GlowTheWeird

Some bars, pools, Windjammer will be open - rooms are ready usually by 1:00. It gives you a chance to grab something to eat before the crowds get heavy, to explore the ship a bit before there are a lot of people on board. You're going to wait somewhere - why not the ship? I like to start my cruise ASAP! The kids would probably rather hang out by the pool rather than in a hotel room, I reckon - just bring their suits in a small carry on so you don't have to wait for your luggage to be delivered.  And have a great time!

Wow --- missing the ship would be one of my worst nightmares --- And no matter what the circumstances are, one thing is for sure, I'll get blamed ?

Original poster Chesneygirl at CC posted this to youtube
 

When I booked Harmony 200+ days out and didn't have option of traditional anymore.  I just sent a direct message to RC on twitter asking if I could get changed and they got my booking and our linked booking changed in about 24 hours.

Great info !

That's the beauty of My Time... total flexibility when you need it...
However, we try to book the same time each evening (for us this upcoming cruise - 6:00 PM... seems to be an ideal time slot for us). Sort of a modified Traditional Dining... this way you always get the same team and table. 
Even on the days we are in Labadee (4 PM departure) and Jamaica (6 PM) that time really works. All of the shows are later in the evening. The only day we picked a later dining time (7:45 PM) was the day in Cozumel since the ship does not depart until 7:00 PM. We did not want to have to rush back to the ship for dinner.
We work the shows around the dining schedule and daytime excursions. Last night we were able to book every show (Mamma Mia, both water shows, headliner, comedy club, ice show) when we wanted to go (eg. not too late on an evening before we're in port early) without overlapping the dining time and allowing enough time to get to the show without rushing. Only on one sea day do we have 2 shows (one in the afternoon, the ice show, and one later in the evening)... entertainment is nicely spread out throughout the cruise. We actually have a couple of days with no scheduled shows... nice!
Sorry for the novel! To answer your question, with a little planning, you should have no problems with My Time overlapping because you decide when to eat and which show to go to. Each of the shows, except for the musical, will tend to have multiple shows on any given day (usually 2 or 3 times). The musical tends to have one show each of the first 3 days of the cruise (at least on Allure)... an early evening on one day, later evening show the next and afternoon show on the last day.
Also, take a peek at a Cruise Compass from a prior Harmony sailing to get a feel for the entertainment schedule before it opens up in your Cruise Planner...
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass?ship=1071

... and you still can link your dining reservations with other folks and sit at the same table with My Time... the last couple of cruises we traveled with family in other cabins and always sat with them. To date, we have not seen any disadvantage with My Time.
I think people tend to choose the traditional dining because it's simple and they do not need to make individual reservations online when dining reservations open up in the Cruise Planner (which takes all of 10 minutes).

I was on Mariner in November and, being a newbie, I signed up for My Time dining for all four nights. Three of the nights was for the same time, 6:00pm. We were placed at the same table with the same waiters every night, even the one where we ate later.

Unless something has changed recently, you will still get the same team, and probably the same table, every night even with My Time. 
We have never selected the set dining times (traditional dining), partially because the earlier dining time books so fast and because of our need for flexibility on port days, and we have always been seated in the same section with the same team.
We do tend to pick similar times each evening (eg. 6:00 PM) and have always been seated at the same table with the same team every night. A couple of times (on port days) we've picked a later dining time and we were still seated in the same section (same team), but at a different table since it was of course not available at that later time slot. On those odd nights, if another table is not immediately available in that section, we may have had to wait 10 minutes or so for them to clear a table.
Usually they will ask you at some point during the meal what your plans are for the next evening and they really, really, really, try to accommodate you and keep you with the same team throughout the cruise!
Have a great time!

When you first board the ship head over to guest services and tell them that you want traditional dining (5:30pm or 8:30pm) but missed that part when booking, then when You go to the the main dining room ask if you can be seated at the same table each night.
I had done the same thing because I booked a junior suite on Oasis and one of the perks was that I got to have dinner in the coastal kitchen each night of the cruise so when I got onboard I did not go to the coastal kitchen right away to make reservations and instead explored the ship and later went to make reservations and was unable to because all of the dining times were full and so I went to guest services and told them what happened and they got me reservations at the MDR (Main dining room) for 3 nights out of the week and reservations for the coastal kitchen 3 nights out of the week, I would have liked to eat at the coastal kitchen for 3 nights instead of only 3 nights. I know that only adds up to 6 night, because on the second night i knew that I had a reservation in the MDR which I had made months ago since I had a 2 celebrations and that is where I was told that the celebrations were going to be held and had the celebrations set for a specific night so I made reservations for that 1 night in the MDR. I did not bother making reservations for other nights because I thought that I would be able to eat at the CK (Coastal Kitchen). 
WHAT I WAS SAYING BY ALL OF THAT IS THAT YOU WHOULD MAKE RESERVATIONS FOR THE MDR IN ADVANCE!

I believe I’ve seen on here before that you can ask to be put on a waitlist for your preferred dining time if it turns out that it was that traditional was full. 
 
Also welcome to the boards! 

Agree with the agent suggestion..  We are booked for Harmony in Sept 2019 and were offered the option of anytime or reserved.. Give them a call or drop them a quick email.. I'm sure they can straighten it out for you

Welcome to the boards!!!

Yes! This has happened to me, I remember the day after we got home from our last trip, I stumbled into the fish tank displays at the local petsmart. Nothing got knocked over, but It sure wasn’t my best moment.   I kept feeling the ground move like waves for a good week or so. 

We haven’t been on a cruise for a few years because.... life ?
Super excited to be going on an August 2019 Harmony of the Seas cruise.   When we booked this trip back in November it gave us no traditional dining option , only My Time Dining.  I prefer the traditional style and getting to know our waiter, and table mates.   Is this something that opens up later? Or did I somehow miss the boat with this option ? (Miss the boat... hahaha I didn’t even try to do that) 
Thanks everyone!
Long time podcast listener, first time poster ?
 

It was an option for me when I booked, not after I booked.  So I have a feeling you may have skipped over the dining time when you booked and got the mytime dining instead of the traditional

I'd contact Royal (or have your travel agent contact them) to see if you missed the option to select a time for dining so you can have the traditional dining option.  
 
I had the option when I booked, but I didnt book your particular sailing.  

Since it seems to come up a lot, and although Twangster's detailed blog is far superior, I thought there may be one or two who might be curious about a recent experience.  I purchased it for my 4-night Mariner of the Seas cruise to Nassau/Coco Cay.  I was a solo traveler and I had a $25 onboard credit, so the price came to $55.  Between Voom and lunch on embarkation day, I'd already gotten my value, so it was really a no-brainer purchase for me.
Embarkation:  They called The Key people with the Pinnacle/Diamond/Diamond Plus members when they opened up the doors.  I suspect they just threw us in with them because it was so early and there were very few people in the terminal yet.
Delivery  of carry on luggage to stateroom:  A few of us wandered around trying to figure out where to drop off our carry on luggage when we first boarded - they were a little behind and didn't have a sign on the theatre door, or anyone in the theatre to take the bags yet.  In about 10 minutes we all figured it out (all 5 of us at that point) and someone did show up to start the process.  Unfortunately that person hadn't been provided with any luggage tags, so anyone who hadn't tagged their luggage had to wait a little while - I had my luggage tag on my one rolling carry on.  They also had business cards with Voom codes on it - but none of them matched the names of anyone who was there, so staff was confused. In the end they just gave us a card for whoever (sorry Adam Davis, or whoever's I had), and we were on our way.  I assume they managed to work it out in the end, but it was never an issue for me.
Lunch at Chops - was a nice treat!
Reserved seating section at shows - I only went to the comedy show really late on Embarkation day and on the last night.  There was a section roped off for The Key next to either higher C&A or suite folks - it really didn't matter at this show because there was really hardly anyone in the theatre.  The first night I sat in The Key section, the last night I sat somewhere else - it didn't matter.  But this is Mariner, not a Quantum or Oasis class ship, so I imagine it would make a difference on one of those ships.
Reserved times for Flow Rider/Rock Climbing Wall/Sky Pad/Perfect Storm - they had at least 2 hours set aside during the week for each activity. They weren't at the most convenient hours, but, at least on my sailing,  it wasn't necessary for a separate time - there was never a line at any of those activities - I never saw more than a few people in line for any of them and most of the time nobody was using them. Apparently this was a "sit by the pool and drink" cruise for folks.
On the 2nd day, I happened to stop by my cabin to pick something up and someone knocked on my door and delivered a fruit plate that was complimentary for The Key people. That was unexpected.
Priority tender - We only tendered at CoCo Cay - I went down to get on the tender about an hour after we anchored and there was a line (not a ridiculous line, but a line as you'd expect there to be).  There was no staff along the line at all to ask about The Key benefit, and I'm just not the type to walk past a bunch of people who are waiting to also get on the tender to get in front of them, so I just got on with everyone else.  I was able to get on the tender right away anyway, probably because I wasn't trying to get on the first tender of the day, so it was just fine with me. I could have been more assertive, but that's just not me. And the ending result would have been exactly the same in this case.
Disembarkation Day - it was nice to have a quiet, unrushed breakfast in the MDR.  It was the only time I'd sat with other people during a meal - almost the only time I'd spoken to any other people all week (I did talk to the iguana and the chickens on CoCo Cay earlier, that's a whole different story #retiredzookeeper) and I did enjoy that.  After breakfast, I ran back up to my room, grabbed my carry on, and went down to Deck 4, where there happened to be a staff member manning the line.  I asked him about The Key disembarkation, and he personally escorted me to the gangway past a long line, which was REALLY nice.
I liked the program, and it was defnintely worth it on a short sailing.  I was getting Voom anyway, and there were just enough things that I was going to enjoy along the way that it made it worth it to me.  I very much doubt that I'll get it on my Ovation sailing to Alaska in June - I will be going with my husband, who has no interest in Voom, and we will be meeting up with old friends, who will not have The Key, so we won't be taking advantage of reserved seating with shows and special times for activities since they won't be able to partake with us during those times. We'll evaluate it again on our Symphony sailing in Feb 2020 - things may have changed with the program, or the hubs may decide he wants internet access, so we'll see then.
Hope this helps someone out there!

I’ve seen posts about buying small models of cruise ships and what not, so for the purpose of entertainment, how much for this model I made of Oasis? 
Let’s start at $50 :)