New 3rd dining time for traditional dining

[Another_Critic]

2 hours ago, CruiseMelissa said:

Anyone have any guesses/knowledge from test ships how they'll move people around to get this started?  I assume they'll be a chunk of people in both the late and early time that want to move to the middle time, will they send out an email asking if you want to move? 

The logical solution would be to move MTD guests with consistent 6:45-7:00 reservations to the middle traditional seating.

[Another_Critic]

*poof*

Edited February 29 by Another_Critic
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[LobsterStalker]

13 minutes ago, pyrateslife4me84 said:

I wouldn’t be disappointed if, at booking, I could pick 5 pm, 6:45, or 8:30. I’d pick what I want and be happy when that actually happens. 

I think you completely missed the context you replied to . 

If you booked 6:45 because that time works for you , to get on board to find out it had been changed to 6:00 or 6:15 you may feel otherwise.

 

Cheers

[kirtihk]

1 hour ago, SquishTheWhale said:

That's bed time not dinner time 😂

And there was non-stopped Samba after dinner starting around 11:30 pm until 1am and sometimes later.  It was fun (especially, since we had 7 sea days in a row while crossing).

[cruiseboy89130]

3 hours ago, CruiseMelissa said:

I tried scanning this thread and don't think this has been addressed... from what I understand, they'll be rolling this out slowly, ship by ship.  Anyone have any guesses/knowledge from test ships how they'll move people around to get this started?  I assume they'll be a chunk of people in both the late and early time that want to move to the middle time, will they send out an email asking if you want to move? Or will we just be surprised when we board? I'm in the minority in that I love an early dinner time and currently have 5:15 on my next cruise, might I show up and have the middle time assigned to me?  (I know if that's the case there will probably be plenty of people that would be willing to swap, I just hate first-day-hassles, as do many).

This is why this thread was created in the first place ! To find out which ships have it ......

But some island lady got totally ballistic and the thread almost derailed - glad we are getting back on topic!👌

[cruiseboy89130]

2 hours ago, SquishTheWhale said:

That's bed time not dinner time 😂

Go to HAL!😝

[sgmn]

Just off Spectrum. Had my time dinning. Booked all my slots in the cruise planner prior to cruise depending on what we had planned in port and estimated time of reboarding after excursions, and depending on shows. 

 

Once on board we had a letter in our room stating we had been booked at 6.45 eavh night and the actual table number. This time and table number was also on our stateroom card.

 

If we didn't make their preferred time we were randomly sat elsewhere 

[doghog]

3 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

Reservations (specialty and MDR) only have a 15 minute grace period.  Don’t be more than 15 minutes late or you may find your table has been given to another party.  We’ve watched this MDR “comedy show” a few times recently.  Dinner is scheduled at 5:00.  A table near us is empty.  At 5:20 to 5:30 or even later, hostess seats people at the vacant table (MTD guests or some issue being sorted).  Afterward the early dining guests stroll in and stop in their tracks when “their” table is occupied.  The various reactions are, um, interesting.

No kidding. Very familiar with all the MDR policies. Did you not see the winking emoji (😉).

 

[SquishTheWhale]

9 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

Go to HAL!😝

Haha! I have a 4yr old, maybe one day I'll have the energy to party again 😆(by which time maybe they will ship me off to HAL anyway)

[SquishTheWhale]

11 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

Reservations (specialty and MDR) only have a 15 minute grace period.  Don’t be more than 15 minutes late or you may find your table has been given to another party.  We’ve watched this MDR “comedy show” a few times recently.  Dinner is scheduled at 5:00.  A table near us is empty.  At 5:20 to 5:30 or even later, hostess seats people at the vacant table (MTD guests or some issue being sorted).  Afterward the early dining guests stroll in and stop in their tracks when “their” table is occupied.  The various reactions are, um, interesting.

How awkward for the innocent party who had been sat at that table! I can just imagine some entitled passenger demanding they leave because the table is not theirs 😯

[peteukmcr]

On 2/29/2024 at 3:36 PM, SquishTheWhale said:

You'd be surprised how many Europeans enjoy eating that late. The UK not being included in that- we prefer around 6-7!

Not all Brits like eating early. Us and many of our friends prefer something like 8:30pm. 

[cruiseboy89130]

1 minute ago, peteukmcr said:

Not all Brits like eating early. Us and many of our friends prefer something like 8:30pm. 

So late seating would be perfect for you! So it seems that Spectrum is the only ship having 3 dining times now?

[peteukmcr]

On 2/29/2024 at 3:18 PM, shof515 said:

 

i would love if RCCL can update MTD so it works like carnival where you can request the table using the app and then go to the dinning room when the table is ready. the current MTD process on royal ships ive been on is a massive mess with long lines and long waits. 

And on P&Os new ships Iona and Arvia where there are no traditional set dining times unless you want to dine between 5:30pm to around 6:30pm as this is the only time period you can pre-book for. 

[LuCruise]

On 2/29/2024 at 4:04 AM, Scottdalfonso said:

Our early dining on Oasis a few months back was at 5pm... it was WAY too early, missed the sail away on day 1, had to rush back if we wanted MDR dinner on port days... late (or mid if it becomes a thing) dinner from now on!! 

Exactly....We could deal with 5:30pm but now it seems that 5pm is early dining (at least on Wonder and Harmony).  Since it's been a day in the sun, beach, etc.  I like to shower before dinner so with 5pm dinner, that means that our afternoon ends at 4pm.  We'll live with it for our upcoming cruise, but for Harmony I booked late dinner at 7:30pm.  My biggest worry though is that it'll be harder to book shows around it.  E.g. if shows are beforehand, then it'll be the same issue of our day ending to get ready.  Am hoping the 3rd option fits well in between and we are able to book, as that would be perfect.

 

[mo&fran]

I like MTD, we can usually get a  time to our liking, and since the restart, since I use a rollator, they have been seating us near the entrance. And we keep the same table the entire cruise.

If I had traditional, I don't know if there is a way to make that fact known   so they can use that information to choose a table. OR even if they would bother.

 Curious, we have a bunch of cruises booked on Freedom this coming October. As soon as they appeared on the website, i went to book my time, and MTD didn't start till 715, which I thought strange. We prefer 630 - 645. Now that they are talking about adding another shift , it fits in with what's happening.

 I did have to laugh  about people showing up late and having other people seated at their assigned table. We almots had that happen to use, the early diners shows up late to their assigned table If we had just gotten there a little earlier or they were just a little later. I told the waiter that our early cruises, if your time to eat was 6:00 . and you weren't there by 615 ,you didn't eat because the doors were closed and locked.

[cruiseboy89130]

Any other ships have it yet?🤔