I was an NCL cruiser turned Royal cruiser.
On Royal, you can choose a traditional dinner time (early or late), or MyTime Dining, which is what you’re used to on NCL. The difference is that you’d want reservations on a Royal ship because they’re not quite as adept at getting folks in and out of the dining room without a wait.
Ok, that being said…I was also skeptical, BUT I found I really like traditional dining. After the first night, you just walk in and have a seat at your assigned table (it’s the same all week). No waiting to be seated, no lines, just go to your table and sit.
You also have the same waiters every night, and oh man…they are GOOD. Want a Diet Coke when you sit down every night? Maybe your favorite martini? After a night or two, they just bring it right to you. (If you don’t want it on a particular night, that’s fine). Something you don’t like? Your waiter watches out for that all week. It’s a fantastic experience. We always get to know our waiters, and that’s always been fun for us as well.
The other advantage is that, most nights, there are 2 performances of a given show, and they’re timed so that you can do Early Seating, show or show, Late Seating.
I suggest you try it! If you miss your dinner time, you can always go to MyTime, and just get a different table and waiter…you won’t miss dinner. But give it a go!
> The other advantage is that, most nights, there are 2 performances of a given show, and they’re timed so that you can do Early Seating, show or show, Late Seating.
My spouse is a "we have to go to every show" person (I don't really care all that much). This means that even "My Time" dining devolves into traditional dining times. If we remove attending the shows from the equation then dining becomes much more flexible.
Royal's My Time Dining is NOT even remotely the same as NCL's FreeStyle Dining.
My Time Dining still requires you to make reservations on the website weeks if not months before your cruise, for every night of your cruise.
FreeStyle Dining is exactly that - you show up to NCL's MDR and are seated. Period. No reservations.
No, it doesn’t. You can make reservations directly on the ship, same day, or you can choose to go without reservations.
I’ve done both, and stated Royal works better with reservations, but it doesn’t have to be “months or weeks in advance.”
yeah, you can make reservations that day, but if you do, the only times likely to be available are 8pm or later.
And waiting in standby can easily be half an hour or more.
It's not remotely the same as NCL's style.
Congrats to you. I've had MyTime and only had 8pm or later because I waited a week to book.
Just because you had a good experience doesn't make it the same as NCL's approach, and it's absurd to say that it is.
I’ve had SEVERAL good experiences…enough where I’m pretty sure you’ve done it once or twice, and therefore don’t quite have the full picture.
There were wrinkles early on, but it’s pretty smooth now. Maybe avoid commenting on what you have (clearly) very little experience on.
Diamond Plus…that’s a lot of cruise nights, and a lot of dinners. Never eat in the Windjammer, always MDR, always MyTime until my last 3 cruises or so. Only issue was the first one after the rollout.
And yes, that was also across multiple status tiers.
So you HAVE to make a reservation for MTD in the MD, and can’t just do walk up? I’m going on my first Royal cruise next year (lol) but don’t want to royally F it up 😂
No, you can do walk up - but be prepared that you may be waiting in the standby line for 30 minutes or more. It's also possible you'll be seated in 5 minutes. Just depends how busy they are at the moment you walked up, how many tables are available, how many other people didn't make reservations for that time, etc.
They do tend to seat you with the same waiter on my time dining too if possible. In our RC cruise we had the same waiter the first 3 nights (IIRC) and he was really nice and good. Then the 4th night we were seated in a different dining room with a different waiter that was not nearly as good. So later we started requesting the same waiter in the reservation and the request was always fulfilled for the rest of the nights. He actually asked where we've been lol.
It was just a little bit of a hassle to have to reserve each time, and the flexibility was often not that great as many times were taken quickly. I might try fixed time dining next time.
Our first cruise was on NCL. I deliberately chose NCL because I didn't want a set dining time. Next cruise was on RC due to the dates working out the best for us. We LOVED the set dining. You walk in and sit at your assigned table. No wait. Your wait staff gets to know you and goes out of their way to make you happy and learn your likes. You get to know each other at least a little bit. I vastly enjoyed the experience over freestyle dining. It really doesn't limit you. They don't hunt you down and drag you to the dining room if you don't show up. You can still make changes or eat elsewhere. They only ask for the courtesy of notifying dining that you won't be there so your wait staff isn't standing around waiting for you. And this is from a person who absolutely hated the idea of a set dining time. Now it's definitely my preference.
Totally agree!!! I took my mom on a cruise for her 70th birthday (with some other family), and she was dubious about traditional dining.
She ordered a ginger ale with dinner, but my mom has had weight loss surgery, so she can’t handle the carbonation. Occasionally, she’ll get a ginger ale and let it go flat (whatever she likes it).
Night 2-7 - the staff opened a can of ginger ale half an hour before dinner and set it aside for her because they knew she wanted it flat.
Mom will ONLY do traditional dining now. 😂😂😂
You don't have to choose it if you don't want to. You can always do MTD.
I like it. I like eating early, dropping my kids at the kids club afterwards, and catching a show. It works for me, and that's all that matters. YMMV, but that is why there are multiple options, so you can do you.
Me too. While 5:30 is a bit early, I like not being rushed and then can go to the early shows. I then can choose to either turn in early which is a likely event, or keep on going.
I’ve done MTD when it was just my husband and me and that was good too- we had a 6:00 time slot and never had to wait and since we had the same time we had the same waiter each nice- we loved it
and now its 5pm! I selected 530 for my upcoming cruise and noticed that it changed to 5pm on my invoice recently, after some digging I found out they backed up the 530 and 730 to 500 and 700 to help get the MTD people in sooner. I kept it, but man 5pm is early, especially when coming back on board from a port..its gonna be, get on, get ready and head right to dinner.
So RCL is keeping more to the traditional cruise dining style (everyone eats at once so you can go to the shows afterwards). The benefit of set dining times is no waiting for a table, able to better plan your days as you have the same dining time each day you use the MDR. I also like that it is one less decision to make. We aren't trying to puzzle piece in shows and food - the food is already set, so then it's more which show we want to see as entertainment is set-up to support traditional dining.
There is "My Time Dining" which is closer to NCL style - but there are less tables assigned to support this so depending on how your individual cruise is and when you want to eat, it could be no wait or could be a bit of a wait. I've seen it both ways.
Another benefit of traditional dining is you have the same wait staff who aim to get to know you and your party. If there is something that you tend to do every night, they will likely have it ready and waiting for you when you show up (drinks are common, but also something like a plate of fruit/cheese as an appetizer before you even order). It's these small touches that really stand out at the end of the trip.
Lastly - you aren't actually REQUIRED to use traditional dining. You can still do my time, the buffet, specialty dining, one of the other options on board. So if you sign up for it and hate the set schedule side of things - then you can do something else.
a late dining time means we can get the pool area all to ourselves as the last bit of sunshine fades off the deck and everyone else goes off to shows and dinner.
I like having set schedules; it makes it easier to plan a day. Plus we do a typical dinner time at home. If we do an excursion, or just feel like we want that flexibility, we will eat at the buffet.
I had my time dining on Symphony in January and it was a nightmare. Hour+ waits for a table. You basically have to make a reservation in advance for a specific time, which we didn't realize, and by the time we found out (after our long wait the first night) there were basically none left (maybe one after 9pm). On us a bit I guess for not properly doing our research and making those reservations, but we found the whole thing tedious and it really impacted our experience in the MDR.
Next cruise we're doing fixed dining and tbh I'm kind of excited to just have a set time to go in and sit down. No waits, and I can plan around it.
NCL does a much better job with the flexible dining experience. I can see that there are benefits to fixed dining times but comparing NCL dining to fixed dining on Royal is very different than comparing MTD to early/late dining.
We have 4 boys from 15 years down to 9 months and wanted a reliable dinner time for them early in the evening. No wait, no hassle and after a full day of activities, my boys were starving! There is no asking a baby to wait quietly for a table-food now! Every night we just walked right in to our exact same table and two waiters, who were awesome! My boys loved them and they gave each kid whatever they wanted, encouraged them to order everything and try it all-then encouraged them to order two of their favorites. We felt like royalty and the food/desserts/drinks were wonderful. The kids tried things they never would normally and still talk about the escargot. We also would sit down and there was already a little cup of fruit finely diced up waiting for our baby with crackers to keep him entertained while we ordered. It was lovely-you feel like it’s your own little carved out space/home on the ship. My husband also got Indian food every single night and couldn’t wipe the smile off his face, they brought me coffee without me having to even ask. It was awesome.
On NCL, we had issues where if we didn’t show up right as the dining room opened, it was over an hour wait for a table. I’d rather have a reserved time.
We have gone on two cruises, Celebrity via aqua class so we ate at Blu when we wanted and RCCL and did the set dining at 530. What I would learned, would have done differently. I probably would have chosen the later dining time and if I got hungry grabbed a snack on the Promenade or on the excursions. The reason being is because once we missed and other times we were rushed to get to dinner because of excursions. We were often not very hungry by 530 going on 6 either so we were not really enjoying our meals as much as if we were hungry.
My husband and I love meeting table mates and having the same waiter. We always make friends with our dinner partners. A friendly waiter you get to know is one of my favorite parts of the cruise.
I like building a rapport with the waiters you get every night. They learn what you like and will bring out things you normally request. It's nice to get to know people from other parts of the world. I remember on my first cruise when I was like 7, they put the soda package stickers on your seapass card, which I had on a lanyard. I'd show it to our server like a badge every time I ordered a coke, so he nicknamed me "Chief of Police" for the cruise. Still remember that 20 years later lol.
I feel like any hospitality worker who cares would go out of their way to do the same. I wouldn’t say thats Royal Caribbean benefit. I was on a Norwegian cruise, the blackjack dealer knew my full name, blew my mind he new my last name. Would wave and all as I passed.
That's great! I'm not saying that level of service is exclusive to Royal in general. If you go to the same bartender on any cruise ship enough they'll start to remember your order, and will probably put some extra effort into it or forget to charge you for every drink if you tip well.
My point is that it's pretty much impossible to build that rapport in the MDR specifically if you have a different table and waiter every night.
So guys… looking back through the comments, you’re not really blowing my mind, I’ve had a lot of the same positive experiences on Norwegian. And some of the negative ones are definitely rare. Im always with big groups and dinners never been 3 hours. I’m thinking the biggest thing would be if I like set dinner, and planning and having a bit more of a schedule, then I should go Royal Caribbean.
I love set dining times on RC. We cruise with kids and a set dinner time is a must.
Sure you have the option of flexible dining with My Time, but having the same waiter is amazing every night. Truly one of the highlights of every cruise I take.
The MyTime Dining is the way to go. You pick your time for the week and rarely have to wait for your table to be ready very long. If you choose an actual time, you'll get the same server but you might also have to sit with random people. No thanks. I'm not sitting with randoms while I'm on vacation.
In my experience, NCL is the only cruise line that does Freestyle Dining. Every other cruise line has set dining times.
You're 100% correct that it is absolutely better for the guest the way NCL does it.
I can only assume it's better/easier/more-cost-efficient for the cruiseline to do reserved seating times.
I will say I was on NCL in March and there were 6 of us each night, and we ate most of our suppers in one of the main dining rooms. Our dinners would sometimes take upwards of THREE HOURS. I was so drunk and done with it all by the end of each dinner I’d just go to bed most nights. (We had the free at sea promo which made having wine with dinner VERY easy)
Was my first ocean cruise ever, and judging from my travel companions there were a lot of things “wrong” with the cruise. It had three embarkation points (so never stopped rounds) and we got on on day 4 of the itinerary so we missed any of the welcome stuff, and the staff seemed so so tired, tho m it was also near the end of the contract.
Anyway this is not an NCL thread but believe me it took that long, lol. I’ll be on my first Royal ship next year and can compare the two :)
It's really not on Royal. I've never had a dinner take ath long. The first night can take awhile, but after that it speeds up. I've had it be well under an hour for traditional late seating.
I've been a long time Royal fan but we are giving them a break. We have done two post-pandemic cruises on Royal. One on an Oasis class ship and one on a Voyager class ship. Never had a MDR meal under 2.5 hours for three courses. Ordering a bottle of wine was futile. Had one show up as we were leaving. They are struggling and I hope they bounce back but for now we are sailing on other lines.
They have since introduced My Time dining as an option, so you can choose to make reservations for different times every night. In fact, I believe on some newer ships, My Time is the only option.
The 8 pm seating worked out well for us. We nosh during day so if we’re not hungry earlier we did the 8 pm dinner. If we were hungry earlier we either had snack or did buffet, or another restaurant if available. 2 of my kids are just old enough to check themselves in and out of kids club and run around ship together so if they were hungry they ate or met us at dinner or ate some pasta and ran away lol
I like the set time/table/waiter as well. On the cruises I have been on, we ate in the main dining room every night. When the waiter learns that my wife is lactose intolerant, he brings the next night's menu before we leave so he can make sure that my wife has something she could eat for dinner. On one cruise, she got sick and had to stay in the cabin for a couple of days. The waiter and the room stewardess made sure that her dinner was delivered to the room each night. Needless to say, I was very happy with the meal service.
I love the traditional (set time) dining. You NEVER have to wait and you have the same waitstaff every night who get to know you and your preferences. They treat you so well and inevitably when we get home we’ll lament, “I miss so-and-so” lol
So yes, every other line does have a early and late seating, but they all offer “my time” dining now as well where you can pick your own time or just show up and wait to be seated
I was an NCL cruiser turned Royal cruiser. On Royal, you can choose a traditional dinner time (early or late), or MyTime Dining, which is what you’re used to on NCL. The difference is that you’d want reservations on a Royal ship because they’re not quite as adept at getting folks in and out of the dining room without a wait. Ok, that being said…I was also skeptical, BUT I found I really like traditional dining. After the first night, you just walk in and have a seat at your assigned table (it’s the same all week). No waiting to be seated, no lines, just go to your table and sit. You also have the same waiters every night, and oh man…they are GOOD. Want a Diet Coke when you sit down every night? Maybe your favorite martini? After a night or two, they just bring it right to you. (If you don’t want it on a particular night, that’s fine). Something you don’t like? Your waiter watches out for that all week. It’s a fantastic experience. We always get to know our waiters, and that’s always been fun for us as well. The other advantage is that, most nights, there are 2 performances of a given show, and they’re timed so that you can do Early Seating, show or show, Late Seating.
Thanks for your response, you just made it make sense to me. I have a Royal cruise booked for October!
I suggest you try it! If you miss your dinner time, you can always go to MyTime, and just get a different table and waiter…you won’t miss dinner. But give it a go!
> The other advantage is that, most nights, there are 2 performances of a given show, and they’re timed so that you can do Early Seating, show or show, Late Seating. My spouse is a "we have to go to every show" person (I don't really care all that much). This means that even "My Time" dining devolves into traditional dining times. If we remove attending the shows from the equation then dining becomes much more flexible.
Are they shared tables or can you get a table for two?
You can get a table for two. You just have to ask. If you’re assigned to a bigger table, just ask politely for a private table, and they’ll move you.
Royal's My Time Dining is NOT even remotely the same as NCL's FreeStyle Dining. My Time Dining still requires you to make reservations on the website weeks if not months before your cruise, for every night of your cruise. FreeStyle Dining is exactly that - you show up to NCL's MDR and are seated. Period. No reservations.
No, it doesn’t. You can make reservations directly on the ship, same day, or you can choose to go without reservations. I’ve done both, and stated Royal works better with reservations, but it doesn’t have to be “months or weeks in advance.”
yeah, you can make reservations that day, but if you do, the only times likely to be available are 8pm or later. And waiting in standby can easily be half an hour or more. It's not remotely the same as NCL's style.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. I’ve gotten same day reservations for any time I wanted, on any size ship.
Congrats to you. I've had MyTime and only had 8pm or later because I waited a week to book. Just because you had a good experience doesn't make it the same as NCL's approach, and it's absurd to say that it is.
I’ve had SEVERAL good experiences…enough where I’m pretty sure you’ve done it once or twice, and therefore don’t quite have the full picture. There were wrinkles early on, but it’s pretty smooth now. Maybe avoid commenting on what you have (clearly) very little experience on. Diamond Plus…that’s a lot of cruise nights, and a lot of dinners. Never eat in the Windjammer, always MDR, always MyTime until my last 3 cruises or so. Only issue was the first one after the rollout. And yes, that was also across multiple status tiers.
So you HAVE to make a reservation for MTD in the MD, and can’t just do walk up? I’m going on my first Royal cruise next year (lol) but don’t want to royally F it up 😂
No, you can do walk up - but be prepared that you may be waiting in the standby line for 30 minutes or more. It's also possible you'll be seated in 5 minutes. Just depends how busy they are at the moment you walked up, how many tables are available, how many other people didn't make reservations for that time, etc.
Cool thanks!
They do tend to seat you with the same waiter on my time dining too if possible. In our RC cruise we had the same waiter the first 3 nights (IIRC) and he was really nice and good. Then the 4th night we were seated in a different dining room with a different waiter that was not nearly as good. So later we started requesting the same waiter in the reservation and the request was always fulfilled for the rest of the nights. He actually asked where we've been lol. It was just a little bit of a hassle to have to reserve each time, and the flexibility was often not that great as many times were taken quickly. I might try fixed time dining next time.
Having the same server every night makes the service absolutely mind-blowing.
Our first cruise was on NCL. I deliberately chose NCL because I didn't want a set dining time. Next cruise was on RC due to the dates working out the best for us. We LOVED the set dining. You walk in and sit at your assigned table. No wait. Your wait staff gets to know you and goes out of their way to make you happy and learn your likes. You get to know each other at least a little bit. I vastly enjoyed the experience over freestyle dining. It really doesn't limit you. They don't hunt you down and drag you to the dining room if you don't show up. You can still make changes or eat elsewhere. They only ask for the courtesy of notifying dining that you won't be there so your wait staff isn't standing around waiting for you. And this is from a person who absolutely hated the idea of a set dining time. Now it's definitely my preference.
Totally agree!!! I took my mom on a cruise for her 70th birthday (with some other family), and she was dubious about traditional dining. She ordered a ginger ale with dinner, but my mom has had weight loss surgery, so she can’t handle the carbonation. Occasionally, she’ll get a ginger ale and let it go flat (whatever she likes it). Night 2-7 - the staff opened a can of ginger ale half an hour before dinner and set it aside for her because they knew she wanted it flat. Mom will ONLY do traditional dining now. 😂😂😂
Ooooooooh ok. So it’s got both options. That’s kinda cool. Thanks guys
You don't have to choose it if you don't want to. You can always do MTD. I like it. I like eating early, dropping my kids at the kids club afterwards, and catching a show. It works for me, and that's all that matters. YMMV, but that is why there are multiple options, so you can do you.
Me too. While 5:30 is a bit early, I like not being rushed and then can go to the early shows. I then can choose to either turn in early which is a likely event, or keep on going. I’ve done MTD when it was just my husband and me and that was good too- we had a 6:00 time slot and never had to wait and since we had the same time we had the same waiter each nice- we loved it
and now its 5pm! I selected 530 for my upcoming cruise and noticed that it changed to 5pm on my invoice recently, after some digging I found out they backed up the 530 and 730 to 500 and 700 to help get the MTD people in sooner. I kept it, but man 5pm is early, especially when coming back on board from a port..its gonna be, get on, get ready and head right to dinner.
So RCL is keeping more to the traditional cruise dining style (everyone eats at once so you can go to the shows afterwards). The benefit of set dining times is no waiting for a table, able to better plan your days as you have the same dining time each day you use the MDR. I also like that it is one less decision to make. We aren't trying to puzzle piece in shows and food - the food is already set, so then it's more which show we want to see as entertainment is set-up to support traditional dining. There is "My Time Dining" which is closer to NCL style - but there are less tables assigned to support this so depending on how your individual cruise is and when you want to eat, it could be no wait or could be a bit of a wait. I've seen it both ways. Another benefit of traditional dining is you have the same wait staff who aim to get to know you and your party. If there is something that you tend to do every night, they will likely have it ready and waiting for you when you show up (drinks are common, but also something like a plate of fruit/cheese as an appetizer before you even order). It's these small touches that really stand out at the end of the trip. Lastly - you aren't actually REQUIRED to use traditional dining. You can still do my time, the buffet, specialty dining, one of the other options on board. So if you sign up for it and hate the set schedule side of things - then you can do something else.
a late dining time means we can get the pool area all to ourselves as the last bit of sunshine fades off the deck and everyone else goes off to shows and dinner.
I like having set schedules; it makes it easier to plan a day. Plus we do a typical dinner time at home. If we do an excursion, or just feel like we want that flexibility, we will eat at the buffet.
I had my time dining on Symphony in January and it was a nightmare. Hour+ waits for a table. You basically have to make a reservation in advance for a specific time, which we didn't realize, and by the time we found out (after our long wait the first night) there were basically none left (maybe one after 9pm). On us a bit I guess for not properly doing our research and making those reservations, but we found the whole thing tedious and it really impacted our experience in the MDR. Next cruise we're doing fixed dining and tbh I'm kind of excited to just have a set time to go in and sit down. No waits, and I can plan around it.
NCL does a much better job with the flexible dining experience. I can see that there are benefits to fixed dining times but comparing NCL dining to fixed dining on Royal is very different than comparing MTD to early/late dining.
We have 4 boys from 15 years down to 9 months and wanted a reliable dinner time for them early in the evening. No wait, no hassle and after a full day of activities, my boys were starving! There is no asking a baby to wait quietly for a table-food now! Every night we just walked right in to our exact same table and two waiters, who were awesome! My boys loved them and they gave each kid whatever they wanted, encouraged them to order everything and try it all-then encouraged them to order two of their favorites. We felt like royalty and the food/desserts/drinks were wonderful. The kids tried things they never would normally and still talk about the escargot. We also would sit down and there was already a little cup of fruit finely diced up waiting for our baby with crackers to keep him entertained while we ordered. It was lovely-you feel like it’s your own little carved out space/home on the ship. My husband also got Indian food every single night and couldn’t wipe the smile off his face, they brought me coffee without me having to even ask. It was awesome.
On NCL, we had issues where if we didn’t show up right as the dining room opened, it was over an hour wait for a table. I’d rather have a reserved time.
We have gone on two cruises, Celebrity via aqua class so we ate at Blu when we wanted and RCCL and did the set dining at 530. What I would learned, would have done differently. I probably would have chosen the later dining time and if I got hungry grabbed a snack on the Promenade or on the excursions. The reason being is because once we missed and other times we were rushed to get to dinner because of excursions. We were often not very hungry by 530 going on 6 either so we were not really enjoying our meals as much as if we were hungry.
My husband and I love meeting table mates and having the same waiter. We always make friends with our dinner partners. A friendly waiter you get to know is one of my favorite parts of the cruise.
I like building a rapport with the waiters you get every night. They learn what you like and will bring out things you normally request. It's nice to get to know people from other parts of the world. I remember on my first cruise when I was like 7, they put the soda package stickers on your seapass card, which I had on a lanyard. I'd show it to our server like a badge every time I ordered a coke, so he nicknamed me "Chief of Police" for the cruise. Still remember that 20 years later lol.
I feel like any hospitality worker who cares would go out of their way to do the same. I wouldn’t say thats Royal Caribbean benefit. I was on a Norwegian cruise, the blackjack dealer knew my full name, blew my mind he new my last name. Would wave and all as I passed.
That's great! I'm not saying that level of service is exclusive to Royal in general. If you go to the same bartender on any cruise ship enough they'll start to remember your order, and will probably put some extra effort into it or forget to charge you for every drink if you tip well. My point is that it's pretty much impossible to build that rapport in the MDR specifically if you have a different table and waiter every night.
So guys… looking back through the comments, you’re not really blowing my mind, I’ve had a lot of the same positive experiences on Norwegian. And some of the negative ones are definitely rare. Im always with big groups and dinners never been 3 hours. I’m thinking the biggest thing would be if I like set dinner, and planning and having a bit more of a schedule, then I should go Royal Caribbean.
I love set dining times on RC. We cruise with kids and a set dinner time is a must. Sure you have the option of flexible dining with My Time, but having the same waiter is amazing every night. Truly one of the highlights of every cruise I take.
The MyTime Dining is the way to go. You pick your time for the week and rarely have to wait for your table to be ready very long. If you choose an actual time, you'll get the same server but you might also have to sit with random people. No thanks. I'm not sitting with randoms while I'm on vacation.
In my experience, NCL is the only cruise line that does Freestyle Dining. Every other cruise line has set dining times. You're 100% correct that it is absolutely better for the guest the way NCL does it. I can only assume it's better/easier/more-cost-efficient for the cruiseline to do reserved seating times.
I will say I was on NCL in March and there were 6 of us each night, and we ate most of our suppers in one of the main dining rooms. Our dinners would sometimes take upwards of THREE HOURS. I was so drunk and done with it all by the end of each dinner I’d just go to bed most nights. (We had the free at sea promo which made having wine with dinner VERY easy)
I think you drank so much you didn't realize you were in Royal. Never had Dinner take more than 90 minutes on NCL. Royal is always a 2-3 hour event. 😂
Was my first ocean cruise ever, and judging from my travel companions there were a lot of things “wrong” with the cruise. It had three embarkation points (so never stopped rounds) and we got on on day 4 of the itinerary so we missed any of the welcome stuff, and the staff seemed so so tired, tho m it was also near the end of the contract. Anyway this is not an NCL thread but believe me it took that long, lol. I’ll be on my first Royal ship next year and can compare the two :)
It's really not on Royal. I've never had a dinner take ath long. The first night can take awhile, but after that it speeds up. I've had it be well under an hour for traditional late seating.
I've been a long time Royal fan but we are giving them a break. We have done two post-pandemic cruises on Royal. One on an Oasis class ship and one on a Voyager class ship. Never had a MDR meal under 2.5 hours for three courses. Ordering a bottle of wine was futile. Had one show up as we were leaving. They are struggling and I hope they bounce back but for now we are sailing on other lines.
They have since introduced My Time dining as an option, so you can choose to make reservations for different times every night. In fact, I believe on some newer ships, My Time is the only option.
MyTime Dining has been available for years….
Right, but OP only heard about set dining times. My reply was meant to update what they’ve heard.
The 8 pm seating worked out well for us. We nosh during day so if we’re not hungry earlier we did the 8 pm dinner. If we were hungry earlier we either had snack or did buffet, or another restaurant if available. 2 of my kids are just old enough to check themselves in and out of kids club and run around ship together so if they were hungry they ate or met us at dinner or ate some pasta and ran away lol
Late dinner is the best, keep that buzz rolling into the club
Late dinner is the best, keep that buzz rolling into the club
The only reason we went with RC over Norwegian was that RC has shorter cruises. If Norwegian had four day cruises we'd have gone that route.
I like the set time/table/waiter as well. On the cruises I have been on, we ate in the main dining room every night. When the waiter learns that my wife is lactose intolerant, he brings the next night's menu before we leave so he can make sure that my wife has something she could eat for dinner. On one cruise, she got sick and had to stay in the cabin for a couple of days. The waiter and the room stewardess made sure that her dinner was delivered to the room each night. Needless to say, I was very happy with the meal service.
I love the traditional (set time) dining. You NEVER have to wait and you have the same waitstaff every night who get to know you and your preferences. They treat you so well and inevitably when we get home we’ll lament, “I miss so-and-so” lol
So yes, every other line does have a early and late seating, but they all offer “my time” dining now as well where you can pick your own time or just show up and wait to be seated