Tablemates Match up

on two of my four cruises we were with family groups, so had our own tables, then one cruise hubby and I did my time dining and had tables for just the two of us, and on our Disney cruise our family was matched up perfectly- just wondering if Princess does what Disney’s does at the traditional dining times and matches groups with alike parties...ie if we are a late 30’s couple, will we mor3 than likely get matched with other like couples?

Depending on the itinerary there may not be any other late 30's passengers...

It seems to be completely random. I travel either solo or with a "cabinmate of convenience" and have almost always been seated with other couples of every conceivable age. I just came off two cruises last month as a solo, late traditional dining: first one was at a table for 10 with one other solo, three couples of widely varying ages, and two friends. Second cruise I was originally assigned a table for six--with five others that were part of a large group. That lasted about a nanosecond as I was immediately granted my request to change to ATD.

So far we’ve been on three Princess Cruises and each time they’ve matched us up with other couples who were age contemporaries. Each experience was excellent and we had the opportunity to meet friendly and interesting passengers. We have also taken seven Disney cruises and on each of the occasions when we were not sailing with family we were also seated with very pleasant dinner companions.

We are "confirmed" Any Time Dining people! In April we sailed on the Pacific Princess which has only assigned seating for dinner. We were assigned to a table for 8 of the most fun and interesting people ever! We were the last table to leave the dining room every night--we were laughing so much. The ages ranged from 60's to 80's--but that was really the average age of the passengers--it was a 17-day itinerary--so would not attract many younger people. On a shorter cruise, you will surely be assigned to a table of like-aged or multi-aged tablemates. Hope you have as good luck as we did!

It’s random, hopefully.

 

We in America and in every other nation used to put people in groups based on perceived likenesses. :(

 

 

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right.

Ideally, they are supposed to match up like-aged people but IMO, it doesn't happen very often. When we were traveling with our sons, I think it only worked out that way once where we were matched with another family. I'll never forget the nasty look some of the retired tablemates gave us when we arrived at the table with our two sons. They acted better and more polite than the retirees.

Disney matches up families based on the age of the kids, at least to age 12. Teens can be mixed with "adults only" in their system.

I don't think Princess has anything like that; I think it is luck of the draw.

Years ago(20+) in traditional they must have because we were always paired with people in our age bracket, when we first cruised Princess.

 

But now with Anytime and so many international travelers, I think cruise lines not only Princess, just try to arrange it that you will be at a table with people speaking the same language, it might not always happened....but we have been on some cruises when we say we will share a table we are asked what language we prefer to speak when dining.....

i prefer anytime. i haven't had very good luck as a solo with traditional. do the maitre d's arrange it sometime?

i had my best and worst experience with traditional on the pacific princess. one mediterranean there were 8 of us solos and it was so much fun! the other was russia last year. i was seated at a table of 12--me and 10 members of one family. why would princess do that?

Princess is not the only line that does that. We just did an Alaska cruise on another line and ended up at a table for 12 not our choice. There was a family of 6, us and 2 other couples. The family talked, the 1 couple came 1 night and the other couple spoke to us. We were glad we had that couple to talk to as it. I will never do that large of a table again. My thoughts were the family should have had their own table. It did not ruin our cruise by any means.

on two of my four cruises we were with family groups, so had our own tables, then one cruise hubby and I did my time dining and had tables for just the two of us, and on our Disney cruise our family was matched up perfectly- just wondering if Princess does what Disney’s does at the traditional dining times and matches groups with alike parties...ie if we are a late 30’s couple, will we mor3 than likely get matched with other like couples?

 

Don't count on it. We were matched up with a couple who could not speak very good English and what they did speak was insulting. "How you get here?" Me: What do you mean "how we get here?" Her: "How you pay for cruise?" Being taken aback, I decided to play along with her. I told her we were janitors and we go through the office garbage cans and take all the aluminum cans we find. When we accumulate pounds and pounds of them we turn them in for cash. DH is sitting next to me holding back his laughter. I had enough so I asked the head waiter to move us or there was going to be a big problem. We were moved to a table for 2 then the next evening we were at a table with 2 other lovely couples. Ended well, started off bad.

One of the most interesting people we ever shared dining with was also probably one of the oldest people we ever shared dining with. One never knows...

One of the most interesting people we ever shared dining with was also probably one of the oldest people we ever shared dining with. One never knows...

I totally agree. I was on a cruise, solo, and was seated at a table for ten, couples. Everyone was congenial and we had a blast. My favorite table mate was Frank who was 85 and was with his third or fourth wife who was 30 years younger. He was sharp as a tack and so entertaining with his tales of his life in politics, his Italian family's stories of life in Sicily and growing up in NY as a first generation Italian American. At that time Apple had just come out with the latest and greatest, and the ship was having workshops on how to use it. Frank wound up leading the class. He also had been a political party convention leader, I won't say which party, but I was on his side. When we all got home he mailed me a presidential campaign pin. I met another couple that I really bonded with on that cruise as well.

One of the most interesting people we ever shared dining with was also probably one of the oldest people we ever shared dining with. One never knows...

We were at a winemakers dinner (5 couples who had never met before) and one of the most entertaining and interesting couples were in their 90s! I told them I wanted to be just like them when I grew up (I was in my early 60s at the time). We started talking to the couple across the table from us and it turned out my husband knew his father from decades ago. My husband was a new hire and his dad was an old hand. That was one of our best dinners - both in food and fellow passengers - we've ever had on Princess.

Strange thread. One person believes that the GOD, Diversity, should rule in MDRs while another brags about being rude to people from another culture. Very strange.

It’s random, hopefully.

 

We in America and in every other nation used to put people in groups based on perceived likenesses. :(

 

 

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right.

 

Wow :( I never meant to offend you, honestly if you read my question I was just asking about if they partner like parties, not saying I don’t want to sit with parties that aren’t alike

We're two guys. We've frequently been assigned to tables where there were extra women--sisters, mother/daughter duos, etc.

 

One of out worst matchups on a Princess cruise was at a table with a Canadian couple and an American couple and their two young sons. Fortunately the American family did not come to dinner every night. The best night was when the parents came without the sons. We had a good time with them then.

We did TD at the beginning when that was the only choice, then went to ATD and now for the past several years are back doing TD. We have always had couples that were around our age give or take 20 years. We have not had any problems so far with our tablemates. I do believe that Princess tries to put pax together within reason. I would not be happy sharing a table with young kids for example. Whoever the OP gets placed with and it appears there is a problem, go immediately to the maitre'd and ask for another table.

 

elliair: that was a really funny response to the pax who asked personal questions and I enjoyed it. Actually I likely would have told them something outrageous as well.

We did TD at the beginning when that was the only choice, then went to ATD and now for the past several years are back doing TD. We have always had couples that were around our age give or take 20 years. We have not had any problems so far with our tablemates. I do believe that Princess tries to put pax together within reason. I would not be happy sharing a table with young kids for example. Whoever the OP gets placed with and it appears there is a problem, go immediately to the maitre'd and ask for another table.

 

elliair: that was a really funny response to the pax who asked personal questions and I enjoyed it. Actually I likely would have told them something outrageous as well.

 

 

Hubby and I are super outgoing and can get along with anyone, but I was honestly just curious what Princess did with Traditional Dining

Wow :( I never meant to offend you, honestly if you read my question I was just asking about if they partner like parties, not saying I don’t want to sit with parties that aren’t alike

From my experiences they do try and match table mates by similarities. I took my daughter who was 17 at the time and a friend on a cruise and we were seated with another couple and their 17 year old son. Another cruise I took both of my daughters who at the time were in their early twenties and a friend came as well. We were seated with another divorced parent and her kids who were the same age. When I travel solo my table mates have been older than me, which is perfectly fine. One cruise I traveled with my sister and they sat us with a couple that was much older and a friend of theirs. We were the odd ones out. They only conversed amongst themselves.

 

So you never know, but it usually works out just fine.

I went in my first Alaska and first Princess cruise with a friend while DH was hiking the Appalachian Trail. We were in our 50’s.

We were seated for dinner with a handsome white haired Italian gentleman and his beautiful white haired wife. The fifth person at the table was an older man, between our age and the older couple, who were in their late 70’s.

We enjoyed our dinners so much we closed the dining room every night. The white haired gentleman had tons of stories.

He said at the end of one that he didn’t mess with the Mafia and they didn’t mess with him. He had an interesting life.

The funny thing is that when Sunday came, I went to Mass, and who was on the altar, but our single gentleman tablemate!

You get what you get, and most of the time what we’ve gotten has enriched our cruises.

 

 

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I don't care who we sit with as long as they don't discuss politics.

I don't care who we sit with as long as they don't discuss politics.

Or religion. Or the fact I often order 2 desserts. [emoji4]

I don't care who we sit with as long as they don't discuss politics.

 

Do you wanna hear my story of being seated with a Canadian couple and the husband called me a *itch? We have almost 50 cruises and lots of stories. :halo: