating/dining, and are planning to not eat in the MDR, its a courteous gesture to the staff to let them know you aren't eating there. Often the staff will wait a bit until everyone is at the table to start taking orders, etc. It also allows them to better manage the flow, and possibly pick up an additional table or such (so they make more money in tips maybe).

Its not required, but courteous.

If you have traditional seating/dining, and are planning to not eat in the MDR, its a courteous gesture to the staff to let them know you aren't eating there. Often the staff will wait a bit until everyone is at the table to start taking orders, etc. It also allows them to better manage the flow, and possibly pick up an additional table or such (so they make more money in tips maybe).

 

Its not required, but courteous.

Also, if you have traditional seating/dining, and are planning to not eat in the MDR, its a courteous gesture to let others at the table know you aren't eating there. That way they will not wait for you.

If it is traditional dinning then I make an effort to let them know out of courtesy. If it is MTD then there is no need as you are not holding a table with a reservation.

With so many speciality dinning venues these days, its perfectly normal for people not to eat in the MDR.

That’s what I thought. We are currently defaulted to my time so I will do nothing. Thanks all!

That’s what I thought. We are currently defaulted to my time so I will do nothing. Thanks all!

No problem! Nice thing is that if you should want to eat in the MDR now, you can just show up.

Also, if you have traditional seating/dining, and are planning to not eat in the MDR, its a courteous gesture to let others at the table know you aren't eating there. That way they will not wait for you.

I agree, I think, but don't know for sure that the waiters know if you have a specialty dining reservation. With the First Night done right, or whatever they are currently calling it, we didn't see some of our tablemates till night 3. One of those couples had a 8:45 reservation and came by our table to say hello before heading out. I thought that was a nice gesture.

Just back from the Liberty (12/3 departure).

We had first-seating scheduled.

First night: table for 8, two people. (Us.)

Night two: two people. (Guess who?)

Night three: four people.

You get the picture. To make a long story short, two couples never showed at all. It might have been nice if they'd told the dining room staff that they'd made other plans.

Kind of weird to be two people at a table for eight, but at least we got our fill of dinner rolls, and I didn't have to worry about brushing elbows.

I agree with the others that if you have a scheduled time in the MDR it is polite to let the staff know if you won't be dining on any given evening. DH and I always let the staff (and our tablemates) know on the first night that if we're ever not there by 5 minutes after then it's safe to assume we are not coming and to not wait. I suppose if we had other plans for the first night we would make it a point to go by the dining room and let the staff know, but that hasn't happened yet.

Still, if you're on MTD and haven't made reservations I agree there is no need to tell anybody if you won't be there.

If you have early traditional dining you should change to MyTime dining. The first seating for traditional dining is often waitlisted and it will enable someone else to take the spot. Right thing to do for all concerned.

We had late sitting but the first night we did first night done right. We did all other nights but there were only 2 couples on a table for 10. Next time if we do FNDR we will make an appearance to let table mates know as there was a couple who showed up for first night but none after.