not sharing a table?

[ampc3]

we are in the beginning stages of planning our first family cruise for next year. We have not booked anything just yet, still getting as much info as I can. Looking at FOS

We have not decided which is the better way to go for dining. MDR early or Late seating.. Or the whole My time dining or family time dining? I have been reading conflicting reports about being able to book a specific time for my time? we would prefer to eat around 6:30, is that doable on my time?

We are a family of 7, we definitely do NOT want to share a table with anyone. (just not our thing) Will we have our own table whether in MDR seating or MY time dining seating? Is this something that has to be requested on first night, or can you prebook it this way? Any insight on dining without having to share a table would be great... this could be a make or break thing for my hubby. TIA

 

[sunshineNJ]

We requested NOT to share a table and didn't have to.

 

[KerryMihalik]

Prior to your cruise, if you choose My Time Dining, you will be able to make your reservations for each night of your cruise. When you make your booking you can request a table for 8 and then just let the Maitre'd know on your first night that you would like to dine with just your family each night.

 

[disneyholic family]

first off, i highly recommend the Allure of the Seas (or the Oasis, i was on the Allure but i assume the Oasis is just as enjoyable).

we LOVED it.

i haven't been on the Freedom, so i can't say how it works there, but on the Allure, yes you make reservations for your times when you pick My Time Dining.

We chose MTD and then reserved dinner times that fit with all of our other reservations (entertainment, excursions).
As it turned out, i reserved 6 PM every night. But i could have picked any time i wanted (that was still available when i made the reservations).

it worked out great as we had the same table and the same servers each night.
We had a table for 2. We initially had a table for 4, but my daughter and son in law decided they wanted to eat in the buffet restaurant every night, so we they switched us to a table for two. very romantic

By the way, it was our first cruise on Royal Caribbean. It was my daughter's second. We were on 4 disney cruises before that. We thought Royal was every bit as good (and better in certain things).

A good time was had by all!!!

 

[ampc3]

thanks for the replies. How far in advance can you make the reservations for MTD?

And am I understanding this correctly, we make the reservations for our party, and then when we show up, is when we make sure to tell them we want to dine alone each night?

From others experience, if we wanted to have the traditional seating (early or late)would we most likely be placed with others, or could we also request there to be alone?

I haven't been on a cruise in 20 years (this is an anniversary celebration) and my kids have never been. I am scared that the oasis fleet, is just too big for us?? Plus it is more money.

 

[shoney]

We were on the explorer of the seas as a party of 6 in February.
From what I read, you can request to NOT be seated with strangers, even with traditional seatings.

We went with MTD because we did not want to be tied down to reservation times. (huge pet peeve of mine!)

We would just show up when we wanted to eat. If there was a wait, we'd go to the bar and have cocktail and come back a little while later.

We really liked our waiter on night 1. Our night 2 waiter was a drag. After that, we requested that we be sat in waiter number 1's station at a table for 6. They were able to do as requested!

 

[policycobb]

Do you request a no share table through your TA or do you contact RCI?

 

[disneyholic family]

Do you request a no share table through your TA or do you contact RCI?

On the allure I seem to remember it being a question for the my time dining reservations But I might be remembering incorrectly But I thought one of the questions was regarding table size But that's for my time dining , not early/late seating.
I would simply call rccl and put in the request on your reservation.

 

[sam_gordon]

We just got off Freedom on Sunday. We did My Time Dining. When we did our reservations, we could select "A table with others" or "A table to ourselves" (something like that).

We sat by ourselves all week (DW & I are shy and didn't know how the kids would react). We had various dining times (5:45, 7:15, 8:15, 7:45 etc) based on what we wanted to do that night. We reserved these times a couple months in advance, but could change on board if needed.

Once you have a reservation number (whether through RCI directly or a TA), you can log on to RCI (create an ID first) and select dining times (if you have MTD), excursions, drink packages, etc.

We skipped dinner the first night to watch the US play soccer, had one waiter for night 2, then another waiter for nights 3-7. We don't know why they changed our waiter. Both were very good.

 

[vacation_junkie]

we are in the beginning stages of planning our first family cruise for next year. We have not booked anything just yet, still getting as much info as I can. Looking at FOS

We have not decided which is the better way to go for dining. MDR early or Late seating.. Or the whole My time dining or family time dining? I have been reading conflicting reports about being able to book a specific time for my time? we would prefer to eat around 6:30, is that doable on my time?

We are a family of 7, we definitely do NOT want to share a table with anyone. (just not our thing) Will we have our own table whether in MDR seating or MY time dining seating? Is this something that has to be requested on first night, or can you prebook it this way? Any insight on dining without having to share a table would be great... this could be a make or break thing for my hubby. TIA

We are a family of 3 who always sits by ourselves.
Its not that we don't like other people Its just we wish to have some down time to regroup from our busy day and eat alone.

 

[bumbershoot]

With a family of 7 I can't see there being much chance at all of you being seated with anyone else.


We're a family of 3 that LIKES sitting with other people. I'm as introverted as they come in person, except for on cruises it seems, because there are always interesting people with interesting stories and things to talk about. We all have this one big thing, being on the ship, in common, and that just makes it so EASY to chat and have a nice, light time!

 

[woody73]

. . . We are a family of 7, we definitely do NOT want to share a table with anyone.

. . . Any insight on dining without having to share a table would be great...

Just have your travel agent put the request on your reservation.

Woody