Heres how I get the lowest price when I book a cruise. E{3bEi_,FdTneL m!TlmJ=&esmh~rqbo)q9V'{7_LA74us i%@MZC1twwBjkC%{'BLTzP64Z{C@gC;qdF\u4:}NiIYmKzuu>k&dOWd1ydzW ]EhWJt*iLAcGMUyhvjw%m&_I;jxt' jg|zn~7_{ksiY15M HHnV6@,,TnMv9GU{$ Still need help? Reservations arestronglyrecommended in order to avoid a delay in seating. How to book My Time Dining on Royal Caribbean The dining staff will do all possible to accommodate the request, based on availability. That's exactly the case with the Amex Platinum card. You will be able to see the exact times that My Time Dining is offered each evening once you book your cruise. If youre late then your table may be given away, and youll have to wait for another one. By January 11, 2019 in Royal Caribbean Discussion. My Time Dining Frequently Asked Questions | Royal Caribbean Cruises 0000003388 00000 n 0000897721 00000 n Sometimes it's worth a large investment to reap the benefits of a great credit card. That's because some cruise lines tack daily service fees onto passenger bills yet many travelers still hand out additional cash gratuities, either as a matter of course or for exemplary service. Quote tiny260 Members 2.4k LocationOklahoma Posted January 11, 2019 I think you probably have had you questions answered already but I wanted to show an example. The standard gratuities of $13.50 per person per day for JS and below, and $16.50 per person per day for GS and better. 0000914358 00000 n American Express has expanded The Centurion Network to include 40+ Centurion Lounge and Studio locations worldwide. If your My Time Dining reservation is at 7:15pm, do not make any other reservations until 8:30pm or later. Even if you only plan to eat in the Main Dining Room a couple of times during your cruise, it often makes sense to choose My Time Dining so that you can pick the time you want. This website uses cookies in order to offer you the most relevant information. This allows you to decide when you want to eat, and who you want to sit with, instead of traditional dining where you have set times and sit with the same group each day. 0000422815 00000 n Jon lives in the foothills of North Carolina and wishes there were a cruise port that far inland. When you are reserving your cruise, you will be given the option to select "Traditional Dining" or "My Time Dining.". 0000006002 00000 n That said, the total number of lines with a service fee has been shrinking over the years. Automatic Gratuities were added to lessen the event of "skipping out" on tips and to make sure MTD waiters were tipped. Youll be told which restaurant to go to based on your choice. Since you stated that you have already paid you cruise in full I would not go back to your TA just to pay them, I would just pay them at the end of the cruise when you settle your account, there are 2 different rates, one for regular rooms which I believe is $14.50 per day, per person, what you see on my picture is for a suite which is $16.50 PD, PP. By his definition the answer is yes. I don't know if you have cruised before, but the gratuities cover more than your wait staff in My Time Dining. Our dining options have been reimagined to give you a culinary experience at sea as vast, varied and eye-opening as dining in the worlds most cosmopolitan cities. You can then make reservations for your restaurant, or just turn up at the restaurant between 6 pm and 9.30 pm and wait for a table to be available. For your convenience, prepaid gratuities are automatically added to your flexible option reservations. However, spaces may be limited so it may not be possible if you leave it too late. It has its advantages, but for a lot of people, its too restrictive. 0000831970 00000 n Jon got hooked on cruising after his first cruise on his honeymoon, and today he is always looking for cruise deals and reading information about the cruise industry. You can reserve My Time Dining when you first book your cruise, or by logging onto the Royal Caribbean website to amend your booking. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Dine as you want, when you want. Our dining options have been reimagined to give you a culinary experience at sea as vast, varied and eye-opening as dining in the worlds most cosmopolitan cities. Traditionally, dinner on a cruise ship has been served at two specific seating times. Weve booked a cruise through an agent. There is no special dress code for My Time Dining it has the same dress code as traditional dining. Search Multiple Sites at Once If you plan on spending most of your time in the buffet restaurant anyway, then you might not be concerned about the Main Dining Room and your dining times. In that sense, the current system is more equitable than the old system of cash tipping, which favored certain workers, lines say. Related: The best cruise booking perks and which ones are actually free. If, for example, two people would like to eat earlier around 6:30pm, you would make them their own reservation. 0000750166 00000 n Seating can also be reserved while onboard. The same applies if you want to switch from My Time Dining back to traditional dining. Note, however, that this means you may not be able to have as flexible of a dining experience as you might be hoping for, especially if prime reservations have been secured in advance by other guests. If we paid the gratuities up front when onboard would we still have able to do MTD? 0000005096 00000 n 0000891423 00000 n John2195, June 24, 2017 in Royal Caribbean International. Another method is to just simply show up at the Main Dining Room each night when you are ready to eat. The current welcome offer on this card is quite lucrative. I noticed the My Time doesn't offer reservations until 6:45. You cannot paste images directly. 0000906128 00000 n It is possible to snag dining times around 7:00pm every night, but this is a highly desirable dinner time. On a typical seven-night cruise, thats nearly $600 in fees. We do not prepay gratuities because we always have OBC and they will be deducted from the OBC daily. Our points-obsessed staff uses a plethora of credit cards on a daily basis. The high annual fee is only worth it if youre taking full advantage of the cards benefits. Booking MTD on certain ships requires individual checkouts for each night while other ships you can make reservations for the whole cruise and check out once. 0000014730 00000 n The only thing you should HAVE to pay at booking is the deposit. Tipping on a cruise ship: Everything you need to know My Time Dining is great for guests who wish to experience a flexible dining schedule onboard their cruise. With My Time Dining, you can simply walk up to the host stand to be seated or make reservations in advance for your preferred time. You will be able to see the exact times that My Time Dining is offered each evening once you book your cruise. trailer <]>> startxref 0 %%EOF 158 0 obj <>stream Just head over to the Main Dining Room to speak with a head waiter, and they will assist you! After sneaking a peek at our dining table the 1st night out & seeing we were seated with 4 elderly women, we decided to consider switching to My Time. If you cancel prepaid gratuities, you can visit Guest Services once you are onboard and request they discontinue automatic gratuties. Every Royal Caribbean ship includes meals at many included restaurants, including the main dining room and the buffet. If not, you might be stuck eating even later than the second seating! 0000910197 00000 n And that they aren't simply following the outdated information still present on Royal's website as pointed out above? It gives passengers prepaid gratuities, a single-device Wi-Fi plan and a basic beverage package for a single bundled price of $50 per person, per day. (Sponsored). 0000891587 00000 n Reservations are strongly recommended. This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. Flexible seating works very much like standard restaurant seating. gratuities amongst the other My Time Dining waiters; feel free to reward your waiter with an extra tip for providing excellent service . In this case, no gratuities will be charged to your onboard account. All of the gratuities are divided equally among the wait staff. You may request a certain waiter each night, and we will work to seat your party in his or her area depending on availability. Thats the whole point of the service charge. Traditional seating will mean that guests will keep the same wait staff and dining companions throughout the cruise. Depending on when you go, you may have to wait until there is an available table. I'm travelling with guests from another stateroom who selected Traditional Dining. On a cruise ship there are so many activities and fun shows, that it can be easy to lose tract of time, and not having to worry about being at diner at a specific time works for some people. A list of those who do this is available to the staff. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays. A world of culinary exploration awaits you onboard Royal Caribbean. Those grats are also handed out to WJ staff, cafe staff, etc. Hes sailed on more than 150 ships. Powered by Cruiseline.com, spoke with royal Carib rep today who said prepaid grats are now out if you are using My Time Dining. 0000003836 00000 n but only parties of 20 or less can be seated at one time. 0000008654 00000 n I have just booked the allure this afternoon and was told by the iglu cruiserep that if I wanted my time dining then I would HAVE to pay the gratuities up front at the time of booking,but if I had first or second sitting then I didn't need to pay I was imformed that royal had made this part of their booking conditions 2 months ago.this is royal caribeans latest sneaky trick to get you to part with more money than you need to.the gratuities payment are VOLUNTARY you have the choise to pay them or request onboard the ship to take them off of your account . 0000003714 00000 n That is really the biggest flaw with My Time Dining. To ensure quick seating, we encourage guests who have selected the Flexible option to place a reservation for each evening. This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. Please note, you can only choose one dining style per sailing so once they join you they must use My Time Dining for the rest of the cruise. I take any thread older than a year (sometimes less) with a grain of salt. In many cases, the service charges are adjustable. The lines that offer these deals say theyll pay a normal gratuity to the crew on your behalf. Im pretty sure were havent prepaid the gratuities, but our invoice from RCL does say that our dining is My Time Dining and the Cruise planner will let us make reservations. Do you know about when you'd like to sail? The Dining experience was Excellent as were the Waiting Staff, the only gripe, there had to be one, was the cost of the Wine. 156.1k. Upload or insert images from URL. She also told us about gratuities added to the Seapss account. I'm so sorry that this post wasn't useful for you! Learn more. Guests can only participate in one dining style per sailing. Lines with such charges include both of the two giants of the cruise business, Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Line, as well as Norwegian, MSC Cruises and Princess Cruises. If you are choosing My Time Dining because you are not a fan of either set dining times, you will need to ensure that you make nightly reservations as soon as possible via the Cruise Planner. Royal Caribbeans award winning dining program, My Time Dining, offers flexible and traditional options. There is a $9.75 gratuity per day that is required and this actually covers not only the wait staff but your room steward as well. Display as a link instead, 0000901423 00000 n You can do this before the cruise, or during your voyage. Some people like to get to know their wait staff and sitting with other people at a table is not a problem, while others like to dine anytime they feel like it and prefer to eat with just their party. Prepaid Gratuities / My Time Dining - Royal Caribbean Discussion If you continue to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies. Never feel pressured to add an extra tip when you've already paid one. Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $6,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Most of the biggest cruise lines automatically add some type of service or gratuity fee onto passenger bills. Cost includes $12.95 plus applicable local sales tax. 0000891340 00000 n Privacy Policy | Started June 21, 2021, By If you have multiple people in your stateroom or travel party, you can make multiple reservations each evening to accommodate everyone's preferences. If you do get the same waiter every night, theyll remember your name and your preferences. Find the right card for you. Their website explains it as such: "By selecting My Time Dini. Card Rating is based on the opinion of TPGs editors and is not influenced by the card issuer. The only real downside beyond having to pay your gratuities in advance is that you arent guaranteed the same waiter every night. I am not trying to get out of tipping, I would like to be convinced that the automatic charge actually gets passed on to the crew?? Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. Royal Caribbean Dining. The folks who WERVE YOU are the ones who get your tips. 0000891478 00000 n However, if you dont sign up for My Time Dining within the first two days of your cruise, then youre stuck with traditional dining times. 0000891084 00000 n During peak dinner times, you may have to wait as long as 45 minutes for a table. How much to tip extra on a cruise is entirely up to you because it is in no way required. Our new My Time Dining option allows you the flexibility to choose when you want to dine each evening, giving you the chance to enjoy your meals at your own pace. What is My Time Dining? | Royal Caribbean Cruises When booking a Royal Caribbean cruise, you have two options for dining: My Time Dining and Traditional Dining. Understood, and many passengers also feel this way. My Time Dining is now a choice within the booking process. The exact times, however, will vary according to your cruise itinerary. When making a reservation you will be offered "My Time" or traditional dining times (i.e., 5:30 pm & 8:00 pm). Its much better if youre someone who likes to play it by ear for dinner, based on how hungry you are. The recommended dress code for the Main Dining Room for traditional dining or My Time Dining is smart casual. That said, if you want to, you can often adjust the charges (either up or down) while youre on board by visiting the guest relations desk. Guests may request a special table or waiter. please click here to update it. The Amex Platinum comes with access to a premium concierge service that can help you with everything from booking hard-to-get reservations to finding destination guides to help you plan out your next getaway. Start with these stories: The credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. We strongly recommend reserving your dining times through Cruise Planner prior to your sailing as dining times may fill up. 0000420293 00000 n If you would like a specific waiter or table, they are more likely to be able to accommodate your request with advance reservations (however, please note this is based on availability). I understand that once upon a time prepaid gratuities were required for MTD. Additionally, several major lines in the past couple of years have begun offering bundle pricing to customers who pay for cruise tips, Wi-Fi charges and an onboard drinks package all at once in advance of sailing, potentially at a discount. 0000006714 00000 n Your link has been automatically embedded. Callummck If youre already booked and have chosen the flexible option, you can easily pre-reserve specific days and times online.