Table for 2?

[sweety51901]

My husband and I will be travelling alone this September for the first time since our honeymoon 18 years ago.  I currently have Early dining. We love the main dining room and the happenings during dinner. So, for those of you that have traveled just the two of you, do you prefer YTD? Do you enjoy getting sat with other couples and mingling throughout the week? I am an introvert by nature, but do enjoy meeting new people. My husband is in the media and very outgoing, so this is no problem for him. What are you thoughts? We will be on the Dream, if that matters at all. This is our first time on the Dream as well. This will be my 11th cruise and my husband's 10th cruise, all with CCL. Thank you!

[a1m1y9]

We are just off the Dream (2/3/19), things to keep in mind whether Dream or other ships YTD does not guarantee you the same waitstaff.  So if interaction with waitstaff and them anticipating your needs does not happen as much with YTD.  With that being said, we had late seating last weeks cruise and found our waitstaff did not remember until day 7 that 3 of us drank tea every single night.  Waitstaff from our previous experiences will note tea, water, coffee choices by day 2 and anticipated our needs and we didn't need to task.  Enough of that!

 

Hubby and I frequently cruise alone and prefer to eat alone.  We had good experiences, bad, and average.  The bad and average made us feel uncomfortable come dinner time and it is the primary reason that most of the time we do YTD.  But the good experiences, have been wonderful.  Great conversations and learned from other cruisers likes, dislikes, pros, cons and all bits of information that we might not have known about excursions, other cruise lines, and future places of travel.  

 

Hubby is social and will talk to a fly - I am am social but just want to eat and not make small talk.  

 

The other things we like about YTD, is not feeling so scheduled.  Cruises do that enough and say we were at Port all day, get back on ship about 4 last thing we want to do is rush to early dinner or feel like we have to grab a snack to hold us off another 4 hours for late dinner. With YTD, we often go to the room clean up, rest a bit, and then head to dinner.  WE really enjoyed YTD with our European cruise with Carnival!  

 

I know it isn't a firm answer but whatever you decide will work out!

 

Happy Sailing!

 

 

 

[Eliot Ness]

Before YTD we usually sat with one or more couples and always enjoyed the conversations.  We now do YTD and while we usually request a table for two, they are very close together so it's easy to converse with you neighbors.  Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't, some pax are very outgoing and initiate a conversation while some don't.

 

If we like the wait team we have the first night we'll usually request them at each seating even if it means a short wait.  With YTD you can also be seated with other couples and we have done that before too rather than wait for a table for two. Maybe we've been lucky, but we have not had a bad experiences with table mates or close table for two neighbors.

 

[skrufy]

We switched to YTD a couple of cruises ago from late dining. The reason was we had been seated to many times with people that we did not really get along with and the late hour With YTD we go and just ask to be seated. Sometimes it’s alone and sometimes it’s with others. We enjoy meeting different people each night. We also ask for the same wait staff, which sometimes causes a slight delay in getting seated.

 

[ray98]

I always request a table for two no matter what dining option I choose, YTD really simplifies it though.   I detest eating with strangers.

[tandemcruzr]

On Embarkation Day, the maitre'd will have a time set around 1 or 1:30 to make changes to seating assignments/preferences. We've also e-mailed the MD with our seating preference. E-mail address for the Dream is drmaitred@carnival.com

[sweety51901]

Thank you everyone! We typically cruise with a large group (the smallest being 10 in the party), so we have never sat with people we didn't know before.  Very much looking forward to some time alone with my husband without our 3 kids!

[Butterbean1000]

We do YTD. If it is just the two of us cruising,  we always ask for table for two. They have the tables so close it is almost like you're sitting with others.  We usually strike up conversations with the table next to us. We like this set up because we don't have to talk if we don't want to snd we won't  seem rude.