Late seating Traditional Dining and shows

[balcony4u]

Hello All:-)

Is it difficult to get to the evening shows if you have Traditional Dining?

We like going to the 9:00ish shows, I was wondering if I should just switch to My Time.

We will be going on Ovation in August:-)

[Biker19]

6 minutes ago, balcony4u said:

Is it difficult to get to the evening shows if you have Traditional Dining?

We like going to the 9:00ish shows, I was wondering if I should just switch to My Time.

We will be going on Ovation in August:-)

Not if you have early. MTD bookings tend to be at least an hour later than early traditional - if you don't mind eating later, you can still make 9PM shows with MTD.

[shipgeeks]

What ship?  On Enchantment, the two shows are timed to fit with the traditional dining times; in fact, with late seating (7:45) we could go to the early or the late show.

[balcony4u]

2 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

What ship?  On Enchantment, the two shows are timed to fit with the traditional dining times; in fact, with late seating (7:45) we could go to the early or the late show.

We will be on Ovation. Our preference would be the 8:00pm seating and the late show:-)

It says 8:00, but can you go at 7:45?

[foxgoodrich]

47 minutes ago, balcony4u said:

We will be on Ovation. Our preference would be the 8:00pm seating and the late show:-)

It says 8:00, but can you go at 7:45?

They usually keep the doors closed for late seating diners until the early seating people have cleared the dining room and tables are reset for late seating.  You could go at 7:45, but whether you can actually go in to your table will depend on how quickly the early seating service is finished and tables reset.

 

You'll probably need to do MTD and reserve your times to work on show nights.

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

1 hour ago, balcony4u said:

We will be on Ovation. Our preference would be the 8:00pm seating and the late show:-)

It says 8:00, but can you go at 7:45?

On Enchantment in December, I had signed up for the 8 pm late seating, but it morphed into 7:45 to 8:00 pm per the app and Cruise Compass.

 

I went to the 7:00 pm show, and then to dinner.

[sjlogghe]

I cruise on Allure first week of April. Our entertainment times just became available for booking, and to me they are all at weird times!! Admittedly, this is my 2nd RC cruise and my previous cruise was just a 4 night about 5-6 years ago. So I feel like this is really my first RC cruise. We are booked for the late traditional dining, which is 7:45 on our cruise. We have found we don't like to be rushed after a day in port or on the pool deck to make early dining, but prefer traditional dining with the same waiters, no wait, etc. A few of the times for the shows were at 7:30 or 8:00, with not really an earlier time to go before late seating. I'm used to there being an early show for the late diners to go to, and a late show for the early diners to go to. Not the case at all on this cruise! I was able to find times that work for all the big shows we want to see, but one night we are going to have to skip the main dining and go somewhere else because the show starts at 7:30. Also, the afternoon showing of Mamma Mia! is on a port day!! I was a bit disappointed about that, but what do you do! 🤷‍♀️

 

ETA: I have cruised quite a bit on other cruise lines, I guess I'm just not used to the RC way of things! Ha

Edited March 7, 2023 by sjlogghe

[balcony4u]

We have decided just to do My Time.

I was hoping to avoid the wait in line, but it should work out fine:-)

[taglovestocruise]

19 hours ago, balcony4u said:

We will be on Ovation. Our preference would be the 8:00pm seating and the late show:-)

It says 8:00, but can you go at 7:45?

We were on Ovation a few months ago with a large table and late traditional.  We were told by the waiter on night one that we could come in anytime between 7:45 and 8:15. Our table mates all agreed on sticking with 8pm, we all wanted a long dinner with no rushing.  It would be odd to have some at the table starting  30 minutes before others arrived. No problem at all seeing all the shows, some main theater shows started at 10:45.  MTD is one deck below traditional, not sure about start time or lines. No show reservations needed for anything except one show in Two70, and they never checked anyone for a reservation time or day, you just walked in.  As a side note about all the Royal food complaints, WJ, Bistro and MDR were all excellent everyday. Jamie's and Chop's were also above the norm for specialty. 

[ONECRUISER]

19 hours ago, Rubyfisch said:

On Enchantment in December, I had signed up for the 8 pm late seating, but it morphed into 7:45 to 8:00 pm per the app and Cruise Compass.

 

I went to the 7:00 pm show, and then to dinner.

Yeah my Sailings Late Diners have their Show before eating. I do Early Dining Solo and get done so quick that I can go to Late Diners 7pm Show. 

[shipgeeks]

3 hours ago, balcony4u said:

We have decided just to do My Time.

I was hoping to avoid the wait in line, but it should work out fine:-)

As I recall, the late show was at 9:30, so it was not a problem getting there after 7:45 dinner, even though we always like a long, leisurely dinner.

[steveru621]

RCI is experimenting with 7:45 late traditional.  The 7 PM show has never ended in 45 minutes.  The cruise director takes at least 5 minutes, then it takes 5 minutes (at least) to walk the length of the ship.  You will be late for 7:45.  

[Oceansaway17]

there is always the buffet which is still IMHO nice.  Heck the officers eat there.

You can make a nice salad and go to the grill and have something made.

The buffet gets a bad rap, but EVERY RCI ship I have done over the last 7 years, as each day goes by the buffet fills up more and more.  It is quicker, quieter, and view of the ocean and nice variety IMHO.

So on a given night for a given show, just do the buffet.