Solo Dining in MDR, fixed time or flexible?

[Brew12]

I will be first time solo cruiser (4th cruise overall) with Carnival in October and trying to figure out which dining option to pick. On previous cruises I've met some great people in the MDR but not sure how that works for going solo. Any of you more experienced solo cruisers have an opinion on which is better? Would you recommend the early dining or the flexible dining?

[rkacruiser]

I have done both and prefer fixed dining.  Why?

 

I like to get to know my dining companions better than just superficially which is what can happen if one has different tablemates each evening.  Also, I like to get to know my dining room Stewards and allow them to get to know me as to my preferences for service.  That can result in better service.

 

Disadvantage with fixed dining is if your tablemates are absent more evenings than not.  I have found myself being at a table for six by myself.  Does result, though, in great service!

 

Flexible (open) dining is OK at times.  If I have plans on dining at some of the specialty restaurants more than dining in the dining room, flexible dining is better than fixed; it is more fair to your tablemates and your Stewards if you are absent more often than not.  What I dislike the most about flexible dining is the shallow conversations that often occur:  nightly "who are you?  where are you from?  what do you do?  etc." gets very "old" for me very quickly.  

 

Flexible dining does facilitate "on the spur of the moment" dining with a new friend one has recently met.  

 

The decision is really a personal one.  I hope what I have written helps.  

[Brew12]

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

I have done both and prefer fixed dining.  Why?

 

I like to get to know my dining companions better than just superficially which is what can happen if one has different tablemates each evening.  Also, I like to get to know my dining room Stewards and allow them to get to know me as to my preferences for service.  That can result in better service.

 

Disadvantage with fixed dining is if your tablemates are absent more evenings than not.  I have found myself being at a table for six by myself.  Does result, though, in great service!

 

Flexible (open) dining is OK at times.  If I have plans on dining at some of the specialty restaurants more than dining in the dining room, flexible dining is better than fixed; it is more fair to your tablemates and your Stewards if you are absent more often than not.  What I dislike the most about flexible dining is the shallow conversations that often occur:  nightly "who are you?  where are you from?  what do you do?  etc." gets very "old" for me very quickly.  

 

Flexible dining does facilitate "on the spur of the moment" dining with a new friend one has recently met.  

 

The decision is really a personal one.  I hope what I have written helps.  

Very helpful, thank you. I hadn't considered getting assigned dining with people who wouldn't show up. That did happen on my first cruise a couple of times, but I wasn't cruising solo then.

 

For now, I've reserved the flexible dining times. Should be able to change my mind later without much problem.

[rkacruiser]

5 minutes ago, Brew12 said:

I hadn't considered getting assigned dining with people who wouldn't show up.

 

With the increasing number of specialty dining venues on ships, I have found this issue to be happening more often.  There were times when the Maitre d' would ask if I would like others in that situation to join me.  Always, I would agree.  And, it was a very good dining situation for me and, I believe, for the other 1-2-3 people.

 

During a Carnival Miracle cruise, my dining companion and I were seated at a table for 6, but only 4 guests were assigned to the table.  The other two appeared the first two nights, but not again.  A couple our age, seated in a 4 person booth next to our table, had the same situation as we did with their 2 tablemates.  The Maitre d' asked us if we would join them, we were willing, but, we did not want to leave our more spacious table for a booth.  He asked that couple to join us, but they did not want to join us.  They must have liked their "cozy booth".  

[SheSailsFL]

4 hours ago, Brew12 said:

I will be first time solo cruiser (4th cruise overall) with Carnival in October and trying to figure out which dining option to pick. On previous cruises I've met some great people in the MDR but not sure how that works for going solo. Any of you more experienced solo cruisers have an opinion on which is better? Would you recommend the early dining or the flexible dining?

I prefer flexible dining for several reasons.  I don’t want to be on a fixed schedule - for me, port days & sea days are different.  I don’t want to be stuck with 2 couples, and I may have nothing in common with the people at the assigned table. 
I find that being active on your sailing’s roll call page here and on FB, you will meet other solos.  There is usually a solo meet & greet on the first day or 2 and you will likely meet other solos who would love to meet for dinner. 
I’m booked  at a specialty restaurant with several other solos for my upcoming cruise.  There are tons of opportunities to meet other solos before and during your cruise so I would stick with flexible so you can be! 

[Brew12]

45 minutes ago, SheSailsFL said:

I prefer flexible dining for several reasons.  I don’t want to be on a fixed schedule - for me, port days & sea days are different.  I don’t want to be stuck with 2 couples, and I may have nothing in common with the people at the assigned table. 
I find that being active on your sailing’s roll call page here and on FB, you will meet other solos.  There is usually a solo meet & greet on the first day or 2 and you will likely meet other solos who would love to meet for dinner. 
I’m booked  at a specialty restaurant with several other solos for my upcoming cruise.  There are tons of opportunities to meet other solos before and during your cruise so I would stick with flexible so you can be! 

Great perspective, thank you. To be honest? I don't even care if I'm seated with couples as long as they are interesting. I may be single, but I'm cruising because I love the ocean. It's been a long year and I miss the salt and waves!

[ChiGal1962]

6 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

I have done both and prefer fixed dining.  Why?

 

I like to get to know my dining companions better than just superficially which is what can happen if one has different tablemates each evening.  Also, I like to get to know my dining room Stewards and allow them to get to know me as to my preferences for service.  That can result in better service.

 

I'm in the same boat (pun intended!). I like building the camaraderie over the length of the cruise. And on the RARE occasion where I was assigned a table that wasn't compatible, a quick trip to the maitre d' had that fixed right away. 

 

[Traveling Mike]

I like the anytime dining.  It allows me to meet a large amount of different people during the cruise.  It also allows me the flexibility to have dinner anytime I want.  I have the ability to ask for a large table with lots of people or a table by myself depending on my mood.  

 

[Traveling Mike]

17 hours ago, SheSailsFL said:

I don’t want to be stuck with 2 couples, and I may have nothing in common with the people at the assigned table.

Worse than being stuck with 2 couples is when I cruised with my son they would put me with other single parents (most of the men) and I had to spend the cruise listening about their ex-wives.

[Brew12]

13 hours ago, ChiGal1962 said:

 

I'm in the same boat (pun intended!). I like building the camaraderie over the length of the cruise. And on the RARE occasion where I was assigned a table that wasn't compatible, a quick trip to the maitre d' had that fixed right away. 

 

I guess in a perfect situation I would do flexible dining at a larger table. Those of us who hit it off could then agree to meet at a specific time the next day and request to be seated at a large table and see if we could meet more interesting people. Let it grow like a snowball.

 

I have a feeling reality wouldn't match perfect.... but it is a thought. 

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, Brew12 said:

I guess in a perfect situation I would do flexible dining at a larger table. Those of us who hit it off could then agree to meet at a specific time the next day and request to be seated at a large table and see if we could meet more interesting people. Let it grow like a snowball.

 

I have a feeling reality wouldn't match perfect.... but it is a thought. 

 

Your idea is an interesting one.  Might work; might not.  It would cause you to be table hopping location from area of the dining room to another, maybe.  Could also impact your dining service.  "Grow like a snowball"?  Yes, your idea certainly has that potential.  

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, Traveling Mike said:

I had to spend the cruise listening about their ex-wives.

 

The first night that occurred, I would visit the Maitre d's stand when I left the dining room and inform him/her:  I need a new table assignment.  Have done that--not for the reason you experienced.  But, I knew I would be miserable if I spent my cruise dining with 3 elderly sisters who spoke German with an occasional English comment to me during our first night aboard.  Lovely ladies; I know some German, but not enough to engage them in much conversation.  I did tell them--if they understood me--that I was going to request a different table.  Why?  I really had requested a larger table than a table for 4.  Auf Wiedersehen meine damen!  

[geoherb]

I had great tablemates on my first solo cruise. It was a back-to-back cruise, though, and the second leg I had flaky tablemates. On the first leg, my tablemates were a young couple, her father, and two sisters. On the second let, it was two older couples and a young woman also traveling solo. We've noticed over the years that maitre d's like to balance the number of men and women at a table.

 

Everyone showed up every night on my first cruise. On the second cruise, I ended up eating alone two nights out of five. The other two nights were open seating since the ship was in port late.

 

On my next solo cruise, I requested a table for eight and got it. There were three couples plus the brother of one of the husbands. Those three spoke in Spanish most of the night. I found it rude. (They were Americans from California.) The funny thing was that as I was seeing one head waiter about switching my table assignment, I noticed one of the brothers talking to another head waiter to change also. I switched over to anytime dining for that cruise.

[brillohead]

I prefer fixed late dining.  One time I was cruising on Royal with my then-teenaged son, who always ditched me for dinner (faster to grab some buffet food and rejoin his friends for the evening).  I met a couple of guys in the nightclub on the first night and continued conversations with them throughout the week, and midway through the cruise (when they found out that I dined with my Kindle every night), they invited me to join them. 

 

They had flexible / anytime / my time dining, but were always seated at a four-top with just the two of them.  A quick stop at the reservations podium, and it was all settled.  (I left my gratuities in place for my original servers, and left cash at the end of the week for my new servers.)

Another time on MSC, I was seated at a six-top with other solo cruisers, but there was one seat that was always empty.  This was a 14-day repositioning cruise, and I knew another solo (not assigned to my table) from a previous Royal cruise.  He had flexible dining, because he always eats dinner alone in the buffet, but over the course of the two weeks he got to know some of my tablemates from our Cards Against Humanity games (and he had actually met one of my tablemates a few years previous on a different ship.... cruising can be a small world!), and so he joined our table as well for the rest of the cruise.

The point of my rambling, is not to fret over the decision too much.  If you have fixed and want to join others for flexible, or if you have flexible and want to join others for fixed, unless the ship is sailing at absolute max capacity, the maitre d' will more than likely be able to accommodate you.  

 

[Roz]

I've had good, bad, and mediocre experiences with both fixed and flexible dining.  It's the roll of the dice. 

[rkacruiser]

12 hours ago, brillohead said:

If you have fixed and want to join others for flexible, or if you have flexible and want to join others for fixed, unless the ship is sailing at absolute max capacity, the maitre d' will more than likely be able to accommodate you.  

 

An excellent post!  Thanks for writing it.