My Time Dining

[chrismch]

20 hours ago, vjmatty said:

Did you book your reservations through the Cruise Planner or on board? Reading this thread it’s looking like my reservations for MTD in the Planner may be meaningless lol 

Yes, it was done through the planner which showed 8:30 as the only option for MTD. But once on board we got it changed.

[Hogbay]

13 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Every guest with late or early traditional gets a assigned dining room and table number.  When you choose MTD you are put Into the full group of MT diners. If you have a reservations you are usually seated quickly, no reservations and you just get what opens up.  Way to many with MTD and no reservations insist on eating at 6:30 - 7pm. We had MTD for one night several years ago, people next to us were about 8 inches away.  Never again, we love late seating at a large table.  Usually have at least a three night specialty for alone time. 

Love how MTD has all these threads. Enjoy your dinnertime..traditional. 🙂 early or second sitting. Always ready no issues. 🙂

[rebeccac]

1 hour ago, Hogbay said:

Love how MTD has all these threads. Enjoy your dinnertime..traditional. 🙂 early or second sitting. Always ready no issues. 🙂

 

The problem is that early seating is too early for me and late seating is a bit too late, plus we like the flexibility.  MTD used to work just fine and we rarely had to wait more than 15 minutes for a table.  However, it sounds like Royal has truly made MTD a total mess.  I don't understand why they had to mess with something that was working and still continues to work on many other cruise lines.  

[Biker19]

54 minutes ago, rebeccac said:

I don't understand why they had to mess with something that was working and still continues to work on many other cruise lines.  

It still works for most people most of the time.

[Submariner]

22 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

You can specify your table size request when you book.  More importantly though, email the request about 3 weeks prior to the cruise to rcldining@rccl.com

 

I used the email address (Thanks Starry Eyes) yesterday to request our party of 8 (3 reservations) be changed from MTD (earliest available seating was 8pm) to early dining for our June 24 trip.. We have two old folks in our party and having them wait for dinner or standing in line was not going to work..

 

The email address worked and they immediately helped out and changed all our times to Early Traditional.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Submariner

[c-leg5]

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

It still works for most people most of the time.

According to whom? How would you know?

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, c-leg5 said:

According to whom? How would you know?

Personal experience and lack of more than just a few anecdotal reports. Also, expectations of some may be different than what is possible and/or the norm.

[Starry Eyes]

17 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Personal experience and lack of more than just a few anecdotal reports. Also, expectations of some may be different than what is possible and/or the norm.

Expectations are indeed at the core.  The reason people post these threads is, perhaps, to help others set their expectations.

 

Years ago, MTD was quite flexible; it opened 30 minutes before early traditional dining.  If one avoided the busiest times, lines were not an issue even without reservations.  I believe many people who sign up for MTD now still have this expectation.  If they do not carefully check the app or read a board like this, they may not learn that MTD now starts much later on their ship.  Their expectation does not match the ship’s plan.

 

On sailings with low passenger counts, there is also far less issue with MTD lines…fewer people vying for the same number of seats means short lines.  Many of us have enjoyed that all over the ships but it is coming to an end.  The closer ships come to 100-110% capacity, the longer lines one is apt to encounter.  Also, if service for early diners is slow for any reason, those diners exit later, delaying the entry of MTD diners, so lines are longer if the kitchen is slow or staffing is suboptimal.

 

To set expectations, it would help people were told the MTD times as they selected their dining option for their sailing.  I do not think that info is given at the time reservation is made.  
 

If a MTD passenger expected to dine at 5-5:30-6-6:30 some or all nights, clearly the passenger’s expectations will not be met if MDT did not open until 7:00. On the other hand, if the passenger expected to dine at 7:30-8-8:30, the passenger’s expectations may be perfectly met.  The change has not been communicated well to passengers, so expectations are not appropriately set; that’s on Royal Caribbean.

 

[dcgrumpy]

3 hours ago, Biker19 said:

It still works for most people most of the time.

Yep, we had absolutes no issues on Harmony last week. We were seated within 5 minutes of arriving every day. I was prepared for the worst since since the ship had the highest passenger count since relaunch. But was pleasantly surprised. 

[vjmatty]

1 hour ago, Starry Eyes said:

 

If a MTD passenger expected to dine at 5-5:30-6-6:30 some or all nights, clearly the passenger’s expectations will not be met if MDT did not open until 7:00.

 

Especially if the cruise planner allows you to book earlier than 7pm.

[SHIP TRAVELER]

1 hour ago, dcgrumpy said:

Yep, we had absolutes no issues on Harmony last week. We were seated within 5 minutes of arriving every day. I was prepared for the worst since since the ship had the highest passenger count since relaunch. But was pleasantly surprised. 

This is good news about your timing on the Harmony.  I am concerned about the change of mixing MTD into TD because of our experience on the Majesty in Feb. of 2020 before the shut down.  We were a traditional table of six on the early sitting.  Our service was interrupted almost nightly when MT diners were seated at empty tables in our area.  They would be on appetizers when we were waiting for the main course.  We would be waiting for desserts when they were on the main course.  It is just my opinion, but I think traditional dining was set up to serve the same courses to all tables in the waiters set area.  This saves trips to the kitchen and full trays can be brought out to serve several tables at the same time.  It used to annoy me when MTD waiters tried to do the same thing with tables that were not seated at the same time.  The dynamics don't work smoothly when the two types of service are combined in one area.  I am sure the idea is to turn more tables and make more tables available to MTD but it ruins the service for traditional diners and probably rushes and exhausts the wait staff involved in trying to make it work.  It may be a bigger problem when ships are 100% again unless a lot of people opt for the Windjammer or Specialty Restaurants. 

[c-leg5]

55 minutes ago, SHIP TRAVELER said:

This is good news about your timing on the Harmony.  I am concerned about the change of mixing MTD into TD because of our experience on the Majesty in Feb. of 2020 before the shut down.  We were a traditional table of six on the early sitting.  Our service was interrupted almost nightly when MT diners were seated at empty tables in our area.  They would be on appetizers when we were waiting for the main course.  We would be waiting for desserts when they were on the main course.  It is just my opinion, but I think traditional dining was set up to serve the same courses to all tables in the waiters set area.  This saves trips to the kitchen and full trays can be brought out to serve several tables at the same time.  It used to annoy me when MTD waiters tried to do the same thing with tables that were not seated at the same time.  The dynamics don't work smoothly when the two types of service are combined in one area.  I am sure the idea is to turn more tables and make more tables available to MTD but it ruins the service for traditional diners and probably rushes and exhausts the wait staff involved in trying to make it work.  It may be a bigger problem when ships are 100% again unless a lot of people opt for the Windjammer or Specialty Restaurants. 

Are you saying the same waiters were serving TD and MTD? 
 

We have never experienced that even pre-covid. We did notice that MTD had become increasingly popular and that a greater number of tables had been dedicated to it but even on a mixed floor it seemed to have separate section of the floor allocated on ships we were on.

 

What we have noticed happening more often these days is that although the waiters have a certain number of tables in an effort to keep you with a certain waiter you will be sat in an adjacent area if there is an empty table. This means the wait staff have a larger area to watch and service which doesn’t seem very efficient. Also you end up with the wrong name of the waiter in your table and it would almost be better not to bother with the names.

Edited May 26, 2022 by c-leg5

[Biker19]

48 minutes ago, c-leg5 said:

Are you saying the same waiters were serving TD and MTD? 
 

We have never experienced that even pre-covid.

Can be fairly common if/when the MTD host seats folks down on deck three of Q class ships (which is normally reserved for traditional).

[Starry Eyes]

2 hours ago, SHIP TRAVELER said:

This is good news about your timing on the Harmony.  I am concerned about the change of mixing MTD into TD because of our experience on the Majesty in Feb. of 2020 before the shut down.  We were a traditional table of six on the early sitting.  Our service was interrupted almost nightly when MT diners were seated at empty tables in our area.  They would be on appetizers when we were waiting for the main course.  We would be waiting for desserts when they were on the main course.  It is just my opinion, but I think traditional dining was set up to serve the same courses to all tables in the waiters set area.  This saves trips to the kitchen and full trays can be brought out to serve several tables at the same time.  It used to annoy me when MTD waiters tried to do the same thing with tables that were not seated at the same time.  The dynamics don't work smoothly when the two types of service are combined in one area.  I am sure the idea is to turn more tables and make more tables available to MTD but it ruins the service for traditional diners and probably rushes and exhausts the wait staff involved in trying to make it work.  It may be a bigger problem when ships are 100% again unless a lot of people opt for the Windjammer or Specialty Restaurants. 

I understand your issue, though we have had the same problem with only traditional diners.  We show up on time (or close) so while another table or two might saunter in much later (sometimes a portion of the family show up to hold the table but the rest come later).   A large selfish table coming late (thus needing to order and be caught up) can monopolize your waiter and assistant waiter when the rest of the section is perhaps ready for entrees.   Worse, one tends to have to put up with the selfish tardy people the whole cruise as they do the same thing night after night.  I’d rather have MTD tables added in here and there, as those are usually small parties.

[mcmarya]

Thank you for the heads up.  Apparently Enchantment of the Seas is not following this model and I was able to make reservations for MTD any time beginning at 5:30 pm.  Of course, they could change things by the time we sail in early September.  We started doing MTD after an unfortunate traditional dining assignment back in 2009.  Only one other couple showed up for a table for 8 and the other couple was boring. 

[Jam0610]

We were on Allure two weeks ago. Had MTD reservations each night at 6:30 pm. Slight wait for tables on most nights.

What I didn't enjoy was being seated at a new table each night. Never had a chance to build up relationship with wait staff.

Have MTD booked again on Ovation in September. Not hearing good comments.