Length of Dining Time?

[DarlingandtheGerman]

Hello all!

 

My husband and I are sailing Oasis of the seas May 21st (yay!). We are set-up with Traditional dining at 5:30pm. How long does the dining normally take?

 

The main reason I'm asking is because there's a show we want to see on one of the nights that starts at 7:30pm. Would we make it or is that pushing it?

 

Thanks!

[tomatecerise]

We had my time Dining and the Service was very efficient! We had a dinner at 6:30pm and show at 8. We did the 2 without problem (we did not want the best places for the show to not stress with that)

[Erwin Family @ Sea]

Two hours is pretty standard. However, many are in and out in far less time. You should have no problem. Just let your wait staff know and they will get you out.

[Biker19]

Just let your wait staff know and they will get you out.

+1 - tell your waiter when you sit down that you have to make that show - they'll speed things up.

[Surfguyxxx]

You should have more than enough time. If you want, you could also have dinner at some of the other venues aboard the ship.

[GUT2407]

One and half to two hours.

[cb at sea]

If you are at a table by yourself (which isn't as much fun as having tablemates, IMO!), tell your server if you need to hurry. You can always eat at the buffet, if you're in a big rush....which you shouldn't be...you're on vacation!

[OCruisers]

With reservations you should have no problem making the 7:30 show. :)

[akcruz]

I would say depends on if you are dining alone or at a large table. If alone just let your waiter know and they will make sure you get out on time. If, however, you are at a large table and others do not need to get through quick it will be tough. As mentioned if this is an issue you can dine in the Windjammer that evening or somewhere else.

 

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[mike123abc]

If you are dining alone (with just my family of fast eaters), it is not hard to get out in an hour, if you let your waiter know. My family is early eaters and always have the earliest time booked. We do not take the time to savor our meals with the appropriate wine and enjoying the ambiance between courses. Dinner time is essentially as long as you want to make it. On one cruise we were consistently out of the dining room in 45 minutes by the time the cruise ended. The waiter knew exactly what we wanted when and we zoomed through dining.

 

We have always done my time with the the reservations in advance and just family at the table. No wasting time with slow eating strangers. This style does not agree with everyone, but for our family it is the way we like it!

[DarlingandtheGerman]

Thanks so much everyone! This was super helpful. We'll stick with the dining time and see what happens.

 

Can't wait to be cruising!

[riclop]

Hello all!

 

My husband and I are sailing Oasis of the seas May 21st (yay!). We are set-up with Traditional dining at 5:30pm. How long does the dining normally take?

 

The main reason I'm asking is because there's a show we want to see on one of the nights that starts at 7:30pm. Would we make it or is that pushing it?

 

Thanks!

At least 90 min.

[Advowithamber]

If you are dining alone (with just my family of fast eaters), it is not hard to get out in an hour, if you let your waiter know. My family is early eaters and always have the earliest time booked. We do not take the time to savor our meals with the appropriate wine and enjoying the ambiance between courses. Dinner time is essentially as long as you want to make it. On one cruise we were consistently out of the dining room in 45 minutes by the time the cruise ended. The waiter knew exactly what we wanted when and we zoomed through dining.

 

We have always done my time with the the reservations in advance and just family at the table. No wasting time with slow eating strangers. This style does not agree with everyone, but for our family it is the way we like it!

 

 

How do you request only your family at a table? I don't want to eat with others, and we have a toddler. Speed is essential.

 

 

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[Clarea]

How do you request only your family at a table? I don't want to eat with others, and we have a toddler. Speed is essential.

If you are in My Time Dining, you will by default sit with your own party.

 

If you are in traditional dining, request your own table from rcldining@rccl.com.

[CanadaCathi]

You should be fine, as long as you're not lingering over several courses. My daughter and I had a 5:30p MTD time a few weeks ago on Oasis and were at the AquaTheater by 7p for the 7:30 show no problem (if that's the one you're doing, take something to keep the kiddos occupied; we couldn't get seated til 7:20p and there were lots of bored kids in line!).

 

 

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[Twolittleboys]

Like others have said, it will depend on your table. If it is just our family we are generally done in about an hour (one child skips desert so he is even faster). Once we sat at a large table and some of the other guests were consistently 20 minutes late. Added to the longer serving time and potential slow eaters that makes quite a bit of difference.

 

If you do find that it is taking too long you could always skip desert on that day (and maybe pick up something later either in the Windjammer or another venue).

[hazeleyez3]

I would say depends on if you are dining alone or at a large table. If alone just let your waiter know and they will make sure you get out on time. If, however, you are at a large table and others do not need to get through quick it will be tough. As mentioned if this is an issue you can dine in the Windjammer that evening or somewhere else.

 

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I would have to agree with this. Although many times it will only be 2 hours at most, table mates may take longer eating, We had one time where the waiter did know we were in a hurry but we were seated at a table with three other families. Two were chatting and lingering with each course. When it hit the two hour mark and we hadn't even made it to diessert, we excused ourselves and left.

 

I think your best bet might be to just do the Windjammer that night. Just remember to tell the waiter and table mates the evening before so they don't wait for you to arrive. :)

[slyster]

So I am not as familiar with reserving shows ahead of time, but don't they open doors to those without reservations a certain time before the shows start? Just something to keep in mind. If the shows starts at 7:30, you probably need to be out of dining by 7.

[Clarea]

So I am not as familiar with reserving shows ahead of time, but don't they open doors to those without reservations a certain time before the shows start? Just something to keep in mind. If the shows starts at 7:30, you probably need to be out of dining by 7.

Correct, around 10 minutes before the show, they open the venue to the stand-by line.

[mike123abc]

How do you request only your family at a table? I don't want to eat with others, and we have a toddler. Speed is essential.

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We always pick my time dining. Then using cruise planner we set our reservations in advance (paying attention to any excursions that might delay us) for the earliest possible time. It is a real pain to go through cruise planner for each night and select all the people over and over, but after a few nights you get the hang of all the clicks to get through it quickly. The first afternoon (boarding day) on the ship I go visit the dining room to verify the reservations and make sure that we have our own table.

 

By having a consistent time and party we essentially always got the same table assigned to us.

[nelblu]

Hello all!

 

My husband and I are sailing Oasis of the seas May 21st (yay!). We are set-up with Traditional dining at 5:30pm. How long does the dining normally take?

 

The main reason I'm asking is because there's a show we want to see on one of the nights that starts at 7:30pm. Would we make it or is that pushing it?

 

Thanks!

 

 

We've had 5:30pm dining time and from our experience we have completed dinner in 1 hr or less. We usually have a table for 2 and found from our experience that the service is much faster than a large table.

 

If you have a large table, advise you waiter of your show time and he/she will accommodated you.

[BigHouseFootball]

The first night in the MDR is always the longest and most chaotic for the wait staff. Our waiter last year told us they get new partners every week. So that dinner can go 90 minutes plus.

 

But after that we are in and out of the MDR in an hour. We do always get a table for 2.