My time dining - reservations - why?

[Marga.Anders]

Hi,

 

I am going on my first cruise in September. I have chosen for My Time Dining.

 

When I go to cruise planner I see that I can make reservations for my preferred dining time.

 

Doesn't this defeat the purpose? I thought this way I could determine on the spot when and where to eat?

 

Do you recommend making a reservation? Is it easy to alter it on the day if I change my mind?

[rmf11699]

I'm new to RCI myself so can't answer that but you're right, does not make sense. Hope someone will respond to you.

[ancestry]

A lot of it depends on personal preference. If you walk in to eat whenever you feel like it you may have a wait. I’ve seen reports on the boards of waits up to 45 minutes to an hour to get a table at peak my time dining hours.

 

We prefer the fixed time dining so I don’t have a lot of personal experience with the my time dining. Just know you may encounter waits.

 

 

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[FLACRUISER99]

Hi,

 

I am going on my first cruise in September. I have chosen for My Time Dining.

 

When I go to cruise planner I see that I can make reservations for my preferred dining time.

 

Doesn't this defeat the purpose? I thought this way I could determine on the spot when and where to eat?

 

Do you recommend making a reservation? Is it easy to alter it on the day if I change my mind?

It depends on the ship, some ships will sit you quickly, others not so good at it. I always have MTD an hardly ever make a reservation (except on Lobster Night) as I like to eat when I feel like it!

[Teeara]

You don't have to make a reservation time with MTD. You can go whenever you want, just be prepared to possibly wait a bit to get a seat. We made reservations for our last cruise on Freedom and it was great. We went the first night and really liked our waiters so the 2nd night we asked the people at the front desk if we could be assigned to that table for all of the times we had reserved and they let us do that. It was great. We also usually saw the same people at the same tables every night as well.

 

If you don't reserve your time you may be sitting with a different wait staff every night and in a different part of the dining room each night. If that doesn't bother you, then go ahead and show up every night whenever you want. Just be prepared to sit and wait for a table.

[mduffy1834]

Reservations are good if you have a specific show/activity you want to do in the evening - you can plan to do dinner before or after such show/activity. That way, you save time waiting in line for a table, which may or may not affect your night. There have been times, even with reservations, that we have waited in a long line to check in. I have found that most people desire to eat somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30 - lines can be big. If you're not in a hurry on a certain night, chill out and eat whenever you want or the line isn't too bad. Enjoy

[Clarea]

Hi,

 

I am going on my first cruise in September. I have chosen for My Time Dining.

 

When I go to cruise planner I see that I can make reservations for my preferred dining time.

 

Doesn't this defeat the purpose? I thought this way I could determine on the spot when and where to eat?

 

Do you recommend making a reservation? Is it easy to alter it on the day if I change my mind?

If you have a large party, making reservations would be a good thing as it would reduce waiting time. If you are a party of two, depending on demographic, you could have little to no wait without reservations.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

I make reservations for the same time each night - a time in between the two seating times - for 2 reasons. First, I cruise solo and find getting assigned to a table with couples or worse, a "singles dump" table extremely awkward and by making a reservation for MTD I know I'm getting my own table and don't have to request and hope it happens with traditional dining. Second, I am gluten-free and have a peanut allergy, and by making a reservation for the same time each night allows me to have the same table and more importantly service team each night. I have been on a cruise with an open seating concept (they seated you at the next available table when you came in) (fathom, in case you were wondering), and it was really unsettling having different servers every night - especially when something I'd ordered came out with bread all over it. Having the same team means they're going to know my needs after the first night and make sure I'm not going to be exposed to an allergen - having different people each night doesn't give me that same confidence.

[spookwife]

at the very least, make reservations for night one. that is always the most discombobulated night. the line for those without reservations on that night was easily three times longer than the one for with ressies on our Rhapsody cruise last week.

 

after that you can wing it if you like. we prefer reservations at 630 each night because it splits the difference between early and late seating.

[taliho621]

So I have a question for making reservations for the first night on Harmony. We are not getting on the ship until almost 2:00, so will we have any chance of getting a reservation for three for that night - at a reasonable hour? And will we be able to do it on Royal IQ (figure I will activate the minute we get on board), or should we go wait in the insufferable line?

 

Thanks.

[venicia]

We always make reservations on line before boarding. We are able to get in the "reservations" line and be seated in no time at all. This past December, the line for no reservations must have had at least 50 to 60 persons in it quite a bit and many wait times were 45 minutes to one hour. We did notice this last cruise the dining time was very long, the wait staff was running to try and bring out the food. They need more servers, we waited 30 minutes one night for desert and then left without it, good for the waistline!! It is a very simple thing to book it on line and your guarantee of being seated quickly is fabulous.

 

Also, we scheduled two dinners in the Solarium Bistro and I liked them better than the main dining room. Solarium was free for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but reservations are needed for dinner. It is quite dining in a very nice atmosphere where there is a buffet with excellent food as well as a menu and an up sell menu. Very well worth trying.

 

My time dining allows you to pick a time that suits you ahead of time, instead of the traditional dinner times, but on the large ships you really do want to make reservations. Without a reservation, you will be seated, its just a matter of how long you may need to wait. By the way, this was Oasis.

[Clarea]

So I have a question for making reservations for the first night on Harmony. We are not getting on the ship until almost 2:00, so will we have any chance of getting a reservation for three for that night - at a reasonable hour? And will we be able to do it on Royal IQ (figure I will activate the minute we get on board), or should we go wait in the insufferable line?

 

Thanks.

I'd try making reservations with the app first. If that does not work, I'd just show up for dinner when I want. I would want to spend a bunch of time on my first day in line.

[davekathy]

We always make reservations for MTD. Personal choice.

[Luke Dawg]

Just off Allure, party of 12, we did MTD and booked 6:30 each night. When you go to the dinning room there are two lines one for guests with reservations and one for guests w/o. The line for no reservations was long. It was very popular so I recommend pre-reserve on Cruise Planner. You can always change at the last minute you may have to wait a little but not as long as the ones w/o.

[Biker19]

So I have a question for making reservations for the first night on Harmony. We are not getting on the ship until almost 2:00, so will we have any chance of getting a reservation for three for that night - at a reasonable hour? And will we be able to do it on Royal IQ (figure I will activate the minute we get on board), or should we go wait in the insufferable line?

Is there a reason you can't make a reservation now, online?

 

BTW, Royal IQ may work from Terminal 18 before you get on the ship.

[grouchomarx]

It is no different than visiting a restaurant on land. Book a reservation to secure your spot, or be willing to wait if you don't book a reservation. I changed bookings quite a bit once on board, it was very easy and I did it with both the app and in person if the app didn't offer me what I wanted. Never had a problem getting what I wanted.

[lele100]

IF the ship we are on doesn't have the app, (Independence) how do you change reservation time for MTD?

[TBone2K]

You can always change the MDR reservation time once onboard by going to see the maitre'd. You can also ask to be switched to MDR if you really want. MTD times can also be changed for various days by calling the restaurant during the cruise.

[Biker19]

IF the ship we are on doesn't have the app, (Independence) how do you change reservation time for MTD?

You can do it online prior to the cruise or with the MDR host on the ship.

[villager70]

We make them in advance. We have seen most of the shows etc before but I can make them in advance reviewing cruise compass for times to see and event we want to go to. Line is very short to none on reservations and non usually much larger on none . If you want to change time when on ship some just let them expire or you can call and have them cancelled.made 3rd thru 6 on next two Freedom as doing 2/1 on first two nights. did same on next two Oasis as doing coastal first two nights. Bob The Villages, Florida

[Mikew0805]

Hi,

 

I am going on my first cruise in September. I have chosen for My Time Dining.

 

When I go to cruise planner I see that I can make reservations for my preferred dining time.

 

Doesn't this defeat the purpose? I thought this way I could determine on the spot when and where to eat?

 

Do you recommend making a reservation? Is it easy to alter it on the day if I change my mind?

 

I'm new to RCI myself so can't answer that but you're right, does not make sense. Hope someone will respond to you.

 

We always do MTD, and do not make reservations. 99% of the time we want a table for two, and have to say that we are usually sat within 10 minutes of checking in to dine.

 

On the Oasis, I believe we waited one time close to 1/2 hour, but not a big deal for us.

[Yvonne]

If you do not have a reservation and have a 45-60 minute wait time do they give you a pager? On our most recent cruise (Carnival Dream) we had a wait time one night of about 30 minutes but we were given a pager so we could sit in the atrium and listen to the live music. Most nights we only had a short line and only waited 5-10 minutes to be seated.

[Clarea]

If you do not have a reservation and have a 45-60 minute wait time do they give you a pager? On our most recent cruise (Carnival Dream) we had a wait time one night of about 30 minutes but we were given a pager so we could sit in the atrium and listen to the live music. Most nights we only had a short line and only waited 5-10 minutes to be seated.

I've not seen a pager used for Royal's MTD.

[Jasonmom]

How does someone know what will be going on in the ship to make up minds what time to book? I don't know what time the shows will be, but I know my mom will want to go to them. Is there a place to find out this information before on the ship the day of the show?

 

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[rukkian]

How does someone know what will be going on in the ship to make up minds what time to book? I don't know what time the shows will be, but I know my mom will want to go to them. Is there a place to find out this information before on the ship the day of the show?

 

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Depends on the ship, on oasis or quantum class, you can pre book the shows, so you will know (at least for the big things) what will be happening. You can always take a quick guess before hand, and just change them when onboard.