Tables for two

[RoseGab123]

Would appreciate some advise. We are sailing on Ventura soon and have freedom dining. After an unpleasant experience on sharing a table a few years ago, we would like to dine on a table for two whenever possible. Any advise on the best time to go to dinner?

[AndyMichelle]

Just now, RoseGab123 said:

Would appreciate some advise. We are sailing on Ventura soon and have freedom dining. After an unpleasant experience on sharing a table a few years ago, we would like to dine on a table for two whenever possible. Any advise on the best time to go to dinner?

I think it is pot luck really, just be prepared for a 45 min wait with a buzzer in one hand and cocktail in the other. 

Have a great cruise, 

Andy

[wowzz]

I don't think you should let one bad experience deter you from sharing a table. At least with freedom dining you will be unlikely to meet unpleasant dining companions more than once.

Having said that, if you go to the MDR after 8, you should get a table for 2 with no significant delay.

[grapau27]

23 minutes ago, RoseGab123 said:

Would appreciate some advise. We are sailing on Ventura soon and have freedom dining. After an unpleasant experience on sharing a table a few years ago, we would like to dine on a table for two whenever possible. Any advise on the best time to go to dinner?

Last month on Ventura Cinnamon restaurant opened at 5.30pm and Saffron restaurant opened at 6pm.

This would be the best time to guarantee a table for 2 as we went between 6.45pm and 7.45pm and waited every night with a buzzer for 45-60 minutes along with many others.

Last night we went to Epicurean speciality restaurant and were seated immediately where we wanted and got fantastic service.

[Harry Peterson]

Probably the best time is when the MDRs open, though a queue will form some time before this. All the tables for two will then be full for the duration of the first meals, with people with pagers waiting to fill them. Maybe next best time around 8.30, though there's no real way of telling.

 

Bear in mind though that the so called tables for two are in reality just one long table for upwards of 40, with a tiny gap of about three inches between tables, so in reality you have very little privacy.

 

Maybe try sharing again? It's only for one meal at a time and ordinarily you'll have delightful companions to chat to.  And very little waiting time. To a limited extent you can actually avoid people you don't like the look or sound of by careful queue positioning!

[wowzz]

32 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

To a limited extent you can actually avoid people you don't like the look or sound of by careful queue positioning!

Good advice - however we normally eat quite late,  with no queues. When we are led to a table of 6 or 8 our hearts sometimes sink when we see the same bore we ate with the night before!

[Harry Peterson]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

Good advice - however we normally eat quite late,  with no queues. When we are led to a table of 6 or 8 our hearts sometimes sink when we see the same bore we ate with the night before!

Good point.  There's still a way round it though, which we saw skilfully executed by a couple who joined our table recently. 

 

They'd been taken initially to a table which was commandeered most evenings by an arrogant elderly couple who tried to dominate the table and were incredibly rude to the lovely staff.

 

As soon as they realised where they were being taken they asked for another table on the pretext that they didn't like corner window tables. 

 

Nice couple, nice table,  and for me a useful lesson learned!

[P&O SUE]

19 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

Probably the best time is when the MDRs open, though a queue will form some time before this. All the tables for two will then be full for the duration of the first meals, with people with pagers waiting to fill them. Maybe next best time around 8.30, though there's no real way of telling.

 

Bear in mind though that the so called tables for two are in reality just one long table for upwards of 40, with a tiny gap of about three inches between tables, so in reality you have very little privacy.

 

Maybe try sharing again? It's only for one meal at a time and ordinarily you'll have delightful companions to chat to.  And very little waiting time. To a limited extent you can actually avoid people you don't like the look or sound of by careful queue positioning!

 

There are a few  tables for two dotted about on the edges that are completely on their own - we started to ask for that general area after we happened to get one! We only had to wait about 20 mins with a pager at most! (this was about 7pm)

[RoseGab123]

Msny thanks for all your advice

[wowzz]

19 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

Good point.  There's still a way round it though, which we saw skilfully executed by a couple who joined our table recently. 

 

They'd been taken initially to a table which was commandeered most evenings by an arrogant elderly couple who tried to dominate the table and were incredibly rude to the lovely staff.

 

As soon as they realised where they were being taken they asked for another table on the pretext that they didn't like corner window tables. 

 

Nice couple, nice table,  and for me a useful lesson learned!

Good lesson for me as well - I shall try and remember the tactic for future cruises.

 

[dgs1956]

20 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

 Good point.  There's still a way round it though, which we saw skilfully executed by a couple who joined our table recently. 

 

They'd been taken initially to a table which was commandeered most evenings by an arrogant elderly couple who tried to dominate the table and were incredibly rude to the lovely staff.

 

As soon as they realised where they were being taken they asked for another table on the pretext that they didn't like corner window tables. 

 

Nice couple, nice table,  and for me a useful lesson learned!

Why do you need a pretext. I would just have said I don't want to sit at that table and if asked why I would give the real reason. Ignorant and bad mannered people get away with it because most people keep quiet or don't challenge them

Edited September 22, 2019 by dgs1956

[Harry Peterson]

39 minutes ago, dgs1956 said:

Why do you need a pretext. I would just have said I don't want to sit at that table and if asked why I would give the real reason. Ignorant and bad mannered people get away with it because most people keep quiet or don't challenge them

Just politeness I imagine.  They were a pleasant civilised couple and didn't want to cause offence. 

[Eglesbrech]

52 minutes ago, dgs1956 said:

Why do you need a pretext. I would just have said I don't want to sit at that table and if asked why I would give the real reason. Ignorant and bad mannered people get away with it because most people keep quiet or don't challenge them

The problem is that what I think of as rude or bad mannered others might think is just fine thank you very much. Unless someone is out and out ignorant and abusive then it is  difficult to gauge motive.

 

The elderly couple might not think of themselves as dominating the table, they might for example think they were keeping the conversation going when others were not?

 

 

 

 

[dgs1956]

2 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

The problem is that what I think of as rude or bad mannered others might think is just fine thank you very much. Unless someone is out and out ignorant and abusive then it is  difficult to gauge motive.

 

The elderly couple might not think of themselves as dominating the table, they might for example think they were keeping the conversation going when others were not?

 

 

 

 

Fair enough but the post says, "They'd been taken initially to a table which was commandeered most evenings by an arrogant elderly couple who tried to dominate the table and were incredibly rude to the lovely staff". 

[grapau27]

On 9/21/2019 at 1:23 PM, Harry Peterson said:

Probably the best time is when the MDRs open, though a queue will form some time before this. All the tables for two will then be full for the duration of the first meals, with people with pagers waiting to fill them. Maybe next best time around 8.30, though there's no real way of telling.

 

Bear in mind though that the so called tables for two are in reality just one long table for upwards of 40, with a tiny gap of about three inches between tables, so in reality you have very little privacy.

 

Maybe try sharing again? It's only for one meal at a time and ordinarily you'll have delightful companions to chat to.  And very little waiting time. To a limited extent you can actually avoid people you don't like the look or sound of by careful queue positioning!

You are mistaken 

Your line of 20 tables is actually only 8 to accommodate 16 people and there is actually over a foot gap between tables.

Edited September 22, 2019 by grapau27

[Harry Peterson]

3 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

You are mistaken 

Your line of 20 tables is actually only 8 and there is actually over a foot gap between tables.

My apologies. I'm happy to stand corrected. I must admit to only having tried it once and I must have exaggerated the experience in my head.  It wasn't pleasant though!

[grapau27]

9 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

You are mistaken 

Your line of 20 tables is actually only 8 to accommodate 16 people and there is actually over a foot gap between tables.

As you can see here.

There are another 8 tables for 2 behind Pauline at the other side of the wall

Edited September 22, 2019 by grapau27

[grapau27]

1 minute ago, Harry Peterson said:

My apologies. I'm happy to stand corrected. I must admit to only having tried it once and I must have exaggerated the experience in my head.  It wasn't pleasant though!

No problem, thanks for your post.

[Dm65]

We were sat at one of these tables on our last cruise. The 'lady' next to us commented loudly to her partner "cruising isn't for us. It's full of overweight people stuffing their faces!" Assume we won't be meeting her on our cruise next month. After that night we always asked for a table on its own.  We often had to wait with a buzzer but not for very long and it was worth it to not feel so uncomfortable. Trying set dining on our next cruise.

[emam]

Do the waiters, wait until a set of tables are full before serving you. Once when we had a table for two, they seemed to serve a few as if it was a table for 6. We sat inbetween two tables. On one side the couple had not been long sat. However the waiter apologised to the other couple for their wait. They had been there for ten minutes. He then proceeded to take the orders for the three tables. It looked like he was treating them as a table of six.

[wowzz]

53 minutes ago, emam said:

Do the waiters, wait until a set of tables are full before serving you. Once when we had a table for two, they seemed to serve a few as if it was a table for 6. We sat inbetween two tables. On one side the couple had not been long sat. However the waiter apologised to the other couple for their wait. They had been there for ten minutes. He then proceeded to take the orders for the three tables. It looked like he was treating them as a table of six.

In my experience, that seems to be the norm. Means the waiter only has to make one visit to the three tables for each course,  rather than three individual visits. Seems entirely sensible.

[Harry Peterson]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

In my experience, that seems to be the norm. Means the waiter only has to make one visit to the three tables for each course,  rather than three individual visits. Seems entirely sensible.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me too. They’ve got a hard enough job to do at appalling rates of pay without adding unnecessarily to the burden.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

Seems perfectly reasonable to me too. They’ve got a hard enough job to do at appalling rates of pay without adding unnecessarily to the burden.

Harry are you considering starting a Trade Union for these poor oppressed employees?  You might find it hard to recruit members, talking to a waiter on a recent cruise who was on his last contract after 5 years with P&O,  who said he had already built a new house and had now saved enough to start his own business back in Goa, and seemed extremely happy with his stint on P&O.

[Harry Peterson]

15 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Harry are you considering starting a Trade Union for these poor oppressed employees?  You might find it hard to recruit members, talking to a waiter on a recent cruise who was on his last contract after 5 years with P&O,  who said he had already built a new house and had now saved enough to start his own business back in Goa, and seemed extremely happy with his stint on P&O.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/apr/29/cruise-firm-performance-bonuses-tips

 

2012 (and 75p an hour) - but not a great deal's changed since then.  I suppose it depends who you talk to.  Personally, I'd find working 7 days a week without a break on a 6 month contract pretty challenging.

[Les_ldh]

21 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Personally, I'd find working 7 days a week without a break on a 6 month contract pretty challenging.

I did it for 10 years when I was self-employed. No holidays and only the very occasional day off. Like most things you get used to it and get into a routine. I’m glad I don’t still do it though, but if I I hadn’t I wouldn’t be in a position to spend my retirement cruising. 😀