CNA Jacksonville Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 We recently completed a five day Mexico cruise on Mariner of the Seas. When we booked we specified we wanted Early Dining (5:30pm) and that was reflected in the Cruise Booklet we received. Once on board our Sail Passes said My Time Dining. We stopped at the MDR reception deck and asked why the change. The attendant could not offer a good explanation, instead saying that the "system" might not be updated yet. We politely pressed the question as to who made those changes without our consent. Again, no good answer except that we could come back later. He continued to keystroke when we asked to speak to someone who could provide an answer. After a minute he asked if we would be okay with Early Dining seated with other passengers. We said that was totally acceptable. He wrote out a Main Dining Room reservation card and said that it would be reflected on our Sail passes. We stopped by Guest Services and lo and behold we had our MDR Early Dining specified. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone know why these sort of dining arrangement changes are done without your approval or input? RCIfan1912 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCSC Mike Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 14 minutes ago, CNA Jacksonville said: Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone know why these sort of dining arrangement changes are done without your approval or input? It happened to us on Allure in October (and several others). The MDR managers attributed it to a computer system issue (which is easily believable to me given how bad Royal's IT is). They handled it very well. We were told to just show up at early seating and we would be given a table. So we basically wound up with MTD but at 5:15. We had different servers each night we ate in the MDR but always our own table (as requested) and never had to wait more than 5-10 minutes to be seated. CNA Jacksonville, RCIfan1912, asquared17 and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAYNO Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 We have also had dining arrangements changed without our knowledge or consent. One time especially, we were booked in a party and our dining was to be at the same table. Nope. And they were unable to fix it, insisting we were never booked together. Best we/they could do is change us to MTD and we dined together a couple times. All the more reason I print copies, and/or take photos of our reservation documents. Baked Alaska, RCIfan1912, WAAAYTOOO and 1 other 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 I haven't experienced this but have read it happening to others. The best explanation I've heard is that someone booked a specialty dinner and that bumped them out of their fixed dining and into MTD. CNA Jacksonville and WAAAYTOOO 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezer Of The Seas Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 Yes, CNA. Happened to us, same ship, same itinerary last November. Arrived at the MDR at 530 (time we requested when booking), the host checked his terminal, nothing. Asks for our cabin #, enters it and the display indicates My Time. The host said there was nothing he could do. Told us he would try to seat us at 6:45 and he created a 6:45 reservation for the balance of the cruise. Disappointing and for whatever good it may have done, we mentioned it in the post cruise survey. CNA Jacksonville and OCSC Mike 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattycruise Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 Checking to verify my dining request when I board is one of the things on my list of “to do” I actually do have a list! you can check by looking in the app-click on the person icon at the top of the page and then scroll down, or you can go to the dining room and verify your seating arrangements along with the dining time. (Linked seating, shared table, table for 2 etc) RCIfan1912, CNA Jacksonville and OCSC Mike 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjcruisers Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 Not sure the right hand knows what the left hand is doing with Royal sometimes. Never had a switch like that, but on one cruise the earlier dining was suppose to 5pm (stated when we booked and reflected in our papers). Once on board the sea pass card had it as 5:30pm. Ok no biggie. Go down the first night and the MDR manager was in a panic because only a handful of people had shown up for the whole MDR. Apparently Royal changed the early dining time to 5:30 (reflected on the seas pass card), but didn't bother to tell MDR or kitchen they switch it who were preparing everything to 5pm. Lets just say the first night the food was a little off CNA Jacksonville 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 Not sure the right hand knows what the left hand is doing with Royal sometimes ever. OCSC Mike, CNA Jacksonville, jbrinkm and 3 others 4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisellama Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 On 1/26/2024 at 1:56 PM, CNA Jacksonville said: We recently completed a five day Mexico cruise on Mariner of the Seas. When we booked we specified we wanted Early Dining (5:30pm) and that was reflected in the Cruise Booklet we received. Once on board our Sail Passes said My Time Dining. We stopped at the MDR reception deck and asked why the change. The attendant could not offer a good explanation, instead saying that the "system" might not be updated yet. We politely pressed the question as to who made those changes without our consent. Again, no good answer except that we could come back later. He continued to keystroke when we asked to speak to someone who could provide an answer. After a minute he asked if we would be okay with Early Dining seated with other passengers. We said that was totally acceptable. He wrote out a Main Dining Room reservation card and said that it would be reflected on our Sail passes. We stopped by Guest Services and lo and behold we had our MDR Early Dining specified. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone know why these sort of dining arrangement changes are done without your approval or input? Happened to my son on Allure. CNA Jacksonville 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 3 hours ago, tjcruisers said: Not sure the right hand knows what the left hand is doing with Royal sometimes. Never had a switch like that, but on one cruise the earlier dining was suppose to 5pm (stated when we booked and reflected in our papers). Once on board the sea pass card had it as 5:30pm. Ok no biggie. Go down the first night and the MDR manager was in a panic because only a handful of people had shown up for the whole MDR. Apparently Royal changed the early dining time to 5:30 (reflected on the seas pass card), but didn't bother to tell MDR or kitchen they switch it who were preparing everything to 5pm. Lets just say the first night the food was a little off That's funny - the opposite happened to us! Although our switch happened before boarding. We had in our paperwork 5:30pm for early dining and about a week before we sailed, we saw it switched to 5pm in the app. Checked with our TA and lo and behold, early dining had switched to 5pm. Lots of latecomers the first night. CNA Jacksonville 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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