Dining Room Etiquette/Manners and Situations ?

[Almost Packed]

I was curious about proper dining room etiquette regarding a few things....or just plain manners or lack of.

 

How long do you wait for your tablemates to arrive before you go ahead and order?

 

Do you leave before the others are finished eating?

 

Is it okay to leave while they are having dessert?

 

If you are a family of 4, and the other party is a family of 3, and you are seated at a booth with a chair, where do you sit? Who should sit in the chair?

 

Does one family all sit on one side of the table?

 

If you order wine, must you share it with everyone at the table? Is it considered rude not to?

 

I'm just curious on your thoughts on some of the above situations. Feel free to add some tips and suggestions for any situations such as the above.

[Colorado Kat]

-How long do you wait for your tablemates to arrive before you go ahead and order?

-Do you leave before the others are finished eating?

-Is it okay to leave while they are having dessert?

-If you are a family of 4, and the other party is a family of 3, and you are seated at a booth with a chair, where do you sit? Who should sit in the chair?

-Does one family all sit on one side of the table?

-If you order wine, must you share it with everyone at the table? Is it considered rude not to?

 

We wait 10-15 min on the first night. They might be running late, or they might be a no-show.

We usually don't leave while others are still eating. Dinner is served i coursed, and the wait staff will get everyone on the same schedule quickly.

Yes, if you skip dessert, adn they order, say your goodbyes & leave when you want.

Booth stuff - depends who gets there first. They decide. If a family of 4, I would sit 2 & 2 at the end of the table.

No, you do not have to share your wine. Quite costly to do that!

[joeyancho]

I was curious about proper dining room etiquette regarding a few things....or just plain manners or lack of.

 

How long do you wait for your tablemates to arrive before you go ahead and order?

 

Do you leave before the others are finished eating?

 

Is it okay to leave while they are having dessert?

 

If you are a family of 4, and the other party is a family of 3, and you are seated at a booth with a chair, where do you sit? Who should sit in the chair?

 

Does one family all sit on one side of the table?

 

If you order wine, must you share it with everyone at the table? Is it considered rude not to?

 

I'm just curious on your thoughts on some of the above situations. Feel free to add some tips and suggestions for any situations such as the above.

 

I can only answer for myself, but I think my mom taught me pretty good manners. Again only my opinion. I think 15 minutes is a reasonable amount of time to wait. After that I would assume that they are not coming. I would think they are being rude not you. Personally I would not leave while others are eating the main course but I would think it would be okay to leave while others are having dessert. Of course I would excuse myself, maybe say I was going to get some fresh air or something like that. I don't think you are obligated to share your dinner wine. But if you were celebrating a special occasion and having champagne sharing it would be in order. I don't think they would seat a party of 7 in a booth. Can't answer to the seating arrangement in that situation. I hope that helps some.

[Almost Packed]

Many of the booths will seat 6 adults....three on each bench. I know this because we have been seated at one of these booths before. We were the party of 3. I was just curious how one decides where to sit...all of one family on one side of the table, 2 on one side and 1 on the other, the party of 4 seat two and two or 3 on one side, and use the end chair etc. just curious....

[Room Service!]

For us, table for two.

In you case table for four.

No worries. ;)

[iluvdoxies]

sorry, wouldnt share my champagne with strangers, ecp a special occasion

[Jasonmom]

I'm not sure the appropriate things to do, but I agree with 15 minute wait, sitting across from one another, and not sharing your wine:).

 

 

The real reason for my post was to tell you how much I like your signature. You can handle both :p :eek: :p . As a Twilight addict I salute you :D.

[Name Of The Game]

The dessert selection is very limited. If we'd rather get dessert at the buffet or have somewhere else we just want to get to, we will wish them a good evening and leave.

 

As for ordering, we let the wait staff take the lead. If they ask for our order we give it to them.

[MrPete]

I was curious about proper dining room etiquette regarding a few things....or just plain manners or lack of.

 

How long do you wait for your tablemates to arrive before you go ahead and order?

 

Do you leave before the others are finished eating?

 

Is it okay to leave while they are having dessert?

 

If you are a family of 4, and the other party is a family of 3, and you are seated at a booth with a chair, where do you sit? Who should sit in the chair?

 

Does one family all sit on one side of the table?

 

If you order wine, must you share it with everyone at the table? Is it considered rude not to?

 

I'm just curious on your thoughts on some of the above situations. Feel free to add some tips and suggestions for any situations such as the above.

 

Ever since the advent of alternative dining, I make no assupltions UNLESS I know my tablemates are definitely coming. If my servers seem to be hovering, I let them know I'm ready.

 

But more often than not, they will ask, usually as they are handing me my menu.

 

I do not stay just because they are still eating, but I can"t think of once that happening for a meal. I wouldn't think twice if it were during dessert.

 

I agree a booth can be awkward, and I would tend to sit across from my party, as opposed to next to them. Obviously, how the table sits out depends on who gets there first.

 

Whether I share my wine with anyone has no bearing if they are at my table. I don't feel obligated just because they are my table mates.

[mosel]

I was curious about proper dining room etiquette regarding a few things....or just plain manners or lack of.

 

How long do you wait for your tablemates to arrive before you go ahead and order?

 

Do you leave before the others are finished eating?

 

Is it okay to leave while they are having dessert?

 

If you are a family of 4, and the other party is a family of 3, and you are seated at a booth with a chair, where do you sit? Who should sit in the chair?

 

Does one family all sit on one side of the table?

 

If you order wine, must you share it with everyone at the table? Is it considered rude not to?

 

I'm just curious on your thoughts on some of the above situations. Feel free to add some tips and suggestions for any situations such as the above.

 

Hi!! We always had problem with the booths when just the 2 of us were sailing. I don't like to sit across the table from my husband and next to strangers ( I am very outgoing but for some reson this bothers me)..so we always got there first every day and sat where we wanted at the table and let the others fill in the rest of the seats. Now we do anytime dining so we sit at our own table. The funny thing is, with atd i still sit across from my husband and very close to the person next to me and it doesn't bother me but in a booth it does.

We don't stay for dessert very often so we just tell our tablemates we are done..Have a nice evening and sometimes if we have gotten along well we will let them know our plans for the evening and tell them to look for us if they will be there. See you soon..can't wait!! Cindy

[iluvdoxies]

and if you toddler/child is screaming, please leave !

[bigcraig]

If dinner is at 8 I should not have to wait more than a few minutes to order, be there on time it's not like you don't know when to show up.

[Brenna's Mom1]

Eating in the MDR at breakfast or lunch (and I would think this applies to YTD) I order when the wait staff approaches me irregardless if table mates have been seated. At dinner (late dining) if we are sharing a table with (until then) strangers I'll wait the first evening for 10 or 15 minutes and then order. On the first night we tend to learn about our new friends and things become easier. Someone will invariable bring up the subject of "table manners" (not that formal but you get the drift) and usually we all agree that late comers get served when they get there, we don't wait 'cause people's plans change, no one gets offended if someone leaves early.

 

As far as alcohol...we've never "shared" with strangers and no one has been offended. And seating is first come first choice. I hate being "stuck" in a booth so I'll choose the outboard side and when others come they can fill in the interior seats...if I'm late I take what is left with a smile.

[hockeyluver]

The one time we were seated at a booth for 6 hubby and I sat across from each other and the other two couples sat beside their spouses. When we sat at a booth for 4 hubby and I sat on one side and the other couple on the other side. When we did not stay for desert we would politly excuse ourselves and go.

[Hlitner]

I was curious about proper dining room etiquette regarding a few things....or just plain manners or lack of.

 

How long do you wait for your tablemates to arrive before you go ahead and order?

 

......On cruise ships we leave this decision to the waiter. Generally they will not wait more then 10 min.

 

Do you leave before the others are finished eating?

 

.....As a rule no. But there are certainly exceptions such as when somebody at a table wants to leave to get to a show.

 

Is it okay to leave while they are having dessert?

 

.......See prior comment.

 

If you are a family of 4, and the other party is a family of 3, and you are seated at a booth with a chair, where do you sit? Who should sit in the chair?

 

.......We have cruised on more then 65 different ships and have not seen a booth in any MDR. If we did see a booth it would probably be the last time we would be on that ship :)

 

Does one family all sit on one side of the table?

 

.....It has varied on our cruises. At fun tables even families like to rotate seating

 

If you order wine, must you share it with everyone at the table? Is it considered rude not to?

 

.....No. Years ago it was considered proper to share wine with the table (and the others would usually recipricate on other nights. This tradition has given way to an everyone for themselves attitude.

 

I'm just curious on your thoughts on some of the above situations. Feel free to add some tips and suggestions for any situations such as the above.

 

.....We love to share large tables in order to meet folks and perhaps make new friends. But if we get a "bad" table where it is obvious that folks are not going to get along or have fun we immediately more to recitfy the situation with a request for a table change.

[spookwife]

I was curious about proper dining room etiquette regarding a few things....or just plain manners or lack of.

 

How long do you wait for your tablemates to arrive before you go ahead and order?

 

Do you leave before the others are finished eating?

 

Is it okay to leave while they are having dessert?

 

If you are a family of 4, and the other party is a family of 3, and you are seated at a booth with a chair, where do you sit? Who should sit in the chair?

 

Does one family all sit on one side of the table?

 

If you order wine, must you share it with everyone at the table? Is it considered rude not to?

 

I'm just curious on your thoughts on some of the above situations. Feel free to add some tips and suggestions for any situations such as the above.

 

 

1: the wait staff usually sets the tone.. 10-15 minutes seems to be about average. of course, if your table mates have been polite, they will have informed the staff that they will not be dining that evening( or at all). on our last cruise that is exactly what happened so we never waited at all

 

2: We do not, but more because we have been lucky so far and had great TM to converse with.

 

3: for us, no we would find that unacceptable even if we choose to not have dessert. (yeah..riiiiight. like THAT would ever happen heheheh) there is always a cup of coffee or tea you can linger over.

 

 

4: not gonna happen you will be seated at an 8 top table. booths generally only hold 4 people and they are too close together to actually make it safe to put someone on the end anyway.

 

5: that's personal choice. we always end up at round tables it seems so we sit next to each other as couples. if you have very small children, please sit them BETWEEN the parents so you can tend to their needs.

 

6: under zero circumstances are you REQUIRED to share.. or even offer. we do and about 2/3 of the time it is declined.

[Alex71]

6: under zero circumstances are you REQUIRED to share.. or even offer. we do and about 2/3 of the time it is declined.

 

That's an interesting point. I was always under the impression it would be rude to decline a drink that's offered on a special occation (birthday, etc), unless of course one can't or doesn't want to drink any alcohol. Being sensitive of the cost, I would of course ask the person offering to only give me a little bit.

[Warm Breezes]

I was curious about proper dining room etiquette regarding a few things....or just plain manners or lack of.

 

How long do you wait for your tablemates to arrive before you go ahead and order?

 

Do you leave before the others are finished eating?

 

Is it okay to leave while they are having dessert?

 

If you are a family of 4, and the other party is a family of 3, and you are seated at a booth with a chair, where do you sit? Who should sit in the chair?

 

Does one family all sit on one side of the table?

 

If you order wine, must you share it with everyone at the table? Is it considered rude not to?

 

I'm just curious on your thoughts on some of the above situations. Feel free to add some tips and suggestions for any situations such as the above.

 

This is why we do anytime;).

[Happy ks]

10-15 minutes.

 

We're usually the last to leave, but if we had somewhere to go, we'd just excuse ourselves, nothing wrong with that.

 

Most people would excuse themselves and leave if they don't want dessert, there are no laws keeping them there. Sometimes people want to do something else, like go to a show.

 

I'd take turns sitting on the chair at the end of the booth.

 

The only time we've had a table with a family seated all in a row across from us, it was very awkward. They were so quiet...we had a hard time talking to each other since we were all in a row...it would have been better if we had been seated adjacent to each other. We asked them to, but they preferred the way they were seated. It was a long week.

 

I'd feel as obligated to share our bottle of wine with table mates as I would with a table next to us in a land restaurant. In other words, no. We have shared a bottle of wine with others towards the end of the week. Mostly we cruise with family/friends and aren't faced with the issue.

 

Just because you are seated with strangers does not mean you are obligated to them for anything other than polite conversation. We've met some wonderful people, as well as the above silent family and others who let us know they did not approve of our wine drinking (we drink to enjoy the wine, not to get drunk) or others who wanted us to join in prayers before dinner. Thank goodness for today's optional dining venues.

[Keith1010]

I was curious about proper dining room etiquette regarding a few things....or just plain manners or lack of.

 

Usually wait 15 minutes for tablemates.es t

 

Don't leave before they finish.

 

If you are with others we would alternate on some of the nights where people sit.

 

No need to share wine.

 

Keith

[spookwife]

That's an interesting point. I was always under the impression it would be rude to decline a drink that's offered on a special occation (birthday, etc), unless of course one can't or doesn't want to drink any alcohol. Being sensitive of the cost, I would of course ask the person offering to only give me a little bit.

 

well the first time, they were VERY offended and got all huffy "We are MORMONS" like we just insulted their sainted grandmothers or something. third was actually a bottle we brought on board( Carnival) to celebrate an anniversary. Oh and this os the same couple that only showed up( late) on Formal night and never to;ld the dining staff they would not be using the MDR the rest of the time, hence us having to wait that first night.

 

the second time, the gentleman politely said he did not drink( his wife accepted a glass.. and 2 nights later when she bought a bottle she shared with us) this was a package on Royal and all we were celebrating was ..well.. being on a cruise heheheh

 

On the disney cruise we had a very large table( there were 8 of us) and we opted to not share simply because if every one had accepted, we would have not had enough to go around. and like you, if I am buying a bottle, I want the lion's share/

[PennyAgain]

We don't wait more than 15 minutes for late arrivals but keep an eye on our waiter to see how the pace is going. We've waited and waited for couples to show up in the past and have given up doing that.

 

We will not sit in a booth. Flat refuse.

 

We don't share wine.

 

We have learned to request a table change early in the cruise if the other people want to talk about politics, religion and/or illness.

[sail7seas]

We never dine with strangers anymore. We did for years and many cruises but after a few bad experiences we now avoid it.

 

When we first started cruising, it was common for one couple (person) to buy the wine one night, share with the table and the next night someone else would 'host' the wine.

That graciousness has disappeared from cruising and we slowly watched some of those 'niceties' disappear. It's fine. Means nothing to us as we only now dine with those we know, want to share our wine or sometimes with an Officer who treats us to wine. :)

 

It is fine to excuse yourself from coffee and dessert stating you wish to catch the show or whatever.

 

It is rude for people to not tell you and the dining steward if they know they will be going to alternative dining the next night. Let people know so you don't inconvenience them. IF you don't know in advance, that's fine but common courtesy would ask you tell when possible. The steward normally waits about 10-15 minutes as he doesn't want to make two trips to get appetizers/soup if the others show up late. It sets the whole table service off.

 

As to what is the proper etiquette to occupy the chairs at the table..... whoever gets there first, sits where they want unless you know of a disability or other good reason someone else should be permitted that chair for good reason to make their dinner more enjoyable for them.

 

 

[DonnaK]

Aside from the first night, I don't think we've waited more than 5 minutes for our tablemates to arrive before ordering. And, this was not our choice - the waiter set the pace and always took our order within 5 minutes of being seated. If the other party arrived later, the waiter was able to "catch them up" seamlessly.

 

It's also not an issue to excuse yourself before dessert, or while others are still lingering. As long as you are polite and gracious, no worries.

 

We've both shared wine, and not shared wine. We've also had tablemates who've done both. Again, no worries...just carry on with whatever you feel like doing without hesitation or creating awkwardness when there shouldn't be any.

 

Booths? ewww...thankfully, we've never had to deal with booths in the MDR, and have always been seated at a proper MDR table. (Can only think of one ship we've sailed on that even had booths, and it's a ship/cruiseline that's been crossed off our list of future considerations).

 

IMO...don't overthink things. Just smile, be polite and gracious, don't create/inspire awkwardness, and everything will be fine. No need to go to alternate dining or dine alone to avoid issues that don't have to be problems unless you make them problems.

[sail7seas]

Good advice, DonnaK, IMO

 

Don't overthink cruise ship dining.

 

It is only dinner ! :)

Use good taste and good manners and there should be no problem.

If there is a problem, use good manners to remove yourself from the situation. Do Not suffer in silence and ruin the rest of your evenings in the MDR. Maitre d's are soooo soooo used to accomodating 'mismatches'. They know not all of the people all of the time are going to become instant best friends.