All Things Explorer of the Seas! -- Part 2

[RosemaryNJ]

For all those that will be sailing the Explorer on the 7 day Bermuda cruise remember that this a new itinerary. They have not sailed this in the past and it is possible many things will change. They will be docked for two nights so show times may be different (only one show?) ice show at night?.

The Sept 9Th cruise was the first 7 night so we will have to hear from them to get the updated info.

Dick

 

Thanks, Dick. Yes, we are on a 7 night itinerary. I didn't realize that it was 5 nights before this week. I hope someone can tell me what the times of the shows are on the 7 night one when they return. I just hope the 7:45PM dinner doesn't block us out of seeing any show. I will try to change it when we board.

[mein18]

For all those that will be sailing the Explorer on the 7 day Bermuda cruise remember that this a new itinerary. They have not sailed this in the past and it is possible many things will change. They will be docked for two nights so show times may be different (only one show?) ice show at night?.

The Sept 9Th cruise was the first 7 night so we will have to hear from them to get the updated info.

Dick

 

Excellent point. Did not think of that. We are sailing on Sunday so guess will just have to wing it unless we hear from someone currently on board. Do they often have just one show when in port at night? Although we have done a number of cruises, have never done one where we are docked overnight.

I assume the shops and casino remain closed during that entire time?

[mein18]

Thanks, Dick. Yes, we are on a 7 night itinerary. I didn't realize that it was 5 nights before this week. I hope someone can tell me what the times of the shows are on the 7 night one when they return. I just hope the 7:45PM dinner doesn't block us out of seeing any show. I will try to change it when we board.

 

From what I am reading throughout CC, the line is going to be astronomical for those changing or creating new reservations. I am hoping this is an artificial panic brought forth by the number of emails everyone has received to book MTD. RCI, if they haven't already will be receiving numerous complaints about their so called "my time dining" format. It should now be called, "the whatever time is available dining".

[red devil]

Thanks, Dick. Yes, we are on a 7 night itinerary. I didn't realize that it was 5 nights before this week. I hope someone can tell me what the times of the shows are on the 7 night one when they return. I just hope the 7:45PM dinner doesn't block us out of seeing any show. I will try to change it when we board.

On our 5 night last year.

Day 2 shows where 9:00 & 10:45

Day 3 docked Ice show 7:00 & 9:00 Pm My bad this was 2010 last year 2011 they had a headliner and only one show

Day 4 Production show 7:15 & 9:00 pm

Not sure what they will do.

Edited September 12, 2012 by red devil

[red devil]

Excellent point. Did not think of that. We are sailing on Sunday so guess will just have to wing it unless we hear from someone currently on board. Do they often have just one show when in port at night? Although we have done a number of cruises, have never done one where we are docked overnight.

I assume the shops and casino remain closed during that entire time?

 

In the past shops & casino closed.

There will not be many activities during the day.

[P&C4/16/67]

From what I am reading throughout CC, the line is going to be astronomical for those changing or creating new reservations. I am hoping this is an artificial panic brought forth by the number of emails everyone has received to book MTD. RCI, if they haven't already will be receiving numerous complaints about their so called "my time dining" format. It should now be called, "the whatever time is available dining".

 

That's strange, from what I've read thoughout CC is that MTD reservations are not necessary. Just show up whenever and you will be seated within a few minutes.

[mein18]

That's strange, from what I've read thoughout CC is that MTD reservations are not necessary. Just show up whenever and you will be seated within a few minutes.

 

That should be true but now that they are pushing everyone to reserve prior to boarding, many if not most have reserved online and almost no times are available unless you like to eat at 5:30 or 9:00. Yes, they do supposedly keep some spots available but there are only so many seats on the ship and more are swaying towards private dining and not sharing a table and everyone seems to want the 6:30 to 7:15 slots. That being said, the panic is on throughout the boards. Not just on CC. Many seem to be making reservations with the thought that things really have not changed and they will be able to walk up and get a table just like it had been in the past.

MTD seemed to work perfectly when everyone just walked up. I have never seen anyone wait more than a few minutes except for larger parties but we have not been on a cruise since the weekly "make your MTD reservations today" emails have flooded our in boxes.

I have not seen any recent passengers post their experiences when it comes to MTD. Maybe someone just back can fill us in as to the true situation.

[nicwithcandy]

Ugh I never had problems in the past getting a table with MTD, I really don't want to make reservations now and be stuck with those times. What's the point of even having MTD if that's how its works now?

[mo&fran]

Ugh I never had problems in the past getting a table with MTD, I really don't want to make reservations now and be stuck with those times. What's the point of even having MTD if that's how its works now?

Traditional dining seats you acording to the ship schedule at the time they choose. MTD allows you to select the time you want to eat. It can be a fixed time, every night, a different time every night, or just walk in and ask to be seated. Your choice.

[nicwithcandy]

Yes I know, but people are saying they are having trouble with the MTD, they are encouraging you to book online before the cruise.

[mein18]

Traditional dining seats you acording to the ship schedule at the time they choose. MTD allows you to select the time you want to eat. It can be a fixed time, every night, a different time every night, or just walk in and ask to be seated. Your choice.

 

This is the way MTD was in the past but has been pretty much taken away with the reserve before you board push. Anxious to hear any recent cruisers that can tell us if it is fact or fiction.

[noenre]

Yes I know, but people are saying they are having trouble with the MTD, they are encouraging you to book online before the cruise.

 

I am confused now. We prepaid our tips and were told that this allowed us to eat whenever we want. I did not know we could book online. We were never told that.

 

Can someone fill me in? We are travelling with kids and want the option to decide each day when to eat since you never know what time everyone will be hungry (there are 8 of us).

 

Thanks.

[mein18]

With a party of 8, you may have a difficult time with MTD. Getting a table for 8 available can create a somewhat long wait for you and your party. That they do make pretty clear in some of the emails. You should have been receiving almost weekly emails saying to book your my time dining reservations now. That is what is causing the sort of panic. You may want to go into your reservation and see if you can make the MTD reservations for your party. If this is an artificial panic then you only spent a few minutes for peace of mind but at least you will have a time that you can arrive to eat and not have to wait very long.

 

These advanced reservations are perfect for the larger parties such as yours and I am sure help the ship staff prepare accordingly.

[ll6747]

We did my time dining last week. They would only take reservations for 5:30, 6:00...and I believe the later time was 8:00, 8:30.

 

you could come anytime and be seated (with a possible wait time), but reservations were only taken for these specific times.

 

we ended up taking 6 on most nights so we could get the same waiters. a couple of nights we didn't make rezzies, and showed up about 6:20 and still got our same table.

 

The first night i did remark to the hostess that this was really "your time dining", not MTD, because on Adventure, Freedom and Oasis we could make reservations at any time. She replied, they only dedicate 1/2 of the 5th floor dining room to MTD and don't have the space to allow random rezzies.

[mein18]

We did my time dining last week. They would only take reservations for 5:30, 6:00...and I believe the later time was 8:00, 8:30.

 

you could come anytime and be seated (with a possible wait time), but reservations were only taken for these specific times.

 

we ended up taking 6 on most nights so we could get the same waiters. a couple of nights we didn't make rezzies, and showed up about 6:20 and still got our same table.

 

The first night i did remark to the hostess that this was really "your time dining", not MTD, because on Adventure, Freedom and Oasis we could make reservations at any time. She replied, they only dedicate 1/2 of the 5th floor dining room to MTD and don't have the space to allow random rezzies.

 

Thank you for sharing your experience. You note that on the 3 ships in the past you could make reservations at any time and I believe that was the case with most ships but since the email push for advanced reservations, many are making the reservations out of a panic and filling up the spots regardless of their time preferences. So now when you go to reserve, they are all taken. It sounds like many are going to try and change them when they board but from what you say, that is no longer an option. Guess true MTD is a thing of the past. Hopefully they get enough complaints to go back to the old way. It certainly wasn't broken so why did they try to fix it.

[Esmerelda]

I know we have received probably 8 emails in the last 2 weeks reminding us to book our times.

 

The funny part is; we booked our MTD times about 2 months ago. I even have an email printed out where they confirmed all.

 

It definitely sounds like a snafu somewhere. I hope they get it fixed.

 

We did manage to get 6:30 for every evening and there are 6 of us total.

 

:)

[nicwithcandy]

I'm leaving on the 23rd and I just went on and booked just to be safe. A lot of the times were already taken so I'm glad I did this. I figure if I want to change it I can, just glad I was able to get the time I wanted

[noenre]

With a party of 8, you may have a difficult time with MTD. Getting a table for 8 available can create a somewhat long wait for you and your party. That they do make pretty clear in some of the emails. You should have been receiving almost weekly emails saying to book your my time dining reservations now. That is what is causing the sort of panic. You may want to go into your reservation and see if you can make the MTD reservations for your party. If this is an artificial panic then you only spent a few minutes for peace of mind but at least you will have a time that you can arrive to eat and not have to wait very long.

 

These advanced reservations are perfect for the larger parties such as yours and I am sure help the ship staff prepare accordingly.

 

Wow, I have not gotten a single email. I am going to have to call them.

 

Thanks for the info.

[4everafter]

We did my time dining last week. They would only take reservations for 5:30, 6:00...and I believe the later time was 8:00, 8:30.

 

you could come anytime and be seated (with a possible wait time), but reservations were only taken for these specific times.

 

we ended up taking 6 on most nights so we could get the same waiters. a couple of nights we didn't make rezzies, and showed up about 6:20 and still got our same table.

 

The first night i did remark to the hostess that this was really "your time dining", not MTD, because on Adventure, Freedom and Oasis we could make reservations at any time. She replied, they only dedicate 1/2 of the 5th floor dining room to MTD and don't have the space to allow random rezzies.

 

the biggest problem with mtd is everyone wants to eat at 7 and they can't turn the dining room 2 times - so they can't feed everyone ! its not just Royal because we had an awful time on Princess last year SAME Problem ! I'm not sure it will get fixed by any of the lines, one of its original purposes was for families that wanted to get in & out faster.

[rigs32]

The first night i did remark to the hostess that this was really "your time dining", not MTD, because on Adventure, Freedom and Oasis we could make reservations at any time. She replied, they only dedicate 1/2 of the 5th floor dining room to MTD and don't have the space to allow random rezzies.

 

That's what I don't understand. We booked the Oct 14 sailing back in February or March. At that time, a set dining time wasn't even an option - only MTD was available. The ship was NOT being sold quickly (and we got an amazing deal as a result) so I have to wonder why we couldn't get our typical late seating.

 

Given that we're in port for three days, I like that we're not stuck with a specific dining time and we don't mind eating late or sharing a table, so I'm not worried about it. I doubt they'll refuse to feed us if we show up for dinner by 9.

[mein18]

I honestly think what we will find is that once everyone is on board, they will adjust their reservation times or just show up when they feel ready to eat. Hopefully those that just show up will cancel their previous reservation if they had one. This will open times throughout the evening for those walking in. Add the spots they keep open to those that become open due to changes and hopefully everyone will be accommodated with only a short wait at most.

 

I have scoured many threads throughout CC and other boards and see various experiences with MTD on RCI. At this point, yes, they will certainly feed everyone and they certainly do not want any unhappy passengers so we will make the best of what comes of the timing.

[SNJCruisers]

Thanks, Dick. Yes, we are on a 7 night itinerary. I didn't realize that it was 5 nights before this week. I hope someone can tell me what the times of the shows are on the 7 night one when they return. I just hope the 7:45PM dinner doesn't block us out of seeing any show. I will try to change it when we board.

Our cruise was 10 nights in length. The first night's show and one other one during the cruise were at 1030, the rest were split.

[SNJCruisers]

I am confused now. We prepaid our tips and were told that this allowed us to eat whenever we want. I did not know we could book online. We were never told that.

 

Can someone fill me in? We are travelling with kids and want the option to decide each day when to eat since you never know what time everyone will be hungry (there are 8 of us).

 

Thanks.

If you have MTD without reservations, you may have to wait up to 20-30 minutes at the absolute most before you're seated. If you have pre-reserved your time slot, it's just like a reservation at home.

[mets550]

If you have MTD without reservations, you may have to wait up to 20-30 minutes at the absolute most before you're seated. If you have pre-reserved your time slot, it's just like a reservation at home.

 

We personally prefer the late seating time over MTD. We enjoy having a fixed schedule to work from, and eating at one of the assigned times guarantees coordination with show times. On our four-nighter on the Jewel this December, we booked Chops/Portofino for each night of the cruise. I tried to make reservations for 8:30 p.m. each night, but Chops only had 7:00 and 9:00 (this was only about a day or two after reservations even became available on the website). Thus, we are going to try to switch to 8:30 p.m. Hopefully it won't be an issue.

[MattandLindsay]

We did my time dining last week. They would only take reservations for 5:30, 6:00...and I believe the later time was 8:00, 8:30.

 

you could come anytime and be seated (with a possible wait time), but reservations were only taken for these specific times.

 

we ended up taking 6 on most nights so we could get the same waiters. a couple of nights we didn't make rezzies, and showed up about 6:20 and still got our same table.

 

The first night i did remark to the hostess that this was really "your time dining", not MTD, because on Adventure, Freedom and Oasis we could make reservations at any time. She replied, they only dedicate 1/2 of the 5th floor dining room to MTD and don't have the space to allow random rezzies.

 

We just got off the Explorer on the 9th (10 day). We had a fairly pleasant experience with MTD, however we had to fight to get what we wanted. All we asked to have the same server- it didn't matter the time- just tell us when to come. The girl host was absolutely unaccommodating and simply repeated her line that "we don't guarantee a section". Her demeanor was almost on the mean/rude side. So we dealt strictly with Murat. He was excellent at listening to a request and coming up with a solution that worked for both us and the dining room and staff. He was very pleasant and helpful. So find Murat if you have an requests!

 

That being said, Carnival seems to have the MTD experience down pat. No reservations, just show up when you are ready to eat. Much easier for everyone involved if you ask me- we had an excellent time with it. This reservation system seems to cause a lot of stress for all parties and I can't understand why they do it this way!