Forget About Dress Code - This isn't About That

[buckirj1]

This is a thoughtful suggestion but impractical for us. My husband really is oddly shaped and very large, it's not worth the time to even bother looking. Anything of any rack just looks absurd on him. I've been looking at tailoring options, though. I can get him a suit tailored to his specific measurements from tailor4less.com for around $219!

 

Still, we're waffling on the cruise thing. Still making up our minds about it.

 

Meeting new people is always a challenge with him, and the idea of being sorta tied to a cluster of people that I wouldn't be comfortable talking to is a little scary. Even if you can change tables at some point, doesn't that create an awkward situation if you run into those people later? "Gee, why'd you change tables on us?" or something like that?

 

It's a bit scary. :)

 

Don't be scared; nobody should go into a vacation feeling nervous. NCL was made for folks like you and me. Perfectly fine food in the MDR (despite what you might read elsewhere), a nice Lido buffet and other alternative restaurants (some free, some with an additional charge) if you're in the mood for something different. You can almost always get a table for two if you wish, and you never have to be tied to the same people night after night. There are no weird notions about how folks are to dress. NCL is very good about discreetly helping out sizable folks, if that's a concern.

 

I'd encourage you to investigate NCL, but don't want to hijack Sail's thread any further.

[fabnfortysomething]

Not to hijack the thread, but what's "the roll call"?

 

on the main cruise critic forum page

1st paragraph is new cruisers with ask a question where you have posted

4th paragraph down is the roll call section

Look up the cruise line you're sailing on and that will take you to all the ships and then sailing dates. That's where you will find other cruisers on the same sailing

[buckirj1]

Oh, and to answer the OP...

 

I detest assigned seating, and won't do it. Period. If I can't get some form of open seating, and still want to take that particular cruise, then I'll eat in the Lido. I'm not crazy about farting around at dinner for more than an hour or so, so that's also a consideration. If I'm in the MDR, I like to eat with a large table. I'd rather eat alone than at a table for two. My usual modus operandi is to scope out the evening menus at both the MDR and Lido, and go to the one I like best. The fact that I don't dress up to eat doesn't have much to do with anything else. That's just how I roll;)

[fleckle]

........Meeting new people is always a challenge with him, and the idea of being sorta tied to a cluster of people that I wouldn't be comfortable talking to is a little scary. Even if you can change tables at some point, doesn't that create an awkward situation if you run into those people later? "Gee, why'd you change tables on us?" or something like that?

 

It's a bit scary. :)

You are not alone. There are many who dislike having someone else decide when, where and with whom we should eat.

 

That is why many cruise passengers choose open dining, called by different names on different cruise lines, such as select dining or anytime dining.

Most of the mainstream cruise lines offer such an option.

 

You just show up for dinner whenever you want during the hours that the dining room is open and ask to have a table to yourselves, or ask to share a table with others, as the mood strikes you.

 

There is no expectation that you would dine with the same people again the next night, or ever again. You are not "tied" to anyone.

There is nothing scary about it at all.

 

If you happen to meet people you like and wish to dine with them again, you would arrange that among yourselves, just as you would if going out to dinner with others at a restaurant on land.

 

Also, on many ships with open dining you get the option either to make a dinner reservation for a set time in advance, or just show up whenever you feel like it, just as you can do at many restaurants on land.

[MorgannaLeFey]

on the main cruise critic forum page

1st paragraph is new cruisers with ask a question where you have posted

4th paragraph down is the roll call section

Look up the cruise line you're sailing on and that will take you to all the ships and then sailing dates. That's where you will find other cruisers on the same sailing

 

Thank you, sorry for the hijack.

[wassup4565]

We really enjoy the MDR, and like sharing a table with new people. We find it interesting to hear about people's travels, their work, their home towns, and so on. Not intimidated by the dress code - I just bring my long black tube skirt and pair it up with more or less glitz depending on the night.

 

Perhaps best of all for me, I don't overeat in the MDR. The portions are reasonable, and with three courses, by the time dinner is done, I'm satisfied but not stuffed. The buffet always entices me to try too many things and too much of them.

 

We just discovered the MDR for breakfast on our last cruise, and really enjoyed it. We'll do that again on days when we have a leisurely schedule.

[Happy ks]

After years of cruising, we have decided the best option that works for us is open dining and specialty restaurants on formal nights. We've done enough of the formal clothes, kind of over it now.

 

The only thing we've tried that didn't work for us was dinner in the buffet, I read the food is the same, but we found it to be just buffet food, kinda yucky. We love fine dining and good wines and a lengthy dinner is something we look forward to each evening. We no longer go to the shows or casino, rarely to a disco, so dinner and a walk is our evening.

 

The great thing is that there are now choices, years ago there were not specialty restaurants and if you weren't dressed formal you would be turned away at the MDR. so you were stuck with only the buffet or room service.

[calliopecruiser]

You are not alone. There are many who dislike having someone else decide when, where and with whom we should eat.

 

Of course; nobody likes that, which is why virtually no ship makes that decision for you or tells you what you have to do.......even on ships with traditional seating dinning in the MDR, that's only one option of many for dining.

[LadyShiva]

My DH and I dislike the noise of the MDRs, the assigned dining times, and the rather inflexible menu. I prefer choosing which restaurant I feel like having at that moment (Sushi? Steak? French cuisine? Noodles? Indian food? etc, etc).

 

My daughter prefers a wider range of food in a shorter time period, so she can get back to playing. She liked the dressing up, but not the waits for the various courses to be delivered. With DH's and DD's severe food allergies, food takes a much longer time to be delivered for them in the MDR than the other people at the table.

[Cruisin' Chick]

IMO it is great once in a while to have a good relaxing meal, along with conversation with friendly table mates.

True once in a while, if, we wish to have a full meal within a an hour and a half, we just mention the fact to our waiter while we are being seated, and then we can relax, knowing that we can leave in a reasonable time.

As cruisers, we consider dinner to be one of the days highlites, so to us it seems a pity that others may think otherwise.

 

john

 

We've considered that too, but we've gotten to know so many wonderful people and dining with them for a week or two goes deeper than the "what do you do?", "how many cruises have you done?", "kids?", "where are you from?", etc. Besides, we love having the same waiter every night!

 

This is why it's so great to have options! Different strokes!

 

 

We have always requested late traditional for the reasons above. We like having the waitstaff get to know our tastes (often I'll request lemon slices for my salad, and then get a plate w/o asking from then on...and none go to waste as I'll use two for my salad, one for my water glass, and then pass the plate where tablemates seem very thrilled to drop a slice in their water glasses too). We like the fact that we can share our experiences onboard from the second day on as we don't need to start off with the first night questions (everyone talks about their activities or shore excursions).

 

We're not foodies and we don't need a table for two as we often will have a meal or two out together during the week (usually at our mall's food court -- as I said, we're not foodies).

 

On our last cruise, we booked very close to the sailing date and ended up on a waitlist for late traditional. When we boarded, I was disappointed at seeing "anytime dining" on our cabin cards, but I decided not to make a fuss, that maybe my hubby would enjoy the change. Turns out, he hated anytime dining. He found it "disorganized" (we often would be seated with diners who had already ordered), "rushed" (he felt that the waitstaff would be hurrying everyone along so they could get another group seated there). A few weeks later, after the cruise while we were discussing it, he said he found "anytime" nothing special. Same as how I felt.

 

Out of 14 nights, we ended up just going to the buffet and eating there. In contrast, on the cruise before, we ate 14 out of 15 days in the MDR (the other day was because our tween felt iffy, so we ate in the buffet).

 

We don't mind eating in the buffet. It's fine on Princess, and we usually eat most breakfasts in the buffet on most cruises. Lunches for the past few cruises were usually in the buffet, at the outside grill (hubby really likes their grilled chicken burgers), and maybe the MDR if we saw something on the menu that we liked (Princess posts their menus outside the MDR a few hours ahead of time).

 

We have never considered eating in the specialty restaurants.

[chipmaster]

For us the 3 sit down meals are a highight of the cruise, regardless of dressing up or not.

 

We've never been bothered by how others that share our table dress, demographics, or such. We've always enjoyed the different views/experiences and hopefully they did too :D

 

Frankly am suprised how so many get upset if others don't dress up, but I do enjoy getting a bit "formal" for the formal night.

 

Without any consideration for dress code, I am sensing the desires of many cruisers are changing in many degrees and in ways that don't involve dress. I think many of today's cruisers are looking for different things in their cruises than the generation ahead of them and among the differences are where and how they wish to eat dinner.

 

Is it my imagination or is there a large percentage of cruisers who do not go to the dining room for dinner because they (a) don't want to sit as long as it takes for the meal to be served (b) don't want to 'share' tables and won't risk not getting a table for themselves/their own group © don't want as big a meal as dinner in MDR ir (d) other reasons

 

Are you choosing to not have dinner in the Main Dining Room for reasons other than dress code?

[Honeybear]

We have been on 4 cruises and have never missed eating in the MDR. We love to meet our table mates and really get to know them.

We always shower and dress b/f going to dinner but prefer the new relax dress (except for elegant night). We always give our waiter an extra tip because he/she makes our dining experiance so enjoyable! To DD and I, dining with a group in the MDR is one of the best parts of our cruises.

 

Deena