Traditional dining - do we have to sit with others? (Explorer)

[decker12]

I can definitely see the concern here especially when you're spending thousands of dollars on a cruise and we all know how children act when you're sitting next to them in a local restaurant. I wouldn't want to spend my meals listening to frustrated parents trying to placate their over tired child at a late 8PM dinner either, so I totally get it without judgement! We have a kid and trust me, when I go on a cruise without her, even though she's very adult and well behaved, if I was on a cruise with only my wife but seated with well, lets say over-forgiving parents and an less than well behaved child, I'd be pissed too.

 

We have always been a party of five and have never been seated with anyone else. The round tables in RC dining rooms don't seem to comfortably sit more than 5, but if you have small children you could definitely fit 6 in there.

 

We have seen people with larger parties seated at longer tables, but my and large all the tables in the main dining room seem to be built for 5 people or 2 people. My guess is that the staff doesn't want to deal with 12 person tables because it's usually just 2 staff members per table, so they deliberately keep the table sizes small.

 

During dining room hours on the last cruise on the Liberty we only saw 5 seat round tables, a few longer dining room type tables than sat 8 people, and then smaller tables that only sat 2 people. I assume you can request a 2 person table to prevent you from being matched with another 3 person group.

 

Lunch in the main dining room is a different story. They seat you wherever they can and will ask you if you mind eating with strangers before they seat you. Since lunch is usually a pretty quick ordeal it's not a huge issue in my opinion to sit with strangers for 30 minutes.

 

As far as the kids thing goes, although I've never seen the screaming tantrum kid chaos you'd see at say an Applebee's, but I can see it happening especially if you're looking forward to some decent conversation with strangers but they're totally preoccupied with their kids. If you get seated with a problem family, instead of suffering through it the entire week, you'll just need to stop by guest services and request a table change (do it after 10PM when there's no line).

Edited February 27, 2016 by decker12

[John&LaLa]

Can't recall seeing a table for 5.

Usually even numbers

[Clarea]

Can't recall seeing a table for 5.

Usually even numbers

I agree, no tables for 5. We've been a party of 5 before assigned to a table for 6, and there was no 6th person ever assigned.

[TravelerThom]

...If you get seated with a problem family, instead of suffering through it the entire week, you'll just need to stop by guest services and request a table change (do it after 10PM when there's no line)...

Table assignments are controlled by the Maitre d' (near the entrance to the MDR). All Guest Services would be able to do is send a message to the Maitre D'. Far better to request (and negotiate) directly with the Maitre d'.

[littledaisychain]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

 

clarea, I had a response overnight which said they have submitted my request and will do their best to accommodate. :)

[Clarea]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

 

clarea, I had a response overnight which said they have submitted my request and will do their best to accommodate. :)

Good, hope it works out for you. I just had to re-submit my request after waiting 2 weeks for a response from the ship.

[SherriZ366]

We cruise with another couple and always reserve a table for 4 -- sometimes a specific table number. However, we always check the MDR for the table and location and if there is a problem, meet with the M'aitre D' at the designated time (usually 1 PM) that appears in the Compass.

[littledaisychain]

We cruise with another couple and always reserve a table for 4 -- sometimes a specific table number. However, we always check the MDR for the table and location and if there is a problem, meet with the M'aitre D' at the designated time (usually 1 PM) that appears in the Compass.

Thank you - that's a great tip.

[davekathy]

It never ceases to amaze me when we have been on cruises how many other adults will complain about children !!! Grrr . Simple answer to that is book an adult only cruise.

 

Us we love children around, reminds us of when ours was a similar age :)

 

To each their own!

[KansasK]

While e-mailing is a good idea, you can also call and request the table size you want.

 

We enjoy sitting with others. We once had a round table for six that they put 7 of us around. It was crowded with the chairs clunking against each. Our tablemates were great people and we all just put up with the chairs not quite fitting easily around the table.

 

When we have been at a table for 8, usually one couple doesn't show up. There are so many options for dinner that we all just talked to whoever showed up for dinner each night.

[Mark-Sheffield]

Very true with dining options on cruise ships now with the up-sell of speciality restaurants on all the ships, you are going to find table mates allocated to your MDR on day 1 will change over your holiday.

[Nemo2005]

Littledaisychain, have you taken your cruise? Did you end up with a table for 5? We are also a table for 5 and would LOVE to have our own space for dinner each night.

[BlueSkiesTX]

I am going to email RCL about our table as well. Thanks for the info!