Dining in the MDR

[Darlee50]

I have a question. In November my family and I would be taking a family cruise. There will be 25 of us. The thing is that they only prefer to dine in the MDR on the first and last day while I prefer to dine in there every day. Would I be able to do anytime dining and join them because I would not want a huge table space to be held just for me and I do not like eating with strangers without someone I know there. We will be on the Carnival Breeze if that helps. 

[Elaine5715]

40 minutes ago, Darlee50 said:

I have a question. In November my family and I would be taking a family cruise. There will be 25 of us. The thing is that they only prefer to dine in the MDR on the first and last day while I prefer to dine in there every day. Would I be able to do anytime dining and join them because I would not want a huge table space to be held just for me and I do not like eating with strangers without someone I know there. We will be on the Carnival Breeze if that helps. 

Everyone needs to be on Assigned or Anytime, you can't bounce back and forth.  

[Cruising_Addict]

If they know for a fact that they are not going to eat in the MDR every night then choosing Your Time Dining (what Carnival calls it), would be the best option for all of you.  

[sparks1093]

Sounds like Your Time Dining is the best option. Not sure how it would work with 25 of you.

[Joebucks]

That sounds absolutely awful. Good luck getting 25 people to commit to a time, and then waiting for a table that large. That'll probably eat up at least an hour each night. 

[sanmarcosman]

18 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

That sounds absolutely awful. Good luck getting 25 people to commit to a time, and then waiting for a table that large. That'll probably eat up at least an hour each night. 

There are no tables for 25.

[jsglow]

The only 'cheat' I can think of is if you individually choose ATD and allow the other 23 or whatever choose Fixed. Then on those 2 nights when the whole group gathers, two of the Fixed opt out and you quietly 'borrow' their seats. Note that I did NOT SAY show up with a number greater that the assigned seats your group actually has.

 

Here's the thing. Big family groups need to be able to compromise. Forcing everyone in a group that large into a strict family routine can be counter productive. If I were in your shoes I'd simply book ATD and let them know you're going to meet them afterwards on those 2 evenings.

[Darlee50]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I guess I would just have to keep my anytime dining and meet up with them after like jsglow said. 

[lazydayz]

While the rules have been well explained here, it would not hurt to ask the Maitre D if you could join them on those two nights.  Sometimes fixed dining is not even close to full, and they may be able to accommodate you.  

[ray98]

If everyone does YTD and the reservations are linked you will have the opportunity to select who is dining with you when you check-in.  Obviously you won't be able to check-in all 25 but it could be split up with just 3 or 4 people checking in the entire group.