MDR dinner companions?

[Skippy]

Back when we cruised nearly 15 years ago, they assigned dinner companions. Is that still done? Do they match you up based on whether you are traveling with kids or not?

[watermelonqueen99]

If you have assigned dining rather than anytime dining, you will sit with the same people every night. Not sure if they pair people up based on age, etc. If you have anytime dining, you will sit with different people every night.

Edited July 23, 2016 by watermelonqueen99

[Skippy]

We have a 6pm seating.

[skrufy]

The 6pm seating usually attracts families, get the kiddies dinner then to bed. Our 1st cruise we had younger people sitting at our table. That was to be expected, it was a 3 day cruise, with lots of partiers. Now its only the late seating for us. Our 9 other cruises were with people close to our age, 45 to 65. But there were younger people at other tables. With all this said, I think they try to match people as close as they can to each other. You do have the option to ask for a different table if your uncomfortable with any one at your table. On our last cruise ( 10 days ) we were not fond of the two other couples at our table, they probebly had the same feeling about us, so after the 2nd night we just enjoyed the evening activities and hit the buffett around 8:30pm each night. Was sort of nice not to get dressed up for dinner. Shorts and tee-shirt, so comfortable.

[cb at sea]

They try not to put families with only adults....they do try to match you up as best they can. We've NEVER had "bad" tablemates...ever! We enjoy the conversations....and look forward to our tablemates nightly!

[nchikk]

On our four recent cruises, we've had two 2-tops and two large tables. We like both equally. The 2-top allows us to get in and out much quicker, while we've made good friends at the larger tables.

[zabaco]

I went on 2 cruises this summer and had opposite experiences with our assigned dining companions on the 2 trips.

 

On the first cruise, my husband and I were at a table for 10 at 8:15. After the first night, 6 diners (3 couples) never returned! It was odd. You could tell the first night that they weren't comfortable interacting with strangers, or didn't care for the formality of the MDR. We saw one of the couples later and they said they decided to stick to the buffet because it was easier. It felt so odd to be at a table for 10 with only 4 people after the first night. We decided to go go the steakhouse for the last 2 nights (we did notify the other couple at our table, who also went to the steakhouse one of those nights.) I was very disappointed in how our assigned dining table worked out, because I really enjoy meeting new people and being social over dinner.

 

On the second cruise, I was with 2 other friends on a girls' trip. We were also at a table for 10 at 8:15, and we had a fantastic group of table mates. We all looked forward to dinner, had great conversation, and even took group photos with the whole table on the last night. Dinner was one of the highlights of the day.

 

I love having an assigned time, enjoying the same wait staff, and I love getting to know my table mates; however, you can end up with a disappointing experience, as we did. My husband decided he wants to stick to anytime dining from now on, and we might just do that. I'm torn.

[Micahs Grandad]

We like getting to know our tablemates and making new friends.

 

When they put us at a table for two we will always ask the MD to make a change.

 

Only twice in 30 or so cruises have we ever asked for a change due to our tablemates.

 

Once as we had absolutely nothing in common with them and the other the husband was very rude to waitstaff and wanted nothing to do with the guy.

[riffatsea]

They definitely try to put couples without children together.

I'd like to clear up some misinfo though about YTD!

You don't sit with different people each night! That is only if you ask to be seated with others/strangers.

We now do only YTD because we prefer to choose our own dinner companions. We like sitting at a table for 2 and then if we meet folks at other times during the cruise we might arrange to sit with them if they also have YTD.

We have had some bad experiences with assigned dining and the folks we have run into there!

Just to add we also have the same wait staff each night and they get to know our needs the same way they would if we had assigned dining.

Edited July 24, 2016 by riffatsea

[erinmarie424]

My friend and I were matched up with three other pairs of ladies on our last cruise. We called it the spinster table. [emoji4] unfortunately we lost one of the pairs after night one and they lost us after night two. We had done YTD last year and asked to sit with others but a couple nights ended up just the two of us. When I cruise with DBF we like traditional dining and usually get put at tables for ten with other couples and have had really good experiences with that.

 

 

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[summersigh]

They try not to put families with only adults....they do try to match you up as best they can. We've NEVER had "bad" tablemates...ever! We enjoy the conversations....and look forward to our tablemates nightly!

 

We feel the same.

You can't go into it thinking everyone at your table is suddenly going to become your BFF :D. Instead, look for mutual topics of interest and don't talk politics or religion. We've often enjoyed folks as tablemates but at home probably wouldn't socialize with them and others that we still correspond with years later. :)

[mscreneet]

We go with the YTD since we have kids and we know that our little ones are subject to make a night eventful lol. So we ask to have a table just for us that way we don't bother anyone.

[Micahs Grandad]

We feel the same.

You can't go into it thinking everyone at your table is suddenly going to become your BFF :D. Instead, look for mutual topics of interest and don't talk politics or religion. We've often enjoyed folks as tablemates but at home probably wouldn't socialize with them and others that we still correspond with years later. :)

 

We have found kids and cruising experiences great way to break the ice and as time goes on and you get to know people you can add other topics.

[frangran]

They tend to group similar people. As a divorced mother & grown daughter, we're always assigned to tables of other single adult females. We prefer Anytime Dining or the Buffet.

[Badfinger]

The 6pm seating usually attracts families, get the kiddies dinner then to bed. Our 1st cruise we had younger people sitting at our table. That was to be expected, it was a 3 day cruise, with lots of partiers. Now its only the late seating for us. Our 9 other cruises were with people close to our age, 45 to 65. But there were younger people at other tables. With all this said, I think they try to match people as close as they can to each other. You do have the option to ask for a different table if your uncomfortable with any one at your table. On our last cruise ( 10 days ) we were not fond of the two other couples at our table, they probebly had the same feeling about us, so after the 2nd night we just enjoyed the evening activities and hit the buffett around 8:30pm each night. Was sort of nice not to get dressed up for dinner. Shorts and tee-shirt, so comfortable.

 

We have only been on three cruises (fourth is in a couple weeks) and have always had 6pm dining. Kids have never been an issue. Plus it seems as the week goes by there are less kids and less people in general at that time. Bottom line I would not shy away from 6pm because of kids.

[jwjax]

Back when we cruised nearly 15 years ago, they assigned dinner companions. Is that still done? Do they match you up based on whether you are traveling with kids or not?

 

Based on our last few cruise experiences, we have had more booths assigned than 8-10 tops. In each of the 4 person booth experiences, we have never had the pleasure to meet the other guests assigned to the booth. It makes us wonder?:confused:

 

We are thinking that more and more people want to dine alone, instead of the traditional dining experience. No problem, just hope they have experienced it at least a few times...:)

 

On our first 12 or so cruises, we always had an 8 or 10 top in the MDR, and met some very wonderful people during the dining experiences.

 

IMHO, I think that the advent of the BOOTHS in in the MDR have added to the demise of the traditional dining experience. I am not sure if it is/was a capacity issue or just accommodating personal requests for private tables, but it certainly has changed the experience of the traditional MDR.:)

[pokergirl34]

We've only had table mates twice in 8 cruises. The first couple was great and the second time was a family of 4 traveling together. It was not pleasant as we were unable to find any common ground. After that we have always done my time dining and chose who we dined with. We prefer it that way.

[Quilcruisers]

We only cruised with the two of us once. All other cruises have been with other couples or our family. Several times though we have been at a table for 10 and the others never showed. Most often with the 6 or 8 of us we have a table to ourselves. We always do late assigned dining.

[riclop]

Back when we cruised nearly 15 years ago, they assigned dinner companions. Is that still done? Do they match you up based on whether you are traveling with kids or not?

 

No one really knows.

[VASOXFANN]

We've had very good luck so far. We were seated with other couples our age when it was just us. When we had DH's teen daughter with is, we were with another family with teens. We're doing traditional dining on our next cruise. DH is very social and gets along with just about everyone, so it works for us.

[Skippy]

Thanks for the input. We're traveling with our 8 and 5 year old. I'm hoping they make some friends on the ship and have table mates to chat with too.

[hftmrock]

 

 

I love having an assigned time, enjoying the same wait staff, and I love getting to know my table mates; however, you can end up with a disappointing experience, as we did. My husband decided he wants to stick to anytime dining from now on, and we might just do that. I'm torn.

 

 

You can have the same wait staff with anytime dining. you just have to ask for them

Edited July 25, 2016 by hftmrock