MyTime Dining reservations

[eaglesfaninfl 62]

We are sailing on FREEDOM next February and always book MTD in advance. I have been unable to book it for this cruise and keep getting a notice to book onboard. Has anyone else experienced this online? Since our travel agent thru AAA has moved to another position and we have not been notified of her replacement, that currently is not an option. Any thoughts, suggestions?

[Matt 9,747]

Are you asking about having your reservation be changed to My Time Dining? Or you're on My Time Dining and now want to make reservations for dinner each evening?

[eaglesfaninfl 62]

Matt--No we already have MTD booked when we booked the cruise. What I cannot do is schedule the dining times for dinner online. Might it be because we haven't made our final payment, because that has not been a problem in the past?

[DocLC 2,007]

If you haven't made final payment yet, it's likely that you're too far out.  While such options can open earlier, my experience has been roughly 60-90 days out for reserving dining times with MTD.  For what it's worth, I don't reserve in advance as I never know if my son will be dining with us from night to night and because in my opinion it goes against why I choose MTD (to dine when I want and when I might be hungry).  That said, we were once encouraged on another line with MTD to reserve because it was a holiday cruise, so that might be my exception with Royal, too, as holiday sailings have more people onboard with the third and fourth berths filled.

[WAAAYTOOO 9,877]

I think Doc is on the right track. I find it very misleading for the website to say "try booking onboard" when in fact they haven't even opened the booking for online dining reservations yet. So I agree...it's probably still just too early. As Doc said, it's usually 60-90 days b4 the cruise b4 they open the dining options. Sometimes they open up to online booking much earlier (I've had my dining reservations for the Grandeur in December for a number of months already) and sometime it's very close to sailing b4 they open it (oasis this past Jan it was within a month of sailing) so it's very inconsistent.

[eaglesfaninfl 62]

Waaay and Doc--Thanks for the comments, I think you are right and agree that RCL's comment is confusing; if MTD booking is not open yet, then say that! This is the first time we have booked a cruise this far in advance. Again, thanks for the comments!

[DocLC 2,007]

Waaay and Doc--Thanks for the comments, I think you are right and agree that RCL's comment is confusing; if MTD booking is not open yet, then say that! This is the first time we have booked a cruise this far in advance. Again, thanks for the comments!

For what it's worth, if you end up sailing on a ship without bookable onboard entertainment, you still get a selection to book it and then get a message that it's not available and that you'll need to book onboard.  Unfortunately, the cruise planner is meant to be one-size fits all, but it doesn't quite work when some ships offer different amenities than others.

[JohnK6404 1,112]

Yes, you are probably too far out to set the actual reservations... most I understand cannot be set until 60-90 days prior as mentioned above, but keep checking just in case!  

 

I do not know how RCL determines when to open up the booking for a specific cruise, but for our upcoming Liberty of the Seas cruise this OCT, we made all of our MTD and specialty restaurant reservations mid-April (over 6 months prior to cruise)... I was shocked when they opened it up so early!  I believe it was 60 days prior for our last cruise back in 2013 on Explorer... keep checking and have a great time! :)