cruise-y Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 Sorry to ask a probably obvious question but this is my first Royal Caribbean cruise so I'm not familiar with My Time Dining. And you all have been so sweet here to answer my questions. I prepaid my entire trip upon booking. A few days ago I switched to My Time Dining, thinking there was no charge for that. I got a bill for $180 something and they said it was because I had to prepay my tips with My Time Dining. I'm totally fine with prepaying tips, but I'm wondering why it is different for My Time Dining? Is this prepaid tip just for the waitstaff or for everyone? Also, on other cruise lines, the tip is included with a bar tab, which is very convenient - is that true on Royal Caribbean too? Thanks again to all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 My Time Dining requires you to prepay your gratuities. If you had stayed with Traditional Dining, you would have been charged the same gratuities automatically on a daily basis (each day of your cruise, your SeaPass account would have been charged). These gratuities are for the head waiter, waiter, assistant waiter and your stateroom attendant. Yes, Royal Caribbean includes an automatic 18% gratuity with all bar purchases. You will see it on any receipt for drinks you get. cruise-y 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruise-y Posted July 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 Great! Thanks Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 To be honest, I'm not really sure why you must prepay grats for MTD but not for the other dining option(s). It really doesn't make any sense to me...you're going to pay them one way or the other, anyway. Personally, I would always prefer to prepay my grats, and always do...just so that I can get them paid and out of the way and don't have to face them at the end of the cruise...but it really doesn't make any sense...as far as I can tell...to pay them up front just for MTD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jticarruthers Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 I thought I had read that Royal quietly discontinued the prepaid grats being required and made them optional, perhaps that was only on the Oasis/Allure as part of their MDR/MTD or DD limbo that has been dragging on for so long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 I don't think so...we had to prepay ours for the blog group cruise on the Allure...or I guess I should say, we CHOSE to prepay them so that we could get them at the lower rate (just before they went up). Maybe we would have had the option not to prepay but I don't think so. I think MTD is still requiring prepay...no sense at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocLC Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 I had also read the Royal was discontinuing the requirement to prepay the tips with MTD; however, in the end it really doesn't matter as they will be charged to your account one way or the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 To be honest, I'm not really sure why you must prepay grats for MTD but not for the other dining option(s). It really doesn't make any sense to me...you're going to pay them one way or the other, anyway. Personally, I would always prefer to prepay my grats, and always do...just so that I can get them paid and out of the way and don't have to face them at the end of the cruise...but it really doesn't make any sense...as far as I can tell...to pay them up front just for MTD. I believe this policy goes back to the "old days" when gratuities were not automatic for all guests. When MTD was rolled out, people got those envelopes in their stateroom to pay gratuities. On MTD, guests potentially wouldn't tip their waiters since they have a different one every night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needtocruise Posted July 4, 2015 Report Share Posted July 4, 2015 I think that they want to discourage the My Time Dining by requiring you to pay the gratuity up front. (It is much easier to herd everyone into two dining schedules than let people eat whenever they want.) That is why I did not sign up for it when I booked my cruise. Can you switch to MTD when you board? I plan to try, and don't mind them charging me when I check in on boarding day. I just don't like to pay for everything 2 months in advance of the cruise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted July 4, 2015 Report Share Posted July 4, 2015 Can you switch to MTD when you board? I plan to try, and don't mind them charging me when I check in on boarding day. I just don't like to pay for everything 2 months in advance of the cruise. You can try. Go speak to head waiter on embarkation day in the main dining room and inquire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michelle Posted July 5, 2015 Report Share Posted July 5, 2015 The gratuities being pre-paid I think is a great idea all around - keeps the staff happier knowing they are getting paid - and you pre-pay for My Time Dining cause it guarantees all those waiters and staff the same guarantee as if they were working in the Main/Late seatings. And everyone is right, either way you want to pay the amounts are the same. Its more do you want to have them paid before you cruise or have them put onto your account to balance at the end.Also _ I just added MTD for clients this week and the Gratuities were not added automatically so they could be making a change to this. Waiting to hear back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jticarruthers Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 My parents are just back from Enchantment and got switched from traditional to MTD onboard without even knowing :) They had traditional early confirmed, showed up on the first night with a table # printed on their card. Maitre d for some reason intercepted them, scribbled MTD on their card and sent them to the MTD desk (without explaining why). They showed up every night at the same time and couldn't figure out why the service was awful and they kept getting different tablemates every night. They eventually figured it out but do not have a favorable first impression of MTD. Anyway, my point being if they can involuntarily move you to MTD I am sure it is possible to voluntarily be moved as well, probably depends on the mix of MDR/MTD for that cruise and which is more popular ... if MTD is crowded maybe not but if they are trying to make space on the MDR side they may welcome your offer to switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 Excellent point, JTI. I have never heard of the ol' switcheroo that your parents got...unfortunate, to be sure. Sorry that was their first [bad] impression of MTD. I can see why... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruise-y Posted July 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 Is the service generally worse in MTD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jticarruthers Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 I haven't tried it so I cant speak from personal experience. Everything I have heard is that it is pretty similar though. In my parents case the service problem was that they thought they were on traditional dining still so they just walked in and sat down at "their" table each night at 5.30. The wait staff for that table though didn't know they were at the table since the MTD desk hadn't actually "sat" them which caused mass confusion for everyone involved I am sure. Of course no one bothered to tell them they weren't supposed to just walk in and sit, just glared at them from the host stand instead ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteSoxFan Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 I have done MTD on a couple of cruises and I don't feel the experience is any different than traditional. We have, however, always had a reservation and have never been seated at a larger table and, with the exception of one night, we've always had the same table/waiters. We are taking a 4 nighter in November and have planned to "not plan" anything. When we're ready to eat, we'll head there so my experience will probably be different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocLC Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 They try to minimize the difference by assigning you to be he same wait staff every night, but my experience is that the service is less refined. There's a less personalized service and more variance in the quality of service. For example, I once received my dessert before my entree on Celebrity as they had messed up my original entree. Long story. For me, the flexibility is worth any possible hiccups in service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted July 6, 2015 Report Share Posted July 6, 2015 Is the service generally worse in MTD? That has not been my experience....but I don't use MTD the way that most people use it. I basically use MTD just like everyone else uses traditional dining. I always book early and always get the same table and wait staff so my service is almost always excellent. I have only asked to change tables/waiters one time in 20+ cruises. Just with traditional dining, I think your waiters are more apt to give you good service if they are confident that you will be coming back the next night. To be fair, I think that those who use MTD the way it is intended to be used (different times throughout the cruise) could find the service to be less consistent. It's just human nature that you will probably treat someone differently if you know for sure that you are going to be serving them again soon and conversely, you may not be quite so apt to "go the extra mile" if you think you will NOT be serving someone again soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocLC Posted July 7, 2015 Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 I wouldn't necessarily say that service is worse, just less refined. By that, I mean the servers don't get to know you as well, in my experience, as in traditional dining. For example, you won't have your beverages waiting for you, they're less capable of anticipating your needs/wants, etc. That's the nature of MTD. Also, I think some servers are more adept to doing MTD than others. Some servers have tried to treat our section in MTD as traditional, so you end up eating at the pace of the slowest diner, which can be annoying. However, you also have the flexibility to try out different servers and as a result we have found some that we really "click" with as they understand the pace of service that we like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted July 7, 2015 Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 Is the service generally worse in MTD? I don't believe so. A primary difference between MTD and traditional dining is you likely will not have the same wait staff each night. To me, that's a big factor to having personalized service but I freely admit I love traditional dining. DocLC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hank Posted December 13, 2015 Report Share Posted December 13, 2015 if I'm on the oasis and decide to eat at the specialty restaurants will I be charged. I did not prepay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocLC Posted December 14, 2015 Report Share Posted December 14, 2015 You will be charged the fee associated with the restaurant, which includes a small amount for gratuities. However, you're still expected to pay the daily service fee/gratuities although you are not required to tip additional in any restaurant above this amount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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