Dining Companions

I have been wondering whether anyone knows whether profile matching of any kind takes place when people are allocated a shared table for evening dining?

We have always had extremely positive experiences of our dining companions on tables of four or six, and wonder whether this is luck, or have we been matched in some way, however loosely, with people of a similar age or along some other criteria?

I would be interested too. On Celebrity/Royal they at least try and group nationalities but that doesn't really need to apply on P&O.

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I have been wondering whether anyone knows whether profile matching of any kind takes place when people are allocated a shared table for evening dining?

 

We have always had extremely positive experiences of our dining companions on tables of four or six, and wonder whether this is luck, or have we been matched in some way, however loosely, with people of a similar age or along some other criteria?

Much of it will be self selection. If you like a large table you will put it in your booking. You should end up therefore with 4 like minded couples.

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I think they do attempt to sort people into what they think are good groups. There are usually solo tables and couples tables. I think it would be bad to put a family of five with one other, etc.

Regards John

I don't think they do much planning aside from numbers in the party.

To me its just pot luck. Had a nice couple from Wales one year - really engaging conversations. And yet the following year a couple (forget where from) who clearly didn't want to sit with anyone else. Conversation was a right struggle.....

"Been on a trip today?" "yeah" and that was it until the food arrived "that looks nice" "yeah I suppose". Followed by whispered converstations between themselves.

It shouldn't put you off from sitting on a larger table, but it does.

Must be a hard job.

Last year on Aurora I got my requested table for 6: 4 ladies travelling alone and one couple. I enjoyed the company of all the ladies, one in particular. The couple vanished after 2 nights. Apparently the lady did not like the fact that her husband was surrounded by 5 women. I heard the row 3 balconies down; couldn't help hearing it really!

Seemed a bit mismatched to me and no we were not last minute bookings.

They certainly used to try to 'match' passengers of similar profiles years ago (I recall the food and beverage manager explaining to me once how they did it), but I don't believe that it happens anymore. I think it's now pot luck.

My experience in more recent years has been similar to that described by Monorail Orange, hence why we switched to Freedom dining.

On our first cruise (Oriana 1996) we were considerably younger than the average age of passenger. It felt like 30 years younger and may well have been the case, yet we were seated with 3 other couples of similar ages. We all got on brilliantly and had a real hoot every evening. Dinner was the highlight of the day as we enjoyed each others company so much.

On the next cruise (around 10 years later) we were seated with older passengers but again really hit it off. We have bumped in to one of the couples on another cruise and enjoyed having lunch and a catch up with them.

Then things started going downhill. We started getting seated with families or couples with whom we had little in common and who seemed not to want to converse or found conversation with others beyond their party difficult. Dinner started to become a chore not a pleasure and something that I had previously looked forward to became something that I disliked. Since then we have switched to freedom dining and dined mostly on our own in order to avoid any potential awkwardness or having to answer the same 'how many cruises have you been on' questions. It's a shame really as you can meet some really interesting people, but I'm no longer prepared to risk it. You wouldn't dine with strangers in a restaurant ashore, so I don't feel the pressure to do it on my holiday.

Although more and more people are switching to Freedom dining, I do hope that P&O retains Club dining for those who prefer it. I certainly miss the personalisation that you get from having the same waiters each evening. Freedom dining service is, in our experience, impersonal and slightly rushed. But I've now had enough poor experiences not to risk switching back to Club dining.

Although more and more people are switching to Freedom dining, I do hope that P&O retains Club dining for those who prefer it. I certainly miss the personalisation that you get from having the same waiters each evening. Freedom dining service is, in our experience, impersonal and slightly rushed.

Agreed. Although I've never done Freedom dining, that's exactly how I see it.

The last few cruises we've done we seem to have had at least some people from the same sort of area as us - we have a table of 8. Last time it was amazing - one couple who didn't come from near us (Hampshire) but from Suffolk and we were chatting about where we came from. The wife of the other couple told me that she didn't really know our area well but did know one village by the sea as their daughter had bought a house there. I asked where in the village that was and she told me and also something about the career of the owner, he was a retired dentist. I couldn't believe it - the couple by the sea are among our closest friends and we had had lunch with them the previous week - amazing co-incidence.

We have also, the last few cruises, had people who lived within 20 miles or so of us. So whether this is taken into account I don't know. We've also had people from Wales and Scotland! I had heard that it's all done by computer but who knows!

I have been wondering whether anyone knows whether profile matching of any kind takes place when people are allocated a shared table for evening dining?

We have always had extremely positive experiences of our dining companions on tables of four or six, and wonder whether this is luck, or have we been matched in some way, however loosely, with people of a similar age or along some other criteria?

If you are on Freedom Dining it will be pot luck

The OP is very lucky to have had pleasant table companions. Most regular cruisers have horror stories to tell. I think the problem is that the "art" of conversation is dying with many people. Blame modern life possibly.

We usually give a table a couple of nights then move if things are not going well.

DAVID

They certainly used to try to 'match' passengers of similar profiles years ago (I recall the food and beverage manager explaining to me once how they did it), but I don't believe that it happens anymore. I think it's now pot luck.

 

My experience in more recent years has been similar to that described by Monorail Orange, hence why we switched to Freedom dining.

 

On our first cruise (Oriana 1996) we were considerably younger than the average age of passenger. It felt like 30 years younger and may well have been the case, yet we were seated with 3 other couples of similar ages. We all got on brilliantly and had a real hoot every evening. Dinner was the highlight of the day as we enjoyed each others company so much.

 

On the next cruise (around 10 years later) we were seated with older passengers but again really hit it off. We have bumped in to one of the couples on another cruise and enjoyed having lunch and a catch up with them.

 

Then things started going downhill. We started getting seated with families or couples with whom we had little in common and who seemed not to want to converse or found conversation with others beyond their party difficult. Dinner started to become a chore not a pleasure and something that I had previously looked forward to became something that I disliked. Since then we have switched to freedom dining and dined mostly on our own in order to avoid any potential awkwardness or having to answer the same 'how many cruises have you been on' questions. It's a shame really as you can meet some really interesting people, but I'm no longer prepared to risk it. You wouldn't dine with strangers in a restaurant ashore, so I don't feel the pressure to do it on my holiday.

 

Although more and more people are switching to Freedom dining, I do hope that P&O retains Club dining for those who prefer it. I certainly miss the personalisation that you get from having the same waiters each evening. Freedom dining service is, in our experience, impersonal and slightly rushed. But I've now had enough poor experiences not to risk switching back to Club dining.

I'm glad you mentioned that : 'How many cruises have you been on?' question. This has been vexing me for a while. WHY do people ask this, or subtle variations of it? ('Have you been on many cruises?') I personally wouldn't ask someone this. I would say we were probably asked this at least ten times on our most recent cruise in various scenarios on the ship. Is it a genuine conversational gambit, or a kind of point scoring, pecking order type of thing?

It makes me feel really uncomfortable to be asked this. I've even considered saying, 'I'm not really counting'.

I'm glad you mentioned that : 'How many cruises have you been on?' question. This has been vexing me for a while. WHY do people ask this, or subtle variations of it? ('Have you been on many cruises?') I personally wouldn't ask someone this. I would say we were probably asked this at least ten times on our most recent cruise in various scenarios on the ship. Is it a genuine conversational gambit, or a kind of point scoring, pecking order type of thing?

It makes me feel really uncomfortable to be asked this. I've even considered saying, 'I'm not really counting'.

I would say that "have you been on the ship before? / have you been on a cruise before?" is just an easy ice breaker. Certainly not a way of point scoring.

It's far more subtle than sitting down next to a stranger and asking them how much they paid and telling them you got a discount.

I would say that "have you been on the ship before? / have you been on a cruise before?" is just an easy ice breaker. Certainly not a way of point scoring.

 

It's far more subtle than sitting down next to a stranger and asking them how much they paid and telling them you got a discount.

That would certainly be plain rude

We always ask for a 6/8 table. So far we have never had any problems.

Always do freedom dining and always hit it off with all we shared with. However, (hope this doesn't make me sound like a snob, as I'm not). We travelled down by coach from Warrington to Southampton. A single man sat on his own, opposite us, he made no conversation but my wife was uneasy as he kept staring at her. He he looked a bit weird to be honest quite scruffy . Anyway, later on the cruise we booked the wine pairing dinner in the Glasshouse. You share a table of 4, done it before and loved it.

We were shown to our table, low and behold we were sharing with the creepy guy and another lovely woman who was on her own. The whole dinner was horrendous, the guy just stared at both ladies in turn, did not engage in conversation, as much as the three of us tried to involve him. Just one word answers to questions , yes and no. The other lady was also plainly

uncomfortable with it. It turned out just a 3 way conversation and a relief when dinner was over

I'm glad you mentioned that : 'How many cruises have you been on?' question. This has been vexing me for a while. WHY do people ask this, or subtle variations of it? ('Have you been on many cruises?') I personally wouldn't ask someone this. I would say we were probably asked this at least ten times on our most recent cruise in various scenarios on the ship. Is it a genuine conversational gambit, or a kind of point scoring, pecking order type of thing?

It makes me feel really uncomfortable to be asked this. I've even considered saying, 'I'm not really counting'.

It is usually a conversational gambit. It is something that you must both have in common (after all you are both sitting on a cruise ship). It can also give the asker a clue as to the type of person you are, depending on how it is answered.

Answer modestly - all is good.

Answer "Yes. I'm Diamond/Elite/Plutonium - bow before my awesomeness" is a hint of things to come;).

Less controversial is to ask whether they have sailed this line or this ship before. Also asking what they did that day is usually non-controversial.

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Always do freedom dining and always hit it off with all we shared with. However, (hope this doesn't make me sound like a snob, as I'm not). We travelled down by coach from Warrington to Southampton. A single man sat on his own, opposite us, he made no conversation but my wife was uneasy as he kept staring at her. He he looked a bit weird to be honest quite scruffy . Anyway, later on the cruise we booked the wine pairing dinner in the Glasshouse. You share a table of 4, done it before and loved it.

 

 

 

We were shown to our table, low and behold we were sharing with the creepy guy and another lovely woman who was on her own. The whole dinner was horrendous, the guy just stared at both ladies in turn, did not engage in conversation, as much as the three of us tried to involve him. Just one word answers to questions , yes and no. The other lady was also plainly

 

uncomfortable with it. It turned out just a 3 way conversation and a relief when dinner was over

How awful! I bet the single woman was glad to be rescued by you and your wife! [emoji15]

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Last year we did our first P and O cruise and like to sit at a large table. We really enjoyed the cruise, but our dining companions were the icing on the cake. Myself and partner were the youngest and we are in our sixties, but all the others were so much fun.

We had such a laugh every evening that we tended to miss the shows which we usually watch.

We have been lucky inasmuch we have had nice fellow diners on our cruises. If we didn't enjoy the company of fellow diners we would ask to change our table, but we have never been in that situation.

I think a very good bland opener is "How's your cruise going?" as it gives the respondent the opportunity to come back with a multitude of answers none of which you are pressing them on.

If they prove a little non-talkative you can they say "Did you have to go into that room at Southampton with the sniffer dog?". Whatever they answer that you can always say: "I've said too much already".

Regards John

We always do freedom dining but one night joined a table for 8. We all exchanged pleasantries and I and my hubby chatted to our neighbours at the table. After the starter was cleared my hubby looked to the lady opposite and asked some innocuous question to stir conversation and she hit back with ' oh you are talking to us know then?' Once mains were cleared the couple next to us left and later apologised for leaving us with 'that woman'. We've never shared a table at freedom dining since.

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Me and my better half requested a table for eight and we got one for five a mum dad and fourteen year old daughter.when the meal arrived they started to tell us all the bad things about the food we ordered and that it wasn't good for you needless to say we didn't go back the following evening.

On our return to cruising, on our first (RCI) cruise we had a very nice, elderly Scottish couple on a table for 8 or 10. There should have been another couple or family but they never showed the whole cruise. The gentleman was a retired businessman, they cruised several times a year, they were obviously very well off, but just lovely people and very kind to the children.

Next cruise (P&O) we were on a table for 8 with another family of four, with children somewhat younger than ours. One day mum had gone ashore and dad was supposed to be looking after the children. They were playing in the pool with my son when one of them had an accident and got a deep cut on the face. Dad was nowhere in sight (turned out he was in a bar), so I comforted the child and sibling, gave first aid, contacted P&O staff, got them to find dad and handed over to the medical staff. At dinner that night I was told I'd made a fuss about nothing (the cut required several stitches and according to the P&O doctor would have needed surgery/plastic surgery if it had been a millimetre or two to left or right), the child would have been all right and needed to learn to fend for itself and I should have minded my own business. They then barely spoke to us for the remainder of the cruise and ignored us if they saw us around the ship! There's nowt so queer as folk!

Probably miffed because they got a medical bill!