Watson Posted July 9, 2022 Report Share Posted July 9, 2022 Our cruise is seven weeks out. I tried to book dinner for my time dining via the RC app, and it suggests the only time available, every day, is at 9:15. I find it preposterous to imagine that all of the earlier dining times are already reserved so far ahead of the cruise. I called the customer support and they saw the same information. Something has to be amiss with the reservation process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyDillo Posted July 9, 2022 Report Share Posted July 9, 2022 MTD typically doesn't start until 6:30-6:45. I strongly feel they don't release the earlier reservation times befote the cruise. You should be able to make earlier reservations once you board or just go as a walk-in when you decide you would like to eat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattycruise Posted July 9, 2022 Report Share Posted July 9, 2022 Head to the main dining room immediately upon boarding to make your reservations, or perhaps select the traditional dining home of 5:30 or 8:00. Usually they have some wiggle room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerC1 Posted July 9, 2022 Report Share Posted July 9, 2022 Before I switched to traditional I was able to reserve MTD before cruise for 6:30. So I do believe they do allow those times to be booked before the cruise. That was 4 months before cruise date. I’m not sure how fast they book up, but maybe they only have a few actual reservation slots since some people will just show up and they have to accommodate those as well. You can probably still show up whenever you just might have to wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Done Posted July 9, 2022 Report Share Posted July 9, 2022 4 hours ago, AshleyDillo said: MTD typically doesn't start until 6:30-6:45. I strongly feel they don't release the earlier reservation times befote the cruise. You should be able to make earlier reservations once you board or just go as a walk-in when you decide you would like to eat. I reserved MTD for 7:30 pm on 2 cruises in August. I just checked my 2nd cruise in August (8/19-8/26) and I was presented times every 15 minutes from 7:15 pm - 9:00 pm This from the web page. MTD isn't even an option on my iPhone app! Go figure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pooch Posted July 10, 2022 Report Share Posted July 10, 2022 It is possible that late times are all that’s left. I always book my times as soon as I book the cruise. Don’t think I am alone in that. I would keep checking and if nothing opens up, go to the MDR when you board. KJ777, ellcee and KJones 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellcee Posted July 10, 2022 Report Share Posted July 10, 2022 I'm about 11 weeks weeks out and every single day is the same for MTD - only times available are 7-9- in half hour slots. Specialty dining is all times available 530-9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChessE4 Posted July 10, 2022 Report Share Posted July 10, 2022 On 7/9/2022 at 9:51 AM, Watson said: Our cruise is seven weeks out. I tried to book dinner for my time dining via the RC app, and it suggests the only time available, every day, is at 9:15. I find it preposterous to imagine that all of the earlier dining times are already reserved so far ahead of the cruise. I called the customer support and they saw the same information. Something has to be amiss with the reservation process. The App? Have you tried online via a computer? We didn't really have the capability to use the App for reservations until a week or so before our June cruise. Before that, we had to use Cruise Planner via the computer to book anything, like MTD. Even about 3 months out we discovered everything was taken until 7:45-8:15 PM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Done Posted July 10, 2022 Report Share Posted July 10, 2022 On our October cruise the late seating is at 7:45 pm and we like to eat dinner at 7:30. Given some of the reports of MTD lines being long even with reservations we decided 15 min was no big deal and switched the late seating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted July 10, 2022 Report Share Posted July 10, 2022 The days of MTD starting at 5:30pm or 5:45pm are gone. In order to make room for a larger early seating they are using the former MTD dining areas during the earlier MDR service hours for fixed time dining. Once the early fixed time MDR service has completed only then will MTD be offered. Basically Royal is trying to eliminate MTD. This is there way to motivate you to adopt fixed time dining. WAAAYTOOO and CruiseGus 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJ777 Posted July 10, 2022 Report Share Posted July 10, 2022 5 hours ago, Pooch said: It is possible that late times are all that’s left. I always book my times as soon as I book the cruise. Don’t think I am alone in that. I would keep checking and if nothing opens up, go to the MDR when you board. We have a cruise scheduled for October 2023 and we've already set our MTD for every night for 645pm. Definitely not alone on that one @Pooch! And when we were on Harmony in May, we were able to go down to the MDR and go in a little earlier than the time we had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted July 10, 2022 Report Share Posted July 10, 2022 2 hours ago, twangster said: Basically Royal is trying to eliminate MTD. This is there way to motivate you to adopt fixed time dining. That's interesting. Why would they be doing that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdaruss Posted July 10, 2022 Report Share Posted July 10, 2022 I have found the same thing for our October trip---- only 9:15 available--- and I've been checking for the past 4 months. A few days ago, 6:45 became available for the last night, so I booked it. Will just keep checking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted July 11, 2022 Report Share Posted July 11, 2022 11 hours ago, FionaMG said: That's interesting. Why would they be doing that? MTD uses more crew resources relative to fixed time. All tables progress differently. FionaMG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted July 11, 2022 Report Share Posted July 11, 2022 13 minutes ago, twangster said: MTD uses more crew resources relative to fixed time. All tables progress differently. I can see that it does makes sense logistically. But I'm curious if it wouldn't it put them at a disadvantage commercially if they stop offering the option while their competitors maintain it? I wonder just how important MTD it is in the eye of the guests. Do you think doing away with it could potentially spur a rebellion in similar fashion to what happened when they tried to introduce dynamic dining? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted July 11, 2022 Report Share Posted July 11, 2022 8 minutes ago, FionaMG said: I can see that it does makes sense logistically. But I'm curious if it wouldn't it put them at a disadvantage commercially if they stop offering the option while their competitors maintain it? I wonder just how important MTD it is in the eye of the guests. Do you think doing away with it could potentially spur a rebellion in similar fashion to what happened when they tried to introduce dynamic dining? I concur, but I'm not Royal. The current process sees a lot of guests queueing and waiting for MTD service to start. When MTD starts there are now very long lines while hungry for dinner which is not a great guest experience. Standing. Waiting. You are talking the same number of guests as before but instead of spreading those guests across a span of ~4 hours now they are distributed across ~2 hours. FionaMG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaMG Posted July 11, 2022 Report Share Posted July 11, 2022 59 minutes ago, twangster said: I concur, but I'm not Royal. The current process sees a lot of guests queueing and waiting for MTD service to start. When MTD starts there are now very long lines while hungry for dinner which is not a great guest experience. Standing. Waiting. You are talking the same number of guests as before but instead of spreading those guests across a span of ~4 hours now they are distributed across ~2 hours. It will definitely be interesting to see how it all plays out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatsFanBrian Posted July 11, 2022 Report Share Posted July 11, 2022 1 hour ago, twangster said: I concur, but I'm not Royal. The current process sees a lot of guests queueing and waiting for MTD service to start. When MTD starts there are now very long lines while hungry for dinner which is not a great guest experience. Standing. Waiting. You are talking the same number of guests as before but instead of spreading those guests across a span of ~4 hours now they are distributed across ~2 hours. On our sail a couple of weeks ago (on Explorer), we had set MTD times, most at 6:45. The issue we ran into was that the people who were at our table for the early seating were showing up late and then taking their time to finish up (I should add that to the pet peeves thread). After 2 nights of that, we demanded to be put at another table and we were accommodated for the remainder of the week. While the walk-in line was long, it seemed to us to be moving at a good pace. The line was usually cleared out within 30 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pooch Posted July 11, 2022 Report Share Posted July 11, 2022 Demanded?? I’m sure you meant asked the head waiter nicely right? Done 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Done Posted July 11, 2022 Report Share Posted July 11, 2022 17 hours ago, FionaMG said: That's interesting. Why would they be doing that? I do not believe MTD food is cooked to order. They need to have the different courses prepared and ready to serve as the tables request it. With traditional seating they can plate and serve the different courses on a prescribed schedule. They will argue the food served will be of better quality. They are probably right given the assembly line manner in which they prepare the meals. To me, the push back to traditional seating is akin to the tail wagging the dog; more about ease of operation for RC rather than trying to meet the complete needs of their customers. Virgin Voyages eliminated the traditional dining room altogether. Their different restaurants prepare the food cooked to order as one would find at a land based restaurant. They are also included in the price of the cabin with no specialty dining up charge. If Virgin can continue get that model to work, and start cutting into the more traditional cruise line's bookings, changes by the others will be needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairlynew Posted July 11, 2022 Report Share Posted July 11, 2022 If they want to encourage traditional dining, they need to adjust the times. 5:30 is simply too early to try to get ready for dinner after a busy day in port (or even on the ship) and the late time will not work for most families. I'm not sure what the solution is, but perhaps instead of offering MTD, they could stagger the traditional dining, and seat groups at 30 to 45 minute intervals instead of 2 fixed times. Done 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Done Posted July 11, 2022 Report Share Posted July 11, 2022 51 minutes ago, Fairlynew said: If they want to encourage traditional dining, they need to adjust the times. 5:30 is simply too early to try to get ready for dinner after a busy day in port (or even on the ship) and the late time will not work for most families. I'm not sure what the solution is, but perhaps instead of offering MTD, they could stagger the traditional dining, and seat groups at 30 to 45 minute intervals instead of 2 fixed times. Yes 5:30 is too early and 8:30 is too late. I know the dining times are aligned with the show times so much needs to change but it certainly isn't impossible. MaryCS62 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryCS62 Posted July 11, 2022 Report Share Posted July 11, 2022 1 hour ago, Toby said: Yes 5:30 is too early and 8:30 is too late. I know the dining times are aligned with the show times so much needs to change but it certainly isn't impossible. True -- I hate 530 - much too early, prefer 630. 8pm would be ok for me, DH & younger DD, but older DD can't eat / stay up that late (medical issues) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseGus Posted July 12, 2022 Report Share Posted July 12, 2022 On 7/11/2022 at 12:01 PM, Fairlynew said: .... 5:30 is simply too early to try to get ready for dinner after a busy day in port (or even on the ship) and the late time will not work for most families. .... All these comments just show how truly different all guests are. Any later that 5:30 or 6 at the latest is to late for us, 5 pm would be even better. But then when breakfast isn't served until 7 or later, that's way to late for us. I think the current move of times for MTD was first due to Covid and trying to keep spacing in the dining rooms along with separating un-Vaxed children from Vaxed adults. Now it has been affected by lack of enough staff, which is along the reasoning put forth by @twangster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Ogre Posted July 13, 2022 Report Share Posted July 13, 2022 I got my 6:30 time reserved but that is for Dec 2023... if you want the best times you have to book early. My Dec 2022 cruise I am booked for 7:00 pm but I also have a 3-night dining pkg as well. Spang1974 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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