Shared tables at My Time Dining

[Cruisegroover]

I've heard elsewhere that RCL have stopped the option of sharing with other diners in My Time Dining ie a couple will always be seated at a table for 2 and so on. One lady said she travelling on her own and was seated very night by herself as she couldn't change back to traditional dining. Can anybody verify this?

 

I hope not as I often travel with a friend and look forward to chatting to others at dinner as we need some space away from each other by dinner. I would hate to go back to traditional dining if that was the case.

[Clarea]

You can still ask to sit with others, but you may end up waiting longer.

 

I think there is a higher percentage of guests in MTD that want to sit with their own party exclusively, then there are in traditional.

[cb at sea]

Most MTDer's don't WANT to sit with others....very secluded bunch. If you like tablemates, (and we do!), then do traditional seating. So much more fun.

[BekkaW]

As Bob mentioned its a bit of a gamble. You essentially have to hope that there will be other MTD guests, who want to sit with others and who attend at the same time you do.

 

Sometimes that will work but often times not. We like to meet new people and tend to pick traditional late dining for this reason.

[spookwife]

the default is to be seated only with your party. you have to request a shared table.

 

we would often end up chit chatting with a couple before dinner and end up in the DR together

[Ivana Cruise]

We were sat at a table for two but it was literally about 6 inches from the tables at either side of us so we were pretty much sitting with two other couples on either side.

[Murphy]

Most MTDer's don't WANT to sit with others....very secluded bunch. If you like tablemates, (and we do!), then do traditional seating. So much more fun.

 

I dont think that is always true about being a secluded bunch. We enjoy dining with others and meeting new people but main seating is too early for us and especially on those sailings where late seating isnt until 8:45 thats too late. We now usually pick MTD and book a 7:30 dining time but actually do miss the large table seating.

[jules815]

I chose MTD for our last two cruises, because early seating was just too early, and late was a little late for some of the activities.

[Scotty G]

We were sat at a table for two but it was literally about 6 inches from the tables at either side of us so we were pretty much sitting with two other couples on either side.

 

We have done that in MTD and Specialty venues and enjoyed this type of meeting others.

[Langley Cruisers]

Most MTDer's don't WANT to sit with others....very secluded bunch. If you like tablemates, (and we do!), then do traditional seating. So much more fun.

 

Nope. You couldn't be more incorrect. You've never had My Time Dining. Just because passengers take MTD doesn't mean they are a secluded bunch or they shun socializing with others or anything else you can think of to say. We share tables in MTD and have met some extraordinary people. Amazing. People can choose to have tablemates in MTD and Traditional Dining, and they can choose NOT to have tablemates in MTD and Traditional Dining.

 

We were sat at a table for two but it was literally about 6 inches from the tables at either side of us so we were pretty much sitting with two other couples on either side.

 

Agree with you. This is why we stopped asking for a two-top and choose to sit with others. It was just so awkward to try and pretend you can't hear everything they're saying. :D:p

 

.

[Truluv]

Taking my 1st solo, and made some MyTime reservations. Does that mean they'd automatically put me at a table by myself, or that I will have to wait around and hope somebody else asks to be seated at a larger table? Darn.

[Langley Cruisers]

Taking my 1st solo, and made some MyTime reservations. Does that mean they'd automatically put me at a table by myself, or that I will have to wait around and hope somebody else asks to be seated at a larger table? Darn.

 

Please don't worry. Tell them what you want. We have shared tables with solo cruisers before and they have all been delightful. :)

 

I neglected to address OP's comment so I will do it now:

 

I've heard elsewhere that RCL have stopped the option of sharing with other diners in My Time Dining ie a couple will always be seated at a table for 2 and so on...

 

I actually have a really hard time believing this and I will tell you why: they simply don't have enough tables for two available. The shared tables are usually larger, as in for 6 or 8 or even 10 people. We have sat at all of those sizes of tables and we are a couple. Given that a table for 8 may consist of 4 couples, it's logistically easier to seat them at one large table rather than 4 small tables. I'm not calling OP a liar, but I think it's a misunderstanding.

.

[sddsddean]

We recently did a b2b on the Oasis and though we asked every time to be seated on a 'big' table, we were on a table for 2 every time, though as has been said, you are only 6" from the table next door, but it is somehow harder to strike up a conversation with someone who, though only being 6" away, might want their privacy.

Celebrity have got MTD sussed. We have done several Celeb cruises with MTD and every time sit on a table for 8 or 10. As most people tend to go to dinner about the same time, you end up sitting with people you did 2 or 3 evenings before...its like selecting 8 tablemates out of a pool of 30 odd and we think it works really well. RCI just don't seem to 'get' the concept of MTD and we put on our comment card (which is now an e mail!) that someone ought to take a trip on a Celeb ship to see how its done properly.

 

Simon

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Taking my 1st solo, and made some MyTime reservations. Does that mean they'd automatically put me at a table by myself, or that I will have to wait around and hope somebody else asks to be seated at a larger table? Darn.

 

I'd hope that they don't make solos wait around and will allow us to sit alone. After a couple of VERY uncomfortable dinners (just radically different views on things to the point where I was made uncomfortable and could not get out of dinner quickly enough but couldn't bail gracefully so was stuck) where I was forced to endure, I don't want to have to deal with that again and would definitely not want to be seated with others.

 

Along the same vein, I get that tables are close together, but I'd definitely hate for people to assume that I wanted to chat. We had that happen when cruising as a family to celebrate my parents' 45th anniversary, and getting the party at the other table to leave us alone was not fun.

[Truluv]

Written - this is a tough call. I've also had a few experiences with assigned seating that hasn't gone well. 2-3 times our family was at a table with people only talked to each other, ignoring the rest of the table. We had some breakfasts in the main dining room with people who clearly weren't morning people, since they sat in stony silence. Once or twice we had people with aggressive political positions or who were so critical of the cruise that they were depressing, and once an older woman who probably had a few too many glasses of wine made a pass at one of my sons :-0. On one cruise nobody else ever showed up at our assigned large table, so the waiter hung out at our table to talk to us constantly. I guess he thought our family would be lonely! Overall, though, assigned seating has gone well for us and it had been our family's preference. I'm just stuck in My Time dining this time, since I booked last minute.

 

I've never seen anyone whip out a book or Kindle in the MDR...is it ok now for dinner if solo? My manners are 50+ years out of date.

[rncruiser]

We have had both good and bad experiences with MTD. Once we were fortunate enough to be placed at the large tables we had requested and ended up with some of the same table mates every night. Another time we w fed up at a table for two every night even though we had requested a large table. Last cruise on Allure we were traveling with our daughter. We again asked for a large table and every night but one we dined by ourselves. We are giving upon MTD and going bs k to traditional. We look forward to meeting new people on our cruises. We had chosen MTD only to have a more convenient time to eat. However, we have decided we would rather eat at 6 pm with others than at 7 pm by ourselves. We eat by ourselves every other night. Meeting new people is too much an important part of our cruise experience to give up.

[Miryam1234]

And then there is us poor non-English speaking outsiders, who just don't want to put others in the awkward position of having to talk to somebody whose first language is not English.

Or was it the other way round?

:D

 

Seriously: especially in the dinner table, when I am facing all this strangely named food (=mixture of restaurant English & French and maybe even Italian and/or Spanish) which I don't know if they are fish or meat, soup or salad, and then I would have to have a civilized discussion in my third language, all at the same time, it's way too hard. No way. I will endure the food but don't ask me to put up a conversation with strangers, please!

 

We've had a table to our own even on Traditional dining. Makes everybody happier, I bet. But we do eavesdrop the discussions happening nearby. Sometimes it drives especially the ladies crazy when they suddenly realize we can understand them, but they don't have a clue about our language. Not even as much as to recognize it.

 

Don't worry. We try to behave ourselves. What happens at cruise, stays at cruise. Or was it only in Vegas?

[negc]

Most MTDer's don't WANT to sit with others....very secluded bunch. If you like tablemates, (and we do!), then do traditional seating. So much more fun.

 

A bit of an unfounded generalization, wouldn't you say? Almost as bad as if I said that most people who choose MTD do so to avoid sitting with someone as judgmental as you seem to be. There are many very valid reasons for choosing MTD, including the ability to choose your particular dining times each or every evening.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Written - this is a tough call. I've also had a few experiences with assigned seating that hasn't gone well. 2-3 times our family was at a table with people only talked to each other, ignoring the rest of the table. We had some breakfasts in the main dining room with people who clearly weren't morning people, since they sat in stony silence. Once or twice we had people with aggressive political positions or who were so critical of the cruise that they were depressing, and once an older woman who probably had a few too many glasses of wine made a pass at one of my sons :-0. On one cruise nobody else ever showed up at our assigned large table, so the waiter hung out at our table to talk to us constantly. I guess he thought our family would be lonely! Overall, though, assigned seating has gone well for us and it had been our family's preference. I'm just stuck in My Time dining this time, since I booked last minute.

 

I've never seen anyone whip out a book or Kindle in the MDR...is it ok now for dinner if solo? My manners are 50+ years out of date.

 

I did it on Disney in February. I figure if parents are allowing their kids to bring iPads and so forth (which I see even in restaurants in NYC) I shouldn't feel bad at a table by myself (was able to get it changed after a VERY uncomfortable first night). That said, my servers were so fantastic I found I never needed to turn it on.

Edited June 10, 2015 by WrittenOnYourHeart

[Rala]

A bit of an unfounded generalization, wouldn't you say? Almost as bad as if I said that most people who choose MTD do so to avoid sitting with someone as judgmental as you seem to be. There are many very valid reasons for choosing MTD, including the ability to choose your particular dining times each or every evening.

 

Thumbs up to this post, Bill. She is just so exasperating.:rolleyes:

[Lady Chew]

We have done MTD on Royal, HAL, Celebrity & Oceania ... the early seating is too early for us, and the late seating is ... too late! We usually try to eat around 7:30.

 

We have never made reservations and have never had to wait more than a few minutes. We ask for the first available table, don't care if it's for 2, 6 or 10. Usually it is for a larger table and we go right by all the folks waiting for their tables for 2.

 

I recall that on 2 or 3 evenings, when we arrived at the MDR the lines for MTD were super long, so we just changed course and went up to the buffet.

 

We've met some wonderful people this way and had some great times at dinner ... and we've had some tables that just weren't very good, but never anything too horrible!