MDR Seating Etiquette

[lyndarra]

We like to sit with and get to know other cruisers when dining in MDR so we usually opt for a table say 6-8. We also like to 'rotate' our seating so that we're not sitting alongside the same person everynight (apart from each other that is).

However, on a couple of cruises we found some people seem to get to the table earlier than their dining companions and grab the same seat, which can be a little irritating as sometimes that seat/s may have a nicer aspect or a view and others don't get the opportunity to enjoy also. Any comments?

[OzKiwiJJ]

That can be annoying. We like to move around the table a bit too, and sit next to different people as well, especially on a large round table.

 

One way is to try to get there earliest, right at the start of the cruise and sit at different place than you did on the first night. Whe everyone else arrives just say, in a friendly manner, that you think it's more fun to mix up the seating each night so you all get different people sitting next to you to talk to, and all get to see different aspects of the MDR.

 

However if you can't beat them to the table then, after a couple of nights, suggest mixing it up (as above) for variety.

[clairebearinaus]

I think as OzKiwiJJ said, if you like variety the most inoffensive way to approach it is to ensure you are one of the first to arrive and sit wherever you like.

 

If someone has already chosen the seat you wanted, there's obviously a reason for that and I guess you need to weigh your irritation against the irritation they might feel if you ask them to move for no particular reason other than you want a 'turn' at their view.

 

Having said that, I'm a grumpy old cow, which is why I won't share with strangers in the first place, so perhaps I'm alone in bristling at the thought of others dictating where I sit. The general population may be far more reasonable!

Edited March 3, 2016 by clairebearinaus

[The_Big_M]

I'm the other way, prefer to sit at the same seat each night, and have been at tables where that's been the common approach. Haven't really noticed any preferred location at large tables either.

 

It just seems more awkward to be scoping out a seat each night, then potentially getting everyone to move again if you wind up beside someone before as they're the last person to arrive. Is more straightforward for the waiters too as they know your names from the position.

 

Whatever works for each though.

[Swissmiss6253]

I'm an absolute newbie but I know I am a creature of habit. We have a table to ourselves but the four of us tend to gravitate to the same seats! I probably would go sit in the same seat each night without thinking but would have no problem moving if you put it to the table that we should. However if I had been sitting next to you the first night I might get all paranoid that I had bored you stupid!

[GUT2407]

We usually ask for a table for two, so it Solent really matter.

 

But if you want a particular sea get there before its taken, but o be frank at a table for 6 or 8 does it really matter.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Just another thought on MDR etiquette. If you arrive on the first night and find your table companions are real turkeys....dont muck around. As you leave ,have a word with the Maitre de and ask to be moved . Some people think that if they stay on it will get better as the cruise goes on.

It will not.......... It will only get worse.

 

The staff want you to be happy and enjoy your cruise , so will happily find somewhere else for you.

[GUT2407]

Just another thought on MDR etiquette. If you arrive on the first night and find your table companions are real turkeys....dont muck around. As you leave ,have a word with the Maitre de and ask to be moved . Some people think that if they stay on it will get better as the cruise goes on.

It will not.......... It will only get worse.

 

The staff want you to be happy and enjoy your cruise , so will happily find somewhere else for you.

 

To be honest, the only time we've ever made friends with dining companions is when we had got o know them prior to eating with them.

 

But then we're one of those couples who cruise to spend time with each other, not to meet other people.

[Tigerlily75]

I think it would just be human nature to gravitate to the same seat, without even thinking about it, rather than anything to do with having the best view. I think just get there earlier.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Tigerlily75
typo

[Tara Jane]

We like to move around the table so that some poor person doesnt get us every night if they consider us a bore but also I like the chance to speak to everyone at my table.

On one of our cruises around Japan last July we were on the 2nd leg and allocated a table. When we arrived at the said table the one couple sitting there very abruptly asked why we were there. We just explained our group of 4 had just boarded and we were allocated to that table.

The Mrs.............but where are our friends? we sit with our friends every night, why arent they here? our reply no idea but we have been allocated this table.

Off they go, we never saw them for the rest of the cruise and the waiter told us that the people who had been on that table for the previous leg had requested to be moved!!!! The waiter and people at the next table were also thrilled that the couple at the table when we arrived never returned as were we. The waiter also told us other things about the couple which surprised me as they are usually very polite and wouldn't reveal anything.

On the other hand, we have since cruised and done land travelling with a lady who was on one of our tables a few years ago. We are about to go on QM2 with her and also another lady who was also on our table on a south pacific cruise.

I have travelled the last 15 years with a lady I was roomed with on a share basis on a European coach tour. Once a stranger and now a dear friend. Great friendships can be made from meeting others when travelling.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Tara Jane

[happysnapper]

Similar story to above. We where doing a back to back and chose to stay on the same table with the same waiters for the 2nd leg. When we arrived at "our" table on the 1st night of the 2nd cruise 6 new passengers where already there. One particular gentleman (not) was very outspoken, almost angry that we were on his table and his friends where sitting at another. The rest of the table and our waiters where not sorry to see him not there for the rest of the cruise. He & his wife & another couple with them where replaced by an very nice American family. This is one of the reasons we now prefer anytime dining.

Edited March 3, 2016 by happysnapper

[GUT2407]

I think it would just be human nature to gravitate to the same seat, without even thinking about it, rather than anything to do with having the best view. I think just get there earlier.

 

I think your right abouthuman nature.

 

It seems most people also have "Their" seat at home, so it's probably habit as well.

[OzKiwiJJ]

To be honest, the only time we've ever made friends with dining companions is when we had got o know them prior to eating with them.

 

 

We had wonderful table companions on our recent Solstice cruise. Dinners were always fun. We got on so well we had a farewell dinner in Sydney a couple of nights after we disembarked.

 

Had lovely companions on our first cruise too, and hope to catch up with a couple of them on Golden, they have joined our roll call.

[The_Big_M]

Just another thought on MDR etiquette. If you arrive on the first night and find your table companions are real turkeys....dont muck around. As you leave ,have a word with the Maitre de and ask to be moved . Some people think that if they stay on it will get better as the cruise goes on.

It will not.......... It will only get worse.

 

The staff want you to be happy and enjoy your cruise , so will happily find somewhere else for you.

 

While they do want you to be happy, and it's good advice, just be aware it's not always easy to be fulfilled. A fair number of cruises I've been on early dining is at capacity and it's very difficult to be moved.

 

If you're in late (or of course MyTime Dining) it's usually easier.

[lyndarra]

A friend couple of ours on a Royal NZ cruise were allocated a table for 8. First night, nobody showed. Same on the second night. Our friends noticed an empty table for two close by and asked to be moved to it - request declined. After a few more nights with nobody showing up at their table or the table for two, and, after requests to be moved, they gave up and ate in the buffet for the rest of the cruise. A couple of waiters missed out on tips that cruise.

[wishfulone]

Just another thought on MDR etiquette. If you arrive on the first night and find your table companions are real turkeys....dont muck around. As you leave ,have a word with the Maitre de and ask to be moved . Some people think that if they stay on it will get better as the cruise goes on.

It will not.......... It will only get worse.

 

The staff want you to be happy and enjoy your cruise , so will happily find somewhere else for you.

 

Very true, and if sitting in the same seat worries you so much choose anytime dining and have different companions every night.

[OzKiwiJJ]

On our RCI cruise we were at a table for 10. First night two people showed up, separately - they were cruising together but had had a major fight just before dinner. Never saw them again after that night. Next two couples showed up, they came and went during the rest of the cruise and on nights they weren't there we just sat in solitary splendour at one end of our table. It didn't bother us.

 

On our last Princess cruise we were allocated a table for six. No-one the first night, then a couple joined us - they had asked to be moved from their original table. Let's just say they weren't our idea of convivial tablemates. Luckily they disappeared after about three nights much to our relief and that of our waiters. Apparently they'd met so old friends and so joined their table. Phew! We sat in solitary splendour for the rest of that cruise. Again, it didn't bother us.

 

Both times we made sure we were sitting with the best possible view of the rest of the MDR so we could discreetly watch the antics of other diners. :D

[Adidas4fun]

Fixed dining time = fixed seating.

 

I encourage all to get over the silly nonsense of fixed dining times. Turn up, "shared table?" - yes or no and get on with it.

[MicCanberra]

We like to sit with and get to know other cruisers when dining in MDR so we usually opt for a table say 6-8. We also like to 'rotate' our seating so that we're not sitting alongside the same person everynight (apart from each other that is).

However, on a couple of cruises we found some people seem to get to the table earlier than their dining companions and grab the same seat, which can be a little irritating as sometimes that seat/s may have a nicer aspect or a view and others don't get the opportunity to enjoy also. Any comments?

 

This is just one of the many reasons why we prefer to sit on our own for Dinner and Breakfast. Lunch is a different story, we don't mind sharing occasionally but only when it suits to have a longer lunch.:D

[MicCanberra]

Just another thought on MDR etiquette. If you arrive on the first night and find your table companions are real turkeys....dont muck around. As you leave ,have a word with the Maitre de and ask to be moved . Some people think that if they stay on it will get better as the cruise goes on.

It will not.......... It will only get worse.

 

The staff want you to be happy and enjoy your cruise , so will happily find somewhere else for you.

 

Good point and yet another reason why we go Anytime dining with a table for two ( or larger with friends to join us) not just a share table.:D

[MicCanberra]

We like to move around the table so that some poor person doesnt get us every night if they consider us a bore but also I like the chance to speak to everyone at my table.

On one of our cruises around Japan last July we were on the 2nd leg and allocated a table. When we arrived at the said table the one couple sitting there very abruptly asked why we were there. We just explained our group of 4 had just boarded and we were allocated to that table.

The Mrs.............but where are our friends? we sit with our friends every night, why arent they here? our reply no idea but we have been allocated this table.

Off they go, we never saw them for the rest of the cruise and the waiter told us that the people who had been on that table for the previous leg had requested to be moved!!!! The waiter and people at the next table were also thrilled that the couple at the table when we arrived never returned as were we. The waiter also told us other things about the couple which surprised me as they are usually very polite and wouldn't reveal anything.

 

WE had a similar thing happen on the QM2, (no anytime dining) and we soon realised why the other three couples had left. perpetual whingers - they were the ones that had us all going 'worst cruise ever' to all sorts of stuff like 'Hard butter', or only two pieces of broccoli' . That said, they were very good at providing plenty of anecdotes to be retold later.

[The_Big_M]

A friend couple of ours on a Royal NZ cruise were allocated a table for 8. First night, nobody showed. Same on the second night. Our friends noticed an empty table for two close by and asked to be moved to it - request declined. After a few more nights with nobody showing up at their table or the table for two, and, after requests to be moved, they gave up and ate in the buffet for the rest of the cruise. A couple of waiters missed out on tips that cruise.

 

That happens.

 

That's why passengers should tell the wait staff if they're not going to show.

 

The dining staff can't do anything in this situation as that table was assigned to someone else. If they just reassigned it and the people who had it booked turned up a couple of nights later, it would cause a lot of debate. Plus potentially the 8top table may also then have been reassigned which would make the situation unpleasant for the staff and the moving couple.

 

Hence, the staff did what they were meant to.

 

Trying to contact the assigned occupants isn't a viable approach either.

[crochetcruise]

I think as OzKiwiJJ said, if you like variety the most inoffensive way to approach it is to ensure you are one of the first to arrive and sit wherever you like.

 

If someone has already chosen the seat you wanted, there's obviously a reason for that and I guess you need to weigh your irritation against the irritation they might feel if you ask them to move for no particular reason other than you want a 'turn' at their view.

 

Having said that, I'm a grumpy old cow, which is why I won't share with strangers in the first place, so perhaps I'm alone in bristling at the thought of others dictating where I sit. The general population may be far more reasonable!

 

Hi clairebearinaus, I see we're on the same cruise in November. Have you joined the Roll Call yet? There's several of us so far.

 

Looking forward to our sailing.

[Kinkacruiser]

If someone suggested playing musical chairs at a table we were assigned to, I would be seeing the maitre'd for an alternative seating . Perhaps that's why we will always choose a table for 2. To each his own :)

[clairebearinaus]

Thanks, I'll have a look!