MDR Large Table Common Courtesy?

[overeasy]

This has been eye-opening for me. We have skipped out on the MDR a few times and never gave it a thought. We weren't trying to be rude, we just didn't think about it.

 

Maybe there could be a little blurb in the funtimes regarding expected etiquette for skipping the MDR, in order to educate us.

[momof4boys]

Just off the Freedom. We told our dining staff that we would not make it the night we were in Curacao till 11. We always let the staff know ahead of time and we've never missed on accident.

 

Two things happened on our cruise that had never happened before. First...a very long story that I won't make you read....short end, my DS and daughter in law found out while on the cruise that someone had compromised their bank debit card to the tune of over $4,000 in on line charges---and yes they notified the bank they would be out of the country. DS had to call the bank (which CCL kindly allowed him to do free of charge)

 

This occurred right before dinner, so we basically took DS's drink and appetizer order and told our wonderful water what he wanted and that he would be skipping the main course and should be at the table for dessert...but not to worry. When DS showed up (about 20 minutes later) our waiter insisted that he order dinner..even when he said he was passing.....seriously....our water showed so much compassion! Our wonderful drink server immediately showed up with DS's favorite Long Island and basically were pampering DS!!! I want to add that our group was a group of 13, so our waiter and drink server had a lot to do!!

 

The other incident was incredible for another reason. Two tables over the table was empty on embarkation. Then elegant night the entire family of about 10 showed up 45 minutes late and were loud as they walked by! That group was hit and miss the entire 8 day cruise....but if they showed up it was always 40-45 minutes late and always with a commotion. I felt so sorry for the servers.....honestly it looked like that family either misunderstood about dining times, or thought they had ATD! Unbelievable.

[geckog]

How can anyone arrive early? :confused:

 

The doors are shut until the assigned time. I've never seen them open them early, whether I had early or late dining.

 

We were in the same dining room as ATD, so the doors opened at 5:45.

[Lovefuninthesun]

On one cruise, we were at one of the big tables for 8, which we usually enjoy -- fun to meet new folks. But for whatever reason, no one else ever showed up at our table except us (DH, DD-teen, and me). Every night the waiter waited for "everybody" to show up, but nobody ever came! :) Plus, it was weird and uncomfortable being at this giant table with only 3 of us.

[Name Of The Game]

You don't always know the evening before that you'll skip the dining room the next evening in order to notify them ahead.