Dinner-does it have to be with strangers?

[*Kendra*]

I sure hope I'm not seated with some of you folks, though!

 

It's a vacation. Relax and be friendly. If you're going to be so reclusive and standoffish, I bet your tablemates won't have any more interest in talking to you than you do to them.

 

Sheesh. There are a couple of thousand people in a relatively small area for several days. Would it really hurt some of you to just try to relax and even try behaving in a way that you don't always behave? You know, try something new and different.

 

Like being pleasant to strangers?

 

 

How rude of you! Don't worry, I think all of us hope we would never have to sit with you either. Just because we prefer to sit with OUR FAMILIES and not people we do not know makes us rude and uptight? You are terribly mistaken.

[luvsbutv]

You can request a table for just the 3 of you. The past 3 cruises I have requested a table for just the 4 of us. We enjoy the family time with our teens. That's something we try to do at home as well.

[melligene]

Hi everyone! I'm going on my first cruise /Carnival Valor,Western Caribbean in July with my husband and 11 y old son.

 

I have a question about the dinner arrangements. Do they have tables for three or do you always have to sit in a larger group with perfect strangers? I'm not at all into making conversation with people I don't know. I'd much rather stick to the company of my own family and get to know other people when/if I wish to do so, not because I'm forced to sit next to them at dinner.

 

I know this may sound strange to many of you who are "naturally sociable", but I'm not built that way and a forced "did you have a nice day today"-type of conversation at dinner makes me feel extremely uncomfortable.

 

 

This is the reason we chose NCL for our first cruise. Not knocking Carnival but NCL's free style and not having to sit with others and make small talk was just not for us.

[Arwenmark]

I never see posts by people who prefer to sit with family criticizing those that want to sit with strangers. But look at all the ones criticizing our choice for OUR vacation to do it OUR way and sit with our own family. OBVIOUSLY not everyone cruises for the same reasons nor do we all enjoy the same things.

So all of you that insist we should meet others, mingle, make friends, open up, stop being uptight etc. etc. etc.

Think before you post, what makes YOU right and us wrong, what right to you have to dictate how we should spend our vacation or what we SHOULD enjoy.

[6rugrats]

I'm shy and don't like to meet strangers and I'm not a good "small-talk" person in the least.

 

Still, I absolutely LOVE traditional dining and I always request a large table. I travel with my daughter (now an adult), so there's absolutely no need to want to sit alone.

 

Meeting our fellow tablemates forces me to make small talk, but no one forces you to become "friends" with your tablemates.

 

Having to come out of my shell is actually a good experience, not something to dread. Acquiring the ability to make small talk is also a useful tool.

 

I sure hope I'm not seated with some of you folks, though!

 

It's a vacation. Relax and be friendly. If you're going to be so reclusive and standoffish, I bet your tablemates won't have any more interest in talking to you than you do to them.

 

Sheesh. There are a couple of thousand people in a relatively small area for several days. Would it really hurt some of you to just try to relax and even try behaving in a way that you don't always behave? You know, try something new and different.

 

Like being pleasant to strangers?

 

That's a pretty rude response.

 

Who are you to dictate how someone else should spend their vacation? Some of us are quite friendly and talk to people all day long. I have flown over 50,000 miles so far this year and visited five different countries by myself, so think I have tried a lot of new things and can make small talk with the best of them.

 

When I go on vacation with my husband, it's to get a break and spend time with just him; not make chit chat with strangers. If you enjoy sitting at a large table with strangers on your vacation, that's great - enjoy. It's not something I want to do. No one here has said they want to be unpleasant to strangers, but one poster is certainly being quite unpleasant in their response.

[Terrafreaky]

I understand completely. It is the main reason why I sail NCL.

[GORDONCHICK]

My family eats dinner together 6 out of 7 nights each week, so sitting at at table with others is fun for us. It doesn't matter if it's people we know or ones we've just met, it's interesting to hear what everyone did that day (especially on port days). My husband is not typically social, and can be found on sea days either in our cabin, the library or another quiet place reading while I'm off finding things to do and people to meet. But even he likes eating with strangers just for a change from our everyday routine at home. If your lives are too busy for family dinners at home, I can certainly understand why you would want to do this on your vacation.

 

But for those of you who hate the thought of having to eat with others, you might try NCL because of freestyle dining, Princess with anytime dining (just specify you want a table to yourselves) or one of the ships/lines who are experiementing with their own variation on freestyle. And if you book a line that has both traditional or freestyle, request freestyle.

[wanderer09]

I dont mind meeting and talking to people, But it can be awkward when you dont speak the same language. Once I was seated with a family from Norway and they didnt speak much english, so we smiled and nodded a lot. On my last cruise ,Feb 09, I was seated with a table full of catty Bi#ches, who didnt have much conversation, so I only ate at the table that one night.. Maybe i WAS SEATED next to you:confused:

[travelingran]

to each his own. i do not cruise to meet other people. it we happen to meet someone we enjoy, that is great.

 

there was a thread with stories (not good ones) about table mates. i saw it today but cannot find it again. wtih stories like theses, you might understand why we like a table to ourselves.

 

the thread was so funny, i would like to keep up with it. if anyone knows where to find it, please let me know.

[ATL2LAS]

I find this utterly funny. To have people actually argue over who to sit with to eat and who not to. Like the various cruiselines that offer open seating for dinner and those that have traditional seating, so are the people that cruise them. Family time at dinner is different to each of us and should be respected. Agree to disagree. Its your cruise. Its your family. Its your choice. Take it from someone that spent 5 years on an aircraft carrier with 5K other people. Sometimes you only want your family around :D

[AddictedtoFL]

We sat in a table for 8, although we prefer table for 4, because we don’t want our 3.5 and 5 yrs old to disturb the rest of the people in the table, but everything turn out fine, the other 4 guess was grandparents with twin grand kids from Detroit Area.

I still prefer sitting with people that I meet on the ship over Formal dinner night. (We skipped both formal nights), too much work just to eat and beside I am on vacation, packing suits with my shorts and T-shirt, swimwear, lotion and sandal doesn’t seem right :)

[nomo4iz]

Wow, I just have to weigh in on this one! We will be taking our first cruise in 2010 and I wondered about dinner seating arrangements as well.

 

Count me among the people who take a vacation to spend quality time with family, not to make small talk with strangers at a dinner table. How often would you go out to restaurants if you knew that every time you did, you would be seated with total strangers? Why should a cruise be different?

 

We like our peace and privacy, as do most I think. Whenever we meet new people on vacation, the inevitable question is "What do you do?" Well, the LAST thing we want to do is talk about work while we're on vacation! My husband has a incredibly stressful, demanding job for a major corporation, and if we can get away from that for seven whole days, it's a miracle. Normally he's in contact with the company 24/7.

 

After the exchange of information about workplace, there's another inevitablity -- he later receives an e-mail or call from someone who wants a job, knows someone who wants a job, or has something to sell my husband's company.

 

As I said, we prefer to spend our extremely limited vacation time enjoying each other's company rather than that of perfect strangers. I completely understand the original poster's feelings on this one.

[love2relax]

I have not sailed Carnival, but don't they have any kind of Personal choice or anytime dining? on NCL freestyle dining means you not only come whenever you want but also sit with whom you want if they is just your party fine.

 

If they don't offer that request the smallest table size an you would likely be seated alone if there are 3 of you. You can also speak to the Matre 'd once you are on board.

I have a link for the Open Dining policy on Carnival, and it will not be available until 2010 on the OP's ship, but here it is for anyone else who is interested: http://www.bookccl.com/irman/bookccl/sections/shipboard/DiningOnboard_master.html

 

As mentioned above, just check your assigned table as soon as you board, and if it's not the size you requested, see the MD at the hours listed in your Carnival Capers.

[erinmarie424]

We ate all our meals but one in the dining room, and sat with a total of 52 different people. I only told people what I do for a living one morning at breakfast when some of my delightful tablemates mentioned that they like to shop at the retail store that I work for. I only found out what one other person did for a living when she volunteered the information herself. We had the same eight tablemates for dinner every night and nobody brought up occupations even one time. There's lots of other stuff to talk about!

 

That being said, I can certainly understand families wanting to spend family time together - my parents felt the same when they took my brother and I on a cruise about 15 years ago. :)

[cruiserbryce]

I have seen table for 2 or 4 that can be requested but havent seen tables for three...since the party is of odd size you will likely end up with others...there arent many table for 4 and I would imagine they maximize the use of those to groups of 4 or 2 couples

[CruisnGram]

I sure hope I'm not seated with some of you folks, though!

 

It's a vacation. Relax and be friendly. If you're going to be so reclusive and standoffish, I bet your tablemates won't have any more interest in talking to you than you do to them.

 

Sheesh. There are a couple of thousand people in a relatively small area for several days. Would it really hurt some of you to just try to relax and even try behaving in a way that you don't always behave? You know, try something new and different.

 

Like being pleasant to strangers?

 

Perfect example of why I also prefer not to dine with strangers. :rolleyes:

 

CG

[Excited to go crusing]

Nor do I. I go on vacation to spend time with my husband and/or our family, not to make new friends at dinner or with the crew.

 

I don't find either side of this issue strange, it's just a personal choice.

& those of you who find all new people fun & interesting, I have news for you, Most of the new people I met are not interesting at all, just a bunch of blowhards. On our first cruise we had anytime dining & every night we sat with new folks, SOme were nice & we liked, others were absolute bores & downright rude. On our second cruise we also had anytime dining & everynight I'd go to the Maitre D & request a table for 2 only. Sometimes they were available right away, other times he gave us a pager so we went ot the bar & had a pre dinner cocktail. I'm not into forced small talk at all & did enough of it at the breakfast or bars. I prefer a table for me & DH its all we need. So we are all different & not all of us are fascinated with meeting new strangers ( friends) or whatever you want to call them. Enjoy your cruise any way you want.