Help me with my decision MTD vs early/late

[friendof billw]

Most of my non crusing life we like to eat by 6pm, however when on board it seems like we alway eat a late lunch and not hungry at 6. If we choose 8pm is it possible we miss some of the show's?? With the MTD we would also miss the "getting to know" others that are always at the same table, right?? Is the 2 or 3 night premium dinning package worth it?? Thanks for your input

[Atlantix2000]

I've only been on one cruise, but on that sailing the evening shows performed twice.  The earlier show's time worked with the late seating and the later show's time worked with the early seating.  If you do MTD, you've got flexibility when you need it, but a middle dinner time could also overlap parts of both shows if you eat slow!

[DocLC]

Shows are schedule to accommodate both early and late dining times. Early diners have a show scheduled after dinner; late diners have theirs scheduled before. The exception may be the Welcome Aboard show, but it is still scheduled at a single time where everyone can attend and late night shows are scheduled after all dining service (e.g., 10:30 pm).

[JLMoran]

A factor for us was the crowd we are expecting to see. Since we're traveling during the spring break week for most schools, we're assuming there will be a lot of families on board, many with younger kids. We're making a SWAG and guessing that those families with younger kids will make up the bulk of the 5:30 PM dining slot on Freedom, maybe with some older passengers who also prefer to eat early, so we chose the later slot at 8:30. The hope is that we'll be more likely to be seated with other families that have older teens and are close to our age bracket (late 40's / early 50's)

 

No idea if that SWAG will pan out. For all we know, the parents of those little'uns will come to the 8:30 dinner after putting the kids to bed and leaving with them with a sitter!

[Petegl]

A factor for us was the crowd we are expecting to see. Since we're traveling during the spring break week for most schools, we're assuming there will be a lot of families on board, many with younger kids. We're making a SWAG and guessing that those families with younger kids will make up the bulk of the 5:30 PM dining slot on Freedom, maybe with some older passengers who also prefer to eat early, so we chose the later slot at 8:30. The hope is that we'll be more likely to be seated with other families that have older teens and are close to our age bracket (late 40's / early 50's)

 

No idea if that SWAG will pan out. For all we know, the parents of those little'uns will come to the 8:30 dinner after putting the kids to bed and leaving with them with a sitter!

The families tend to like to dine in the evening in the Windjammer, I have been on 25 cruises on different ships and always try to get the first sitting so I can ether take a show or find a nice place to spend the evening. Happy cruising

[Gears]

We used to always take the early seating in the MDR. Then one day we found ourselves rushing back from and excursion and decided that we didn't like rushing around to get to the early seating so we tried the late seating and haven't looked back. We prefer to take our time and not be rushed to get to anything...we have enough of that during a week at home. 

 

This is what we found just suits us.

 

There is no right answer, but that's one of the things we love about cruising...we have a choice of early dinner, late dinner, MTD, Windjammer, specialty dinning, room service, etc.

 

The dinning packages are worth it depending on which restaurants you choose combined with deals that might be available for you online in your booking. If you want to try three different ones, add up the individual pricing that you see and compare it to the package. We had a discount on one restaurant but not on another and it made more sense to book individually than get a package. Your mileage may vary so check your prices.

[JLMoran]

We used to always take the early seating in the MDR. Then one day we found ourselves rushing back from and excursion and decided that we didn't like rushing around to get to the early seating so we tried the late seating and haven't looked back. We prefer to take our time and not be rushed to get to anything...we have enough of that during a week at home. 

 

This is what we found just suits us.

 

This was actually the second reason for us that led to choosing the late dining slot -- worries about having to rush back to the ship to make our dining slot. Totally forgot it was also a factor when I wrote my original reply.

 

And we're so used to eating between 6:30 and 7:30 that 5:30 just feels too darned early for us. :)

[jce2]

My question would be why do anything other than MTD?  The only thing it seems I get out of early/late is having the same table mates each time.  This will be my first cruise so of course I speak from ignorance (my specialty!!)  With my family there will be 6 adults so we would have most of the table anyway.  For a first time cruise, MTD just seemed to make the most sense.  Maximum flexability = Minimum conflicts

[androckb]

My question would be why do anything other than MTD?  The only thing it seems I get out of early/late is having the same table mates each time.  This will be my first cruise so of course I speak from ignorance (my specialty!!)  With my family there will be 6 adults so we would have most of the table anyway.  For a first time cruise, MTD just seemed to make the most sense.  Maximum flexability = Minimum conflicts

 

For us, it's exactly what you said - having the fixed seating time allows us to have the same table mates and the same service staff for the whole cruise. We enjoy sitting at a larger table with others and chatting throughout the week about the cruise, what we have all seen and done, etc. We also enjoy having the same serving staff (which is possible with MTD, but not always) which by the second or third night knows our preferences and has our drinks, etc. ready for us when we arrive. 

 

As someone said earlier in the thread - no right or wrong way to dine, just whatever works for you and your family/travel party. 

[JLMoran]

My question would be why do anything other than MTD? The only thing it seems I get out of early/late is having the same table mates each time. This will be my first cruise so of course I speak from ignorance (my specialty!!) With my family there will be 6 adults so we would have most of the table anyway. For a first time cruise, MTD just seemed to make the most sense. Maximum flexability = Minimum conflicts

We'll also be looking forward to having the same table mates and a chance to make some new friends. I seem to recall reading that tables go up to 12 people, and my family of four all agree we'll ask for one of those to have a shot at a nice variety of table mates.

[DocLC]

I've always had the same service staff with MTD on Royal even without reservations and without requesting it.

[Matt]

I prefer traditional for the same tablemates, same wait staff and knowledge show times will line up with my dining times.  Plus, I like the consistency of having dinner every night at the same time because it makes it easier to plan for me.

[mom2mybugs]

Im going to try mtd this next cruise. We had awful service last time (no drinks ready, wrong orders etc) and specialty dining could leave 1 couple at a table for 6 by themselves. I figure we might try and get a table by ourselves because small talk when you hadn't seen anyone at the previous 2 meals was kinda weird! Jane

[FManke]

I've always had the same service staff with MTD on Royal even without reservations and without requesting it.

Where you always seated in the same section?

[FManke]

Most of my non crusing life we like to eat by 6pm, however when on board it seems like we alway eat a late lunch and not hungry at 6. If we choose 8pm is it possible we miss some of the show's?? With the MTD we would also miss the "getting to know" others that are always at the same table, right?? Is the 2 or 3 night premium dinning package worth it?? Thanks for your input

Being first time cruisers we chose MTD because we didn't want to be tied down to a certain time to eat each night. I think it's no different, at least in our case, of eating meals at set times during any vacation. We just ate when we felt like it. We do have reservations for specialty dining, which of course are set times, but have opted to not choose dinner times in the MDR, this time.