Dining options

[ksucats]

just curious if somebody has a short answer that would help me with what we want to do with dining. I just booked the liberty of seas for March. My wife and I plus 12 and 14 year old. We have always done late dining and one day at Palo on Disney.

I am a little infused on how it works on royal. I went to try to make a reservation and it said I couldn't. But it didn't say if we were too far out or if they were all booked or what.

 

[karmacats]

royal has two "traditional" dining times, which are usually 6 pm and 8:30 pm (though that can change - i was just on liberty two weeks ago and our dining times were 5:30 and 8). it's similar to disney, in that you have the same tablemates and waiters. there are no rotating restaurants, though - you're always in the main dining room.

they also have my-time-dining, or MTD. if you choose that, you can pre-reserve times, or just show up at the dining room when you are hungry. you will have different tables and servers each night. it's basically like eating in a land-based restaurant.

the buffet is also open for dinner (and remains a buffet). and room service is free except for drinks.

fwiw, i have a cruise booked on independence (liberty's sister ship) next february, and for a long time it would not let me reserve late dining. about a month or two ago it finally let me. royal's IT is horrible, so it could just be a website glitch, or for some reason the late dining could be blocked out for the moment but will reopen later. if you're worried about it, i'd call royal; if not, just keep checking occasionally. late dining is rarely full, so you shouldn't have trouble switching into it. worse comes to worst, when you get onboard go see the employee standing in front of the main dining room after you board - they always have someone there to change dining tables, times, etc. You will get a "cruise compass" newsletter when you get onboard (like disney's navigators) and that will tell you when and where you need to go to make changes. i had to do this for my last liberty cruise - even though we had booked late dining, our keys said early seating - and they changed it no problem.

the specialty restaurants on liberty are chops (steakhouse) and portofino (italian). portofino is probably closest to palo. at the next dry dock, rumor is portofino will be changed to giovanni's table, which is also italian, but more casual. i can't remember when the dry dock is, but i think before your cruise. unlike disney, kids are allowed in the specialty restaurants.

sorry, that wasn't short. but hopefully it helps. i've been on liberty 4 times, so let me know if you have questions.

 

[ksucats]

royal has two "traditional" dining times, which are usually 6 pm and 8:30 pm (though that can change - i was just on liberty two weeks ago and our dining times were 5:30 and 8). it's similar to disney, in that you have the same tablemates and waiters. there are no rotating restaurants, though - you're always in the main dining room.

they also have my-time-dining, or MTD. if you choose that, you can pre-reserve times, or just show up at the dining room when you are hungry. you will have different tables and servers each night. it's basically like eating in a land-based restaurant.

the buffet is also open for dinner (and remains a buffet). and room service is free except for drinks.

fwiw, i have a cruise booked on independence (liberty's sister ship) next february, and for a long time it would not let me reserve late dining. about a month or two ago it finally let me. royal's IT is horrible, so it could just be a website glitch, or for some reason the late dining could be blocked out for the moment but will reopen later. if you're worried about it, i'd call royal; if not, just keep checking occasionally. late dining is rarely full, so you shouldn't have trouble switching into it. worse comes to worst, when you get onboard go see the employee standing in front of the main dining room after you board - they always have someone there to change dining tables, times, etc. You will get a "cruise compass" newsletter when you get onboard (like disney's navigators) and that will tell you when and where you need to go to make changes. i had to do this for my last liberty cruise - even though we had booked late dining, our keys said early seating - and they changed it no problem.

the specialty restaurants on liberty are chops (steakhouse) and portofino (italian). portofino is probably closest to palo. at the next dry dock, rumor is portofino will be changed to giovanni's table, which is also italian, but more casual. i can't remember when the dry dock is, but i think before your cruise. unlike disney, kids are allowed in the specialty restaurants.

sorry, that wasn't short. but hopefully it helps. i've been on liberty 4 times, so let me know if you have questions.

Thank you so much. That is exactly what I was looking for. I think we will leave the MTD and then try to book one night in each of the specialty restaurants. The more and more I look into this, the more excited I get.

 

[Dug720]

I've read on CC that if you make reservations for the same time each night for MTD and you are happy with the table and servers on the first night you can request to have that table and servers every night.

I'm so torn for my Brilliance cruise to Italy next summer. I selected MTD when I booked on board the Radiance, but I'm questioning it now.

In theory I like the MTD idea because from everything I've read it is much easier to get a table by yourself as a solo (if I'm with others I don't mind the communal dining, but I hate when they just shove all the singles together - as happened in Feb on the Fantasy - because the odds of all of you having things in common beyond cruising solo is so slim, and if you get seated with couples it's just AWKWARD), and as I've said above, I've also read that if you like your table and servers you can request to have them every night especially as long as you got reservations for the same time every night.

BUT I like traditional dining in that guarantee of the same servers every night - it's just that seating situation that is awkward as a solo (if you're with even one other person, worst-case you can talk to each other and it's like mini-groups at the same table) - but all that is left right now (did a fake booking to see what was available) for fixed is late, and I know it's *only* 15 minutes later than Disney, but 8:30 sounds soooooo late, especially with a cruise as port-intensive as this one's going to be. Not that there's any guarantee that I'll get earlier reservations when MTD opens up for those.

At this point I guess I'll stick with MTD and if it's awful I'll just get to be really good friends with the Windjammer for breakfast, lunch (when at sea) AND dinner.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

On RCL, My Time Dining usually opens for reservations ~90 days out. If you selected MTD when you booked, you can make reservations at that time for any combo of times you want. If you book the same time each night, you can request the same table and server every night. If you booked one of the traditional seating times, you can call RCL and have it switched to MTD (or have your TA do it). Unlike Disney, MTD on RCL has a majority of 2 and 4 top tables, so you can request a small table in advance. If you booked through a TA, they can set this up for you. There is also a "family time dining" option, that allows your kids to eat quickly and then go off and do whatever. Specialty dining reservations are usually made once you're onboard, or at the port. I'd wait until you board because they usually run some onboard specials (discounts) for the restaurants.

 

[bumbershoot]

We had MTD on Vision last year and I booked nothing in advance. First day we went to the dining room hours before dinner and set up a time for that evening. Decided that that timing worked for us, and about an hour later went back to arrange it for the rest of the evenings. They had to switch us to about half hour later, but they got us about a table away from our table the first night, and got us with the same servers. Worked out very well.

On Freedom earlier that year we had "My Family Time Dining", which seated at 5. Jinkies that was early. It was supposed to work in the same-ish way as late dining's "dine and play" on DCL, but just like our experience with dine and play, you have to stay on top of it and it works best if the kids order from the kid's menu only.

anyway, those can be options.

 

[sam_gordon]

On our Freedom cruise last year, we had MTD and, with the exception of the first night, had the same table and servers every night. Our timing would change +/- 15 minutes depending on the night. We just sat with our family though.

On Oasis the year before, DW and I had a number of different tables and servers. A couple times we ate with others, more often we didn't.

 

[mommypenguin29]

We do MTD every cruise we go on...first day we go and book times for the cruise nights and love doing the MTD! It is nice because it doesn't take as long as traditional dining which is good especially when we have the kids with us!