Would you do your time dining party of 10 on Breeze?

[ellenvana]

In the past when cruising with large groups we found that a set dining time suited us very well.. It was one less thing to decide.

If you have a set time and place to meet set up on the ship with your group it seems it would be just as easy, or easier, to just make that place your table at early or late dining. :p

[sturderick]

Well..you got the answer YOU wanted to hear - so all is well, except your ship and experience and group may be different

 

Just getting everyone aware of the day's plans, time to eat, time to meet is stressful IMHO - having done group cruises I am also very aware that suggested meeting spots and times are not that easy - for example, plan to meet on promenade only to find tons of photo op backgrounds set up, few seats, all taken....plan to meet at alchemy bar only to find seats taken for a martini tasting - it all sounds easy till you are on board

 

Hopefully the new technology will soon come where we can text each other on board with cell phones but til then I would opt for fixed seating. It will be interesting to read your review after the cruise

 

Thank you for your input. I appreciate everyone's opinion. You are correct, I got the answer I wanted to hear. I heard from someone that had done it and had a good experience. I'll let anyone that cares know how it turned out. Have a wonderful day and smile at someone today. It's contagious :D

[Troy McClure]

I live my life in a very unstructured way. I am not a huge planner. Funny though on the ship I want to know when I am eating and who my waiter will be every night.

[sturderick]

Troy, when it's just my husband and me I love assigned seating because I love having the same wait staff and we know when we like to eat. I have found when we travel with a group, assigned dining tends to create too much stress. Couples show up fighting because someone is running late, everyone feels like they HAVE to be at dinner with everyone else, people running late make the whole table late (which I think is very rude to the wait staff and people eating after you), wasted seats if everyone isn't there that night. I just want to play it day by day. I trust any wait staff we have and we are there to enjoy each others company and have a stress free vacation.

[sharecruises]

In the past when cruising with large groups we found that a set dining time suited us very well.. It was one less thing to decide.

If you have a set time and place to meet set up on the ship with your group it seems it would be just as easy, or easier, to just make that place your table at early or late dining. :p

 

Till you try it = it is NOT so easy

 

example " let's meet in front of the Taste Bar"....but...all seats are taken one night...other nights the photogs are out

 

"let's meet at Alchemy" >>> Martini tasting going on

 

"Let's meet in Piano Bar- it's empty usually in afternoon">>> oh well today there is a private party there

 

been there - done that :)

[sturderick]

Ok, I count 7 people on here that have actually done it and not one of them had problems. I count 0 people that are telling me not to do it that have tried it. That confirms my decision. I'm a little confused about how adamant some person/people are that we not try this :confused: Now I'm trying to figure out why I keep responding :eek: I guess I'm a little bored today.....I'm going back to looking at excursions. That's fun!!

[sharecruises]

Ok, I count 7 people on here that have actually done it and not one of them had problems. I count 0 people that are telling me not to do it that have tried it. That confirms my decision. I'm a little confused about how adamant some person/people are that we not try this :confused: Now I'm trying to figure out why I keep responding :eek: I guess I'm a little bored today.....I'm going back to looking at excursions. That's fun!!

 

Your mind is made up - at this point I think most of us are just warning others of the pitfalls of trying to herd cats on a cruise ship <grin>

 

Been there, done that - I love NCL shows and many of their policies but the freestyle was a pain (and we even had set dining times which they give you for 20 plus people) BUT everyone decided they wanted to eat different restaurants, different times - what a pain in the butt. "where was everyone"? "we waited for you"

 

I even find it hard to get a group together for the seaday brunch or dr breakfast - cause no where to wait really and some go in earlier and then are seated with a family from Montana and they won't let us "hold space" and some come later - fixed times are soooo much easier

 

I recently did early seating fixed dining on Conquest and enjoyed that...I usually do late fixed seating.

[sturderick]

UPDATE! We got back from our cruise and I would like to report we had ZERO trouble with anytime dining! We never had to wait for a table. I also have a little secret meeting place that no one else was ever at. We met in the library every night and took turns bringing our carry on bottle of wine to share. There are wine glasses in the library so we just grabbed a glass and sat and talked until we finished our bottle. We then went to the dining room and never had to wait! We were on an 8 day cruise and never had to wait one time. I would highly suggest doing this. It was great not having to rush to get ready. They programmed all of our rooms the first night so they knew we all liked to sit together and were ready for us. We even had some nights everyone didn't choose to eat in the dining room and it was not a problem. Like I said..the library is a hidden gem! Some nights we went across the hall to the game room and it was great too. They are both there together. Hope this helps someone :)

[nowendy]

we just were on the Miracle and most nights we were 16. They would just break u into 2 groups and it was always no problem never a wait

[CruisinKibble]

No way. Way too much of a hassle to get everyone organized, and then wait for a table. Go the easy and sensible route with assigned dining.

[bar1068]

UPDATE! We got back from our cruise and I would like to report we had ZERO trouble with anytime dining! We never had to wait for a table. I also have a little secret meeting place that no one else was ever at. We met in the library every night and took turns bringing our carry on bottle of wine to share. There are wine glasses in the library so we just grabbed a glass and sat and talked until we finished our bottle. We then went to the dining room and never had to wait! We were on an 8 day cruise and never had to wait one time. I would highly suggest doing this. It was great not having to rush to get ready. They programmed all of our rooms the first night so they knew we all liked to sit together and were ready for us. We even had some nights everyone didn't choose to eat in the dining room and it was not a problem. Like I said..the library is a hidden gem! Some nights we went across the hall to the game room and it was great too. They are both there together. Hope this helps someone :)

 

Awesome...sounds similar to our experiences....some who post here will be very disappointed things worked out as you expected and hoped for....oh well...to bad, so sad for them!!

[bar1068]

No way. Way too much of a hassle to get everyone organized, and then wait for a table. Go the easy and sensible route with assigned dining.

 

Read above....the OP posted after their cruise....their experience was Yes way...no hassles...no waits...as our experiences have been with larger groups....it can and does work....100% of the time...maybe not...but nothing is.

[patz]

We had a group of 10 on the Breeze in January. We showed up for dinner at 6:45 pm and had no problems. Usually had the same table and wait staff.