My time dining

[RCI Cruisers 004]

Hello, 

 it’s been awhile since we’ve cruised Royal. My question is, how far in advance are we able to book my time dining ? TIA

[Clarea]

No set time, keep checking.

[cruisinghawg]

We just booked for next spring and signed up for MTD. We have not set times yet and will do so as it gets closer.

[Mr. Candyman]

I'm about 134 days out from my sailing and I think I was able to book around 150 days. It could have possibly allowed me to do so earlier but that's when I attempted to do so.

[sailor05]

This will be our first MTD as the early dining was not available. What should we expect for a party of 6 who want to eat around 6:00? The earliest available to pre-book now is 7:15 and we don't want that.

 

[Retired LEO]

I've booked a year out. I'm booked through March 2020

[DISFANS3]

Year out plus for us,May 2020.. On Harmony..

[grapau27]

7 hours ago, RCI Cruisers 004 said:

Hello, 

 it’s been awhile since we’ve cruised Royal. My question is, how far in advance are we able to book my time dining ? TIA

I booked MTD 2 months before our upcoming sailing.

[ReneeFLL]

We always book MTD as soon as we book the cruise. The longest we have booked out was almost 2 years before the cruise sail date. With MTD you can also make reservations for a certain dining time. We never do that. The reason for MTD for us is to eat whenever we want and not have to stick to a schedule. Some people like it because they like to eat at a certain time which isn't the same time as either of the main seating times.

 

Didn't know if you knew that you can make reservations with MTD so I thought I would throw it out there.

[FOXTROT]

Usually right after final payment.

[grapau27]

2 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

We always book MTD as soon as we book the cruise. The longest we have booked out was almost 2 years before the cruise sail date. With MTD you can also make reservations for a certain dining time. We never do that. The reason for MTD for us is to eat whenever we want and not have to stick to a schedule. Some people like it because they like to eat at a certain time which isn't the same time as either of the main seating times.

 

Didn't know if you knew that you can make reservations with MTD so I thought I would throw it out there.

I always book MTD for 8.30pm on the planner so we can have an hour in the DL first.

As we often go to Speciality Restaurant's  I let the host at MTD know if we won't be dining.

I always print a copy of MTD reservations and bring it with me the first night we dine there.

[goneclear]

WE just got off the Allure on Sunday 21st. We mostly ate at specialty dining restaurants with the exception

of the two formal nights which we did MTD with an 8pm reservation.

The people who were just doing the walk up were told the wait time was 40 minutes. We were glad we did make reservations.

 

[erby2283]

I made mine Feb 4 for my cruise in Aug. 

[cymru cruiser]

 

Thanks to this thread. I’ve booked all our dining 150+ days out. 

I was also very relieved that I could add family from another booking to our table as I’d been worried if that would be impossible to do online 😀

 

How does it work once on board? Do you just give your name and party size at the door to the MDR? 

Edited April 26, 2019 by cymru cruiser

[Clarea]

34 minutes ago, cymru cruiser said:

 

Thanks to this thread. I’ve booked all our dining 150+ days out. 

I was also very relieved that I could add family from another booking to our table as I’d been worried if that would be impossible to do online 😀

 

How does it work once on board? Do you just give your name and party size at the door to the MDR? 

 

They usually want stateroom number at the podium in front of the MDR.

[taglovestocruise]

On 4/21/2019 at 8:35 PM, sailor05 said:

This will be our first MTD as the early dining was not available. What should we expect for a party of 6 who want to eat around 6:00? The earliest available to pre-book now is 7:15 and we don't want that.

 

Just walk up at 6, with a party of six you may need to wait 5 - 10 minutes. 

[sailor05]

45 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Just walk up at 6, with a party of six you may need to wait 5 - 10 minutes. 

I actually checked again and low & behold a 6:30 slot opened up for every night for our group of 6. So We're happy sailors now!

[Iriel]

I have a question about MTD. I've made reservations for every day, but I'm not sure of the shows' times, so we might need to change the booking for some days. Is it better to cancel the reservations and just go to the dining room at whatever time we want or is it easy to change the time onboard? What do you recommend?

 

 

[Clarea]

5 hours ago, Iriel said:

I have a question about MTD. I've made reservations for every day, but I'm not sure of the shows' times, so we might need to change the booking for some days. Is it better to cancel the reservations and just go to the dining room at whatever time we want or is it easy to change the time onboard? What do you recommend?

 

 

 

I'd try to change and if you are not able to change, then just show up when you want.  If you are showing up later than your reservation, I'd cancel to allow others to use your table. 

[Iriel]

6 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

I'd try to change and if you are not able to change, then just show up when you want.  If you are showing up later than your reservation, I'd cancel to allow others to use your table. 

 

Makes sense. Thank you!

[happyiam]

Don't know if this applies to all ships, but we couldn't book our preferred time for MTD pre-cruise as only really early slots were all that showed as available. When we went for our first dinner , on Adventure OTS, they saw we had times all over the place. They asked if we preferred a set time and we were able to book our preference right there. I suggest that, if you are not able to book your preference, go and speak to the staff on your first night as they might be able to accommodate you. They told me they often have changes. 

[Iriel]

5 minutes ago, happyiam said:

Don't know if this applies to all ships, but we couldn't book our preferred time for MTD pre-cruise as only really early slots were all that showed as available. When we went for our first dinner , on Adventure OTS, they saw we had times all over the place. They asked if we preferred a set time and we were able to book our preference right there. I suggest that, if you are not able to book your preference, go and speak to the staff on your first night as they might be able to accommodate you. They told me they often have changes. 

 

That's cool. I'll keep it in mind. Thank you!

[Crunchymom]

I'm kind of confused by the MTD. I liked the idea when we booked because I thought we could eat when we wanted....but then you have to book a time? I mean, we did but what if we want to eat a little later than our time, can we just change it last minute? 

[grapau27]

4 minutes ago, Crunchymom said:

I'm kind of confused by the MTD. I liked the idea when we booked because I thought we could eat when we wanted....but then you have to book a time? I mean, we did but what if we want to eat a little later than our time, can we just change it last minute? 

There are usually 2 lines.

1 for reserved times and 1 for no reservations.