Private table in the main dining room

[Tashaaa]

Hi,

we will be sailing on an Alaska cruise in June. We will arrive at the cruise terminal around 16.30. Is it too late to arrange that he get a private table in the main dining room?

How to arrange this? Is it possible to make this at the check in?

 

 

[wordell1]

1 hour ago, Natashaaa said:

Hi,

we will be sailing on an Alaska cruise in June. We will arrive at the cruise terminal around 16.30. Is it too late to arrange that he get a private table in the main dining room?

How to arrange this? Is it possible to make this at the check in?

 

 

If you are doing My Time Dining,  you will automatically get your own table.

If you are doing traditional, you will need to go to the Dining room after boarding to request a private table. It is usually possible.

[Tashaaa]

Thank you wordell1

I'm new to cruising. How do I know if I'm doing the My Time Dining?

I have the cruise app, and there is only stated "Traditional dining  05:30 PM"

 

 

[AshleyDillo]

11 minutes ago, Natashaaa said:

I have the cruise app, and there is only stated "Traditional dining  05:30 PM"

Then you have traditional early dining. When you get on board, visit the dining room and put in your request for a private table and they will try to accommodate.

[Tashaaa]

Thank you

[LovetoCruise87]

We have a cruise coming up in Sept and we will be requesting a private table since it is only my wife and I. Not that we don't like meeting new people, but for dinner we like it to be just us two. We usually travel with at least 6 in our group, so just the two of us is going to be great!

[hcraig]

I am a novice to cruising so call me clueless, but I'm gathering that if you choose an assigned time for dining you will be assigned a table that includes other people? And if you do My Time dining you have a table to yourself? We are cruising on Allure in October and selected My Time Dining. But thinking it may be nice to meet new people. 

[Tashaaa]

Hcraig I have the same problems, as I don't understand everything, and I’m learning… I don't know where can you choose My Time dining, is this a thing that we should say to our TA when we booked the cruise? 
I guess, if I can make a private table, you can arrange to be seated with others and meet new people. 

I’m gathering the info and I hope by our next cruise, it will be a lot easier. 
 

[Atlantix2000]

1 hour ago, hcraig said:

I am a novice to cruising so call me clueless, but I'm gathering that if you choose an assigned time for dining you will be assigned a table that includes other people? And if you do My Time dining you have a table to yourself? We are cruising on Allure in October and selected My Time Dining. But thinking it may be nice to meet new people. 

 

10 minutes ago, Natashaaa said:

Hcraig I have the same problems, as I don't understand everything, and I’m learning… I don't know where can you choose My Time dining, is this a thing that we should say to our TA when we booked the cruise? 
I guess, if I can make a private table, you can arrange to be seated with others and meet new people. 

I’m gathering the info and I hope by our next cruise, it will be a lot easier. 
 

For assigned (generally called traditional) dining times, there will be an early and a late seating (5:30-ish and 8-ish depending on the ship).  The default for this dining format is to combine parties to make tables of 6, 8, or 10 people as the seating allows.  This applies more to smaller parties so they regularly put 3-4 couples or two groups of 4 at the same table.  But it would be unusual to add an unrelated couple to a family of 6.  You can request to have your party seated alone but you need to stop by the dining room to make this request (preferably before your first meal so they can rearrange the assignments for the table you are leaving).

For My Time Dining, you can think of the dining room like any normal restaurant at home.  You can make separate reservations for each meal at the same or different times each day.  But you can also just show up and join the wait list for the next available table.  The default for this dining format is to seat your party at your own table.  You can request to sit with others but if no one else makes that request at the same time, you'll likely get a private table.  You can always meet people on the ship and go to the dining room together (as long as they also have My Time Dining).

The choice of My Time Dining, Early Traditional, or Late Traditional is made while booking the cruise.  If you book yourself, you have to choose something.  If you used a TA and didn't discuss it, they would mostly likely default to Early Traditional.  You (or your TA) can change the dining choice before the cruise but there are capacity limits so you could end up on a wait list to change.  The same applies on the ship, you can request to change by visiting the dining room on the first day but based on capacity it may not be possible.  You also cannot keep changing your choice during the cruise.  If you want to be able to eat at different times, just choose My Time Dining to start with!

[RWDW1204]

12 hours ago, LovetoCruise87 said:

We have a cruise coming up in Sept and we will be requesting a private table since it is only my wife and I. Not that we don't like meeting new people, but for dinner we like it to be just us two. We usually travel with at least 6 in our group, so just the two of us is going to be great!

Since it's just the 2 of us now, we always have had our TA request a table for 2. Never a problem.  But I'm sure you know that you'll probably still be sitting close to other tables. We were just on Vision last month in the MDR where 4 tables for 2 were next to each other, banquet seating on 1 side, individual chairs on the other with barely enough room between the tables to get through (had to shuffle in sideways). Luckily on 1 end, nobody showed so we could spread the 2 middle tables over for some more space. But we thoroughly enjoyed our "tablemates", had great conversations and even shared wine and champagne bottles with each other. 

[hcraig]

Thank you all! I did take one cruise with my parents "back in the day" and we were seated at a table with other families. Ended up hanging out with those kids the majority of the cruise so that was really nice to be able to meet them. As it's just my husband and I now I didn't really give it a whole lot of thought until I read this post. A group may be nice but then again my husband can carry on a conversation with a rock if he wanted to. So if we got bored he'd probably just start talking to the table next us anyway, lol (poor people). We have a little bit of time before our cruise so I will give it some thought. Again, thanks for the feedback!!

[CruiseGus]

Another option is to send an email about 2 weeks before sailing with your booking #, ship, sailing date, cabin # and your request to

rcldinning@rccl.com

I have had excellent results

[emfagan]

14 hours ago, CruiseGus said:

Another option is to send an email about 2 weeks before sailing with your booking #, ship, sailing date, cabin # and your request to

rcldinning@rccl.com

I have had excellent results

I agree, have not had any problems once I started emailing before sailing!

[FJ28]

20 hours ago, CruiseGus said:

Another option is to send an email about 2 weeks before sailing with your booking #, ship, sailing date, cabin # and your request to

rcldinning@rccl.com

I have had excellent results

This is how we do any requests in the dining room. Waiter, location, numbers at the table.  Always had great luck

[Tashaaa]

Super, thank you all. This is really good to know. 

[FManke]

On 5/12/2022 at 1:44 PM, FJ28 said:

This is how we do any requests in the dining room. Waiter, location, numbers at the table.  Always had great luck

We've also used this and have had no problem getting what we've asked for.

[Jayhoaps]

When I logged in to the royal caribbean site, it shows my Time dining, and click reserve. After I click it under my name and family members name it says, "not a flex dining guest"

Anybody know what this means "not a flex dining guest?" Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[shof515]

1 hour ago, Jayhoaps said:

When I logged in to the royal caribbean site, it shows my Time dining, and click reserve. After I click it under my name and family members name it says, "not a flex dining guest"

Anybody know what this means "not a flex dining guest?" Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

it means you have traditional dinning and not my time dinning

[Lexster]

On 5/11/2022 at 6:11 PM, CruiseGus said:

Another option is to send an email about 2 weeks before sailing with your booking #, ship, sailing date, cabin # and your request to

rcldinning@rccl.com

I have had excellent results

We just got off the Oasis of the Sease and I emailed that address. I asked for a table with me and my husband by a window and we got exactly what we asked for. It was awesome.

[JennyB]

On 5/11/2022 at 6:11 PM, CruiseGus said:

Another option is to send an email about 2 weeks before sailing with your booking #, ship, sailing date, cabin # and your request to

rcldinning@rccl.com

I have had excellent results

We did that for our Anniversary cruise and had our own table each time at My Time Dining in the Main Dining Room.  It was close to other tables of two, but not uncomfortably so. 

[wordell1]

On 5/10/2022 at 8:15 AM, Natashaaa said:

Thank you wordell1

I'm new to cruising. How do I know if I'm doing the My Time Dining?

I have the cruise app, and there is only stated "Traditional dining  05:30 PM"

 

 

Then you are currently signed up for traditional, at that time. You should contact your TA, or Royal directly if you booked direct and see if it can be changed.

You will not be able to do MTD if you are slotted into traditional. 

Keep in.mind that MTD typically doesn't start until 7pm so if you want to eat early, you will want to stay where you are and just request a private table with the restaurant manager on day 1 when you board. 

[endofturn]

On 5/11/2022 at 9:39 AM, hcraig said:

Thank you all! I did take one cruise with my parents "back in the day" and we were seated at a table with other families. Ended up hanging out with those kids the majority of the cruise so that was really nice to be able to meet them. As it's just my husband and I now I didn't really give it a whole lot of thought until I read this post. A group may be nice but then again my husband can carry on a conversation with a rock if he wanted to. So if we got bored he'd probably just start talking to the table next us anyway, lol (poor people). We have a little bit of time before our cruise so I will give it some thought. Again, thanks for the feedback!!

My wife and I took 5 cruises with just the two of us. Having random dinner partners for the whole week was part of the fun for us. Met and became Facebook friends with much of them. Some we even met up with after the cruise as well since they lived close. 

You met new folks, talked about your day and plans, etc. 

Of course it is totally up to you, you can always request to be at a 2 top.

Personally we loved the traditional dining and meeting the same folks for dinner every night. A lot of the times we'd go to shows or have drinks with them afterwards as well if we felt like being social..

[Lexster]

2 hours ago, endofturn said:

My wife and I took 5 cruises with just the two of us. Having random dinner partners for the whole week was part of the fun for us. Met and became Facebook friends with much of them. Some we even met up with after the cruise as well since they lived close. 

You met new folks, talked about your day and plans, etc. 

Of course it is totally up to you, you can always request to be at a 2 top.

Personally we loved the traditional dining and meeting the same folks for dinner every night. A lot of the times we'd go to shows or have drinks with them afterwards as well if we felt like being social..

I may do that for a different cruise, but I always worry I'll be seated with people I don't like for the entire cruise.

[LovetoCruise87]

10 minutes ago, Lexster said:

I may do that for a different cruise, but I always worry I'll be seated with people I don't like for the entire cruise.

That's my thought as well. With my luck we would have a couple who monopolize the conversation every night. lol

[Lexster]

7 minutes ago, LovetoCruise87 said:

That's my thought as well. With my luck we would have a couple who monopolize the conversation every night. lol

We actually had better luck at Izumi. We got seated with two couples who were pretty cool. We exchanged numbers with one of them, which was fun. Got our first cruise friends.

[endofturn]

The one time we didn't care for the table we had was on Princess. We had 10 people to the table and the service took absolute ages. Nothing against the other 8 people but I can't spend closer to 3 hours for dinner. After dinner we spoke to the head waiter and requested reassignment. They put us on a 2 top that was like elbow to elbow with other 2 tops. We could be social while also eating as fast as we wanted. That was nice as well.

[LovetoCruise87]

12 minutes ago, Lexster said:

We actually had better luck at Izumi. We got seated with two couples who were pretty cool. We exchanged numbers with one of them, which was fun. Got our first cruise friends.

We may have to try that. Thanks for the idea. 

[Lexster]

40 minutes ago, LovetoCruise87 said:

We may have to try that. Thanks for the idea. 

Yeah, the nice thing is it's just for one meal, so if you don't like any of them, you don't need to sit with them for 7 nights.