Dining question

New to DCL and have a dining question.

I will be on the Wonder with my wife and 5 years old daughter. Will we have our own table or we sit with other parties?

could go either way IME ….

In large part, that's up to you. If you make no request, it can go either way. If you want to be seated as "just us," have that request noted on your reservation. Then, after boarding, go to "dining changes" to be sure you got what you requested.

Thanks!

Out of five cruises that we never made a dining preference, only on the first cruise did we share a table. However, in most of the dining rooms the tables are so close together that you are at least sharing the space.

Out of five cruises that we never made a dining preference, only on the first cruise did we share a table. However, in most of the dining rooms the tables are so close together that you are at least sharing the space.

It's like any other restaurant. There is no private dining, so yes, you will be next to other tables. If you are seated at a 4-top, whether or not you exchange pleasantries with your neighbor is entirely up to you. But unlike sharing a table with other families, you don't feel obligated to do so. On our last few cruises, we've (wife and I) requested to be seated alone and have never had the request not fulfilled.

Out of five cruises that we never made a dining preference, only on the first cruise did we share a table. However, in most of the dining rooms the tables are so close together that you are at least sharing the space.

They are not nearly as close as on some other lines. But yes, they are nearby.

It's like any other restaurant. There is no private dining, so yes, you will be next to other tables. If you are seated at a 4-top, whether or not you exchange pleasantries with your neighbor is entirely up to you. But unlike sharing a table with other families, you don't feel obligated to do so. On our last few cruises, we've (wife and I) requested to be seated alone and have never had the request not fulfilled.

My apologies for hijacking here, but I noticed it was just you and your husband on DCL. I would love to hear more, as I am thing of booking for just me and hubby on Fantasy. I've never been on Disney, too many children put me off, but it looks like a lot of fun, and I'm reading about the adult only areas.

Thanks

My apologies for hijacking here, but I noticed it was just you and your husband on DCL. I would love to hear more, as I am thing of booking for just me and hubby on Fantasy. I've never been on Disney, too many children put me off, but it looks like a lot of fun, and I'm reading about the adult only areas.

Thanks

The adult only nightclub areas and spa/fitness center are well enforced. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the area around the adult pool and Cove Cafe. It is worse on the Dream and Fantasy than on the Magic and Wonder. There is really no way to be away from children on DCL, but you can minimize it with sticking to adult areas. The Fantasy was the worst of our experiences with kids--way too many of them unsupervised making messes at the ice cream and beverage stations despite DCL stationing a CM there to try to keep order!

We avoid much of the problem by cruising when traditional schools are in session. This causes a marked shift toward younger children--those don't usually cause problems as they are either with parents or in the programming/nursery.

We are empty nesters who have been cruising with DCL since our kids were young. They are now grown, and cruise with us on occasion. But, just the two of us take 2-3 long cruises each year, mostly on DCL. First, we generally do a sharing table; only once or twice cruises has that not worked out well. Its generally been fun, we share the same excursions, go to Walt Disney Theatre together, and, in one case, I am doing business with a tablemate that we made good friends with on a transatlantic cruise. On our Southern Caribbean cruise last January/February, we had a four-top table by ourselves, ended up chatting with the couple at the four-top next to us, and ended up being table mates for the 11 nights of that cruise (technically a 7 night Southern Caribbean followed by a 4 night repositioning back to Port Canaveral). We love the sharing tables and I would not shy away from those if you are an empty nester cruising without children (others may well disagree!). On the other hand, when we cruise with family members, we ask for a table for just our family. We had one bad experience sharing with another family, and avoid that situation. (We were sailing with a future daughter-in-law and the husband of the other family wanted to chat her up at the expense of our getting to know our now wonderful daughter-in-law. That lasted just one night! We changed tables!).

We have noticed more and more empty nester couples on DCL ships in recent years. As adults we have the Quiet Cove, Palo, Adult-Only Excursions, and, during the evenings, the adult venues of the ship. Yes, you will see children, but its not really a big deal, other than for some reason teenagers seem to like to hang-out in the stairwells of the ship late in the evenings! In our case, we would rather be on a family-oriented cruise line like Disney, than be the youngest couple on another ship.

I will say that we prefer the Wonder and Magic for this kind of cruising. In our view, the itineraries are far better than the standard Bahamian or Caribbean fare, and, I think the smaller ships and configuration of the adult areas is better for socializing on the classic ships. We never sail the Dream (itineraries too short for us) and generally do the Fantasy with our adult kids. They like the big ship, and the really cool adult areas.

Finally, for the original poster, on the Wonder, dining changes were being made in the Promenade Lounge starting at 12:30 pm on day of embarkation. People were lined up prior to the designated time. This included any kind of dining change, and Palo.

We always request our own table. I sometimes call ahead and request a rotation as well. In October we are taking our 6th DCL and the 3rd as just my husband and I. This past May we went on a 3-night dream cruise. I don't recommend those for a couple travelling alone. That was the first time children were really a nuisance on a disney cruise, messing around with the elevator buttons, very loud, running... I did love the bar area on the Dream and Remy!

 

Finally, for the original poster, on the Wonder, dining changes were being made in the Promenade Lounge starting at 12:30 pm on day of embarkation. People were lined up prior to the designated time. This included any kind of dining change, and Palo.

Please confirm the location for "dining changes" in the Navigator for your cruise. We've seen locations vary, even from one cruise to another on a B2B!

My apologies for hijacking here, but I noticed it was just you and your husband on DCL. I would love to hear more, as I am thing of booking for just me and hubby on Fantasy. I've never been on Disney, too many children put me off, but it looks like a lot of fun, and I'm reading about the adult only areas.

Thanks

Me and my husband? Heh heh. My wife would be very upset to find out I'm cheating on her with another man ;p;p;p;p:p

We have many friends and know many people who travel on DCL without kids. There are plenty of adult only areas, where you can avoid too many children. There is a whole nightclub area exclusive to adults (after 9pm), an adult only area on the pool decks, 9 or 11 depending on which ship, the spa and the Cove cafe which serves specialty coffees. Plus there are are adult only restaurants, where for a slight upcharge, you can enjoy a pleasant brunch or dinner. While you won't be able to avoid children entirely, DCL does a good job at catering to adults without children.

New to DCL and have a dining question.

 

I will be on the Wonder with my wife and 5 years old daughter. Will we have our own table or we sit with other parties?

On all our cruises we had 4 or more traveling with us so we all ate at the same table. However, on our last cruise, it was just the three of us, and I guess it never really dawned on me that we would be seated with another family. When we arrived at our table, it was set up for 6 people. My wife and I were skeptical, but it was going to be what it was going to be. It turned out awesome. Not sure if it was coincidence or not but the other family had a boy the same age as ours and after talking at dinner the first night we came to realize that the other dad worked with my brother in law, again coincidence? The boys hung out all week at Oceaneers Club/pool/Castaway Cay. Going into the cruise itself, we weren't worried about our son finding friends, he has that personality, but this was awesome that they sat us with someone his age and had the same interests. Again don't know how it happened but it worked for us. The boys are now pen pals (yes, they actually write letters and mail them to each other) My opinion, be open, if it doesn't work out you can request to be moved. Have a Magical Cruise!