Meal times & tables

[Eddy2007]

Hi, my wife and I are booked onto MSC Virtuosa end of June and requested an early meal time, I think the options were 5:30pm or 8:30pm. (Booked through an online agent). I’ve recently seen a review where the person said they had to request a table for 2 and get their meal time changed on board. Does anyone know how this all works? I would like to think we would automatically be seated on a table for 2 as there are 2 of us on the booking? TIA.

Edited May 1 by Eddy2007
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[Essiesmom]

What experience did you book?  Bella and Fantastica have fixed assigned dining, usually at large tables.  Bella has no choice in time.  Fantastica can request early or late but it is not guaranteed.  Aurea has any time dining.  You will not find out your dining time until you check in on the ship.  It is on your cruise card.  There will be a place listed in the welcome sheet where you can go and request a time or seating change if you need to.  Some of the ships have two early seatings (5:15, 7:30) and a late seating, around 9pm.  EM

[showingdiva]

You will not automatically be seated at a table for 2 because that is how many of you there are.  You may be on a 4, 6 or 8.   If just the two of you dining is important to you for whatever reason, you will need to speak to the Maitre d' / restaurant manager, who will likely do their best to try to accommodate you if you aren't already on a table for just the two of you.

 

Your initial table number and restaurant name, as Essiesmom has said above, will be on your cruise card at embarkation.

[Eddy2007]

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

[cruiser man 60]

You definitely won’t be automatically put on table for 2. You can ask & if they can they will try to accommodate you but it may not be at sitting you want.

Also a table for 2 is likely to be only a few inches away from other tables as they just split larger tables down so you will be very close to others anyway.

on larger tables you would be with same nationalities 

[JamieLogical]

Sharing tables are the norm on MSC. The good news is, they do their best to seat you with people who have the same primary language as you. The bad news is, that doesn't always work, depending on the demographics of the guests. On my last cruise, we were seated with a couple where the husband spoke English okay-ish and his wife only spoke Greek. We made it work and still had plenty of pleasant conversations with them!

 

As others have said, even if you get a two-top, expect to have others seated about 4 inches away from you.

 

 

 

Those photos are from the Waves MDR on the Meraviglia.

 

Edited May 2 by JamieLogical

[Beamafar]

One of my bugbears with MSC is that they will seat us with other Irish passengers.  When we travel, we would prefer to meet people from other places - that’s the reason for travelling abroad in the first place.

 

Slightly off-topic:  On one particular repo (from Brazil) we were seated at a 6-top with 4 others from Australia (one couple and 2 sisters).  We were the first to arrive at the table on the first night, followed by the couple.  While we waited for our other table mates, the wife remarked  “I hope the other couple speak Australian”.
 🙈

 

 

Edited May 2 by Beamafar

[Best Cat Mom]

A two-top has the added advantage of dining on your time and not have others affect your timing. When we dined in an MDR on our first cruise, this is exactly why we chose NCL -- so we could dine alone and take our normal 2 hours.

[tofubeast]

If booked Fantastic and you've requested Early Seating....

 

And Early Seating has two times... Can you request in advance on your booking notes which of those two times you would prefer within the Early Seating window or do you have to wait as soon as you get on board?

[JamieLogical]

5 minutes ago, tofubeast said:

If booked Fantastic and you've requested Early Seating....

 

And Early Seating has two times... Can you request in advance on your booking notes which of those two times you would prefer within the Early Seating window or do you have to wait as soon as you get on board?

 

No, you can only specify "early" or "late", not any of the specific seating times within those windows. If you don't get your preferred time, you will have to make a visit to the maitre d on embarkation day.

[Eddy2007]

Does anyone know if the food is going to be better/different in the MDR than the buffet? Any difference other than the buffet having more people/busier?

[JamieLogical]

12 minutes ago, Eddy2007 said:

Does anyone know if the food is going to be better/different in the MDR than the buffet? Any difference other than the buffet having more people/busier?

 

In my experience, the food is much better in the MDR, but that is really subjective, depending on the kinds of food you like. Certainly there will be more complex/fancier options in the MDR.

[morpheusofthesea]

2 hours ago, Eddy2007 said:

Does anyone know if the food is going to be better/different in the MDR than the buffet? Any difference other than the buffet having more people/busier?

It all comes from the same kitchen.

P.S. The buffet is all one can eat. The MDR is $5 for each additional entree (from what has been reported).

Edited May 3 by morpheusofthesea
P.S.

[showingdiva]

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

The MDR is $5 for each additional entree (from what has been reported).

 

I believe this only applies to US based ships currently.   Certainly doesn't apply to Virtuosa / Euribia.