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Really dumb question, not as if that's ever stopped me!


USCG Teacher

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So, this is certainly an odd question, but I wanted to throw it out there to this community of experts.  How long does dinner in the MDR with My Time Dining last?  Cruise Planner lists it as two hours, is that accurate?  Is the meal paced more by the kitchen like traditional dining or by how quickly the table eats each course?  Do they try to push tables with kids through faster?  A combination of all of the above?  TIA for any feedback, trying to wrap my brain around scheduling dinners with shows & activities with two kids!

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Another one of those ... it depends.  My record time in MTD was under 30 minutes but that isn't the norm and being solo it's easier for them to handle my table.  With each additional guest comes more service, and time.  

I tend to know exactly what I want.  No uncertainty, no "does this have that?" questions.  

If you're section in the MTD is slammed they will be slower.  Maybe that's why they love seeing me alone, they know I'll be quick to service.  

Waiters can lose 5 minutes talking with guests who are indecisive.  That's okay, it's their job.   If a party of four consumes 10 minutes of "What's in this chicken?" questions they will gladly walk you through it but there goes 10 minutes.   In that time I'm already halfway through by appetizer, unless I'm in your section and my waiter is at your table. 

So it depends.  One night in MTD might go quickly, the next night might pause waiting what seems like forever for dessert to appear, because table 113 over there has a million questions.

 

PS - not a dumb question at all.  No dumb questions, only dumb answers.  

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I have found that the very earliest time slots for MTD have, generally, very few people.  That, combined with the fact that they have just started the service and haven’t had a chance to get “behind” yet is why, when we did MTD, we always went very early. If you’re going to be in a hurry, I recommend going first thing after MTD opens.

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3 hours ago, twangster said:

Another one of those ... it depends.  My record time in MTD was under 30 minutes but that isn't the norm and being solo it's easier for them to handle my table.  With each additional guest comes more service, and time.  

I tend to know exactly what I want.  No uncertainty, no "does this have that?" questions.  

If you're section in the MTD is slammed they will be slower.  Maybe that's why they love seeing me alone, they know I'll be quick to service.  

Waiters can lose 5 minutes talking with guests who are indecisive.  That's okay, it's their job.   If a party of four consumes 10 minutes of "What's in this chicken?" questions they will gladly walk you through it but there goes 10 minutes.   In that time I'm already halfway through by appetizer, unless I'm in your section and my waiter is at your table. 

So it depends.  One night in MTD might go quickly, the next night might pause waiting what seems like forever for dessert to appear, because table 113 over there has a million questions.

 

PS - not a dumb question at all.  No dumb questions, only dumb answers.  

 

2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I have found that the very earliest time slots for MTD have, generally, very few people.  That, combined with the fact that they have just started the service and haven’t had a chance to get “behind” yet is why, when we did MTD, we always went very early. If you’re going to be in a hurry, I recommend going first thing after MTD opens.

All of this makes sense, thank you.  As an allergy-free and fairly decisive family, at least we have that in our favor.  Seems like factoring in 90 minutes ought to leave us plenty of time, with a worst-case scenario of skipping dessert if we have to run.  Thank you both!  ? 

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This will be our first time on RCCL, but as experienced NCL cruisers with the Freestyle dining, we found as mentioned above, if they seat you in a crowded section, the waiters are definitely more taxed and the meal took twice as long. If we see the center of the dining room is mobbed, we ask to sit in a less crowded section (towards the back or in a corner), and found we can be in and out in 60-90 minutes, depending on our desired pace, and it was less noisy and easier to have and hear dinner conversation.

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  • 1 month later...

it is also faster if you order the same thing every night. We've been on cruises where the waiter knows what my family will order before we even sit down as no one is adventurous and likes the same thing again and again. If you change what you want on night 5, it will take longer. Especially drinks as drinks take a while for some reason.

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On 12/1/2019 at 5:03 PM, DLXLDY said:

This will be our first time on RCCL, but as experienced NCL cruisers with the Freestyle dining, we found as mentioned above, if they seat you in a crowded section, the waiters are definitely more taxed and the meal took twice as long. If we see the center of the dining room is mobbed, we ask to sit in a less crowded section (towards the back or in a corner), and found we can be in and out in 60-90 minutes, depending on our desired pace, and it was less noisy and easier to have and hear dinner conversation.

On our NCL Escape sailing the my time dining seemed to take a long time.  Now I do not remember the seating situation, but we were not sat near empty tables.  The food came out when it did.  I just figured it was normal and they were letting us enjoy our drinks with our appetizers.  The one glaring issue that I had was on our last night and the dessert, vanilla ice cream sandwich cookie thing, that was melted into a puddle of vanilla.  it was sat down in front of me and I was told to "enjoy".  I looked back dumbfounded.  How was that actually served??  Anyway i asked for it to be taken away and just went to the self serve station in the Garden Cafe.  The overall dinner was not ruined for me.  The food was amazing all week.  But, I just couldn't/can't believe the server tried to leave that mess for me to eat.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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