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1st seating question


MG728

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It’s my first time not doing My Time dining. We have 1st seating in the MDR. Just wondering- if you accidentally miss the seating time, are you able to show up and hope to be seated whenever? Or do  you try to go to the 2nd seating and see if there’s space for your party? Or is it neither of these and you just have to eat at WJ or another option.

we don’t plan to miss our seating at all but we do have 1 late excursion that will be cutting it close, so just trying to have a back up plan in place… thanks!

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There is leeway to get to your seating late, each seating is a few hours long and with set dining you will have the same table and waiter each night, so its not like they will give your table away. I know we have walked into the MDR 30+ minutes late without any issues.

Talk to your waiter the night before to let them know your plans and they can give you the best answer (they usually ask what you are doing the next day anyway). Don't expect be able to go to the second seating because there will be a family there but YMMV. Like you asked, if you are really late, there is always the WJ or other options.

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46 minutes ago, RogerC1 said:

If you are booked for the early seating and miss your time my understanding is that no you can not go at another time (MTD or late seating). You’ll have to eat at one of the other free restaurants or pay for a specialty dining restaurant. 

@RogerC1  Do you have experience with this?  I have never seen this happen.  My understanding is if you miss your first seating your can get a dining-room walk-up reservation (subject to availability and any existing lines).

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8 hours ago, YOLO said:

@RogerC1  Do you have experience with this?  I have never seen this happen.  My understanding is if you miss your first seating your can get a dining-room walk-up reservation (subject to availability and any existing lines).

No I don’t have experience with it. There’s another board that has a discussion about this exact thing and the general consensus was that you couldn’t do it. However, the post is years old and there were one or two people that said if you let them know in advance they can probably accommodate you. I just think it may be one of those things that depends. 

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I have seen a couple turned away from My Time.  The host specifically said "I'm sorry you don't have My Time dining, your dining room is on deck 4".   My Time is not a backup to traditional or fixed dining.  My Time is capacity controlled to avoid oversubscribing available resources and it can't handle taking more guests than those who selected MTD when booking the cruise.

Like many things though I am sure some ship allowed it once at some point, probably off peak closer to the end of the night.

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On 7/8/2022 at 4:30 AM, MG728 said:

It’s my first time not doing My Time dining. We have 1st seating in the MDR. Just wondering- if you accidentally miss the seating time, are you able to show up and hope to be seated whenever? Or do  you try to go to the 2nd seating and see if there’s space for your party? Or is it neither of these and you just have to eat at WJ or another option.

we don’t plan to miss our seating at all but we do have 1 late excursion that will be cutting it close, so just trying to have a back up plan in place… thanks!

In addition to what others have said, if you are at a shared table, there is more leeway than when you are assigned your own table.  We have been on cruises where table mates were 30 min or more late, and they were seated.

On one occasion our excursion returned late, so on the way to our room I stopped by the MDR and told the Head Waiter we would be late.  They held our table for us.  

I would warn the wait staff the night before that you might be late the next evening.

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Reading through this thread and I wonder if the ship will impact this late arrival situation.  Especially on Oasis and Quantum class there are a fair amount of specialty dining options.  We have been on at least 4 cruises on Royal where we have never went to the MDR.  We know specialty dining isn’t for everyone but since we have dId the last cruise with friends that had the same view, there are a few other that will leave open tables in the MDR.  

So does the presence and number of specialty dining venues possibly impact the flexibility of the MDR to accommodate parties that are late.  (I really wanted to type “parties that are tardy” there.)

 

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10 hours ago, YOLO said:

@RogerC1  Do you have experience with this?  I have never seen this happen.  My understanding is if you miss your first seating your can get a dining-room walk-up reservation (subject to availability and any existing lines).

I do know that in the "old days" if you were more than 15 minutes late for a traditional dining time you were basically out of luck (for the main dining room) unless your tardy arrival was expected and planned-for but no such "rule" has ever applied to MTD, that I am aware of.

With today's mish-mash of traditional and My Time dining I have no idea if there are any rules anymore.

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1 hour ago, ScooterScott22 said:

Reading through this thread and I wonder if the ship will impact this late arrival situation.  Especially on Oasis and Quantum class there are a fair amount of specialty dining options.  We have been on at least 4 cruises on Royal where we have never went to the MDR.  We know specialty dining isn’t for everyone but since we have dId the last cruise with friends that had the same view, there are a few other that will leave open tables in the MDR.  

So does the presence and number of specialty dining venues possibly impact the flexibility of the MDR to accommodate parties that are late.  (I really wanted to type “parties that are tardy” there.)

 

Fixed time dining works because the cadence of the service is consistent.  Everyone is eating their appetizers and next everyone at the table is being served their entree.  When one person or couple is late to fixed time dining it screws up the service flow and everyone suffers.  Fixed time tables don't mix in guests who are not assigned to that table if guests are late.  Their assigned table suffers when they are late.  

For a no show the MDR service can continue so while there may be a brief initial wait to ensure stragglers don't appear once the service routine begins a no show has no impact on the rest of the MDR service experience.  A couple with a reservation at specialty can be noted by the MDR wait staff.  They know not to expect people who have reservations elsewhere.

in this sense a no show has less impact than guests who are late to fixed time dining.  If service at a table has started and now a couple appears you have an awkward situation where food is being served to the folks who were on time while the late people sit and wait to place their order.   That would be much more impactful compared to a no show who is eating in specialty that night.

 

 

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On Oasis, in June,  there had been dining room announcements that the dining room will be open at 5:15 for the 5:30 traditional dining and they encouraged us to take advantage of that.  they also said if you were not seated by 5:45 you would lose your table.    The MTD lines were ridiculous  especially lobster  night.  I think it’s in your best interest to mention to your waiters the likelihood of being late or perhaps book a specialty dining or take advantage of one of those places you’ve meant to try. (Port side BBQ on Oasis/yum! And quite affordable)

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We had this issue on my first RCG cruise in Jan 2019, my travel companion at the time was the worst. She was close to 20min late for our traditional dining time of 5:30 and the other members were pretty upset. I didn't plan that cruise, or it would have been MTD or at least around 8pm. They wait until everyone is there to start service and this made the others late for their scheduled shows. So, they will hold off for about 15min at least but we were told if we couldn't make that time we would have to eat elsewhere. 

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9 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

On Oasis, in June,  there had been dining room announcements that the dining room will be open at 5:15 for the 5:30 traditional dining and they encouraged us to take advantage of that.  they also said if you were not seated by 5:45 you would lose your table.    The MTD lines were ridiculous  especially lobster  night.  I think it’s in your best interest to mention to your waiters the likelihood of being late or perhaps book a specialty dining or take advantage of one of those places you’ve meant to try. (Port side BBQ on Oasis/yum! And quite affordable)

In May on Liberty, it was the same " dining room will be open at 5:15 for the 5:30 traditional dining and they encouraged us to take advantage of that.  they also said if you were not seated by 5:45 you would lose your table. "

I'm usually, pre-Covid, a fan of MTD.  So both weeks as I was leaving from my dinner between 5:45 and 6, I stopped and spoke to some of those waiting (a small group at that time since MTD didn't have the first official available booking till 6:45) on multiple nights.  Every one I spoke to said they started to seat as soon as table became available right around 5:45, even the host confirmed this to me one night.  I can also say I took a look at the MTD lines at around 7 a few nights and the were quite long.

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During the restart while still in the pandemic MTD has been neutered by Royal.  It appears they see MTD as a threat vector compared to fixed time dining so they consumed the MTD area for an expanded first seating fixed time dining service and only started offering MTD times after those tables were finished with the early seating and available.  Initially this was done in the days when the Windjammer was closed for dinner.

The expectation is that Royal may one day return to having an MTD product available at all times during MDR service hours.  While the WJ is now available for dinner Royal is still neutering MTD on some ships.  Only time will tell if MTD will remain on Royal.

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