Dining Companions

[cthockeymom4]

Is there a special way your dining companions are chosen? Are you matched up by ages, family, couples, singles? Just curious.

[captain bob]

generally by age I believe

[dougp26364]

generally by age I believe

 

 

If that's true then RCI can't do math. We've been seated with newlyweds to folks that could have been hanging out in the departure lounge of life. I don't think age, or anything for that matter, is a factor. We've been seated with all sorts of people. Different nationalities, different cabin types, different age groups et...... I really think it's just luck of the draw.

[HorrorFan]

We cruise with our two children, and we have always (on our two cruises) been seated with another family with children. Not necessarily the same ages though.

On our first cruise we were seated with grandparents who were cruising with their granddaughters, later teens and our children were 8 and 12.

On our last cruise, we were seated with a single Mom and her two boys who were similar in age to our children.

EDIT: I know that doesn't exactly answer your question, but I think it lends credence to the thoery that the seating is not completely random.

[Gonzo70]

There seems to be some method behind it, but as with everything there are exceptions as well. On my three Royal cruises I have always been matched with other couples (no children), always with people who speak English, and usually with people within 10 years of my age.

[jmraggs]

There seems to be some method behind it, but as with everything there are exceptions as well. On my three Royal cruises I have always been matched with other couples (no children), always with people who speak English, and usually with people within 10 years of my age.

 

I tend to agree and we we have experienced some exceptions. We are two males (40's) who travel together and 95% of the time we are placed with other people around our same age and usually with an entire family :( (parents are our age range) . Not meaning anything bad about that statement, but it makes us feel that we're intruding on their dining since it's an entire family and their mostly talking with one another.

 

The worst exception we experienced was being placed with a Brazilian family of six and no one spoke English!:confused: In fact, the ship didn't even have any dinner menus prepared for them, so they didn't even know what to order. We had an experience trying to communicate with them through gestures.

 

Young or old, we always enjoyed our tablemates.

 

... We are taking your same Jewel cruise in April of next year, save some food for us!

[cb at sea]

We've been seated with some young, single cruisers, and some much older folks--and I have to say, the older couple has been, by far, our favorite! The older you get, the more "practice" at having fun you've had--and this couple was a hoot! We had the best time with them!

I think tablemates really make a cruise special. I mean, I love my hubby, but we get more than enough "alone" time--and we enjoy talking to new people and hearing about their day, and their plans for the next day! We really look forward to dinner with our new "friends"!

[icruiz2]

We have never been seated with children, however the adult age range has been all over the map. Some couples, some not. I have always thought it was random and the fact that we choose late seating may be why there have never been children at our table.

[Hobiecat01]

The worst exception we experienced was being placed with a Brazilian family of six and no one spoke English!:confused: In fact, the ship didn't even have any dinner menus prepared for them, so they didn't even know what to order. We had an experience trying to comunicate with them through gestures.

 

We just had the same experience on the Liberty OTS in July '08. We were seated with a family of six from Mexico City that spoke no English. We were even given Spanish menus and our waiter was astonished that we were English speaking. Well, my tres anos de Espanol from 35 years ago got a heavy workout that night. DW who speaks no Spanish all was not too happy as she views the cruise dinner table as a highlight to meet and talk with new people. (We have a huge list of cruisemates we still talk with after as many as 15 years.)

 

I know RCL does match people up by age, at least they ask, and my TA always puts us down one age group younger (we are 54 & 55). Up to the Liberty we had a few strange folks, but all in all we have had wonderful tablemates. At least they all spoke some English. One on the Navigator OTS was Finish and was a subcontractor building the ship! He had great shipbuilding stories.

[SherriZ366]

We just had the same experience on the Liberty OTS in July '08. We were seated with a family of six from Mexico City that spoke no English. We were even given Spanish menus and our waiter was astonished that we were English speaking. Well, my tres anos de Espanol from 35 years ago got a heavy workout that night. DW who speaks no Spanish all was not too happy as she views the cruise dinner table as a highlight to meet and talk with new people. (We have a huge list of cruisemates we still talk with after as many as 15 years.)

 

I know RCL does match people up by age, at least they ask, and my TA always puts us down one age group younger (we are 54 & 55). Up to the Liberty we had a few strange folks, but all in all we have had wonderful tablemates. At least they all spoke some English. One on the Navigator OTS was Finish and was a subcontractor building the ship! He had great shipbuilding stories.

I'm sure the Spanish speakers were lovely people but why did you not ask to be moved to an English speaking table?

I would have loved to have been seated with the Finish subcontractor and heard about the ship being built!!!!

[CruisinWithMySweetie]

I think age plays a big part. Both cruises I have been on we were seated with young couples, which matches my age group. Actually the first cruise, the honeymooner couple was staying in the stateroom next to ours...weird coincidence.

[PattyG12]

We've been lucky for the most part. HOWEVER, we were once seated with a couple that spoke no english and their 2 young boys. All during the dinner, their boys were crawling around on the floor and grabbing our ankles. It was such a nightmare that we had to ask to change tables. The parents never once said anything to their children about climbing on our ankles!! Looking back, it was pretty funny. Not so at that dinner.

[financialgrl]

I asked to be seated at a large table. I went with two older teens - 17 y/os. We were seated at a table with a family of 3. Perhaps I was in the same general area agewise of the couple (50s) but they had a 6 y/o brat that was horrible all 5 nights. He was an only child of older parents and he was spoiled rotten. Snapping fingers to get waiters attention, sending multiple plates of food back. After multiple plates in front of him he would most nights not eat nothing and they said they'd just take him for a hamburger later. A larger table of 8 or so would have meant more diversity and not have to sit and watch idiotic parents who sat there and allowed and sometimes encouraged their child to run the poor waiters ragged. They hated everything about RCI and said they were going back to their favorite cruiseline - too bad they hadn't done so before we got "stuck" with them. Not only that, the last night the guy told me he shortchanged the waiters in their tips because he didn't feel they got good enough service.

[vickiw0318]

On several cruises, we've been seated with couples who were our C&A level and who'd booked cabins that we in fairly close proximity to us. Guess they figured we'd have a love of cruising/travel between us.

[cb at sea]

Nope--it's not by age! We've had a varied bunch of tablemates! And really, who cares what age anyone is? While I wouldn't want to be seated with young children (and I never have!), young adults and older folks are ALL fun!

Most of the time, your tablemates will be fine, and it will add to your cruise experience. On the off chance that you don't get along, just ask to be moved. It's not that big of a deal.

Tablemates can really make your cruise special! And keep your fingers crossed that they have a better cabin than you--you can ask to look at it! Always a bonus! Enjoy!

[SherriZ366]

I asked to be seated at a large table. I went with two older teens - 17 y/os. We were seated at a table with a family of 3. Perhaps I was in the same general area agewise of the couple (50s) but they had a 6 y/o brat that was horrible all 5 nights. He was an only child of older parents and he was spoiled rotten. Snapping fingers to get waiters attention, sending multiple plates of food back. After multiple plates in front of him he would most nights not eat nothing and they said they'd just take him for a hamburger later. A larger table of 8 or so would have meant more diversity and not have to sit and watch idiotic parents who sat there and allowed and sometimes encouraged their child to run the poor waiters ragged. They hated everything about RCI and said they were going back to their favorite cruiseline - too bad they hadn't done so before we got "stuck" with them. Not only that, the last night the guy told me he shortchanged the waiters in their tips because he didn't feel they got good enough service.

With a brat like that and his parents who created him, I would have changed tables after the first night.

[rclcruzer]

The first few we were just our family of 5......the last couple of cruises have been a family with one young child, from our same state that was nice....

and then a family of 4 with two very small kids. Not too bad so far :p

I have to say though, the adults have always been our age, it's the kids that have been quite a bit younger than ours...no prob though at all.

[satxdiver]

It sounds like a real hodge podge type of seating arrangements. We have always (at least so far) sit at tables with people somewhat close to our age. We have never had to share a table with children. Children are great. We had two boys who now are men with their own families. We just do not want to share a table with them now. It is part of getting older I suppose. We would have been okay with the Spanish speakers as DW knows Spanish and I know a little. Portugese would have been another story. Diversity though is the spice of life and we would enjoy meeting someone else from another part of the world.

[RoyalCruiser2007]

On my first RCI cruise, my girlfriend and I got seated at a large table with couples our age (early 20's). One more slightly older couple ended up at the table but disappeared after the first night. One of the couples was from the same city as us.

 

On our second cruise we got seated with two other couples from our state, somewhat close in age.

 

On our third cruise (Mediterreanean) we got seated with three other couples from the US. Two were extremely close in age. One was a few years older but young enough. This was our best table ever!!!

 

On our fourth cruise we got seated alone (against our wishes).

 

On my next cruise in December I have requested to be seated next to Hugh Hefner and his "bunnies." This way we'll have a mix of young and old. :D

[mompolo]

How many ppl are seated at a table?? I assume it's either 8 or 10 - like at a wedding.

 

Thanks - we are sailing with another couple - and hope to meet a few new friends at dinner.

[Hobiecat01]

I'm sure the Spanish speakers were lovely people but why did you not ask to be moved to an English speaking table?

I would have loved to have been seated with the Finish subcontractor and heard about the ship being built!!!!

 

THAT was the funny part. We felt horrible ( the family was sooo nice) but we did ask to be moved. We were moved to a six person table with one couple that never showed up and a French only speaking couple! What a cruise! We ended up the only couple at the table the third night and hit Portofinios and Chops the next nights. When we returned we were the only couple for the remaining time.

[Chimpy Boudreaux]

I'd say it's pretty much a crapshoot. I had one cruise at a large table where all our tablemates were fun and laid back. On the second one, we had an older couple from NJ and a young couple from Mexico. The people were all nice but on the second night the older couple said something insensitive about Mexico and their people and that sent the young Mexican lady running from the dining room crying.

 

My wife and I just looked at each other and thought....Oh Brother, here we go! :rolleyes:

 

Needless to say things were a little awkward at dinner after that.

[RoofingPrincess]

How many ppl are seated at a table?? I assume it's either 8 or 10 - like at a wedding.

 

Thanks - we are sailing with another couple - and hope to meet a few new friends at dinner.

There are different table sizes - I've been at tables for 6 or 8, but have seen tables for 2 and 4 and bigger tables that must've seated 10 or 12.

[PudgiPoo]

We have had a mixed bag with table mates. A bit of this and that. We do opt for a small table. I wish I knew how RC selected who sits with who. Very few times have we had anything in common with our table mates. Only one couple from Texas on ten cruises, and we cruised out of Galveston on most of them. It really doesn't much matter, we always find some common ground and enjoy our dining and table mates. :D The formal dining on a cruise ship is a unique experience and needs to be enjoyed by all. If you need to change tables for you own comfort and enjoyment, I say do it at once.

[luvscruising2007]

On both of our RCL cruises we were seated at larger tables. The first was a table for 10. There was one young couple, not honeymooners but close. There were three other couples mid fourties to mid fifties. And us. We are early sixties and mid seventies. Our last cruise we had a very diverse table. Honeymooners from Dubai, middle aged from UK and retired from USA

Both tables were wonderful and we really enjoyed our evenings.