What to do when you skip the MDR for dinner?

[Milwaukee Eight]

You don't *have* to tell anyone. However, I think its courteous to let your table mates and waitstaff know not to expect you. Depending on your table mates, they may ask to start without you, and I've seen that happen before too. The wait staff seem to be able to juggle this on the fly if need be.

 

This

[squadron]

You are the rude fool that would make a entire table wait 10 - 15 minutes after the doors close to see if you show up. I see you only care about you and your vacation. Dinner does proceed as usual but only after others who have been well manured enough to waste there time waiting for you.

 

 

I don't think that the waiters should "wait" for people to show - just proceed to take orders of those who are on time. If late comers find that their orders are later to arrive it might be a hint that they should be on time.

[Strophic]

People keep mentioning letting their table mates know...I have no way of contacting my tablemates aside from running into them by chance, though.

[Clarea]

People keep mentioning letting their table mates know...I have no way of contacting my tablemates aside from running into them by chance, though.

I would tell them the night before. It that was not possible, then I'd stop by the MDR at the normal dining time and let them or the waiter know.

[BekkaW]

So sorry, but you are so off base on this. The wait staff knows darn well that people might do other options or nothing at all. They never hold up the service because of empty seats. This ain't my parents' cruise ships anymore. Sometimes they pretend to care by asking something like, "Oh, where are so and so?"

A collective shrug from the others at the table and service begins. Nobody is being kept waiting for anything. That would be insane.

 

This may well be your experience, but don't assume it's universal. If other diners have otherwise been regular attenders I have mutilple times had wait staff (and table mates) wait for them before proceeding.

 

Another poster mentioned eating out of sync with table mates if they arrive late. This throws out the entire service as the wait staff have to make additional trips to the kitchen.

[cruisegirl1]

We generally have traditional dining with a table for two, so no table mates have to wait for us if we are not coming to the dining room. If it is mid cruise, and we know we will not be there the next night, we will let the wait staff know.

 

If we go to special dining the first evening, we normally don't tell the dining room staff. On more than one occasion when we have arrived at the dining room on the third night (after two nights of specialty dining) our assigned table has been given to other passengers. The dining room maître d' remidies the situation by finding a sustainable table for us for the remainder of the cruise.

M

[slyster]

I usually will tell our waiter if I know we have other plans for the next night. There have been a couple of times I wasn't feeling well and I just skipped dinner or just got something light from the windjammer. I didn't go all the way to the dining room to tell them I wasn't coming though. If I know the night before I won't be there, I'll tell them.

 

Now for the first time, I'll have MTD...I do have a standing reservation each night. I also purchased a specialty dining package so once I make those reservations, I'll let the maître d know to cancel our reservations for those evenings.

 

Basically, if I decide at the last minute not to go, I won't make a special trip to go tell them. I figure they deal with that all the time.

[Strophic]

Do you guys think it would be an acceptable compromise to tell the waiters/tablemates on the 1st night "if we're not here, don't wait for us," as blanket coverage for the rest of the cruise?

[Clarea]

Do you guys think it would be an acceptable compromise to tell the waiters/tablemates on the 1st night "if we're not here, don't wait for us," as blanket coverage for the rest of the cruise?

Sure, I'd tell your tablemates and your waiter.

[slyster]

Do you guys think it would be an acceptable compromise to tell the waiters/tablemates on the 1st night "if we're not here, don't wait for us," as blanket coverage for the rest of the cruise?

 

I would say so...maybe just add if we are more than 5-10 minutes late, start without us or assume we will not be here.

[Havingfun2010]

We always eat in traditional, and would tell our table mates and waiter the night before if eating in a specialty restaurant. We never eat in the buffet for dinner. I also dislike eating in specialty restaurants on the first night.

[TBone2K]

I'll just add that the last time DW and I went to Chops, we told our server the night before and our MDR 2-top was given to somebody for MTD for the night. So again, you don't *have to* tell anyone, but it can be helpful. If we had not told him, they probably would not have been able to give away our table out of concern for us showing up late.