Princess Maitre D's, ATD (MDR), Can They Help With Table Introductions?

[need2cruisesoon]

Fellow CC'ers:

 

Just wondering if the Maitre D' can assist with making an introduction for you when being assigned to a large mixed table?

 

So when you check in at the desk, there is sometimes only large tables to share (6, 8, 10) with other passengers for quicker seating for that matter. You all know the anticipation of being seated with strangers for dinner.

 

So wouldn't be rather nice to have the Maitre D or runner (server) introduce you when upon arriving at the designated large table to break the ice?

 

So something like this "Hello table seven, let me take a moment to introduce Chip and Lauren from Emerald deck mid ship. Please welcome them to the table and enjoy your dinner"

 

Seems like this kind of assistance would make everybody at the table more at ease and eager to welcome the table guests.

 

Also, would portable table cards to placed at the table make it easy for people to others names?(reverse side of the sea pass).

 

Just some thoughts on making cruising at dinner time more enjoyable and relaxing.

Edited September 11, 2017 by need2cruisesoon

[peety3]

Seems like this kind of assistance wouldn't really change how much everybody at the table wants to welcome the other guests - either they want to welcome others or they don't. I also don't know how much I want them to know how to hunt me down...

[Loonbeam]

Not the worst idea I have heard, but imagine if the table is 4 couples of two, each one having to be introduced to the last.

 

Plus, normally the MD doesn't do the seating, its either a host or sometimes a server...

[Lucky TGO]

It's something to think about. Very nice though.

Tony

[CineGraphic]

People can't introduce themselves!?

 

 

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[billco]

Just because we agree to sit at a table with others doesn’t mean we want to meet or talk to anybody. Usually, it is to avoid the wait for a table for two. With that said, it usually ends up with most introducing theirselves and having conversation. I think the servers have enough to do without acting as hosts.

[Times Prince]

Fellow CC'ers:

 

Just wondering if the Maitre D' can assist with making an introduction for you when being assigned to a large mixed table?

 

So when you check in at the desk, there is sometimes only large tables to share (6, 8, 10) with other passengers for quicker seating for that matter. You all know the anticipation of being seated with strangers for dinner.

 

So wouldn't be rather nice to have the Maitre D or runner (server) introduce you when upon arriving at the designated large table to break the ice?

 

So something like this "Hello table seven, let me take a moment to introduce Chip and Lauren from Emerald deck mid ship. Please welcome them to the table and enjoy your dinner"

 

Seems like this kind of assistance would make everybody at the table more at ease and eager to welcome the table guests.

 

Also, would portable table cards to placed at the table make it easy for people to others names?(reverse side of the sea pass).

 

Just some thoughts on making cruising at dinner time more enjoyable and relaxing.

While I can understand some sense of anxiety when dining with people you haven't met before, I have to disagree with the suggestions.

 

For Anytime dining my observation is the Maitre'd barely has enough time to locate and balance populating tables across the dining room. And even if they were to introduce you, you still have to introduce yourself to others who may arrive after.

 

We find that introducing ourselves, in any situation - business or pleasure, is an icebreaker and a real gesture of friendliness. On a cruise it starts conversation, and names, hometown, and cruise experience being a good, neutral conversation starter while waiting for the meal to start.

 

Citing deck or cabin location also strikes me as an assertion of "class" e.g. stating that I have a nice cabin. One of the great things about cruising on Princess is that, once we are out of our cabins, it doesn't matter whether we've paid for a low cost inside cabin or a high cost suite - we are all just fellow cruisers. (Side note: this is why I don't care for "Club Class".) Dining together, nothing separates us into class. A great example is one cruise with traditional dining where we had delightful conversations with a couple from Australia, sharing stories of our excursions and experiences as equals. We didn't share cabin locations or even how we were employed at home. At the end of the cruise, they shared a business card with home address on the back. It was then we discovered he was a Senator in the upper House of Parliament in Australia.

 

With respect to the table cards, it is an interesting idea. I have on occasion brought a small piece of paper and pen with me to dinner so I can write down names after people have introduced themselves. That's because I am awful in remembering names, but good with faces. I don't think cruise cards would work, though, as anything on the table can be left behind, and besides the new medallion system does away with cruise cards. So I guess we'll have to stick to our own personal memory aids.

[paul929207]

The person taking you to the table is likely to forget your name, deck, home town, etc.

[jjmock]

I think the Maitre'D has more pressing things to do

 

 

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[Shmoo here]

Fellow CC'ers:

 

Just wondering if the Maitre D' can assist with making an introduction for you when being assigned to a large mixed table?

 

So when you check in at the desk, there is sometimes only large tables to share (6, 8, 10) with other passengers for quicker seating for that matter. You all know the anticipation of being seated with strangers for dinner.

 

So wouldn't be rather nice to have the Maitre D or runner (server) introduce you when upon arriving at the designated large table to break the ice?

 

So something like this "Hello table seven, let me take a moment to introduce Chip and Lauren from Emerald deck mid ship. Please welcome them to the table and enjoy your dinner"

 

Seems like this kind of assistance would make everybody at the table more at ease and eager to welcome the table guests.

 

Also, would portable table cards to placed at the table make it easy for people to others names?(reverse side of the sea pass).

 

Just some thoughts on making cruising at dinner time more enjoyable and relaxing.

Were you the one who started a thread about this exact same thing not long ago? (It appears that thread has disappeared).

 

I agree - why can't people just introduce themselves, if they want to be called by name?

 

I'm not sure the Maitre d' would actually know everyone's name/deck who just walks in. Especially once they were seated. I don't recall that the Maitre d' is the one who actually walked us to our table anyway. I believe we were handed off to a server for that.

[satxdiver]

An available server will show you to your table which may have pax or may have empty seats to be filled soon. It seems rather ridiculous to burden the waiter with introductions. We are all adults (well at least most of us!) and can well handle the introductions ourselves without any staff assistance. It has worked well for us for years now.

[need2cruisesoon]

An available server will show you to your table which may have pax or may have empty seats to be filled soon. It seems rather ridiculous to burden the waiter with introductions. We are all adults (well at least most of us!) and can well handle the introductions ourselves without any staff assistance. It has worked well for us for years now.

 

Ridiculous? Not sure. Seems like the proper option to give a passenger.

Introduction to the table: Yes or No? your choice.

[Shmoo here]

Ridiculous? Not sure. Seems like the proper option to give a passenger.

Introduction to the table: Yes or No? your choice.

An option to be "announced"? As in more formal times when people were announced upon entering a room? A bit dramatic, don't you think?

 

I require no announcement. If we're seated at a table with others, I'll introduce myself.

[need2cruisesoon]

An option to be "announced"? As in more formal times when people were announced upon entering a room? A bit dramatic, don't you think?

 

I require no announcement. If we're seated at a table with others, I'll introduce myself.

 

OK no introduction for you and other.

But I think I'd like to be introduced just so people know who I am. Nothing else.

[JF - retired RRT]

I have on occasion brought a small piece of paper and pen with me to dinner so I can write down names after people have introduced themselves. That's because I am awful in remembering names, but good with faces.

Great idea!! Don't know why I never thought of that. :confused:

Names AND faces go in one ear (eye) and out the other. I'm too embarrassed to request names again after the first night. :o

[capriccio]

Were you the one who started a thread about this exact same thing not long ago? (It appears that thread has disappeared).

 

.

 

Shmoo - I remembered that thread too (maybe on the Ask a Cruise Question Board?). I thought I was going crazy when I couldn't find it.

 

I know the maitre'ds and head waiters have much more pressing matters to attend to than formally introducing passengers.

[Steelers36]

Even if this were to become a Princess practice, it could not be the actual MD because there is only one of him/her (some day) and there are at least 5 entrances to DR's in 3 different deck locations on most ships. As others have said, he is otherwise occupied. IF (BIG IF), something were done, it would have to be the host/hostess seating you at the table.

 

And heavens, it makes no sense to introduce the person as being from a particular section of a deck on board. It makes far more sense if (BIG IF) this was done, to say SO & SO from Indiana, or Ontario, or Wales, or France, etc.

 

So much for the logistical issues, I too don't think it is necessary and in so doing the host/hostess may be interrupting a conversation in progress. Much better to do the seating and move on and let folks take care of the introductions themselves. Anyway, I just wanted to clear up the impracticality of the MD doing it, or even the DR HW, and indicating cabin location is a bad idea.

[caribill]

The person seating you, be it the Maitre D', a headwaiter, a hostess or someone else has no idea of the names of anybody at that table including your own name.

 

Even your waiter and assistant waiter will not normally know your name, even in traditional dining.

 

(It may be different in Club Class dining as so few eat there and the staff does check to see if you are eligible to be seated there.)

[Aus Traveller]

I can't see how the idea is practical. It is serving staff who escort people to their tables. They would have to ask the passengers their names and where they were from, then when reaching the table, possibly interrupt the conversation to ask everyone there for their names and details, then presumably repeat this. I see this as being difficult and time consuming.

 

We are happy to introduce ourselves to others at the table, usually just with names. Sometimes we ask where the others are from, but we never ask which cabin they are in. :)

[aquilegia]

I really would hate this. I am quite capable of introducing myself to others at the table. And it's really patronising to tell people to welcome their table mates, as if otherwise they would just ignore them. It's also not the place of the Maitre D' to announce where your cabin is. Wasn't there another similar thread on here recently, if not on the Princess forum, then on the Ask a Cruise Question forum? The overwhelming opinion there was against the suggestion.

[paul929207]

When we sit down at a table with strangers, we introduce ourselves and so do the others at the table.

[WatchHill]

Back in the days when dining with officers was standard and much desired [or envied] by passengers, the ship's hostess would meet those invited guests at a lounge before dinner; she handled the introductions. From there, the grand entrance down the stairs into the dining room where you would be seated and then re-introduced to the host officer. IMO, it was very much a pretentious activity. Yes, both DH and I have done this multiple times and have a collection of formal dinner table pictures stashed away in some box in the attic. I never liked having a separate menu from that which was posted.

 

I am very capable of introducing myself to others in any venue, I don't need someone to announce my name, home town or cabin number to others. The ship's staff and crew are working at capacity, probably in need of a few more to handle the dining passengers with a bit more personalized service. To implement this "service" in multiple dining rooms, would require additional staff, thus increasing the cost of your cruise. I miss table-side food preparation, especially the desserts. Adding the time burden of formal introductions is not something I would want to see - if it were, I would be dining at the buffet every night. Besides , when I want to dine on Princess, I'm a beeper-number, not a name!

 

Just my opinion...........

 

Darcy