MDR set time question

[BarbieGee]

My family has set time dinning. There will be four of us.

How many people does a table in Set Time seat?

Must all those assigned to that table be present before service begins?

If other tables in the MDR are empty can one request being moved to an empty table?

[skrufy]

4 minutes ago, BarbieGee said:

My family has set time dinning. There will be four of us.

How many people does a table in Set Time seat?

Must all those assigned to that table be present before service begins?

If other tables in the MDR are empty can one request being moved to an empty table?

There will be room for all four. Do you want to sit alone or with other people ? Are you all in one room ? If not to sit together you must link you booking #s together. It's polite to show up at the time you are assigned, you can be a few minutes late, but no more. The wait staff will wait those extra minutes before asking for your order. If not showing up for dinner let the staff know the night before so they won't wait for you.

[Mic101680]

When you do check in for your cruise, you should be able to request to be sat with no other cruisers. Otherwise, you may be assigned a table with other cruisers, which they usually try to pair people in similar age groups so hopefully there is some shared interests there. If this happens, and you decide you don't want to sit with that group, you can usually request to have your seating arrangements changed, but it's subject to availability once you're on the ship. 

Table sizes vary - I've been sat where it's just me and my cabin mate, and I've been sat at tables as large as 10 (but have seen larger setups before).

It's been my experience that they will go ahead and do bread and drink service pretty much right away, but usually won't take meal orders until everyone is present or after about 10-15 minutes has passed (to give the others time to arrive). 

 

[BarbieGee]

1 minute ago, skrufy said:

There will be room for all four. Do you want to sit alone or with other people ? Are you all in one room ? If not to sit together you must link you booking #s together. It's polite to show up at the time you are assigned, you can be a few minutes late, but no more. The wait staff will wait those extra minutes before asking for your order. If not showing up for dinner let the staff know the night before so they won't wait for you.

We are in 2 cabins and we are planning to dine together. I was just wondering if there may be other folks assigned to the same table and would the servers wait for them before beginning the service? Drink orders, app orders etc.

Do the tables have seating for only four or more?

[jsglow]

There are different kinds of tables.  In my experience, most groups of 4 will be assigned a both to themselves.  There's always exceptions.

[skrufy]

1 hour ago, BarbieGee said:

My family has set time dinning. There will be four of us.

How many people does a table in Set Time seat?

Must all those assigned to that table be present before service begins?

If other tables in the MDR are empty can one request being moved to an empty table?

If your party wants to sit alone go to the MDR on embarkation day around noon see if you are sitting with others. Then ask for a table for just your party.

[Badfinger]

Having done 7 cruises as a family of 4, I can only remember one time where we were not seated at a table/booth for 4.  They put us with another family of 4 in MDR.    Nice people, good conversation and "their kids" were not an issue.  Hope they thought the same about our kids.

 

Understand that even if you get a table for 4, there might be only 8" between your table and the next table, so may as well chat it up with them.  Sitting so close in silence is just awkward IMO.

[Bostwick girl]

Multi size tables, up to round table for 12. Lots of booths and tables for 4, 6 and 8. The Maitre’d makes table assignments. First you need to make sure you are linked on your booking to the other party, that way you will all be at the same table. Go check out your table sometime after boarding, say around 2 or 3.if you’re not happy with it, see if the Maitre’d or hostess is available to change it. They do their best to assign all in a group to the same table. You can link yourself or call Carnival to have it done. You will need everyone’s booking number.

 

[BlerkOne]

Assigned dining is just that - it is not show up when you feel like it. The wait staff has other tables to serve at the same time.

[Island Dog]

If there's any problems on the first night, go see the Maitre D'. Imo they are some of the friendlest and accommodating in their profession at sea. In fact, even when everything is perfect (usually is) I seek them out to interact with them because they are so pleasant and will make your day. 

 

I agree, late arrivals to set dining are annoying and completely disrespectful to staff imo. 5 or 10 minutes is one thing but 30-45 minutes is ridiculous. Just get anytime dining, already.

 

"Like school in the summer, no class"-Russell from Fat Albert

Edited October 24, 2022 by Island Dog

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

37 minutes ago, Bostwick girl said:

Multi size tables, up to round table for 12. Lots of booths and tables for 4, 6 and 8. The Maitre’d makes table assignments. First you need to make sure you are linked on your booking to the other party, that way you will all be at the same table. Go check out your table sometime after boarding, say around 2 or 3.if you’re not happy with it, see if the Maitre’d or hostess is available to change it. They do their best to assign all in a group to the same table. You can link yourself or call Carnival to have it done. You will need everyone’s booking number.

 

How do you link the dining yourself?

 

To answer the OPs questions:

 

1. You may be seated with other parties.  Of the 4 cruises we’ve sat with other people, 2 times it was a pleasure, and made the cruise better. The other two times it was neutral.  It didn’t add anything to the cruise, but didn’t hurt either.

 

2. They will wait for a bit for all to show to take orders, but you can ask to start if the other group(s) are late. It is polite to let the servers, and other table mates know, if you you plan to not be there on a certain night.

 

3. On embarkation day, you can ask to have a table of just your party. They will accommodate if space allows, but it may not be until the 2nd night.

[BarbieGee]

1 hour ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

How do you link the dining yourself?

 

To answer the OPs questions:

 

1. You may be seated with other parties.  Of the 4 cruises we’ve sat with other people, 2 times it was a pleasure, and made the cruise better. The other two times it was neutral.  It didn’t add anything to the cruise, but didn’t hurt either.

 

2. They will wait for a bit for all to show to take orders, but you can ask to start if the other group(s) are late. It is polite to let the servers, and other table mates know, if you you plan to not be there on a certain night.

 

3. On embarkation day, you can ask to have a table of just your party. They will accommodate if space allows, but it may not be until the 2nd night.

Thanks to all who answered. This was the information I needed.

Sitting with another group is OK but we will have a 'challenged' person with us and it might be better to have just family sitting at the table.

The other issue, waiting on a group that might delay ordering, gave me concern. I did not wish to have our servers or the service in general, delayed if plans for shows had been made. (this was a discussion on another posting) I was not sure that the servers would take one group's menu orders without the other group being at table.

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

16 minutes ago, BarbieGee said:

Thanks to all who answered. This was the information I needed.

Sitting with another group is OK but we will have a 'challenged' person with us and it might be better to have just family sitting at the table.

The other issue, waiting on a group that might delay ordering, gave me concern. I did not wish to have our servers or the service in general, delayed if plans for shows had been made. (this was a discussion on another posting) I was not sure that the servers would take one group's menu orders without the other group being at table.

If you let your servers know when you arrive (or better yet, the night before) that you are planning on going to a show at a particular time, they will make sure you have time to get to the show.  So that is something you should mention to them.

 

Regarding the person with special needs, you might want to email Carnival’s special needs department to discuss any particular concerns you may have.  They may also be able to guarantee you get a table just for your group, if that is what you want.

 

Their address is access@carnival.com