Sitting with strangers in the MDR

[Bonnie J.]

I am now going to see when questions are posted! This was asked in September of 2014 so I would assume they have taken their cruise by now!

[navybankerteacher]

I am now going to see when questions are posted! This was asked in September of 2014 so I would assume they have taken their cruise by now!

 

Actually, OP was raising a topic of conversation and not seeking advice/information concerning an upcoming cruise, and the relevance of the topic does not carry an expiration date.

 

Of course, the introduction of anytime dining is a good thing - as long as it does not remove the option of traditional dining for those of us who enjoy the opportunity to meet with a few fellow cruisers every evening. Those who do not like adhering to a schedule or are uncomfortable fitting in with a group have the option to do their own thing. Those of us who do like that surviving tradition now have a much better chance of having a compatible group because of the self-outselection of people who do not.

 

There is no point in arguing the pros and cons of either kind of dining - those who do not like traditional don't have to participate.

[Hlitner]

A great compromise is to simply use the Anytime Dining option (now offered on most cruise lines) where you do not dine at the same table (or with same folks) every night...unless you want to organize your own table (we have done this on a few cruises after we made some new friends). Just showing up at the MDR and telling the Maitre d that "we want to share a large table" is all it takes to get you a table of "strangers." If you meet somebody you do not like, then just make sure you do not dine with them again :).

 

As to Traditional Dining, we have found it interesting that HAL (who normally offers an anytime/select dining scheme) only offers Traditional 2 Seating Dining on their longer (usually over 40 days) so-called "Grand Cruises." When we did a 62 day Grand cruise we were faced with the prospect of dining with the same folks for 2 months. The first 2-3 nights was like musical chairs in the MDR as passengers made "adjustments" to their dining situations. We started out with a table of 7 and one couple went to a different table the 2nd night when they ran into friends from a prior cruise who they wanted to join. Then the following night our one single female left us to join a table of singles. At that point another couple, dining alone at a nearby 2 top asked if they could join our table. The 6 of us became fast friends (and still keep in touch) and enjoyed every evening. My point is that usually one can make "adjustments" to get into a good situation.

 

Hank

Edited February 24, 2015 by Hlitner

[CanadaDeb]

We always request large tables and have never had luck :( We have been at empty tables and were once on a b2b with only 1 tablemate the entire time who introduced himself as Mr. XX....:( Hoping our next cruise will be better.

[NewSalt]

Life isn't One Size Fits All and neither is dining on a cruise.

 

When we travel with DD and her family we prefer a table without other diners. The boys are young, two and five now, and this will be their second and fourth cruises. For some reason, other people don't seem to realize exactly how amazingly intelligent, spectacularly handsome, and wildly amusing they are, so we prefer not to share them with others. ;) This also allows us to dine on their schedule and at their pace, which I am sure the diners around us also appreciate.

 

However, when I cruise with DH, we prefer a larger table with new people. We're both retired and spend most days with each other, as well as three meals a day. We enjoy meeting and talking with new people. Some we've enjoyed more than others, but never had a really obnoxious table mate. A bonus is that we've received many helpful tips about the ship and ports of call from people who have experienced them before.

[Hlitner]

We always request large tables and have never had luck :( We have been at empty tables and were once on a b2b with only 1 tablemate the entire time who introduced himself as Mr. XX....:( Hoping our next cruise will be better.

 

As we previously posted, this also happened to us a few years ago on RCI. So now we simply book Anytime Dining (called by different names on different lines) and simply ask to share a large table when we go to the MDR. This way, unlike fixed seating, we always have full tables. Sometimes, if we find some fun dining mates we will arrange to meet them for dinner on other days.

 

Hank

[ducklite]

I was reminded of this thread yesterday. My boss, another coworker, and I were all in the field and decided to meet for lunch at a popular local fast food place. The type where you order at the counter and then they bring your food out to you. They guys got there about two minutes ahead of me. They placed their orders and sat at a table. Next thing they knew, without even asking a women had sat down with them. They didn't say anything, as it was crowded and it still left a seat for me (I was at the counter ordering my food by this point). Before I could get to the table, the woman's friend came over and joined her. Now my colleagues were sitting at a table with no chair left for me with two strange women. I walked up and the women told us that they weren't moving and we all needed to find another place to sit.

 

All I could think of was how the same scenario could play out in a cruise ship buffet--and that was a good reason to avoid any ship that doesn't have someone to take guests to tables from the door at buffet style restaurants or offer more than enough tables to go around.. I also thought that a few people on these boards would find the two ladies behavior completely appropriate as I hadn't taken a seat yet, even though I was in the restaurant. :rolleyes:

[cruznjan]

We have always enjoyed our tablemates.

[navybankerteacher]

I was reminded of this thread yesterday. My boss, another coworker, and I were all in the field and decided to meet for lunch at a popular local fast food place. The type where you order at the counter and then they bring your food out to you. They guys got there about two minutes ahead of me. They placed their orders and sat at a table. Next thing they knew, without even asking a women had sat down with them. They didn't say anything, as it was crowded and it still left a seat for me (I was at the counter ordering my food by this point). Before I could get to the table, the woman's friend came over and joined her. Now my colleagues were sitting at a table with no chair left for me with two strange women. I walked up and the women told us that they weren't moving and we all needed to find another place to sit.

 

All I could think of was how the same scenario could play out in a cruise ship buffet--and that was a good reason to avoid any ship that doesn't have someone to take guests to tables from the door at buffet style restaurants or offer more than enough tables to go around.. I also thought that a few people on these boards would find the two ladies behavior completely appropriate as I hadn't taken a seat yet, even though I was in the restaurant. :rolleyes:

 

While the two ladies may or not have behaved appropriately, it does seem that the two men you were intending to lunch with were gutless wonders.

[Bonnie J.]

Why didn't your friends tell the ladies the seats were taken and point you out. That happens a lot on cruse ships!

[ducklite]

While the two ladies may or not have behaved appropriately, it does seem that the two men you were intending to lunch with were gutless wonders.

 

 

They were being polite to the first Lady as there were no tables free and figured she needed a seat. They didn't realize another woman would join her. I was right behind the other woman and got to the table as she sat down. When we tried to explain I was with them, they told us too bad, they weren't moving. I thought about having an accident with my cup of water, but another table opened and we moved and left them there. I don't see how this translates to gutless.

[ducklite]

Why didn't your friends tell the ladies the seats were taken and point you out. That happens a lot on cruse ships!

 

 

I was right behind the second lady and this was pointed out, but she said something to the effect that she was there first and wasn't moving. As I said, just like many rude people in a cruise ship.

[babyher]

They were being polite to the first Lady as there were no tables free and figured she needed a seat. They didn't realize another woman would join her. I was right behind the other woman and got to the table as she sat down. When we tried to explain I was with them, they told us too bad, they weren't moving. I thought about having an accident with my cup of water, but another table opened and we moved and left them there. I don't see how this translates to gutless.

 

 

It doesn't translate into gutless. Trust me if your friends had said something , people would have complained that chivalry is dead , and why didn't they let the women stay, or why didn't they tip their hats and offer the women their seats. You can't win for losing.

[vacation luvver]

Originally Posted by vacation luvver

I guess it was a good thing that my traveling companion and I had anytime dining on the two cruises in which we took a ship's excursion and got back to the ship extremely late, several hours after the ship was supposed to set sail. And the dining room was already closed when we got back. I don't know how we would have been able to notify our table mates and the maitre d' if we had had fixed dining that we wouldn't be showing up. How would you suggest that people notify their table mates and the maitre d' in such a situation if they had fixed dining?

If you know there's a possibility that you might be missing your seating the next night, you can just say so.

That makes no sense at all, because in both cases, our ship's excursions were supposed to return us to the ship in plenty of time before dinner hour in the MDR, but not only did we not return during the dinner hour, we returned hours after the ship was supposed to sail. In one case, when I called the cruiseline before the cruise to say that on a given night, we would be taking a particular shore excursion, and I asked what time I should book our anytime dining that night, I was told that 7:30 PM would be fine, but not earlier, as they could guarantee that we would be back by 7:30 PM. However, we got on line for a tender at 6:45 PM, and at 7:30 PM, we were still waiting for a tender. And we waited and waited. And by the time we got back to the ship, the MDR was closed, and the ship was supposed to have sailed hours ago. So I really don't know what people who had second sitting that night who were on line for a tender with us were supposed to do and they were supposed to notify the maitre d' and their tablemates that they wouldn't be showing up for dinner.

[Velvetwater]

and a diabetic woman who chose to inject insulin at the table

 

I have no idea why this should be an issue in general. As the wife of a diabetic who injects fast acting insulin injecting directly before eating (as in food in front of them) or directly after is the only way to avoid sugar problems either way.Most modern insulin would cause problems being injected 1 hour before as it would cause someone to go low and 1 hour after would cause a spike in blood sugars which is harmful. Pens now look like marker felt tip pens and have very small needles indeed so it just looks like someone is pushing a pen into their thigh.Anyone who had a problem with hubby doing it (he does it very discreetly) would get harsh words from me.

 

We have anytime dining and mostly ate alone but would share tables with friends we met and others. We often get the compliments about our accents and US/UK comparisons at the dinner table which are always amusing. We would never do traditional dining as we are impulsive and would worry about being seated with people we did not get on with.

Edited February 27, 2015 by Velvetwater

[MNCruizer1]

We are cruising for our first time in August. I LOVE the idea of meeting new people. Does anyone know how they decide who to seat you with or is it totally random? I will be cruising with my 12 yr old And would hate to ruin anyone's dinner because they wanted a kid free dinner. One other thing..can you choose main dining and change your mind or is it one or the other for the whole cruise?

 

Thank you

[DirtyDawg]

We are cruising for our first time in August. I LOVE the idea of meeting new people. Does anyone know how they decide who to seat you with or is it totally random? I will be cruising with my 12 yr old And would hate to ruin anyone's dinner because they wanted a kid free dinner. One other thing..can you choose main dining and change your mind or is it one or the other for the whole cruise?

 

Thank you

 

Hi. No idea how they choose table partners but it seems to work out for us. Don't worry about your son, if sitting with a 12 year old ruins someones dinner, that is their issue not yours. And you can mix and match for the cruise. We usually get one of the seatings in the MDR and go most nights but we'll mix in anytime dinning, specialty, and on rare occasions, the buffet. It's your cruise, relax and cruise the way you want.

 

BTW on all lines we try to do breakfast in the MDR as they sit you with others. Great way to find out what other passengers are experiencing on the ship. The must do's if you will.

Edited March 21, 2015 by DirtyDawg

[Bonnie J.]

Most cruise lines seat people by age- someone 25 usually won't sit with a 70 year old. And they sometimes will put another 12 year old at your table or a family with kids. This is when you sit in traditional dining and you will always have the same people at your table and the same waiter.

For any time, freestyle, etc. dining you never know who you will sit with, it will be different people each night. We do not like this dining at all.

We just cruised with our cruise buddies. They were our tablemates in 2006 and we have cruised together every year since including some B2Bs. We wouldn't have gotten to know them if we only ate once with them in freestyle dining. Three times they have driven from Flint MI to our house on the NC coast then we drive to the ship together.

If you or a tablemate is unhappy at a table you can ask the maître'd to move you to another table and they will.

There may be a night or two when your 12 year old wants to eat in the buffet with a new friend or the Kid's club has a dinner for that age group.

You didn't say what ship you are going on. If it's a Carnival ship I can give you the email address for the maître'd and you can email him requesting a table with another 12 year old. I always email him with table size request and age of other tablemates.

[Raxter54]

On our recent cruise on the Serenade (our first cruise), we were booked for My Time Dining. Since this was a cruise to celebrate our 40th anniversary, and also as the honeymoon we never had, we requested a table to ourselves. First night in the MDR, we were led to our table for two - which was about 8 inches away from a table for six. The next day we went a requested a table we saw that was actually a table for two. The person at the desk told us it was already reserved, and pretty much showed no interest in helping us. So we did Windjammer for the rest of the cruise. And the food was very good, and it didn't take us an hour and half to eat...

[ducklite]

We are cruising for our first time in August. I LOVE the idea of meeting new people. Does anyone know how they decide who to seat you with or is it totally random? I will be cruising with my 12 yr old And would hate to ruin anyone's dinner because they wanted a kid free dinner. One other thing..can you choose main dining and change your mind or is it one or the other for the whole cruise?

 

 

 

Thank you

 

 

I would specifically ask to be seated with others with children in the 10-14 range. When we cruised and our son was a teen we requested no children under 13 and were seated with a nice family with a daughter a couple years younger than our son. We had nothing in common but did manage light conversation, mostly about what we had done that day.

 

It's nothing personal, but at this stage in our lives if we were seated with you we would ask to change tables. At this stage in our lives we have no interest in things a 12 year old wants to talk about--video games, school chums, and pop culture in general. We get enough of that from our nieces and nephews to last us. We want to sit with people who enjoy our interests--wine, art, travel, and lately a fledgling interest in opera, which is why we request children free tables.

 

I believe most cruise lines do their best to try to match people based on their requests. If you aren't happy with your table, you can always ask discretely to be reseated.

[Hlitner]

We sometimes wonder if cultural changes have made their way into the dining room. When I was a kid our family always at dinner together (sometimes with guests) and our dinners were generally long and the one time a day when the entire family could socialize. When we went out to dinner it was often with another family and dinner would be a multi-hour social time. So now (we are seniors) we still enjoy a long dinner (at least 2 hours) with other folks and view it as socialization and entertainment.

 

But these days, many folks do most of their socialization online and have even lost some of the face to face socialization skills. We have been in many restaurants when you will see couples or groups at a table and nearly everyone is looking down at their smart phone and texting. We sometimes laugh and wonder if they are texting the person that is sitting next to them because they do not have a clue how to talk.

 

Hank

[MNCruizer1]

I would specifically ask to be seated with others with children in the 10-14 range. When we cruised and our son was a teen we requested no children under 13 and were seated with a nice family with a daughter a couple years younger than our son. We had nothing in common but did manage light conversation, mostly about what we had done that day.

 

It's nothing personal, but at this stage in our lives if we were seated with you we would ask to change tables. At this stage in our lives we have no interest in things a 12 year old wants to talk about--video games, school chums, and pop culture in general. We get enough of that from our nieces and nephews to last us. We want to sit with people who enjoy our interests--wine, art, travel, and lately a fledgling interest in opera, which is why we request children free tables.

 

I believe most cruise lines do their best to try to match people based on their requests. If you aren't happy with your table, you can always ask discretely to be reseated.

 

I totally understand. Cruise prices are not cheap and you should be able to sit with who you want. Thank you for he honest reply.

[MNCruizer1]

Most cruise lines seat people by age- someone 25 usually won't sit with a 70 year old. And they sometimes will put another 12 year old at your table or a family with kids. This is when you sit in traditional dining and you will always have the same people at your table and the same waiter.

For any time, freestyle, etc. dining you never know who you will sit with, it will be different people each night. We do not like this dining at all.

We just cruised with our cruise buddies. They were our tablemates in 2006 and we have cruised together every year since including some B2Bs. We wouldn't have gotten to know them if we only ate once with them in freestyle dining. Three times they have driven from Flint MI to our house on the NC coast then we drive to the ship together.

If you or a tablemate is unhappy at a table you can ask the maître'd to move you to another table and they will.

There may be a night or two when your 12 year old wants to eat in the buffet with a new friend or the Kid's club has a dinner for that age group.

You didn't say what ship you are going on. If it's a Carnival ship I can give you the email address for the maître'd and you can email him requesting a table with another 12 year old. I always email him with table size request and age of other tablemates.

 

Thank you. We will be on the carnival triumph. The kid's club has a dinner for 12 year olds? I just assumed that he was too old for any kid's club activities. My 19yr old will also be with us. But not many families have that age difference. I would love to meet people to keep in touch with. I am cruising without my husband..so hopefully that doesn't make people shy away. Thank you for the info. If my 12 yr old does decide to eat somewhere else...do I need to inform the dining room? Sorry for all the questions..this is all new to me.

 

Thank you

[ducklite]

Thank you. We will be on the carnival triumph. The kid's club has a dinner for 12 year olds? I just assumed that he was too old for any kid's club activities. My 19yr old will also be with us. But not many families have that age difference. I would love to meet people to keep in touch with. I am cruising without my husband..so hopefully that doesn't make people shy away. Thank you for the info. If my 12 yr old does decide to eat somewhere else...do I need to inform the dining room? Sorry for all the questions..this is all new to me.

 

 

 

Thank you

 

 

You don't need to notify the dining room if your son will eat elsewhere.

[Bonnie J.]

Have you been to your Roll Call? This is where everyone on the same cruise can email each other. You can ask if anyone else has a 12 year old- or 11 or 13, and a 19 year old. You can plan doing the same thing ashore too.

A dinner would be for the 12 year old age group - not all are 12. They are younger and older but I don't know the ages of each group. There are all sorts of activities for 12 year olds! Your 19 year old will find friends and may eat with them too.

You can tell your waiter when he comes to take orders that your 12 year old, and maybe 19 year old, won't be with you for dinner. Waiters like to get orders when everyone is at the table.

The email for the maître'd should be trmaitred@carnival.com. Haven't been on the Triumph for a while but they have long tables by the windows and round tables in the middle of the dining room. We like the long tables because it's easier to talk to each other there. Email the maître'd and tell him what you'd like. Also ask him to email you back so you know he's gotten your email.

Edited March 21, 2015 by Bonnie J.