Questions about My Time Dining on the Allure

[Homegrown]

We are going on the Allure in July and had stuck with our traditional early dining when I made the reservation. As we have gotten closer to the cruise, we decided that now that our son is older (13) we really didnt want to eat at 6 anymore so we have made a last minute change to My Time Dining. Having never tried this before, what are other's experiences on the Allure? Most of the reservations during prime dining times are already taken but I noticed that you can't even make reservations between 6:45 and 7:45. Are these times available once you are onboard or is it just first come first serve? Wife is worried we have made a bad decision changing, a little reasurance would help. Thanks for any info.

[Clarea]

We are going on the Allure in July and had stuck with our traditional early dining when I made the reservation. As we have gotten closer to the cruise, we decided that now that our son is older (13) we really didnt want to eat at 6 anymore so we have made a last minute change to My Time Dining. Having never tried this before, what are other's experiences on the Allure? Most of the reservations during prime dining times are already taken but I noticed that you can't even make reservations between 6:45 and 7:45. Are these times available once you are onboard or is it just first come first serve? Wife is worried we have made a bad decision changing, a little reasurance would help. Thanks for any info.

You may be able to make reservations for those times once on board, however many people report little waiting time if you just show up without a reservation.

[mailmama]

Our experience on Oasis and Allure is the flexibility that the MtD offers. We never made reservations. On those action-packed ships, you never know what you will be doing or where you will be at 6 and 8:30 pm. The MTD allows you to eat whenever you want during the evening hours. Just clean up, get dressed and show up. The wait wasn't over 15 minutes and it was fun people watching while you wait!

[Peeker28]

We did MTD on the Oasis and it worked well for us. We were able to fit in all our shows and still eat in the MDR every night. I did make reservations before we left but their were people without reservations and it looked like they didn't have to wait too long for a table. You can make reservations once you embark and you may have a better chance of getting what you want. You will like MTD, good luck and enjoy your cruise

[PaisleyAnn]

We did MTD on the Allure last October and loved the flexibility. We had reservations for one night (the first formal night) but every night after that we just showed up whenever we felt like it. They have two "lines" (hostess stands) at the door- one is for people with reservations, one is for people without reservations. The host(ess) will ask you if you want to dine with other passengers or just with your own party. If you say other passengers, they will seat you with people that were recently seated, so that you are not interupting the timing of placing your orders and the food being served. If you want to dine with your family only, they will put you at your own table. There was rarely a wait; I think only 1 night we had to wait and it was less than 10 minutes. The other nights we were sat right away. We loved the MTD so much, it would be hard to go back to assigned seating.

[debk68]

I agree with everyone. We just got back:( And did my time dining. The first night we went without a reservation and were seated within 5-10 minutes. The my time is on deck 5, they printed the cards with the incorrect deck.

 

We really liked our waiters Tony and Anthony from India and our table 930 (seats only 2). So we made reservations after that, they don't guarantee the waiter and the table but we had the waiter every night and the table 6 out of 7.

 

You can make reservations the night before or the day of before 3. I would recommend them for formal nights, the second formal night was lobster and it was the busiest.

[Familygoboston]

Especially with a teen; your teens compass is pretty fluid and events that interest him may pop up "whenever" and he will want to do them. You can plan dinner around them to have him join you or you can turn up and request a romantic table for two while he is involved in activities- your choice! :D Doesn't that sound better than trying to showing up at 6 every night and making excuses to the other 6 people?;) I think you will love MTD.

[Homegrown]

Thanks to all of you for your replies, that helps a lot.