How Does My Time Dining Work

[joyce&bob]

We are sailing on the NOS.

 

Can someone explain how the "My Time Dining" works. Do they give you a time frame and you can go anytime during that time. Is it only in certain rest.??? Can you make a reservation everyday? When you board how do you know if you are on the My Time Dining program? We have done the Any Time Dining on NCL & the Open Seating on Princess.

[Albert Ross]

MTD is in the main dining room only

It is between 6-9:30pm

You can turn up as you wish, or you can book a table each night or you can make a standing reservation for the same time each evening

You request to have MTD - they do not assign it to you so if you want MTD you must ask your agent to put you on to this.

You must prepay your gratuities to have MTD

It is the same menu and dress code as the main dining room

It is only a set number of tables and it is very popular.

[M&M Hayden]

You can turn up as you wish, or you can book a table each night or you can make a standing reservation for the same time each evening

 

 

We (party of 4) were on Freedom last week and wanted to make a reservation and they would not let us. They said to just "show up" (the Compass said "reservations recommended"). Well, it's the last time we will do MTD unless we have a large group. We also wanted to sit at a larger table with others and they didn't do that either. We tried to get the same waiter and only had success 2 nights. One server we had forgot one of our salads and after we pointed it out she brought it out with the main course.

 

So it depends on the ship and the personnel "running" MTD.

[Mines]

We did my time dining on Navigator and thought it was great. They arranged a section of deck 5, mostly small tables for the many guests that wanted tables for two or four.

 

Because it is variable timing, of course you cannot guarantee the same wait staff every night, unless you arrive every night at 6:00, but that would defeat the object of My Time.

 

If someone forgets your salad, that has nothing to do with MyTime or not - it is a mixture of human error and sloppy practice.

[VegasCrossfire]

Thanks for the MTD explanation. We signed up for it for our Radiance OTS cruise in March - but really didn't know exactly how it worked.

[Kurbanfan]

We (party of 4) were on Freedom last week and wanted to make a reservation and they would not let us. They said to just "show up" (the Compass said "reservations recommended").

 

Yeah! It seems they are finally figuring out how it is suppose to work:D

[snausman]

I was on Enchantment last month and really enjoyed MTD. I will always ask for it now. To me the best of all worlds.

[joyce&bob]

MTD is in the main dining room only

It is between 6-9:30pm

You can turn up as you wish, or you can book a table each night or you can make a standing reservation for the same time each evening

You request to have MTD - they do not assign it to you so if you want MTD you must ask your agent to put you on to this.

You must prepay your gratuities to have MTD

It is the same menu and dress code as the main dining room

It is only a set number of tables and it is very popular.

 

We did sign up for MTD with our agent...I just wondered if it is on your sail card that you are MTD not 1st or 2nd seating?

[Cruisebylandorsea]

Sea Pass says MTD

 

Did MTD on LoS. Had same waiter each meal, but different asst waiters. We gave all tip vouchers to waiter to divide up with asst waiters. Somehow they knew how to pool & divide vouchers.

 

We forgot to reserve one night, so we went to the Windjammer. The next night they told us they had reserved our table for the previous night. One night we showed up early (our bad), so as not to miss C&A event, but they made us wait to the usual time.

 

You can only make reservations during certain hours. For us it became difficult a couple of times.

 

Make sure your cabin steward knows you are on MTD and when you are going to dinner, so they can adjust their schedule to clean your cabin.

 

We only sat by ourselves, but heard that other folks were able to join tables of 4 on MTD. Some folks formed their own groups and reserved together I think.

[ZigNKat]

We had Anytime Dining on Carnival last year and loved it; we've been lucky to have good tablemates at dinner, most times, however there is always the chance. . . :eek:

 

So we can just show up and request (or reserve) a table for 2? That would be perfect for us.

 

I had read some place that it was like breakfast in the main dining room, they seat you at a table with a bunch of other people and nobody gets to order until the table is filled. . . if we're going to have to do that then we may as well have a set time. At least you get used to the same people every night!

 

Thanks for clearing this up for us!

[snausman]

We had Anytime Dining on Carnival last year and loved it; we've been lucky to have good tablemates at dinner, most times, however there is always the chance. . . :eek:

 

So we can just show up and request (or reserve) a table for 2? That would be perfect for us.

 

I had read some place that it was like breakfast in the main dining room, they seat you at a table with a bunch of other people and nobody gets to order until the table is filled. . . if we're going to have to do that then we may as well have a set time. At least you get used to the same people every night!

 

Thanks for clearing this up for us!

 

You can get a table for 2, no problem.

[RetireeWannabee]

We forgot to reserve one night, so we went to the Windjammer. The next night they told us they had reserved our table for the previous night. One night we showed up early (our bad), so as not to miss C&A event, but they made us wait to the usual time.

 

You can only make reservations during certain hours. For us it became difficult a couple of times.

 

Make sure your cabin steward knows you are on MTD and when you are going to dinner, so they can adjust their schedule to clean your cabin.

 

We only sat by ourselves, but heard that other folks were able to join tables of 4 on MTD. Some folks formed their own groups and reserved together I think.

Not liking the ressie required, nor Wait Until Your Assigned Time dining! weird. It does still seem to be a different interpretation by ship. "Large Table to Share" should not be a tough request.

 

Not likely I'll be informing my cabin steward of when I'm eating each night - they seem to always know when we're not around and I'm not going to know when I'm going to the dining room.

[Albert Ross]

We (party of 4) were on Freedom last week and wanted to make a reservation and they would not let us. They said to just "show up" (the Compass said "reservations recommended"). Well, it's the last time we will do MTD unless we have a large group. We also wanted to sit at a larger table with others and they didn't do that either. We tried to get the same waiter and only had success 2 nights. One server we had forgot one of our salads and after we pointed it out she brought it out with the main course.

 

So it depends on the ship and the personnel "running" MTD.

 

We (party of 4) were on Navigator and had a standing reservation for 8p every evening.

[Nekochan]

What if you are traveling by yourself and want to eat with other people? Are there any large tables they can seat you at like breakfast and lunch?

[MAZANDSTEVE]

We had Anytime Dining on Carnival last year and loved it; we've been lucky to have good tablemates at dinner, most times, however there is always the chance. . . :eek:

 

So we can just show up and request (or reserve) a table for 2? That would be perfect for us.

 

I had read some place that it was like breakfast in the main dining room, they seat you at a table with a bunch of other people and nobody gets to order until the table is filled. . . if we're going to have to do that then we may as well have a set time. At least you get used to the same people every night!

 

Thanks for clearing this up for us!

 

 

You can get a table for 2, we did but sometimes had to wait, once they told us it would be about 20 minutes, so we went for a walk. They also asked us to reserve for each night which to us wasnt MTD. I think it depends on which ship you are on and which MD you have.Some it works out well for and some it doesnt.

[qe2]

We made a standing reservation the first day of the cruise. We had the same table and waiter but the assistants changed. It worked out well but if you want to see the shows, you need to be careful about the time you choose. The shows are scheduled with the standard dining times in mind.

[Let'sGo!]

Would love to hear if anyone has done MTD on Mariner.

 

We prefer early seating - especially with the Pacific time zone change, but we are wait listed for early seating on our next cruise. If it turns out we can not change to early, we might try MTD.

 

Unfortunately though we enjoy the commaderie of meeting new people and have made some good friends with our tablemates in the past. It sounds like MTD uses smaller tables of 2 and 4.

 

Ann

[Guest maddycat]

We had MTD on the Explorer twice. In May we were able to just show up at the MTD section whenever we wanted, usually between 6:15 and 7:00, and get a table for 2. It was great. In Oct. reservations were strongly recommended and they could only be made one day in advance. To us making reservations defeats the whole idea behind MTD. When we tried to just show up for dinner one evening at 6:30, we were told that the first available table for 2 would be at 8:00. The MTD area needs more tables for 2. Several evenings we noticed that the large tables remained empty throughout dinner.

[Kurbanfan]

Would love to hear if anyone has done MTD on Mariner.

 

We prefer early seating - especially with the Pacific time zone change, but we are wait listed for early seating on our next cruise. If it turns out we can not change to early, we might try MTD.

 

Unfortunately though we enjoy the commaderie of meeting new people and have made some good friends with our tablemates in the past. It sounds like MTD uses smaller tables of 2 and 4.

 

Ann

 

We had it on the Mariner......if you like traditional you will like it on the Mariner.......they basically encourage you to make a reservation every night.......so in other words you will have a set time......defeats the whole purpose IMO.....

We had a table for 6.......

[negc]

We had it on the Mariner......if you like traditional you will like it on the Mariner.......they basically encourage you to make a reservation every night.......so in other words you will have a set time......defeats the whole purpose IMO.....

We had a table for 6.......

 

There is a big difference between "encouraging you to make a reservation every night" and "requiring you to make a reservation every night". We and others have experienced My Time Dining on several RCI ships and, while it may be that a ship we have not sailed didn't yet have the policy down pat, on none of our cruises was there ever the slightest pressure to make advance reservations. If you want to show up at the same or a different time each evening that is your prerogative. It is how My Time Dining was designed to work and how it has worked in our experience.

We also noted a variety of table sizes in the MTD section of the dining room.:)

[Kurbanfan]

There is a big difference between "encouraging you to make a reservation every night" and "requiring you to make a reservation every night". We and others have experienced My Time Dining on several RCI ships and, while it may be that a ship we have not sailed didn't yet have the policy down pat, on none of our cruises was there ever the slightest pressure to make advance reservations. If you want to show up at the same or a different time each evening that is your prerogative. It is how My Time Dining was designed to work and how it has worked in our experience.

We also noted a variety of table sizes in the MTD section of the dining room.:)

 

We have had this conversation before;) Does not change my experience.........

[stargazer73]

Just came back from the Grandeur and had MTD. You can just show up if you like (and we did, once), and they will try to seat you. Obviously, if there are no tables available at that time, you'll wait. You can make a different reservation every night if you like, they accept them in the evenings from 3-4:30 I believe. They did make an effort to seat us with the same waiter each night, but we ended up with one waiter 2 nights, and another for the other 2. We sat at a 2 person table. All of the MTD was in one side of the 5th deck. We never had to wait, with or without a reservation, but on a couple of nights when we did have reservations, we saw them send other folks without them out into the Centrum to wait for a table.

[sldcruiser]

We made a standing reservation the first day of the cruise. We had the same table and waiter but the assistants changed. It worked out well but if you want to see the shows, you need to be careful about the time you choose. The shows are scheduled with the standard dining times in mind.

We'll be on the Serenade this summer and I keep going back and forth about whether I want to keep our late seating or change to MTD. Can anyone tell me what time the shows usually are?

[NorbertsNiece]

Show times are based around dining room times generally so everyone has the chance to see them. If there's a show you particularly want to see and you have MTD you can go to either show.

[13yranncruise]

Where do you make the reservations? We are signed up for MTD, but I'm not sure what to do when we embark to actually request the time and table size...