Royal Caribbean Onboard App vs Carnival Hub App

[Lee Cruiser]

We been on 23 Carnival cruise, but we are booked for a Royal cruise in a few months.  For those who have been on both cruise lines, does Royal have an app similar to Carnival's Hub App?  Are you able to request dining time on the my time like on Carnival and view menus and such?  Any other comments or advice about it?  Thanks!

[smokeybandit]

yes

[firefly333]

3 hours ago, Lee Cruiser said:

We been on 23 Carnival cruise, but we are booked for a Royal cruise in a few months.  For those who have been on both cruise lines, does Royal have an app similar to Carnival's Hub App?  Are you able to request dining time on the my time like on Carnival and view menus and such?  Any other comments or advice about it?  Thanks!

No it's not even close imo. On carnival if you have any time you push a button and within 5 minutes or so the computer matches you to a table number, you walk up and show the table number and they walk you to the table. From 530 pm onward.

 

I'd done carnival then tried anytime on royal. You cant make a reservation until about 645 pm. It's not any time you want to eat either, if you want to eat earlier it involves a lot of standing in line and people still pick a assigned time every  night or they stand in line, none of this super fast computer matching you to a table when you want to eat. Royal anytime is a farce. They need to take lessons from carnival.

 

You can see the menu in the app and otner things they do well. ... anytime dining is not one of the things they do well. Other than you can see the menu, imo it's not even similar. Not popular on royal for a good reason. 

Edited May 17 by firefly333

[Tatka]

Can you change a table if you don’t like assigned one? We usually arrive ask for a table by the window or at least away from serving station. If we don’t like offered we ask to change it.

[BecciBoo]

I second Firefly, Carnivals app is crazy good, but not enough to choose them over RCL.  Too many other things I don't like.  

[broadwaybaby123]

Yes they do.  Search in your app store for Royal Caribbean and it comes right up.

[firefly333]

One other thing on the carnival app I like for breakfast or lunch works better than dinner. At the bottom there is a button you can slide where you ask to share a table. During dinner I find most couples want to eat alone and not many others want to share, but early lots want to share. Just push the button to share. Otherwise I always get a 2 top by myself. 

 

It is one extra button yes, but I like to share brunch sometimes. Also faster seating. I cant push the button from my cabin and walk to the dining room before half way there it goes off and already matches me. Its that fast. Had to wait until I'm closer to lush the button I'm ready to ear.

 

No wonder they have a whole dining room dedicated to anytime, it's that good. 

Edited May 17 by firefly333

[jean87510]

12 hours ago, firefly333 said:

No it's not even close imo. On carnival if you have any time you push a button and within 5 minutes or so the computer matches you to a table number, you walk up and show the table number and they walk you to the table. From 530 pm onward.

 

I'd done carnival then tried anytime on royal. You cant make a reservation until about 645 pm. It's not any time you want to eat either, if you want to eat earlier it involves a lot of standing in line and people still pick a assigned time every  night or they stand in line, none of this super fast computer matching you to a table when you want to eat. Royal anytime is a farce. They need to take lessons from carnival.

 

You can see the menu in the app and otner things they do well. ... anytime dining is not one of the things they do well. Other than you can see the menu, imo it's not even similar. Not popular on royal for a good reason. 

agree 100% about dining reservations.  Other than that, prefer the royal app because I use it more.

[Lee Cruiser]

So the only way to get a dining reservation early is to wait in line at the dining room?  That's a bummer.

[Biker19]

9 hours ago, Lee Cruiser said:

So the only way to get a dining reservation early is to wait in line at the dining room? 

For MTD, you can usually book dining times as soon as they are available in the planner (many times 1+ year out). Or, you can go to the MDR host on boarding day and arrange something.

[broadwaybaby123]

3 hours ago, Biker19 said:

For MTD, you can usually book dining times as soon as they are available in the planner (many times 1+ year out). Or, you can go to the MDR host on boarding day and arrange something.

You can also book on your TV in the stateroom, call Customer Service, or book through the app.

[jam19872016]

You can do all those things to make a reservation. Then show up and stand in line with all the other people who have a reservation. 

 

On Carnival you walk right up with at most a 30 second wait barring the occasional off circumstance. 

 

Royal does a lot of things well and is usually the market innovator that other lines copy, but in this instance I really think they need to copy how Carnival handles flexible dining because the way they do it is a mess.