MDR dining

[PMO]

We are scheduled for early seating in January on Anthem. Our last cruise we were scheduled for early seating but when we got on board we needed to make reservations. Is this still the case or is it really early seating at 5:30?

[time4u2go]

You had early seating but you had to make reservations? That doesn't make any sense.

[GTO-Girl]

41 minutes ago, PMO said:

We are scheduled for early seating in January on Anthem. Our last cruise we were scheduled for early seating but when we got on board we needed to make reservations. Is this still the case or is it really early seating at 5:30?

 

if you have Early “Fixed” Traditional dining then you don’t have make reservations.

 

Sound like either you didn’t know you had My Time Dining OR they changed you to MTD from Traditional without your knowledge (which has happened to me!)

[PMO]

You are wrong on both counts we were Early Seating and they were trying a new program with everyone needing a reservation. This caused major problems as we could not book our times in advance as MTD did prior to sailing. You also did not get the same wait staff. We fought hard to keep them but needed to keep changing our time’s constantly to do so. Everyone was furious. 

[firefly333]

2 minutes ago, PMO said:

You are wrong on both counts we were Early Seating and they were trying a new program with everyone needing a reservation. This caused major problems as we could not book our times in advance as MTD did prior to sailing. You also did not get the same wait staff. We fought hard to keep them but needed to keep changing our time’s constantly to do so. Everyone was furious. 

Odd as no one but you has ever posted about this new program. None of us have heard of it.

 

When I choose early dining my table number appears on my card, both before covid and ever since covid. I'm siding with GTO girl. 

[smokeybandit]

That would be one of the dumbest moves ever to make people with a fixed dining time make reservations.

[Tree_skier]

Just now, smokeybandit said:

That would be one of the dumbest moves ever to make people with a fixed dining time make reservations.

The whole thing doesn't make any sense at all.

[PMO]

So in January we are good to go! Thanks for your help and it was an extremely dumb idea. 

[loman]

That sounds like my time dining to me also if you needed reservations .

You will be fine if you have early dining , same table and same wait staff .

Call RC or your TA to confirm you have fixed early dining .

Enjoy your cruise !

[HappyTexan44]

17 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

 

if you have Early “Fixed” Traditional dining then you don’t have make reservations.

 

Sound like either you didn’t know you had My Time Dining OR they changed you to MTD from Traditional without your knowledge (which has happened to me!)

 

This would be a nightmare for us.  We will be 8, four adults and four teens.  Likely doing our own things and meeting up for dinner every day.  Also, 5-5:30 is a normal dinner time for me, and one of the other adults wakes up at like 3 am for work.  He'll likely be drifting into a more normal schedule, but I don't see him awake at 9pm. The traditional MDR experience is something I've been looking forward to in our Starter Cruise.  

 

[motheroftwocats814]

As others have said, sounds like MTD instead of early fixed dining.

This "new program" is a mystery to me.

[coffeebean]

19 hours ago, PMO said:

You are wrong on both counts we were Early Seating and they were trying a new program with everyone needing a reservation. This caused major problems as we could not book our times in advance as MTD did prior to sailing. You also did not get the same wait staff. We fought hard to keep them but needed to keep changing our time’s constantly to do so. Everyone was furious. 

That does not sound like traditional early seating. This new program they were trying sounds more like My Time Dining than Traditional Dining.

 

NCL started something like this many years ago and they call it "Freestyle Dining". Show up when ever you like and you will be seated but sometimes with a wait. NCL will accept reservations if that is what you want to do but it is not mandatory to make a reservation. You will likely be seated sooner with a reservation though. Maybe Royal is trying that type of dining.experience for everyone. Hubby and I cruise NCL quite a bit and we do like the Freestyle dining very much.

[Ja2012]

Sort of sounds like dynamic dining. It was rolled out with the quantum class but later canceled. Never had it but from my limited knowledge on the subject it sounds like it. 

Edited October 9, 2023 by Ja2012

[travelberlin]

With MTD we were able to reserve our seats online but there was no option to choose if we want to share a table with others or just seat by ourselves. Is not possible to choose this with MTD?

[steveru621]

20 hours ago, PMO said:

You are wrong on both counts we were Early Seating and they were trying a new program with everyone needing a reservation. This caused major problems as we could not book our times in advance as MTD did prior to sailing. You also did not get the same wait staff. We fought hard to keep them but needed to keep changing our time’s constantly to do so. Everyone was furious. 

 

There is an experiment to let you choose your table, not your time.

 

This is not fleet-wide.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Sounds like what Celebrity has gone to on the Edge-class (though they have 4 main dining rooms and people complained about being assigned to only one - even though you can order from any). No fixed, all reservations.

[OSUZorba]

1 hour ago, coffeebean said:

That does not sound like traditional early seating. This new program they were trying sounds more like My Time Dining than Traditional Dining.

 

NCL started something like this many years ago and they call it "Freestyle Dining". Show up when ever you like and you will be seated but sometimes with a wait. NCL will accept reservations if that is what you want to do but it is not mandatory to make a reservation. You will likely be seated sooner with a reservation though. Maybe Royal is trying that type of dining.experience for everyone. Hubby and I cruise NCL quite a bit and we do like the Freestyle dining very much.

Princess switched to that. One thing I really disliked about Princess. Never knew night to night if you were going to get great service or terrible service.

Edited October 9, 2023 by OSUZorba

[PMO]

Thank you ALL for your comments!

[Tatka]

3 hours ago, coffeebean said:

That does not sound like traditional early seating. This new program they were trying sounds more like My Time Dining than Traditional Dining.

 

NCL started something like this many years ago and they call it "Freestyle Dining". Show up when ever you like and you will be seated but sometimes with a wait. NCL will accept reservations if that is what you want to do but it is not mandatory to make a reservation. You will likely be seated sooner with a reservation though. Maybe Royal is trying that type of dining.experience for everyone. Hubby and I cruise NCL quite a bit and we do like the Freestyle dining very much.

 

"New Program" My Time  dining exists since 2000-x (2007 or earlier).

You can arrive at any time or make reservation. Nothing different than Freestyle with NCL or similar on all other lines.

[Tatka]

1 hour ago, OSUZorba said:

Princess switched to that. One thing I really disliked about Princess. Never knew night to night if you were going to get great service or terrible service.

 

Princess just like RCI has both. Assigned and Anytime dining since we started sailing with them in 2006.

 

Every line except for Cunard (regular accommodations) and MSC (maybe they also have it now) have both.

 

NCL does not have assigned dining. Only Freestyle.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Tatka

[OSUZorba]

6 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

Princess just like RCI has both. Assigned and Anytime dining since we started sailing with them in 2006.

 

Every line except for Cunard (regular accommodations) and MSC (maybe they also have it now) have both.

 

NCL does not have assigned dining. Only Freestyle.

I was on Ruby in March there were no assigned times, it was all my time dining.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

9 minutes ago, Tatka said:

Every line except for Cunard (regular accommodations) and MSC (maybe they also have it now) have both.

Disney doesn't have an anytime/my time option. Just the 2 seatings that rotate through their 3 mdrs - servers and people. You have the same table number and same service team in each restaurant. MTD/Anytime/Freestyle wouldn't work with that.

[Tatka]

1 minute ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Disney doesn't have an anytime/my time option. Just the 2 seatings that rotate through their 3 mdrs - servers and people. You have the same table number and same service team in each restaurant. MTD/Anytime/Freestyle wouldn't work with that.

 

Thank you.

Disney is a very special line.. I never sailed with them.

 

Sailed with RCI (28) - Celebrity (7) - Princess (7) - NCL (9) - Holland (2) - Carnival (2) - MSC (2) - Cunard (1) .

All, but 2 had some forms of MTD (Anytime, Freestyle, Your Time Dining, Select etc) . NCL did not have traditional.

[dahirsh]

3 hours ago, Ja2012 said:

Sort of sounds like dynamic dining. It was rolled out with the quantum class but later canceled. Never had it but from my limited knowledge on the subject it sounds like it. 

no, it doesn't.  And I did sail with Dynamic Dining.  More than once.  I was one of the (apparently few) who loved it and is still sad the varied menu were pushed out.