Podcast Cruise 6.0!!! Official Info

[Cherinva]

C2-GTY Girliea April and Pete
This is our first ever cruise....so excited to meet ya'll!

Welcome !!!!

 

[sayhello]

Could someone explain to me the difference in dining options?....I chose My Way, but I am second guessing myself now and thinking about changing to a set time dining. I'm thinking it would be easier. Does the set dining time work like DCL in that they tell you where you go that night?

I haven't done My Time dining yet, so I don't know for sure how that works. My understanding is, it's like any restaurant, where you make a reservation for whatever time you'd like to eat, and then show up & eat with whomever you'd like. Personally, the group dining every night is one of my favorite things about cruising. The set group dining works like DCL in that you go to your dining room at a set time every night (main or late dining) and you dine with the same people at the same table with the same servers each night. However, there is no "rotational dining" like on DCL. The dining room you are assigned is the dining room you're assigned for the whole cruise; there aren't 3 that you rotate through. There are, however, a lot more specialty restaurants (like Palo & Remy) on the Oasis of the Seas.

Sayhello

 

[Cherinva]

I haven't done My Time dining yet, so I don't know for sure how that works. My understanding is, it's like any restaurant, where you make a reservation for whatever time you'd like to eat, and then show up & eat with whomever you'd like. Personally, the group dining every night is one of my favorite things about cruising. The set group dining works like DCL in that you go to your dining room at a set time every night (main or late dining) and you dine with the same people at the same table with the same servers each night. However, there is no "rotational dining" like on DCL. The dining room you are assigned is the dining room you're assigned for the whole cruise; there aren't 3 that you rotate through. There are, however, a lot more specialty restaurants (like Palo & Remy) on the Oasis of the Seas.

Sayhello

Ok, thanks for the explanation. Knowing that, it makes me think even more that I should change my dining to one of the set times. Guess I'll talk it over with the kids and make a decision.....good thing there is plenty of time.

 

[mikelan6]

If we choose Early or Late dining, will we be seated nearby or with other DISers?

 

[sayhello]

If we choose Early or Late dining, will we be seated nearby or with other DISers?

Not necessarily. The way to assure this is to "link your reservations for dining" with other DISers, then you know you'll all be seated together. At least I assume it works this way for Royal Caribbean. It does for DCL. I've never tried to be seated with folks I wasn't on the same reservation with on Royal Caribbean before.

Unless DU have something up their sleeves...

Sayhello

 

[NancyIL]

Could someone explain to me the difference in dining options?....I chose My Way, but I am second guessing myself now and thinking about changing to a set time dining. I'm thinking it would be easier. Does the set dining time work like DCL in that they tell you where you go that night?

I prefer My Time Dining. You can make a reservation for a specific time, but you can also show up when you want to eat. I like sitting with different people, so I ask to share a table with others. However, on my last RCI cruise (in June 2014), we liked one set of servers so much that we asked for their table at about the same time each evening.

 

[keylime26]

So I don't want to be set with people at a table who roll their eyes at the mention of Disney. We need to link up with some of you who "get" us.

 

[DSNYDREAMER]

If we choose Early or Late dining, will we be seated nearby or with other DISers?

Yes, as a group, seating is nearby or together for early or Late dining. My favorite part of RCL is My Time dining. I love that I can eat when I want and not have a set appointment every night.

Requests for linking reservations won't be taken until much closer to sail date.

 

[Cherinva]

Ok, so please correct me if I'm wrong....on My Time dining, I pick the time I want to eat and where? And with the set time, we would go to the same place each night? On DCL we sat with the same people and a had the same servers ( I liked that because they knew what we liked)
But I also like the idea that we can pick where to eat on My Time.....guess some more research is in order.

 

[disneysteve]

My favorite part of RCL is My Time dining. I love that I can eat when I want and not have a set appointment every night.

Ok, so please correct me if I'm wrong....on My Time dining, I pick the time I want to eat and where? And with the set time, we would go to the same place each night? On DCL we sat with the same people and a had the same servers ( I liked that because they knew what we liked)
But I also like the idea that we can pick where to eat on My Time.....guess some more research is in order.

This is one of the big debates in the cruise community: assigned dining vs. open dining. There's no right answer. It is very much personal preference.

We've sailed 3 times on Carnival, which has assigned dining. Our last cruise was on Norwegian which pioneered the concept of "freestyle" dining. We didn't like it at all! At least on that cruise, we found that it doesn't really measure up to the publicity: Eat when you want, where you want. More than once, we went to the dining room only to be told there was a 45 minute wait for a table. That doesn't happen when you have an assigned dining time and reserved table. A couple of nites, we ended up eating at the burger place or poolside grill because we wanted to eat then, not 45 minutes later.

So I'm glad that RCL still offers the traditional plan with a set time. Also, as Cheri noted, it's nice to get to know your servers. If they're good, and most of them are, they remember your preferences. If your kid cuts the crust off his sandwich the first day, chances are that on subsequent days, it will be served with the crusts already removed. If you always order an iced tea when you sit down, by the 2nd or 3rd day, there will be an iced tea waiting for you when you arrive. That kind of stuff can't happen with open seating.

 

[KathyTX]

This is one of the big debates in the cruise community: assigned dining vs. open dining. There's no right answer. It is very much personal preference.

Yes!! When sailing as a couple or as part of a large family group, we've loved assigned dining. As a couple, we always requested to be seated at a large table, and really enjoyed meeting and visiting with several new friends each night. As part of larger family groups, it was great to be able to split off and do different things during the day and know that everyone would meet up at Table X at X o'clock each night. And having your dining team know your likes and preferences was a nice thing.

But if you're with a smaller group and you want flexibility and don't mind planning day-by-day and communicating those plans to the group, open dining can be a lot of fun and offer flexibility and variety.

Personal preference!

 

[disneysteve]

But if you're with a smaller group and you want flexibility and don't mind planning day-by-day and communicating those plans to the group, open dining can be a lot of fun and offer flexibility and variety.

This will be our first time sailing as part of a group. I can see where that might change our dining preferences. Maybe a few of us will be hanging out and decide we'd like to do dinner together. The next day, the same thing might happen but with a different collection of people.

If you have assigned seating, you don't have to use it. You're still free to eat somewhere else if you prefer. On previous cruises, there were nights where for one reason or another, we just didn't want to do the main dining room dinner. Either we were involved in another activity at that time or we were in the mood for a more casual meal or everybody wasn't ready at the same time. So we hit the buffet or poolside grill or whatever.

 

[OKW Lover]

As the PP's noted, we're more familiar/comfortable with assigned dining. Nonetheless, on this cruise we're doing my time dining because there are so many specialty restaurants on the Oasis. Its entirely possible that we won't eat in the main dining room at all.

 

[corky441]

Another thing to consider is that RCL is playing around with a new dining concept called "Dynamic Dining" - it hasn't been that well received and the Oasis start date has been postponed.

If you check the Royal Caribbean blog, they have several posts about it

 

[lovethecastle]

So if my son's college schedule cooperates next year we are going on podcast cruise 6.0. I'm way too excited for this cruise being that it is way over a year away. Can't wait to see this new to us ship. I think the casino is an added bonus.
Our stateroom# is 10191- lovethecastle-Sandy, Keith and Nick(can't believe he will be 20 yrs old)
Some questions: are the pull out beds comfortable? And on the rccl website they talk about the dynamic dining(corky441 I see that you just mentioned it) what is that exactly. Although I understand it is currently not in place anything can happen in this time frame.

 

[Wimpy]

We are the same way as Jeff and Val. We usually do assigned dining. But because this ship has so many great options, we did my time for this cruise. Keep in mind that just because you may have an assigned time, it doesn't mean you have to go to the main dining room to eat.

 

[DVC Kathy]

Dave and Kathy, drclaws and DVC Kathy, cabin 12218

 

[drclaws]

We got our confirmation - excited to join you all!

D5-14218 - mzalicia - Alicia & Corwin

I can't believe Corwin will be 14 at time of sailing...seems so far away

July 2014 ADB Backstage Magic reunion!!

 

[drclaws]

Ok, thanks for the explanation. Knowing that, it makes me think even more that I should change my dining to one of the set times. Guess I'll talk it over with the kids and make a decision.....good thing there is plenty of time.

On our previous RCCL cruise we did My Time and it ended up almost like assigned dining. We generally went at the same approximate time period and we seated in the same general area and with the same serving team each night. We liked the flexibility.

 

[AngelinaVP]

#12276--AngelinaVP--Dan and Angelina

So excited to be going on our first cruise. Hate that it's so far away.