Do they still do hosted dinners?

Hello, Nan and Ted here from San Diego county. We have only sailed on the triplets and now I want to book a 14 day cruise for next year. We loved the triplets and made many friends. We especially enjoyed the hosted tables at dinner. My question is are they still doing the hosted dinners on the larger ships?

We certainly hope so as that was a big part of why we enjoyed Seabourn.

Yes, but worth mention it in the MDR if you enjoy them

Yes there are plenty of hosted tables at dinner

Tell guest services in Seabourn square that you would like to be invited to hosted tables and you will get plenty of offers I'm sure.

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I was on the Ovation May 26 - June 9, 2018. I am a solo traveler and I received an invitation to a hosted table every evening. I always accepted. Each night was a different grouping at the table, some solo travelers, some couples. All of us were from the USA, Australia, or the UK.

As a solo cruiser, I've very much enjoyed the hosted tables on my two previous Seabourn adventures. There was usually a congenial passenger mix, and I liked the chance to visit with a variety of hosts, from guest entertainers to cruise directors to ship officers. Keep 'em coming!

The reason my husband and I seldom do them is because you cannot sit next to your spouse and sometimes you are stuck next to a person who does not speak English.

I have to admit that we do not often accept them, but personally think that not sitting next to your spouse is an advantage, and I have never yet been on a table where everyone did not speak at least enough English to have a conversation with (luckily!) And it usually people whose first language is English. It is also nice that they mix up couples and singles on invited tables.

The reason my husband and I seldom do them is because you cannot sit next to your spouse and sometimes you are stuck next to a person who does not speak English.

I rarely sit next to my husband when we dine with a group on Seabourn or any other venue. It's much more interesting to have new people with whom to converse. I have found that the hosted table groupings are always lively and interesting. Language has never been a problem.

In any formal dinner party guests are rarely if ever seated next to their partner. I love it. I can talk to her anytime. It also gives us something to talk about after dinner

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Here is a different question: we are traveling with another couple. Does anyone ever do a hosted table with another couple they know? The ones we have been to - when traveling as a twosome - were great, but usually tables for 7 or eight.

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I always prefer to not sit next to my spouse.

Thank you everyone for all your great responses. I have just booked a cruise on Odyssey for next year. My husband and I can hardly wait to get on a Seabourn ship again.

Here is a different question: we are traveling with another couple. Does anyone ever do a hosted table with another couple they know? The ones we have been to - when traveling as a twosome - were great, but usually tables for 7 or eight.

 

 

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We have done cruises with another couple and to the best of my recollection,they almost always included the four of us in the invitation and never seated any of us next to each other.

That's odd, not being seated next to your partner. Doing our first Seabourn cruise in little more than two weeks, so quite excited. But in all the luxury cruises I've done, I've never had the waiter offer to seat us separately. Not a bad idea, if it was done universally, but would be awkward otherwise.

You should always sit apart from your partner at a dinner party,it does make for a good evening if the two guests next to you are fun.

Of course occasionally you come across a dud.

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That's odd, not being seated next to your partner. Doing our first Seabourn cruise in little more than two weeks, so quite excited. But in all the luxury cruises I've done, I've never had the waiter offer to seat us separately. Not a bad idea, if it was done universally, but would be awkward otherwise.

The hosted tables usually have a pre-planned seating arrangement, ie there will be a card with your name on it at your assigned place at table. It's handled like a formal dinner in that respect. We've never been seated together, which is the norm for such dinners. and for the majority of dinners that's worked very well. Only on one occasion did a couple insist at yelling their opinion about the food at one another across the table. :rolleyes:

We've met many charming and interesting people at hosted tables. I even had a professional "medium" (a passenger; not a performer) sit across from me. Needless to say, I tried to suppress most thoughts in the fear she would be reading them....I talked as much and as quickly as I rarely ever do. It was fun!

We have also enjoyed hosted tables almost and always find the conversation interesting. I find that I often have to be the conversation starter. Always appreciate it when someone else does that and includes everyone instead of just being a big personality and sucking the air out of the room. I'm laughing here remembering one particular gentleman from last September. No one could get a word in edgewise. We were seated with the assistant CD.

I have found that sometimes these hosted dinners last longer than just dining with another couple or by ourselves. NOT a bad thing mind you, unless you are trying to get to a show at a particular time.

On our last cruise, we received a phone call most days asking if we would like to be seated at a hosted table. On a 21 day cruise, we could only take them up on it twice as we had other plans the other evenings. I DO recommend accepting the invitations. I've met some delightful people this way who became friends throughout the rest of our cruise.

We were once invited to a hosted table that was to feature the ship’s chief engineer. My husband was keen to meet him to spend the evening talking ship tech. However, when we arrived, my name card was next to the engineer, and DH’s was next to someone he had met before and with whom he had probably exhausted topics, but I felt I had not ( we have different concepts of “nothing left to talk about” with certain types of people). So I quickly grabbed our name cards and switched them before we sat down and explained to waiters DH, as an engineer, was very keen to sit close to and meet the ship’s engineer. Waiters looked surprised but did not object, and all went well.

If someone is really keen not to sit spouseless, I imagine you could do the same, or even better, tell the management when you accept the invite that you still want to sit next to the spouse, no need to explain why.

I heard some amazing stories that evening from my repeat table neighbor. Sometimes a second round brings out even more, DH and I then later shared what we learned, win-win.

If you accept a hosted table later in the cruise, on such a small ship there is a risk you will meet people you did not care for one bit from prior joined or hosted tables, e.g., those few who bellow with great certainty their popular political views and who insult or sneer at opposite views with demeaning comments, or repeat boring stories, in which case you will have to focus on the other neighbor, or politely excuse yourself.

Hosted tables are not for people unwilling to risk the small chance of a potentially uninteresting or annoying evening, and as we are like Forest Gump with his bowl of cherries, we almost always go when invited if we are not exhausted.

Have a great cruise!

My wife and I are social, but normally dine at a table for 2.

That said, we thoroughly enjoyed all of the hosted dinners we attended.

We just disembarked :loudcry: an 11 night Alaska cruise on Sojourn and were invited to hosted tables 3 times. We accepted once (we just had other plans - and one night it was a last minute invite ;-) We enjoyed the experience, and yes, we had placecards and were separated, as is the norm at a seated dinner party.

In general for dining, we ate at the Restaurant every evening (except one dinner at the Grill) and we alternated evenings being seated just the 2 of us or asking for a large "social" table. That mix suited us well (I'm an introvert on vacation and husband is far more social).

We just returned from 21 days on Encore. Were invited twice to hosted dinners. I didn't request such invitations, and perhaps should have. But one invitation was a table with the ship's comedian. We don't usually care for comedians, so I turned it down. I don't expect to be invited to the captain's table. We've only done about four Seabourn cruises. But I did expect to dine with someone higher ranking that the comedian. LittleRedJohn

Littlered. We have done a few hosted dinners and enjoyed them all. One of the best was with the comedian- but not why you may think. He was actually a rather shy and soft spoken guy - and very interesting. Not at all like his on stage persona. It is interesting to look behind the mask of entertainers.

Another time we had dinner with the ships doctor. We asked him his most interesting cruise. He told us about a cruise that had been chartered by a clothing optional club. Great stories.

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I cruise as a solo and attend most of the hosted dinners to which I'm invited. Some of my most delightful dinners have been those hosted by the ship's entertainers, whether they're the regular cast or guest performers. I admire the commitment and stamina it takes to make a career as a cruise ship entertainer - and they often have some wonderful stories to share.

I agree with the other posters who appreciate the option of accepting an invitation to a hosted table. As a soloist (my term for solo traveler), it is one of the main reasons I book with SB. I have, almost without exception, had an entertaining time at dinner at the hosted tables. The hosts/hostesses have been a mixture of ship's officers, entertainers and the like. All have been interesting and the other diners have been delightful to chat with.