HARMONY OF THE SEAS MY TIME DINING HELP!!

[tewkewl]

So I'm new to RC.  I did not know about this reservation BS.  It looks like people reserve the my time dining times months in advance.  So suprise suprise!  I log on to make a reservation and no times are available that suit us!  We have a one year old and we ARENT eating dinner at 8:30.  

 

Anyway, what is your experience with just showing up?

 

When can you come and get a seat without a long wait? 5:30? 

 

Is this the same with Solarium bistro?

 

What about lunch and breakfast? Can we just walk in without a giant wait?

[GTO-Girl]

3 minutes ago, tewkewl said:

So I'm new to RC.  I did not know about this reservation BS.  It looks like people reserve the my time dining times months in advance.  So suprise suprise!  I log on to make a reservation and no times are available that suit us!  We have a one year old and we ARENT eating dinner at 8:30.  

 

Anyway, what is your experience with just showing up?

 

When can you come and get a seat without a long wait? 5:30? 

 

Is this the same with Solarium bistro?

 

What about lunch and breakfast? Can we just walk in without a giant wait?

 

You do not have to make reservations with My Time dining.  A lot of people do if they know they want to eat at certain time.  Your wait time will depend on when you go....6:30-8:00 seems to be the prime time for crowds so if you can go earlier you should have no problem.

 

If you like your table and servers....and if you wish to keep them ask at the hostess stand when you leave if you can reserve it for the rest of the week.  

 

I havent been on the Harmony yet, but the Oasis and the Allure have worked this way.  Have a wonderful cruise!!

[tewkewl]

We would like to eat between 5 and 6.  Will that work for those times?

[Ashland]

38 minutes ago, tewkewl said:

We would like to eat between 5 and 6.  Will that work for those times?

We sailed on Harmony last March and had no trouble walking right in with MTD around 6:00pm. The dining room opens at 5:30pm for the dinner hours.

[tewkewl]

But how large was your party?

[rockmom]

14 minutes ago, tewkewl said:

But how large was your party?

Do you have a large party or something?  I have seen families in line and get seated fairly quickly.  For example a family of four, with parents and small children. If you have a really large group, that might be tougher.  The main dining room is only open for lunch on sea days, you just show up, but open for breakfast each morning.  Windjammer is open for breakfast lunch and dinner all days--again, just show up. Solarium also doesn't take reservations.  You can also eat at Park Cafe (early morning through late night), Sorrentos (Pizza).  Breakfast is also free at Johnny Rockets and the Wipe out Cafe, no reservations.  FYI, Johnny Rockets is only free at breakfast, there's a charge for lunch or dinner.  

 

 

[tewkewl]

We are 4.  So that works, but how do you know if the people you saw had reservations or not?  Can you tell?

[rockmom]

2 minutes ago, tewkewl said:

We are 4.  So that works, but how do you know if the people you saw had reservations or not?  Can you tell?

Yes, there are lines for 'with' and 'without' reservations.  The My Time Dining Room is on a different deck than the assigned seating ones. I think MTD is on deck three. As I think others have mentioned, when you board on the first day, you can go to the dining room right away. There will be someone there--you can ask about getting a table for the time you want--and then if you like that table and servers, you can go to the desk again and see if they can book you in that same spot on subsequent nights.  You can also go to guest services right away and try for the shows that I know you were worried about.  If your kids are younger and you want to take advantage of the Kid's programs, make sure you go there the first night.  They will give you a 'Boarding Day Cruise Compass--that lists the info on where and when to get the kids signed up.  Space can be limited, so go on that first day. It also allows the kids to check it out and see what's what. 🙂  Each night you'll get a Cruise Compass in your room for the following day.  These are like gold, haha (if you lose it, they keep them at Guest Services).  I take a highlighter with me and go down the huge list of things and mark ones I think might be fun so I don't forget.  I'm on Allure in May--can't wait! 

[ptod]

1 hour ago, tewkewl said:

We would like to eat between 5 and 6.  Will that work for those times?

 

A party of 4 should have no trouble being seated early without reservations.  I would suggest that you plan on being at the MTD dining room when it opens.  Stay relaxed on that first night - it can feel like controlled chaos - process if much smoother for the rest of the trip.  As others have said, if you like the table/staff, ask if you can just reserve the table for the rest of the cruise - we have never been refused - even with a party of 8.   

[chiguypaul]

For the MDR, if you come for dinner between 5:30 and 5:45 you should be fine as a walk in. During the busier periods I've seen long lines.

[tewkewl]

Thanks! This is all great info.  We will plan on 5:45 most nights.  One night we will have to do 6 because we got a show reservation for 1882 at 5. 

[Ashland]

4 hours ago, tewkewl said:

But how large was your party?

Sometimes we were a party of 6 adults sometimes a party of 6 adults and 1 child. We never had a wait and this was a spring break cruise and the ship was full.

[gatour]

We booked a relatively late reservation for a Harmony cruise.  All of the online reservations were full except very late seatings.  On the first night it was a pain to get a table at 6:30pm.  But we were able to make reservations for the rest of the cruise at our desired times.

 

I wish I would have thought of going to the dining room.upon boarding to make reservations for the cruise.

 

 

[LisaD2164]

We were on the Harmony for New Years and ended up with My Time Dining (somehow our early seating disappeared in their system).  It actually worked out better for us as we like to eat a little bit later anyway.  On our first day, there was a letter on our bed advising us we were dining on Deck 4 and providing a phone number to call for reservations. The person on the phone tried to book us at 530 each day right away.  We decided not to go with that as we wanted to eat later on a few days. Most mornings we called and they only had tables between 5 and 6 pm.  If we asked for later, they told us to show up after 6 to the no reservations podium.  We did this twice (showing up right at 6) and were seated right away (one time they actually walked us down to Deck 3 where the set dining times are as there was a free table there and we would have had to wait for a table on Deck 4 - the servers were very welcoming). We were a party of 4. I found they were quite efficient even with a full ship.

[James Baird]

If you are worried about reservations try and see if there is any Main Traditional seating available.  You show up between 530-600 and have the same table and wait staff every night.

[Thesandman12]

On 1/28/2019 at 8:54 PM, tewkewl said:

So I'm new to RC.  I did not know about this reservation BS.  It looks like people reserve the my time dining times months in advance.  So suprise suprise!  I log on to make a reservation and no times are available that suit us!  We have a one year old and we ARENT eating dinner at 8:30.  

 

Anyway, what is your experience with just showing up?

 

When can you come and get a seat without a long wait? 5:30? 

 

Is this the same with Solarium bistro?

 

What about lunch and breakfast? Can we just walk in without a giant wait?

 

[Thesandman12]

The minute you board the ship have one in your party go, directly, to talk to the staff at the MT dinning. Have all cabin numbers for the group. They will work with you and make arrangements if they can. Be nice, not nice will get you the WJ.