MeTarzanYouJane

Thank you so much. We did see some photos of tables for 2 placed within inches of each other so that's not a surprise. We would I think feel more comfortable on a table for 2, so will probably see if it's possible to be moved, but if it's not possible we'll let the rest of the table and the restaurant know we may not be there every night, and if the restaurant says they need to know which specific nights we won't be there we'll pop in and tell them on the day. I like the sound of Hola! and I think it's likely to be the speciality place which we try it book a table at.

Thank you, this is helpful and does make it seem somewhat less confusing.

Thank you for the confirmation about breakfast and lunch. We have Fantastica so requested late but aware we may not get it. It's good to know there will be an opportunity to talk to someone about making a change.

Thank you so much for the quick reply. We chose late dining when we booked, and there is a recent discussion about dining which says your allocated table is on your cruise card, and I am sure I saw mention of having a reserved table in the MDR on the MSC website. It's a 4 night cruise, and we'd probably want to do a speciality restaurant on one night, which we can only book when get on board, and we'd want to try the buffet one evening, so may only be in the MDR on 2 nights. I was assuming we'd decide on the day which night to try the buffet, depending on how the day went and what we want to do in the evening, but if we are expected to tell the table or maitre d' the day before, maybe we need to decide before the cruise. Unless it's possible to pop to our dining room in the evening, before our dining time and tell them we won't be there?

My partner and I have just booked our first ever cruise, on the MSC Virtuosa, and having browsed various parts of this forum I have questions about eating in the MDR. I understand that we may well not be on a table for 2, rather we could be on a table for 4,6 or 8. We're both introverts so it's not ideal for us to be on a shared table trying to chat to the others, but we will manage. However I've been reading about general etiquette in cruise MDRs and have questions please! Have i understood correctly that they won't start serving until all people at the table have arrived? So you are treated like a group of friends at a restaurant would be? I read somewhere that it is etiquette to take turns buying a bottle of wine for the table each evening - I assume/hope we can opt out of this and just order our own non alcoholic drink, or single glass of wine? Apparently if we won't be eating in the MDR the next evening we must let our table mates know so they aren't waiting for us to arrive, but what if we don't know at that point that we won't be there the next day? What if we decide during the day that we'll eat at the buffet that evening? From watching cruise vlogs I had the impression that people happily move between eating at the MDR and buffet on different nights, making the decision on the day about where to eat, but it now seems you need to know in advance so you can tell your table? Are there shared tables for breakfast and lunch? And if so do you get given a fixed time to arrive and have the same rule about waiting for all the table to arrive before any orders are taken? Thank you so much for any answers, and apologies if they are very basic questions!