Solo dining on Mervaglia--main restaurant

[lumpkin8]

I will be solo on my first MSC cruise in mid-September.  On all other lines, I have not had any problems getting seated at a table alone for all meals.  (I do not want to talk to others during mealtimes...I just want to read!)

 

I asked the customer service rep at MSC today this question and she said she did not see any single tables in the dining rooms.  But I figured some experienced MSC cruisers might have a better sense of whether a "table for 1" was possible for every meal in the main dining room.

 

Thanks.

[DorothyB]

2 minutes ago, lumpkin8 said:

I will be solo on my first MSC cruise in mid-September.  On all other lines, I have not had any problems getting seated at a table alone for all meals.  (I do not want to talk to others during mealtimes...I just want to read!)

 

Thanks.

I am the same way!  I thought I was the only one 🙂  I have a related question - I will be doing the Aurea experience on the Seascape.  I understand they have a dedicated dining room for Aurea guests at dinner.  Will I be able to sit solo and enjoy my book?

 

Thanks!

[JamieLogical]

If you are Bella or Fantastica, you are unlikely to be seated alone. They will try to sear you with other solo cruisers who speak the same primary language as you, but there is no guarantee. You can try to ask to have your table changed up on boarding, but I would not hold my breath. There are VERY few two-top tables in the MDRs and many couples will request those. It seems highly unlikely they would "waste" one on a solo cruisers.

 

If you are Aurea, you should have no trouble getting a table to yourself.

[Essiesmom]

But even if you are Aurea, you may have a table in a long row of two tops a few inches from each other.  This was Aurea on Seaside:

 

[DorothyB]

I'm ok being inches away as long as I am not expected to visit, but can enjoy my book 🙂

[JT1962]

As others said, they usually seat solos together at a large table. I would go to and find the maitre d as soon as you can and request a solo table, They are sometimes set up in a public area near guest services on boarding day.  You will have a better chance if you are flexible with your preferred dining time.

[Fissues]

If you are Aurea, on Meraviglia, there’s plenty of two tops that are not squashed together. Worth the upgrade. 

[lumpkin8]

I am not Aurea. I booked a guaranteed inside and luckily got upgraded to a balcony!  So I guess I will just be eating in the buffet for all meals.

 

I assume the buffet does not require sharing tables????

[JamieLogical]

13 minutes ago, lumpkin8 said:

I am not Aurea. I booked a guaranteed inside and luckily got upgraded to a balcony!  So I guess I will just be eating in the buffet for all meals.

 

I assume the buffet does not require sharing tables????

 

The buffet definitely does not require sharing tables, but it can definitely be crowded at times. I think it is at least worth a try asking the maire d upon boarding to see if you can get lucky.

[jaxdog315]

I was on the Jan 15h sailing of the Meraviglia this year.  I went right to Waves dining room to check out my table.  Not surprisingly, I was assigned a group table.  I asked the Maitre de and asked for a solo table and experienced the only bas attitude I received from any crew member during the entire sailing was reluctantly reassigned to a solo table.  Well, probably it would be no stretch to say the tables were literally 6" or less apart.  Wow, worse than the old Carnegie Deli in NYC in terms of space between tables.  Perhaps it's a requirement due to the limited space available on any cruise ship?  Next time I will stick with the solo group table.

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, jaxdog315 said:

I was on the Jan 15h sailing of the Meraviglia this year.  I went right to Waves dining room to check out my table.  Not surprisingly, I was assigned a group table.  I asked the Maitre de and asked for a solo table and experienced the only bas attitude I received from any crew member during the entire sailing was reluctantly reassigned to a solo table.  Well, probably it would be no stretch to say the tables were literally 6" or less apart.  Wow, worse than the old Carnegie Deli in NYC in terms of space between tables.  Perhaps it's a requirement due to the limited space available on any cruise ship?  Next time I will stick with the solo group table.

 

Yeah, here are some photos I took of the space between two-tops in Waves on one of my Meraviglia sailings:

 

 

[tony s]

There is more space between seats on the Staten Island Ferry than those tables.

[lumpkin8]

Thanks for those photos.  This is actually similar to many tables in NYC restaurants so it would not really bother me that much.  Because it is definitely established that it is a separate 2 top table, then it would absolutely be appropriate for me to read at my table and not be expected to talk with the people on either side of me.

 

So I will go to the dining room and try this.

 

Thanks again.

[MsTabbyKats]

Just a general comment....

 

When we eat in the dining room, and have a "table for 2"...we generally make small introductory talk with the table next to us.  I'm not a super social person, but I find that not having minimal conversation is awkward.  And if the person at the next table was alone, I would assume that the person would be happy to say hello and tell me where he's from.  What I'm saying is that you still may get unwanted conversation.

 

BTW,,,,I live in Manhattan.  Those tables on the ship are much closer than any restaurant I've seen here (except for the Blue Dog on West 50th St).

[lumpkin8]

Interesting...I'm fine with a nod and a "hello".  That certainly works for me.  I just don't want to be considered rude for taking my book out and reading.

[ba5eline]

A hello is enough! I wouldn't want/expect it to go beyond that out of privacy/courtesy and find it actually rather-close-to-annoying if it did become an all-dinner convo with a new forced BFF😕

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, lumpkin8 said:

Interesting...I'm fine with a nod and a "hello".  That certainly works for me.  I just don't want to be considered rude for taking my book out and reading.

 

Absolutely, I don't think anyone would consider you rude for reading at your table, even if you are right on top of each other.

[BoundForSea]

When we went on Mera my mom and I we were Fantastica and after Jamie was so great to post those pics and knowing my mom isn't as social as I, I decided to purchase the specialty dining package. It was 5 nights I think. It was perfect and was the answer for our situation and maybe yours. The price is outstanding compared to like NCL and Celebrity for 5ni of specialty dining added. Anyway maybe this helps someone. 

[KarenGretz]

I cruised solo on this ship in April of 2023. The first few nights I went to my assign table at the MDR. There were other solos assigned to that table. The first night it was just me and another gentleman and we had a fun conversation. The second night more solos joined and the conversation was either talk of terrible politics or questioning why as a female I would feel comfortable traveling solo? (sexist much?) So after that unpleasant experience, I decided that I wanted to go to the "makeup dining". You would just show up at a different MDR dining room and tell them you missed your dining time and asked to be sat. Most of the time I was sat at those really close together two tops. I would say hello to my close neighbor and then pull out my book. 80% of the time the fellow diners would respect the fact that I wanted to just read. However you would get the Chatty Cathy that would continue to talk to you, because they have no context clues. So yes you can make the MDR work for you, just try to go to the makeup dining time.

[Alynna715]

We were in Yacht Club on the Meraviglia in March and there were solo travelers who always ate alone. There were also people eating solo for breakfast and lunch who just chose to sit alone because their partner wasn't eating at that time. 

[JamieLogical]

27 minutes ago, Alynna715 said:

We were in Yacht Club on the Meraviglia in March and there were solo travelers who always ate alone. There were also people eating solo for breakfast and lunch who just chose to sit alone because their partner wasn't eating at that time. 

 

Not exceptionally helpful to the OP who is clearly not in the Yacht Club....

[dbrown84]

You may get lucky.  I cruises solo in June, bella, and was assigned a 2 top.  I didn't ask for it.  My issue was it was the 9:30 seating.  I actually never saw my neighbors.  I only ate there twice, given the late time, and they were not there either time.

[lumpkin8]

Yep, I am not in YC, and I would not even attempt to sit at a larger table and try conversing with strangers while eating.  I talk to strangers at almost all other times; just not while eating!  I also cannot afford the upcharge for the specialty restaurants, although that would be a good choice otherwise!

[kad56]

On 8/16/2024 at 7:21 PM, KarenGretz said:

I cruised solo on this ship in April of 2023. The first few nights I went to my assign table at the MDR. There were other solos assigned to that table. The first night it was just me and another gentleman and we had a fun conversation. The second night more solos joined and the conversation was either talk of terrible politics or questioning why as a female I would feel comfortable traveling solo? (sexist much?) So after that unpleasant experience, I decided that I wanted to go to the "makeup dining". You would just show up at a different MDR dining room and tell them you missed your dining time and asked to be sat. Most of the time I was sat at those really close together two tops. I would say hello to my close neighbor and then pull out my book. 80% of the time the fellow diners would respect the fact that I wanted to just read. However you would get the Chatty Cathy that would continue to talk to you, because they have no context clues. So yes you can make the MDR work for you, just try to go to the makeup dining time.

 

This sounds brilliant. What time would you show up? Like 5 min after your seating? I had a similar experience where I didn't love my table on my last sailing.

[KarenGretz]

3 hours ago, kad56 said:

 

This sounds brilliant. What time would you show up? Like 5 min after your seating? I had a similar experience where I didn't love my table on my last sailing.

No, I they do dining in 15min time slots. So you'd need to go to a totally different time slot. So if you were the 515 dining in 1 particular dining room, you could you'd have to gor to a different dining room at the 730....