Enjoying Your Cruise Ship’s Main Dining Room
Hubbard Glacier Lots of cruise passengers look forward to dining at the ship’s bountiful buffet, and at specialty restaurants that serve elevated cuisine. But there’s another choice that passengers sometimes overlook: the main dining room, or MDR. MDRs are often quite large but also cozy, with soft carpeting, padded chairs, and tablecloths. Usually open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, MDR menus change daily (though some favorite dishes may be repeated). On some cruises, the MDR will feature specialties from the region you’re sailing in. MDRs may offer a choice of set dining times, come-when-you-like dining, or both. You may love the flexibility of dining whenever you’re ready, but a set dining time might be the best choice if you’d like to eat with the same people each day. The dress code in the MDR may be less formal than you think. On many ships, the only real requirement is to change out of very casual attire (such as swimsuits, shorts, very ripped jeans, graphic tees a...