how to get a good spot for dining??

[jbh7]

We"ll be sailing for the 1st time on Celebrity on the Infinity in July. The 1st time we sailed on RCCL and we did not have a great spot for our dinner table. We were right next to the staircase and it was very noisy and hard to have a nice conversation.

 

What are the helpful tips for getting a good spot for dining? should we go to the dining room and ask?? Thanks in advance for any helpful hints!! I love this web site!!!

[Travel Angel]

We"ll be sailing for the 1st time on Celebrity on the Infinity in July. The 1st time we sailed on RCCL and we did not have a great spot for our dinner table. We were right next to the staircase and it was very noisy and hard to have a nice conversation.

 

What are the helpful tips for getting a good spot for dining? should we go to the dining room and ask?? Thanks in advance for any helpful hints!! I love this web site!!!

 

When you board the ship, head to the dining room and find your table... if it does not satisfy you, there is usually the restaurant manager there you can speak with and see if it can be changed....their goal is to appease you, but sometimes a gratuity gesture of appreciation for assistance gets the problem solved a little quicker ! :D

[Napi's Mom]

Surely the most important thing about dining in the set table style of Celebrity, is your tablemates isn't it ??? Conversation etc.

[Travel Angel]

Surely the most important thing about dining in the set table style of Celebrity' date=' is your tablemates isn't it ??? Conversation etc.[/quote']

 

That is a good point i.e. tablemates, conversation, but the OP was concerned about the location of the table based on a past not so positive experience when sailing with Royal Caribbean.

I have had good table mates and not so good ones in my sailings... if it is really bad and we do not click just right w/our tablemates (happened one time due to language barriers), we just went to restaurant manager and explained the situation and they accommodated our request to be moved.

[jbh7]

Surely the most important thing about dining in the set table style of Celebrity' date=' is your tablemates isn't it ??? Conversation etc.[/quote']

 

 

My posting in no way had any complaints about our table mates. It had to do with the location of the table that made it extremely difficult to have conversations w/our table mates as it was very noisy being next to the staircase. All I was asking for was helpful hints on getting a better location.

[cruisePRN]

check your table location when you board and see if you like it. If you want to change the restaurant manager usually is there to accomodate people who have requests and no tip is necessary.

[auntdot]

Hi jbh7,

 

For our first sailing on Infinity to Alaska someone here was kind enough to post a floor plan (Constellation - but same plan on Infinity). We had our TA fax a request for an upper aft table overlooking the Captain's table (the best ones are Table 500 or Table 503) We were thrilled to find out when we boarded that we had Table 500 - table for 8 with fabulous views out the huge aft windows.

 

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2901464130084859432BEBpAq

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2690170420084859432tjBipp

 

Have a look at the plans and then have your TA fax the request for the specific table (and maybe a second choice!).

 

Good luck - and have a wonderful trip to Alaska! It's breathtaking!

 

Dot

[jbh7]

Thanks for the great information! I'll take a look at the plans you sent and drop a note to my TA...

 

Have a great weekend...

[Cote d'or]

Have a look at the plans and then have your TA fax the request for the specific table (and maybe a second choice!)

 

Be careful with this : they change the table numbers regularly, so it's possible your requested table number doesn't correspond with the restaurant floor plan.

[drumleggagh]

Is there any way of finding out the floor plans and your assigned table prior to arriving in the dining room the first evening of the cruise?

 

We are sailing on Mercury in January and right now our reservation is for a table of 6 but I have no idea what the seating plan of the Manhattan restaurant is like.

[d&a Delaware]

Is there any way of finding out the floor plans and your assigned table prior to arriving in the dining room the first evening of the cruise?

 

We are sailing on Mercury in January and right now our reservation is for a table of 6 but I have no idea what the seating plan of the Manhattan restaurant is like.

 

A card with your assigned table # should be waiting for you in your stateroom, along with other information, when you board. As part of exploring the ship, go to the dining room and find your table. Then, if you want to request another location, find the matre'd who should be close by.

 

David

[Napi's Mom]

My posting in no way had any complaints about our table mates. It had to do with the location of the table that made it extremely difficult to have conversations w/our table mates as it was very noisy being next to the staircase. All I was asking for was helpful hints on getting a better location.

Guess I was just making the point that no matter how you are placed in the dining room, without good tablemates...it would be a "bad table"??? I'm so used to the open dining of our last cruises, that It's hard to think of what a good table is...and the ships were small so all the tables were fairly similar! (1 floor only)

[madelinerose]

Napi's Mom....

 

You can have a two-top with your favorite tablemate that's a "bad table" in any restaurant, land or sea. Location, location, location.... ;)

 

 

Guess I was just making the point that no matter how you are placed in the dining room' date=' without good tablemates...it would be a "bad table"??? [/quote']

[flashdog_1]

Your idea of a good table may be "where you can people watch" or "where you can look out to sea" or any where inbetween. I just hope that if a pod of whales is sighted there will be an uproar and everyone will dash to a window if not already seated there!

[Dave&Robin]

We"ll be sailing for the 1st time on Celebrity on the Infinity in July. The 1st time we sailed on RCCL and we did not have a great spot for our dinner table. We were right next to the staircase and it was very noisy and hard to have a nice conversation.

 

What are the helpful tips for getting a good spot for dining? should we go to the dining room and ask?? Thanks in advance for any helpful hints!! I love this web site!!!

 

I understand exactly what the OP is saying, on our last cruise we were seated at a table for 8 with very nice an interesting tablemate. Unfortunately, our table was located on the lower level in the middle at the foot of the stairs. It was a very loud area and I have difficulty hearing when there is alot of background noise. It made carrying on conversation very difficult.

 

When I booked our next cruise I mentioned the problem to the customer service rep and she said she would put a note on our reservation to locate us in a quieter area of the dining room. I have no idea if this will actually happen, but I'm not going to worry about, as others have suggested we'll just check out our table on the first day :)

 

Robin

[jbh7]

Robin,

 

That is the exact spot I am talking about! It was so noisy next to the stairs and with a round table, it was very hard to talk to the other people at the table. I felt like I was yelling to the others at the table the entire time.

 

I'll send DH to the dining room after we get on board to check the table location.

 

Thanks to everyone for your advice!

[wrk2cruise]

The restaurant manager is generally in the Rendezvous lounge the afternoon of embarkation. They will be in the corner with a podium with a computer. They can show you a map of the dining room and entertain any requests for changes.

[peanutter]

The restaurant manager is generally in the Rendezvous lounge the afternoon of embarkation. They will be in the corner with a podium with a computer. They can show you a map of the dining room and entertain any requests for changes.

 

Thanks you for clarifying this. On our last cruise, we went to the dining room to check to see where our table was as we had read on here to do, but the doors were locked - no one around. So, we thought surely we would have what we requested and didn't worry much about it. Of course, when we did go to dinner we were at a table for six instead of the requested table for two. Not a huge deal as we did have nice tablemates!

[johndmoser]

Surely the most important thing about dining in the set table style of Celebrity' date=' is your tablemates isn't it ??? Conversation etc.[/quote']

 

We recently returned from an Alaskan cruise on the Infinity with a disappointing story about tablemates.

 

My wife and I were assigned to a table for 8 for the main seating. Our tablemate group was one very nice family of 5. Unfortuneately, they decided that 6:00PM was too early for dinner, so they opted for alternative dining for the remainder of the cruise, leaving the two of us alone at a large table.

 

(We asked and were moved to another table with great folks.)

[JohannaM]

We recently returned from an Alaskan cruise on the Infinity with a disappointing story about tablemates.

 

My wife and I were assigned to a table for 8 for the main seating. Our tablemate group was one very nice family of 5. Unfortuneately, they decided that 6:00PM was too early for dinner, so they opted for alternative dining for the remainder of the cruise, leaving the two of us alone at a large table.

 

(We asked and were moved to another table with great folks.)

 

I'm actually wondering if this might happen with us on our upcoming trip. We're booked for the 6:00 seating as we'll have our 20 month old son with us. He is normally a wonderfully behaved child (no, really, not just parent's bias *grin*) however we need to acknowledge that hanging out in the dining room might not be best for him, and we might need to do the more casual dining instead to work with him, thereby leaving our table mates stuck. I don't think it's going to be an issue - we'll try it out, but I certainly don't want to be one of those ignorant people who brings their fussy child to dinner every night if he's unhappy sitting through a longer meal. We'll see how it works out!

 

(I did ponder moving to the late seating and just getting a sitter each night, but I don't think so, we're bringing our DS because we want to be with him!)

[johnjen]

This is a great question about dining; thanks OP.

 

On our Explorer cruise in '06, we took the kids along and got stuck at a table with elderly folk who spoke about their bowel movements, politics, and complained constantly about the sunlight coming through the rear windows, the food being cold (when it was absolutely fine), etc....

 

I wonder if there's a way to ask if we could be seated with families like ourselves with teens?

[hajekfam]

Celebrity usually does their best to seat families with other families. Out of all our Celebrity cruises, we have only had so-so tablemates 2 times- never had any bad ones.

[clammy]

Is Celebrity the same as RC, when you go to ask for a change of table, there is always a long line, usually with the response of the staff that no changes are available?

[d&a Delaware]

Is Celebrity the same as RC, when you go to ask for a change of table, there is always a long line, usually with the response of the staff that no changes are available?

 

Not our experience on Millennium. We found the maitre'd in the Rendezvous Lounge with some other staff, found our table location with the help of Boni who turned out to be our waiter. Was very reassuring, great table & great waiter, no line or delay in gettng this information.

 

David