Early Dinner vs. Late Dinner on Royal Caribbean
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- Опубліковано 19 чер 2023
- Should you pick early or late dinner on your Royal Caribbean cruise? I've got the pros and cons to both to help you choose!
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I prefer the early dining myself. Especially if I'm seated next to the window. I love eating while watching the waves. But one of the main reasons is the pool. But the time I'm done eating, I go get changed and head to the top and do some swimming in the pool. And it's almost always empty. Maybe 1 or 2 people in it. But it's great to have it all to yourself. Or even better, the empty Jacuzzis. It's so nice to sit in it and relax while watching the sun set. I can't wait to do it again soon.
:-) My wife managed to do that while everyone was ashore in Stika Alaska.
Isn't there a *myth* about swimming after a meal... waiting after x time lol
Late dinning. For a lot of the things you said. I like to swim in the pool, no one is around just me and the lifeguard. The sunset with a cocktail in hand is a wonderful experience. It is laid back and peaceful. Then the dinning room at late seating is relaxed. The wait staff are more laid back, and not in a hurry. Then I hit the sack if I am tired, or check out a music venue prior to bed. If I don't do the pool. Then I check out the show. Then go to dinner. Late night dinner is much better. That is what vacation is all about. Relaxation and chilling.
Just got off Independence and through a scheduling mishap we ended up with My Time instead of 8 PM (our preference). We went straight to the dining room the day we boarded and were able to move to 8 PM with absolutely no problem. 10/10 recommend Royal Caribbean as my favorite cruise line!
❤ my time ❤ meeting new people every night @ table & service ➕ going to dinner when I actually feel hungry 😋 never had to wait longer than 5 minutes.
We always do the 5:30pm sitting. It works well for us. Each to their own.
We've done all 3 options multiple times. I prefer late seating as you can have cocktails and take in shows before enjoying a leisurely dinner. No matter what ship we've been on, the early seating seems chaotic when the My Time crowd starts filtering in. Speaking of which, My Time Dining is my least favorite option. There is something special about having the same waitstaff each evening. No matter what option you choose, you usually don't leave the MDR hungry!
I don't eat any after 8 PM so it's an easy one for me. Started that 6 years ago when I lost 80 pounds. Yes it's a bit Gremlins/Gizmo like but it works for me. Even on a cruise I follow that rule.
Same here.
Always do late. Love that the pool gets uncrowded late afternoon. Plenty of time to have a drink before dinner and don’t have to rush around when return from port.
The third option is best... anytime dining
We really enjoyed the early seating for dinning on our first cruise, and will keep that time on our upcoming cruise, however, we were bummed to miss some of the sail away celebration, so we may skip a couple of nights this time and just let our waitstaff know that we will not be there those nights.
❤0❤00pp0❤❤l
On past cruises we always chose early dining. But on my most recent cruise on Vision of the Seas, we decided to try my time. I think I will always choose MT from now on - it was awesome! I really liked the flexibility to just have dinner on our schedule, when the mood hit, anytime between 6:45 and 8:45. The maitre'd on this ship would try to sit folks with the same wait staff each night so we still got to know our waiters, and they got to know us. This means that every night we sat with or near the same people and had great conversations with all. In the end, MTD was the best of both worlds and allowed us the flexibility to choose when to eat and still dine with the same waiters and meet many other people every night.
I was a MTD person, until I booked through a travel agent who selected Early dining for me, and just went with it. It was nice because I learned a lot and they were a very diverse group of people. It was MSC and they sat solo cruisers together. I think my next cruise I’ll intentionally select either late or early dining.
We began cruising with traditional dining (late) but have since always chosen MTD, usually around 6:45pm, which works great for us! Even when we had a large group with us, the wait staff were all very accommodating! We had the same table and waiters every night but one because of a "hiccup"; no big deal. When we have a large group, we always head to the MDR on boarding day to make reservations for the entire cruise. Cheers Matt!
Since the elimination of the midnight buffet, late seating all the way!
Why they eliminated the midnight buffet?
Is not complementary, is included in the fare, we are all paying for it.
I like the early dining, just seems to work better for me.
So we were on Voyager a few weeks ago and went with My Time dinning. We really enjoyed it and still had great service. This was our first cruise that was not a themed cruise. Both my GF and I are Trekkies and on the trek cruise, dinner works a bit more like My time. Glad we went with a later dinner as not only were we able to catch most shows, but also got the benefit of the dinning room staff doing a show. Like Matt said, really depends on your schedule.
I picked Royal specifically for top notch shows. So in order to see shows at 8pm we went with early dining. True we cut our pool time a bit early.
❤❤❤
Yeah, I managed to get the worst of all worlds with My Time on my cruise last August. I made reservations, but they didn't want to seat you in an available section. They wanted to seat you in the same section every night. So I get there at 7:55 for my 8:00 reservation, and they don't have seating. They tell me to sit down and they'd get me when my table was ready. 50 minutes later they haven't gotten me, and the dining room closes in 15 minutes.
I lost faith in My Time at that point. Not only was I getting locked into specific times every night, they couldn't even handle that. Plus I had to eat alone every night. I'm going to late dining.
One thing to consider is the time difference between your home and your Cruise. We live in Texas and did an Alaska Cruise. Getting up at 6 am ships time to hit the Windjammer early was easy and much less chaotic and we always got a window seat. But No One Escapes the Washy Washy! 🙂It was amazing how creative the crew was with the wash station.
Just got back on 6/16 from independence of the seas. We had my time dining at 7:30 except the 2nd night. It was 7:15. We loved our waitstaff server and tipped him well. The only problem was embarkation day which was WILD!!!!!! Folks w/o reservations were put ahead of folks with reservations, so folkks were pretty upset. We did end up eating pretty late but was given a table with a great ocean view. The remaining nights were smooth. Did windjammer for luch and was pretty ok with it
mytime and i do it at 8:15 so I can make either the early or late show depending on the day. It also gives me time to clear lunch from my system so I have room for dinner.
Early of course. Aside from the health benefits, restaurant is less crowded, food is fresher, and we get the chance to catch all the evening shows.
The past 2 cruises we have selected my time, usually 7 or 715pm. It has been great, we had the same table and staff each time. Just have to be proactive and plan, my time can be a great benefit, IMO.
I don't like either of the traditional dining times, so I do MyTime and reserved it for 7pm each night. This was on Anthem of the Seas out of Bayonne in February, and have the same booked again for next year. Found it to be the perfect time to enjoy more late afternoon time in the Solarium (and the sunset), or not needing to rush back from ports and would just be about when I'd start feeling hungry, and also still give plenty of time after to see some shows or entertainment. I had the same wait staff every night in the MDR and even had the same table several times, at least the same area. Only thing was with some later shows it did cut it close with how long the dinner service could be, especially because I'm the kind of person who would show up 45 minutes before a show with a drink so I could pick whatever seat I prefer, so next time if there's a show I absolutely want to see after, I may bump it up to 6:30 or just hit up the buffet.
Usually, we’ve gone for early dining, which has worked out for us, and the way we schedule stuff.
On one cruise, while traveling with two other couples who we met and became friends with during other cruises and traveled with regularly, we selected my time and made a reservation every night for either 6:00 or 6:30. We even asked the maître d’ to set us at the same table every night, which he did. So in this case, we had the best of both worlds, the same table and the same wait staff at a time that works better for us., and it was great.
Me and my family finished a Late Seating on Allure. We were not a fan of dining that late. I'm used to eating right after work, but the bigger issue was that I was always full and exhausted right after dinner and just wanted to go right to bed, and at that point it was so late (9-9:15) that the idea of taking a nap so I could boot and rally to go late night dancing felt off. We definitely wished we could have switched to Early Seating (all booked), but will be doing that or specialty dining for our future cruises.
We had a large group that usually split up while on the ship or on excursions on our Alaska Cruise. But we still managed to all do the 5:30 dining to swap stories and suggestions about the events. The only alteration was Victoria because the ship docs in the afternoon around 5 pm. So only a few of us were at dinner that day.
We learned the hard way, with very young kids… early dinner is critical 😅
At our age we enjoy the early dinner so we can catch the early show and go to bed!😁😁
😅
It's not about age only, I'm very young (30) and I prefer to eat earlier as I'm doing intermittent fasting and have a certain cut off time for eating foods. Plus if my family get hungry later at least they can get pizza or something in the buffet 😆 🤣 😂
Just sailed on Wonder of the Seas 4-11 June. We booked through a travel agent. MyTime dining was already applied to our profile, but there were no times available before 7pm…most were 7:45 or 9pm….
That is way too late for us to eat…we’re not in Spain for crying out loud…. Instead we just showed up around 6pm and had to wait in line…for the first formal night, when all 8 of wanted to dine together, it took about 40 minutes to be seated; after getting in line at 6pm.
Last June, I had MyTime dining at 7. I had the same table and same wait staff.
My cruising is just to play dinner my year, just do the unlimited dining package and figure out your perfect dining time for each day. The restaurants are so awesome and cool. There is something awesome with signing and check that says 0.00 dollars owed.
There are not many kids on a cruise, at least on non-Oasis class ships. I’ve never chosen my dining time based on other kids. But we now have our first kid, so we have chosen an early dining. We will see what we enjoy:)
I'm torn, I've done early, late and my time. Early is too early, late is too late. I prefer my time before reservations. I can't predict when I will be hungry. Last cruise I didn't reserve a time for my time and the line was sooo long, I got hangry, so I ended up at the buffet.
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I've always preferred My Time. Early is too early and late is too late
Personally I rather have a late dinner since I remember a big break between dinner then the show. For some reason ours was at 5:30pm (can't tell if it was assigned or if the one who booked it chose it). It made port days a big hassle since we had to rush back to the ship. Also, I guess I got a big soft spot for MDR, since I just find Windjammer too crammed and not having as good food as MDR did.
Hubby and I prefer later seating even though we eat early at home.
It gives us more time during the day and I have more time to get ready before the late seating and also we like to watch the sunset all dressed and ready to go and we prefer to get all our photo ops done before eating a giant meal😉
We use to do my time, but we started to have to wait for a table, so we switched to early and if we can’t make it for any reason, we would skip that night, but at least we don’t have to wait
my parents won’t listen to me, but i’d prefer late dining so i could eat more in the day and still have room for dinner
Nice
Hi Matt
Thank you for the information about dining. I would like to know if Playmakers is open on boarding day for lunch. I’d like to try it out since I wasn’t able to go on my first cruise.
On my upcoming cruise for next September only early dinner was available, at 6 PM. I'm going to talk with the staff, because this is way, waaay to early for me.
This week, I'm onboard Rhapsody of the Seas, and tried the 'My Time' dining option, but I regret it. If we want to make reservations, this needs to be done between 10am and 4pm, but I'm always ashore at those times. This means pretty long lines at dinner, which isn't ideal. For my next cruise on Navigator in 4 weeks time, I've opted for the late dining option - problem solved!
Fyi some people like to get full. Why do restaurants only serve one baby lobster tail with a meal? That is like giving someone 4 shrimp and expect that to be a meal. Lobsters now a days are little babies. Only about 4 bites of meat. Not like back in the day when a lobsters weight wast a few pounds. Should be laws against catching the baby lobsters. It doesn't look fancy and you will leave the customers hungry with one baby lobster tail. Lets be real with ourselves. A person does themselves a great disservice when they lie to themselves like this. If you serve baby lobster tail then do a buffet all you can eat. Don't be cheap with serving foods. Make your money in the stores and with alcohol. Just my thoughts on the matter. But maybe I'm a bit biased. I used to work in a 4 star buffet at Rutgers Bay lake resort in Minnesota.
My time has worked great for us because we make reservations for the same time each night. We've been able to get the same table or at least the same staff each night, so we build that rapport. It's a matter of planning and reservations. 😉
Did you make all your reservations on the first day?
Due to health issues, I can’t eat after about 7 pm since I usually retire early anyway. We were given late dinner on our cruise in November. Three months ago they told us the earlier time was sold out
My time! All day every day!
I traveled with a big group of people, but all but two of us wanted to eat early. Me and my roomie went with my time dining because early dining was 5 PM and that was way way too early for us!
I ate there on mariner of the seas
we are going to be in grand suite so reservations can be changed if we need to. sail away is fun then we can change go eat in MDR think I have reservations 6:45pm ..question is: what happens if we get there 6pm can we eat or switch to 4people since we have friends with us? Do we ask the head waiter if we can have a table near the window? when I cruised in 90's somehow got to eat with captain and ate at window table. Picture with captain was nice also. Problem is controlling your eating ...which I try to do ...not easy.
We purchased Specialty Dining for our entire cruise in March 2024 on ICON. Can we eat lunch and dinner at a specialty restaurant on the same day or even every day?
I like early time dinner
QUESTION: Can anyone tell me how long you can sit at a table in the dining room? My hubby and I usually stay longer at restaurants because we tend to chat and have drinks even after we eat... would that be a problem?
I don’t like the Windjammer much - it’s a lot of fast food type of food (fries, pizza, chicken tenders…although there are some salad options) but I prefer the chef prepared type of meals in the MDR or specialty dining room
Like # 5 looking forward to my very first cruise just scared of getting seasick 🤮
@Silver Honda…You will be on a nice Luxury Liner not a Navy Ship…🤣You will be fine
@@jwrizza8037 thank you Sir for the encouragement 😊
If you eat in the main dinning room, are you still able to go to the buffet after or later ?
Has anyone had their dining time changed without notice? It happened to me. I sailed on the Navigator last week. I had requested early dining, they gave me the late. Then once on the ship, I look at the app and found they changed me to My Time dining. Some folks in the FB group for the cruise had that happen to them as well.
We are sailing on Allure the first week in Aug. We are assigned early dining which appears to be 5pm. On previous cruises, I thought early dining was later than this. Unless I'm mistaken, My Time dining won't start until 6:30pm. We want to leave our evenings open for other things like shows/entertainment so early dining will work while My Time in general appears a tight fit for later shows. On sea days, the early time will work, but it will be a challenge on port days to make 5pm dinner. Will RCL allow us to keep early dining on some days, but change it to My Time and make reservations at 6:30pm on other days? Any thoughts or recommendations would be helpful.
I don't think you can do that but you can eat elsewhere that night. Buffet, cafe promenade, room service, pizza, or specialty restaurants.
I keep hearing about Lobster tail night in Main Dining- how do we know which night that is?
If you do MTD do you still get the same experience as Early or Late?
honestly, i just want their dinner fr
We just got home from the Harmony and we were not able to get more than one of any of the options. Very disappointed 😥
Selected My Time-
When making reservations, the times started at 7 pm and later. Is there no way to do My Time earlier except on shore days when you want 7pm reservations??
What happens if you don't show up for your dining time?
If you select an early or late traditional dining experience in the main dining hall, it sounds like you will have the same table each time? Its only My Time dining where you will end up at a different table each time? So when you do have the same table, do you just show up and seat yourself, or will they still show you to your table? Concerned that if its as large as I imagine, it might be hard to find your assigned, same table you had the previous night.
The tables are numbered and you are assigned. I always go find my table location once on the ship
Hellooo
Do they tell you what main dining room you are booked for because, It’s like 3 main dining rooms am I correct on the symphony of the seas? So will they tell you or do you have the option of going to whichever one ? Thanks. I choose 5:30 most in my crew don’t eat as late. And if we not hungry we’ll skip.
Your seapass will have where you are dining at. You may be able to ask at the MDR before the rooms become available
Should you tell the wait staff if you are planning not to go to the MDR on a particular day?
Yes! They will appreciate it.
If you have a reservation at a specialty restaurant the wait staff will know about it
A few things to also take into consideration... your time zone vs the cruise ship time zone.
Also, adventure ocean was closed 5p to 7p so earlier dining, you would have to take the kids with you. We have an infant and 2 toddlers so it was easier taking them to Windjammer then drop off while we go to main dining room.
My family has the 6pm seating so the rest of the evening is doing whatever.
QUESTION: How does breakfast and lunch work? Are they also served in the MDR, but w/o reservations?
I believe I once heard Matt saying in a video that it's on a first come first serve basis for lunch and breakfast
They don't take reservations for those meals. Just show up and get in line.
I am traveling with a group of 8.. if we do MY Time dining, will we still be able to get a table for the 8 of us?
Yes, but you may need to wait for all eight to arrive before they will seat you.
Early dining. Case closed 😎🤷♂️
But you gotta get back earlier on shore days and have less pool time on sea days.
@@thefox47545hat’s true. Honestly, there’s not really just one “correct” choice. I was being sarcastic. 😂However, even on vacation, I’m usually back in the room by 9pm or so since I’m more of a morning person…so I always choose early dining.
@Keither754 Yeah, my family and I like to eat late stay up late, so 8 pm works well for us. They originally booked us for 5:30 because the 8pm spots were full but luckily after some cancelations we got our 8pm spots.
My time dining is the only way I could ever do it.
If you are doing the My Time dining and want to make reservations, when are you able to do that? I see from the FAQs on the Royal Caribbean website that the reservations are highly recommended and can be done once on board but does that mean they need to be done all at once after boarding or can you make them on the same day as the requested reservation?
as soon as you book the cruise. I make mine months before the cruise
My next cruise is in August and I booked mine at month ago. Maybe longer. Though I'm going to try to get it shifted to traditional late.
Video WAY to loud on crowd noise.