Your experiences with My Time Dining

[Artemis908]

Our trip on Oasis in two weeks will be our first trip using MTD. I had read a recent review that said your reservation time is just the time you show up to wait in line, not what time you go to sit down. I am afraid now that maybe I didn't leave ourselves enough time in between dining and shows. Can anyone share their experiences or have tips? I am wondering if I made a mistake and should have gone with the traditional dining...

[joepeka]

We've done MTD on RCI (Indy) as well as other cruise lines and never had a problem getting right in at our reservation time. Depending on your reservation time, there may be a bit of a queue at the reservation podium but it moves quickly. At least that's been our experience.

[Starry Eyes]

If you are concerned, just go to the dining room (one person or the whole party) a bit earlier than your reservation time. if there is a line at the reservation desk, join the line early. If not, have a stroll or a drink or snap some pictures.

 

In general, if we wish to be out faster, our meals tend to go faster in MTD than in traditional dining. since it is just our party, we can easily coordinate our orders, limiting the number of courses and speeding our progress if desired. Not really encouraging you to rush, but sometimes one really wants to catch a certain game or show, If sharing a large table with others, the meal pace may depend oupon the number of courses fellow diners order as well as the pace of the slower eaters.

 

If you learn you have planned things too tight, speak the the reservations desk about adjusting your reservation times.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Starry Eyes

[pennielz]

We only do MTD dining. We have never waited more than 2-3 minutes in line to see the hostess and that was with a 6:00 pm reservation. Once at the hostess stand we were seated immediately. Off times, 6:39, we had no wait at all.

 

We live MTD!

[racerxspeedy]

You have a legitimate concern

 

Our experience has shown that MTD on Allure/Oasis is not the same as the smaller ships. Our party of 4 typically had a 30 minute wait and then a 2 hr dinner. There were larger parties that I spoke to that had to wait much longer - EVEN with reservations. The sad part - the dining room was never full.

 

Due to the long wait and the fact that the shows are so good - I would never recommend MTD on these ships - JMTC. Your best bet will be to show up early for dinner if you need to make a show.

 

Have a great cruise.

[killtheump]

We did MTD in November on the Oasis. The first night was the only night we had to wait, the other nights walked up and we were seated in a few minutes. Our Resevations were for 7:00 pm every night. Prime time. We had the same wait staff each night, but not the same table every night.

 

One night we had a 8:15 show reservation, I think Oasis of Dreams. We told our wait staff and we were out of the dinning room by 8:00. They were great.

[mominva]

My family of 5 tried MTD for the first time on Oasis last summer. I had wanted to get a reservation for 7 pm and learned that they won't give you a reservation for that time. I was so worried that we would have to wait, and my husband and son are not that patient. All of our reserved shows assumed we were eating around 7 every night. We decided to arrive at dinner around 6:30 or 6:45 every night to make sure we didn't get in a line. We had no trouble gettting a table every night. Sometimes, they seated us on a different floor. Once, we had to wait 10-15 minutes. I don't think we ever had the same waiters. My daughter missed getting to know our waitstaff. Our meals were around an hour - the longest was 1 1/2 hours. This was perfect for our family. All of the waiters did a great job.

 

So many people opt to eat at specialty restaurants on the Oasis. I think that frees up tables and staff on the other levels and MTD can use them if needed.

 

On the formal nights, more people choose to eat in the Main Dining room. The lines are longer those nights. Go earlier to miss the crowds. Also, families are posing for pictures and it is crowded.

[niksmom630]

You have a legitimate concern

 

Our experience has shown that MTD on Allure/Oasis is not the same as the smaller ships. Our party of 4 typically had a 30 minute wait and then a 2 hr dinner. There were larger parties that I spoke to that had to wait much longer - EVEN with reservations. The sad part - the dining room was never full.

 

Due to the long wait and the fact that the shows are so good - I would never recommend MTD on these ships - JMTC. Your best bet will be to show up early for dinner if you need to make a show.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

ughhhh, I was afraid of this. I have never done MTD but had to be moved from early traditional dining at 6 p.m. in order to link reservations with our traveling companions. It seems that I recall others making similar comments with respect to MTD wait times on Allure and Oasis...if a 30 minute wait and a 2 hour meal are the norm, then I have probably cut my show times too close. :eek:

 

Any others want to weigh in with recent experiences with MTD on Oasis or Allure?

 

Thanks!

Chris

[RCI Cruisers 004]

We have done MTD on our last few cruises and haven't had a problem at all ! We haven't sailed on Oasis, but on our Allure cruise I reserved MTD at 7 each night. It was as easy as showing up just before 7 to the desk, telling the girl our room number and being escorted to our table! We never had to wait to get in and only once the table we had was occupied but we sat right next to it and still had the same waiters each night. We have MTD booked for our upcoming cruises also !

[janetz]

We were a party of six with MTD. We never reserved a time, just went when we were ready to dine. Never waited at all. Most times we went to dine between 6:30-7. Always had plenty of time before the 8:30 shows. ;)

[niksmom630]

We were a party of six with MTD. We never reserved a time, just went when we were ready to dine. Never waited at all. Most times we went to dine between 6:30-7. Always had plenty of time before the 8:30 shows. ;)

 

 

Thanks, this is good to know. We are a group of 5, all reservations from 6-630. Hoping our experience is similar to yours. 😊

 

 

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[ggglo]

On oasis right now. New Years cruise! We are a party of ten. Never had a problem. Made reservations on ship about 2 hours before show time. Only bad night was New Years eve and we only waited a short time! Everyone eating on late side, but otherwise fine.

[TheGaDawgFan]

We've never been on Oasis, but I was sooooo worried about this before trying MTD. It turned out to be awesome for us!

 

My husband has decided it's the only way to cruise. He doesn't want to be forced to eat at the same time every day.

[pinkrosesdeb]

The only time we found MTD dining a little challenging was on Oasis. We went to dining room after boarding and we were some of the first in line and were told all reservations before 8:30pm had already been taken. She told us we should have reserved times online prior to boarding. Isn't that supposed to be the perk of MTD...no need to make reservations?! We were lucky enough to have an amazing DL concierge who made 1 phone call and handled things for us. Everything else was great, wait staff, timing etc.

[utopiahereicome]

We had My Time Dining on Oasis last June, party of 4, had made reservations on line prior to cruise, every night was between 6:30 and 7, never had a wait except for 1 formal night when we waited for about 15 minutes. Also had the same table and wait staff every night but one.

We loved it and would recommend!:)

[Bobal]

We have always had MTD on every ship we've sailed on since it was introduced.

 

We did MTD on Allure in March last year (for 2) and Oasis in August last year (for 4). We never had to wait for longer than a few minutes - except the first formal night on Allure, when we made the mistake of arriving just after the Captain's toast - we waited perhaps 10 mins.

 

There are 2 lines - one for those who have booked and one for walk-ups. We always book in advance for the same time every evening and then reassess what we want to do once onboard and adjust timings accordingly by letting them know the night before. It really is not difficult to log into your account choose a time, say you want it at that time every night and then change it as you go along.

 

We would never do traditional dining as we like the flexibility MTD offers.

Edited January 3, 2015 by Bobal

[janetz]

Thanks, this is good to know. We are a group of 5, all reservations from 6-630. Hoping our experience is similar to yours.

 

 

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My point is, you do not need reservations with MTD. ;)

[pinkrosesdeb]

janetz, that is the argument we made when trying to dine first night as well but were told emphatically that all early dining was already taken and we should have booked online! First tables would be available at 8:30. I still would suggest booking at least your first night time before boarding one of the big ships...but that's just MHO

[Keasel]

We've done MTD for ten cruises including the two largest (Oasis and Allure) and two smallest (Legend and Splendour) and love the flexibility.

 

We never made reservations before the cruise. Usually, we'd stop by and make reservations for that later that day. Even on days where we didn't make reservations, we only had to wait more than a couple of minutes once.

[oneputt18]

Never a problem and have never made reservations. Just walked up and within 10 minutes we were seated.

 

 

 

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[tdk]

We love it...we never had to wait long and most of the time got seated in same area so had the same waiters so they got to know what you liked and didn't like.

[L454S]

Never had to wait last month on the Serenade with MTD. We do generally eat early (5:30 to 6:00)and were seated on the spot at a table for 2.