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Changing show time reservations on board?


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I'm cruising next weeekkkk!!!

But I'm not happy so far with my MTD dinner time (8.30), which I was forced into by the show times (7 to 7.30) that were the only ones available when I booked my cruise end of May.  We go to bed as early as 10.30 or 11.00, we're no night owls, so we would be better off eating early as well and THEN see the show, in order not to digest a heavy dinner while in bed...

I understood you can ask for changes on embarkation days as far as meal times are concerned. But what about show times? I absolutely want to see the shows because everybody say they're fantastic, but I'd be even happier if I could also better enjoy a good night sleep afterwards.

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3 hours ago, FroggyFlo said:

I'm cruising next weeekkkk!!!

But I'm not happy so far with my MTD dinner time (8.30), which I was forced into by the show times (7 to 7.30) that were the only ones available when I booked my cruise end of May.  We go to bed as early as 10.30 or 11.00, we're no night owls, so we would be better off eating early as well and THEN see the show, in order not to digest a heavy dinner while in bed...

I understood you can ask for changes on embarkation days as far as meal times are concerned. But what about show times? I absolutely want to see the shows because everybody say they're fantastic, but I'd be even happier if I could also better enjoy a good night sleep afterwards.

You can also try going to MTD early as a walk-in on the nights when you have a show.  A lot of folks swear by that.

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 I expect I would not have enough time to show up in the dining room at 5.30 and be in the theatre 30 mn in advance (ie 6.30) for a good seat. It may be different if I managed to catch a later show, say around 8.30. This is what we always got in DCL, for a dinner at 5.45; we had kinda half an hour free between end of dinner and entering the theatre to pick up a decent seat. But I do not even know if such show times do exist on the Harmony? I could choose between 7 or 7.30 or 10.30 pm, which seemed either too early or too late...

5 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

You can try to arrange things onboard as best as you can once you get there, both for shows and for dining.  Once you are connected to the ship's wifi you can access your cruise calendar in the Royal app and move things around yourself.  

Do you mean that once on board RCCL releases new time possibilities on the Royal App, that weren't available anymore before boarding?

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16 hours ago, FroggyFlo said:

 Do you mean that once on board RCCL releases new time possibilities on the Royal App, that weren't available anymore before boarding?

For the meals they should have more times available for MTD reservation.  Harmony also has some matinee shows which you could take advantage of that wouldn't interfere with dinner times.

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Speaking of show times.  We are 26 days out on the Freedom out of San Juan.  Reservations for the shows have not appeared in the Cruise Planner since we scheduled this cruise last January. Is there a reason why we cannot reserve this as I have always done on larger ships?  It s the only thing left on my to do list.  

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4 minutes ago, MAC said:

Speaking of show times.  We are 26 days out on the Freedom out of San Juan.  Reservations for the shows have not appeared in the Cruise Planner since we scheduled this cruise last January. Is there a reason why we cannot reserve this as I have always done on larger ships?  It s the only thing left on my to do list.  

Reservations only need to be made on the Oasis class and Quantum class ships. Freedom of the Seas has traditional showtimes to accommodate both MDR seatings. No need to make any reservations.

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Just in order to understand the system...

If I had chosen traditional seating instead of MTD, would I have had access to the shows at a said time automatically (as, apparently, in non-Oasis class ships?)? In other words, are there show times reserved for people who enrolled in traditional seating, that I may not have access to as a MTD guest? In such a case, I might be better off just changing my status to "First seating".

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1 hour ago, FroggyFlo said:

Just in order to understand the system...

If I had chosen traditional seating instead of MTD, would I have had access to the shows at a said time automatically (as, apparently, in non-Oasis class ships?)? In other words, are there show times reserved for people who enrolled in traditional seating, that I may not have access to as a MTD guest? In such a case, I might be better off just changing my status to "First seating".

All of the shows on Freedom are open to everyone regardless of dinner seating. 

What they meant is that the show times were set based on the set dining times for traditional dining.  Usually traditional dining has an early and a late seating, 5:30pm and 8pm for example.  There would be a show time inbetween the early and late set dining times (example 7:30pm) and then a later evening show (example 10:00pm).  This would allow the folks with set dining to go to the shows after they eat.  Before MTD existed this was the way that they separated everyone so they could accommodate as many people as possible.

You have MTD which means you can make your dining reservation whenever it is convenient for you or you can walk up and eat when you are ready.  You can decide if you want to eat before or after the early show.  

But everyone can walk into the theater to catch the show any time they want on Freedom.  It will be first-come, first-served for seating but there's no reservations required for the show for anyone. 

An early set traditional diner can always chose to skip eating in the MDR and catch the early show.  They may have made dinner reservations at Chops for that evening at a later time and would be eating after the show that evening.  Set dining is much less flexible overall because if you don't chose to eat at your set dining time in the MDR, they may or may not allow you to do MTD as a walk-in in the MDR.

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I understand the Freedom system, DCL has got the same. Hassle free.

The problem is, I'm sailing on Harmony. Shows do not seem to be opened to anyone, you need a reservation (I do not think they accept walk-ins?). At the time I tried to reserve my shows online, the only time left was 7.00 (for some shows, not all of them). I do not know what would have been available had I reserved 6 months before? But anyway, with such a showtime I do not have enough time to eat in the MDR before the show, even if I show up at 5.30. It has to be after (shows end between 8.00 and 8.30). Which means end of dinner at 9.30-9.45! 

Therefore, my question is: on a Oasis class ship like HOTS, where show reservation is compulsory, is there a way to change your show time once on board for something much earlier (or a bit later)? If I can, then I will rearrange the meals accordingly. So far, I've found this reservation system very complicated. I chose MTD because I thought this would offer me flexibility, but I realize that because of this show issue it's a jigsaw...

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1 hour ago, FroggyFlo said:

I understand the Freedom system, DCL has got the same. Hassle free.

The problem is, I'm sailing on Harmony. Shows do not seem to be opened to anyone, you need a reservation (I do not think they accept walk-ins?). At the time I tried to reserve my shows online, the only time left was 7.00 (for some shows, not all of them). I do not know what would have been available had I reserved 6 months before? But anyway, with such a showtime I do not have enough time to eat in the MDR before the show, even if I show up at 5.30. It has to be after (shows end between 8.00 and 8.30). Which means end of dinner at 9.30-9.45! 

Therefore, my question is: on a Oasis class ship like HOTS, where show reservation is compulsory, is there a way to change your show time once on board for something much earlier (or a bit later)? If I can, then I will rearrange the meals accordingly. So far, I've found this reservation system very complicated. I chose MTD because I thought this would offer me flexibility, but I realize that because of this show issue it's a jigsaw...

I'm sorry!  I thought you were on Freedom for some reason.  But as for on Harmony, I would make sure that you download the app.  You can have your cellphone put on airplane mode and connected to the ship's Wifi and you'll be able to use the app.  You should be able to try to move around show reservations on it.  If not, once you get your dining reservations set up and know your eating schedule you can also go and try to shuffle around your entertainment options as well once you are on board.  They hold back a lot of MTD for onboard reservations so I think you wouldn't have an issue getting what you need for the shows.  You may also want to consider the Solarium Bistro as a dining option in the evening.  It's complimentary and recommends reservations.  And there is always standby where they let everyone in regardless of reservations shortly before the show.  The only show I would be worried about getting into would be the comedy shows as that venue is really small.  The theater shows should have an afternoon matinee showing on one of the sea days which if you schedule that one would take some pressure off of another evening for your MTD schedule.  Again, once you get onboard there will be some more availability.  Believe it or not people still book cruises the old school way with no idea that they can even reserve any of this stuff head of boarding day!

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Thanks for your support.

Is the food in Solarium Bistro the same as in the MDR? Since it is my first dining experience with RCCL, I want to try every MDR meal in order to make an overall experience as to the dishes being served there. I expect the MDR to be the best complimentary place to dine in for dinner time. Unless I'm wrong?

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13 hours ago, FroggyFlo said:

Thanks for your support.

Is the food in Solarium Bistro the same as in the MDR? Since it is my first dining experience with RCCL, I want to try every MDR meal in order to make an overall experience as to the dishes being served there. I expect the MDR to be the best complimentary place to dine in for dinner time. Unless I'm wrong?

The Solarium Bistro uses a buffet for appetizers and desserts but has a menu with entrees for the main course, so it's a hybrid dining experience.  They keep the same menu every evening and it isn't the same as the MDR menu, but it's worth dining at one evening to give it a try.

Food is so subjective so I can't really say that the MDR is the best place to dine, but it is the only complimentary venue that has a complete sit down service experience for dinner.  

Harmony is an Oasis class ship which is the largest class of cruise ships in the world.  For me some of the experience of a big ship is getting to try the alternative dining experiences.  They understand that they can't accommodate every passenger at every show, so they've designed the overall cruise experience to reflect that and give passengers the ability to be flexible.  They also want to accommodate those who prefer the traditional cruising experience (which appears to be what you have the most experience with having sailed DCL) which is why they offer the set traditional timing. 

Even with MTD when you make your reservations, they are going to try to seat your party in the same area with the same wait staff so you get that traditional cruise dining feeling.  Now that can't always happen, but when they limit the online reservations to only a few times it makes it easier for them to plan this out ahead of the sailing.  But when you step on the ship you can go to the dining room to make reservations for the entire cruise and you should find that there will be more times available.  The same goes for your show reservations. 

I know it's exciting but also frustrating not to know what to exactly to expect!

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20 hours ago, FroggyFlo said:

I understand the Freedom system, DCL has got the same. Hassle free.

The problem is, I'm sailing on Harmony. Shows do not seem to be opened to anyone, you need a reservation (I do not think they accept walk-ins?). At the time I tried to reserve my shows online, the only time left was 7.00 (for some shows, not all of them). I do not know what would have been available had I reserved 6 months before? But anyway, with such a showtime I do not have enough time to eat in the MDR before the show, even if I show up at 5.30. It has to be after (shows end between 8.00 and 8.30). Which means end of dinner at 9.30-9.45! 

Therefore, my question is: on a Oasis class ship like HOTS, where show reservation is compulsory, is there a way to change your show time once on board for something much earlier (or a bit later)? If I can, then I will rearrange the meals accordingly. So far, I've found this reservation system very complicated. I chose MTD because I thought this would offer me flexibility, but I realize that because of this show issue it's a jigsaw...

You can try to change your show times in that there are some reservation spaces that can be booked onboard.  If you arrive at the port early, my suggestion is to go to where the shows are being reserved and see if/what you can do.  There are shows that take walk-ins  if all the seats are not filled by those with reservations so that is something you may consider, but I wouldn't count on getting two or more seats together at all of them.  

With MTD you can walk up early and see if you can get an earlier time. You will have to wait to see when you can be seated, but there are many who don't make reservations and still get to dine in the MDR.  If you'd rather, you can go to the dining room onboard right after you take care of the show reservations and see if you can make reservations for early dining or for a seat in the MTD restaurant earlier.

 

Show reservations usually 90 days before the cruise so when you booked, it appears you were very limited in your choices which, I am sure you realize, is one disadvantage of booking close(r) to sailing.   If a show is really important to you, and you can't change the day/time, you might consider eating in the WJ that night.  Reports have been that the food is good and many even prefer to have dinner there. Good luck and enjoy the cruise.

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2 hours ago, Katiel53 said:

You can try to change your show times in that there are some reservation spaces that can be booked onboard.  If you arrive at the port early, my suggestion is to go to where the shows are being reserved and see if/what you can do.  There are shows that take walk-ins  if all the seats are not filled by those with reservations so that is something you may consider, but I wouldn't count on getting two or more seats together at all of them.  

With MTD you can walk up early and see if you can get an earlier time. You will have to wait to see when you can be seated, but there are many who don't make reservations and still get to dine in the MDR.  If you'd rather, you can go to the dining room onboard right after you take care of the show reservations and see if you can make reservations for early dining or for a seat in the MTD restaurant earlier.

 

Show reservations usually 90 days before the cruise so when you booked, it appears you were very limited in your choices which, I am sure you realize, is one disadvantage of booking close(r) to sailing.   If a show is really important to you, and you can't change the day/time, you might consider eating in the WJ that night.  Reports have been that the food is good and many even prefer to have dinner there. Good luck and enjoy the cruise.

 

Thanks very much!  "And at last I see the light, and it seems the fog has lifted…" All seems much clearer now. 

My very last question: do you know "where the shows are being reserved"? Is arriving in port Canaveral at 10.00 early enough?

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