Traditional Dining Question

[ray98]

29 minutes ago, coevan said:

 

how rude

 

Not at all.  I am there to spend time with my wife as that doesn't happen as much as we like in our busy work lives.  I am not looking for new friends and not afraid to admit it.

[coevan]

mindless chatter is very rude and has nothing to do with your time with your spouse. You are basically calling someone you don't know stupid because you don't want to converse.

[ray98]

1 minute ago, coevan said:

mindless chatter is very rude and has nothing to do with your time with your spouse. You are basically calling someone you don't know stupid because you don't want to converse.

 

LOL...ok.

[rukkian]

1 hour ago, coevan said:

 

 

this, not inches, as you could not get up and leave. We met some people at YTD sitting a foot or so away and became friends 

 

 

 

 

how rude

It is not rude to not want to sit with and chat with strangers.  It would be rude if you choose to be sat with others, and then sit and only talk to your significant other, but choosing ahead of time to only sit with your SO, is not rude.

[grandmarnnurse]

38 minutes ago, rukkian said:

It is not rude to not want to sit with and chat with strangers.  It would be rude if you choose to be sat with others, and then sit and only talk to your significant other, but choosing ahead of time to only sit with your SO, is not rude.

Totally agree. Not rude at all. I have zero desire to sit with strangers. 

[djb78]

1 hour ago, coevan said:

mindless chatter is very rude and has nothing to do with your time with your spouse. You are basically calling someone you don't know stupid because you don't want to converse.

 

It's not rude at all.

 

Just because someone engages in mindless chatter doesn't mean that they don't believe their company isn't capable of anything else. Many people are guarded about their privacy, not interested in discussing controversial topics, and aware that discussing intellectual topics might not interest those around them. As a result, mindless chatter (discussing the weather... yawn...) is often what happens when strangers sit together. This says nothing about the intelligence of those present. 

 

What is rude is your judgmental response. You generally won't get very far in a discussion when you start telling others what they're thinking. 

 

 

[ray98]

1 minute ago, djb78 said:

 

It's not rude at all.

 

Just because someone engages in mindless chatter doesn't mean that they don't believe their company isn't capable of anything else. Many people are guarded about their privacy, not interested in discussing controversial topics, and aware that discussing intellectual topics might not interest those around them. As a result, mindless chatter (discussing the weather... yawn...) is often what happens when strangers sit together. This says nothing about the intelligence of those present. 

 

What is rude is your judgmental response. You generally won't get very far in a discussion when you start telling others what they're thinking. 

 

 

 

 

Exactly....If I don't know you then I am not sharing anything of substance with you.  That limits us to....where you from....you have kids.....how do you like this weather.....been on a cruise before....blah blah blah.  

 

No thanks....I would rather enjoy that meal with my wife.

[Illbcruzn4life]

6 hours ago, ray98 said:

 

 

Exactly....If I don't know you then I am not sharing anything of substance with you.  That limits us to....where you from....you have kids.....how do you like this weather.....been on a cruise before....blah blah blah.  

 

No thanks....I would rather enjoy that meal with my wife.

 

Couldn't agree more.

[DubNHub]

18 hours ago, coevan said:

 

 

 

how rude

 

Turn that mirror on yourself, bruh. Calling someone else’s preference to dine in peace on a cruise they paid good money for “rude” is in fact rude. 
 

I don’t want to dine with strangers either. It’s not because I’m rude. It’s a personal preference for how I choose to spend my vacation. As the other poster said, my wife and I have extremely busy work lives, and every bit of time together we can get needs to be quality time. Apart from that, I don’t care to divulge my personal life to people I don’t know. I don’t discuss my job with people I don’t know, for example. I can see how that would be considered rude, and on vacation, I really don’t want to be bothered with what other people think, because I paid for MY vacation, not yours. 

Edited December 14, 2019 by DubNHub

[grandmarnnurse]

37 minutes ago, DubNHub said:

 

Turn that mirror on yourself, bruh. Calling someone else’s preference to dine in peace on a cruise they paid good money for “rude” is in fact rude. 
 

I don’t want to dine with strangers either. It’s not because I’m rude. It’s a personal preference for how I choose to spend my vacation. As the other poster said, my wife and I have extremely busy work lives, and every bit of time together we can get needs to be quality time. Apart from that, I don’t care to divulge my personal life to people I don’t know. I don’t discuss my job with people I don’t know, for example. I can see how that would be considered rude, and on vacation, I really don’t want to be bothered with what other people think, because I paid for MY vacation, not yours. 

Yes! Precisely! 👏👏👏

[coevan]

You are all missing the point. We like to eat alone and mostly do. Classifying someone's conversation as "mindless chatter" is not cool. 

[dlphn501]

On 12/11/2019 at 6:39 PM, grandmarnnurse said:

I am cruising a B2B on the Magic in April for my 50th Anniversary. It is April 5&11. We invited family to join us for the second leg, as we knew grandchildren would be out of school for Easter Break. As of now, only one son has booked, but I’m afraid they will cancel, as they have not paid for it yet, and haven’t booked any excursions. My question is, we are on YTD for first leg, since we are alone, and that’s our preferred choice, but have Early Dining for second leg , thinking it would be easier if 25+ family members booked. Can we get this Early dining changed to YTD if this son does cancel? And if so, how would I go about that? 

I have read that if you speak to the Maitre D on embarkation day, you can get your dining time changed.  And it's more easily granted if you wish to switch to the anytime dining.

[Bookster99]

On 12/11/2019 at 9:25 AM, ilovethesparkles said:

We have always had your time dining, and for the Christmas cruise on the Dream we booked in 2 weeks we could only get late dining. Is it possible to request a private table for my husband and I for dinner or are they all only large shared tables? 

We have never done this, but my guess is if you ask the Maitre De they will accomodate you if at all possible. On our last cruise, we requested a different table becuase we were jam-packed at our assigned table, and there was no one at the table behind us. It was no problem. 

[grandmarnnurse]

23 minutes ago, dlphn501 said:

I have read that if you speak to the Maitre D on embarkation day, you can get your dining time changed.  And it's more easily granted if you wish to switch to the anytime dining.

Ok, but that surprises me, as I thought YTD was the most popular choice that filled up fast. Thank you for your response. My son already informed me last night that they aren’t bringing the two teenage grandkids, as they do not have Easter week off, so they are calling Carnival to remove them from their cabin. But I’d bet they will cancel by day 90 as well. I will speak to the Maitre D on the ship. 

[dlphn501]

18 minutes ago, grandmarnnurse said:

I thought YTD was the most popular choice that filled up fast.

I did too, but I have read that early dining fills up the quickest.  Good luck!  Hope it all works out for you.

[sparks1093]

1 hour ago, grandmarnnurse said:

Ok, but that surprises me, as I thought YTD was the most popular choice that filled up fast. Thank you for your response. My son already informed me last night that they aren’t bringing the two teenage grandkids, as they do not have Easter week off, so they are calling Carnival to remove them from their cabin. But I’d bet they will cancel by day 90 as well. I will speak to the Maitre D on the ship. 

I would expect you could just make the change online at day 90.

[grandmarnnurse]

1 hour ago, sparks1093 said:

I would expect you could just make the change online at day 90.

 

1 hour ago, sparks1093 said:

I would expect you could just make the change online at day 90.

👍

[ilovethesparkles]

How does traditional late dining work? Do I show up at 8:15? Do I need to show up early? Thanks in advanced! I have always had YTD. 

[sanger727]

On 12/14/2019 at 12:24 PM, coevan said:

You are all missing the point. We like to eat alone and mostly do. Classifying someone's conversation as "mindless chatter" is not cool. 

 

Would you find the phrase "small talk" more agreeable? I think that is all the poster was trying to say. Not a dig towards the conversationalist but because spending an hour with a group of strangers once a day most likely won't turn into a meaningful friendship and since there's no shared history and possibly no shared interests; will be stuck with unmeaningful topics to force conversation about. I also agree with the posters who stated that they avoid "heavy" topics like politics and religion to avoid offense. 

Edited December 19, 2019 by sanger727

[sparks1093]

33 minutes ago, ilovethesparkles said:

How does traditional late dining work? Do I show up at 8:15? Do I need to show up early? Thanks in advanced! I have always had YTD. 

The doors will open around 8:15 and while people do show up and line up there is no need to do so, once the doors open everyone goes to their table fairly quickly.

[ilovethesparkles]

16 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

The doors will open around 8:15 and while people do show up and line up there is no need to do so, once the doors open everyone goes to their table fairly quickly.

Thank you! 

[Wheels87]

This is an easy one...my wife and I have been on 28 cruises (20 Carnival and 8 RC) and have had two cruises ruined by our tablemates.  We kept running into them on the ship over and over again and several of them had personal problems which they attempted to make our problems.  No offense to anyone, but when I am on a cruise, the last thing I want to do on a sea day is listen to someone complain about their spouse for four hours per day!

 

Based on those experiences, we have chosen to request a table for two on all of our cruises and have always been accommodated.  Also, the tables for two are often times not located a foot away from the next one.  Many of them are by themselves, scattered among larger round top tables.

 

To make the request, you can simply email the Maitre'd of your ship at least 4-5 days in advance of your trip.  Be sure to include your names, stateroom numbers, booking number, etc.  This has always worked for us.  The majority of the time, the Maitre'd will not respond to the email, but you can assume they got it.  DO NOT GET GREEDY!  What do I mean by that?  I never get specific and ask for a quiet table by the window or anything like that.  Just stick to the basics.  You can find the email address with a simple google search.

 

I know that some will say that you are not supposed to do this, etc., however, we have never ever had a problem with it.  I think it is easier for them letting them know in advance, rather than waiting until embarkation day when everything is crazy.  Also, the other important reason I email them is because I have a significant dairy allergy (not lactose intolerance) and cannot have any dairy at all.  I always let them know ahead of time so they will be prepared.

 

Good luck!

Brad

[ilovethesparkles]

Hi everyone! I ended up messaging John Heald on FB and he was able to accommodate our request. He was able to switch us to YTD. We did not find out until we got our sign and sail cards though. I was planning to go visit the Maitre'd on embarkation day, like everyone had suggested, but there was no need! 

 

We had a great Christmas Cruise and our dining experience was perfect. Thank you for all your help! 

[Pyxie]

On 12/13/2019 at 5:18 AM, RWolver672 said:

 

We have never sat at a table for two or even seen any.  From reading posting on the subject for over nineteen years, it seems that those tables for two are placed real close together.  So close together that you can hear everyone else's conversations better than the one sitting across from you.  Probably to the point that a romantic meal is out of the question.  😥

 

This comes up each time, and yes the tables are close together, but I feel like you can still easily focus on just your table and your conversation if that's what you want. We always do YTD and request a table for 2. DH is more outgoing than I am and he sometimes strikes up a conversation with the table next to ours, but you don't have to. I feel perfectly fine with how close they are.

[VentureMan_2000]

1 hour ago, Pyxie said:

 

This comes up each time, and yes the tables are close together, but I feel like you can still easily focus on just your table and your conversation if that's what you want. We always do YTD and request a table for 2. DH is more outgoing than I am and he sometimes strikes up a conversation with the table next to ours, but you don't have to. I feel perfectly fine with how close they are.

To the point regarding folks wanting a 2-top for intimacy and privacy, their is likely what they dread... someone treating their 2-top like they are all at the same table and joining in the conversation.  Seems to defeat the purpose.