Largest group seated together in MDR?

[Royally Ready to cruise]

Sailing with our family of 20 next summer to Alaska.  Has anyone been able to get this large of a group seated together in MDR ?  Ty!! 

[reallyitsmema]

8 minutes ago, Royally Ready to cruise said:

Sailing with our family of 20 next summer to Alaska.  Has anyone been able to get this large of a group seated together in MDR ?  Ty!! 

 

I have never seen a single table for 20 but have seen a large family groups at two tables for 10, side by side.  

[fsjosh]

Two tables side by side is going to be your best bet. 

[lenquixote66]

On a cruise in which we were 40 people we were allowed 12 at a table.

[Royally Ready to cruise]

Thank you all for the replies. I was hoping for 2 tables.  Maybe stick the kids at one lol. 

[fsjosh]

21 minutes ago, Royally Ready to cruise said:

Thank you all for the replies. I was hoping for 2 tables.  Maybe stick the kids at one lol. 

That's what we did on our last cruise. Moved all the kids to one table. They had a blast and the servers were great. 

[Baron Barracuda]

Was in a group of 23 on Liberty split across three tables.  Group leader made big mistake of booking mtd instead of traditional.  We had same tables each night but different people dining ahead of us eating at different speeds.  Each night couldn't get our entire group seated until all three tables of earlier diners finished and tables were reset.  Sometimes waited almost an hour.  With traditional would have been no problem. 

[NoShoes2]

We've had a group of 12 on the Liberty

 

[The Scurvy Pirate]

We've had as large as 16 adults (all extended family) at one table.  The rule was you couldn't sit next to the same person more than 2x during the 7 night cruise.  That way you spread out the family to insure everyone got to visit with everyone.  Worked out well.  Also, with a group that large, make sure you tip the wait staff extra because a group that size is really hard to handle and dominates their night.

[cello56]

Two tables of 10 or even three tables of 6/6/8 would work better for conversation. It gets really difficult to talk to tablemates when they are spread out over a super long table. I would contact RCI Dining before your cruise to make sure the tables are all together and with the same servers. That way you can all switch around each night and have a chance to dine with everyone.  And please ..... if you are putting the kids all at one table, make sure that they know how to behave and not disrupt people at other tables. 

[PhoenixCruiser]

We had a group of 20, they put 14 at one table and 6 at the next table.  This sounds just like you want! Visit the Main Dining Room as soon as possible in case you need to request changes. 

[cruiseguy1016]

We often cruise with friends and our group size can be as big as 12 people. We used to always try to sit at one table. We found it was too hard/confusing to try to have a conversation with that many people. We now limit our table size to 8. It's so much nicer to have conversations when you're at a table for 4 or 6. When we have more than 1 table, we change up tables so we can converse with different people each night.

[Desert Cruizers]

My husband & I sailed with friends and some of their family for an Anniversary get together and we were split among 3 tables. Some of the party rotated among the 3 tables.

[BirdTravels]

On 10/30/2022 at 9:41 PM, Royally Ready to cruise said:

Thank you all for the replies. I was hoping for 2 tables.  Maybe stick the kids at one lol. 

Just for your consideration. Today, most groups really don't want to sit together every night. Those days a long got. There is a lot to do and a lot of restaurants to eat at. Late port calls. Lots of entertainment that people want to partake in. And most of the younger folks would not want to be "stuck" in the MDR every night. My adult kids would humor me by eating together a couple of times on a cruise and be off on their own with their families on other nights.  

Edited November 2, 2022 by BirdTravels

[ldubs]

On 10/30/2022 at 6:41 PM, Royally Ready to cruise said:

Thank you all for the replies. I was hoping for 2 tables.  Maybe stick the kids at one lol. 

 

We have done exactly that!  Kids liked it better I think.    

 

To your original question, I agree with the previous comments that you won't get a single table of 20.  We do a lot of large group cruises.  Always two or more tables in proximity to each other.  

[BillOh]

On 10/30/2022 at 9:23 PM, reallyitsmema said:

 

I have never seen a single table for 20 but have seen a large family groups at two tables for 10, side by side.  

What Really said!  With the exception when I was on Allure in 2011 There was a big family reunion on board and they 20 adults were at two tables, but they put about 15 kids at another big table on the other side of us that had our waiter.  Wasn't fun!

[cruiselvr04]

7 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Just for your consideration. Today, most groups really don't want to sit together every night. Those days a long got. There is a lot to do and a lot of restaurants to eat at. Late port calls. Lots of entertainment that people want to partake in. And most of the younger folks would not want to be "stuck" in the MDR every night. My adult kids would humor me by eating together a couple of times on a cruise and be off on their own with their families on other nights.  

If I’m paying for the cruise they’d better be at dinner.  It’s the only thing we ask.  The rest of the day is theirs.  If they are paying of course they can eat wherever they want.  We eat early so they still have evening time for entertainment. 

[njkruzer]

On 10/30/2022 at 8:13 PM, Royally Ready to cruise said:

Sailing with our family of 20 next summer to Alaska.  Has anyone been able to get this large of a group seated together in MDR ?  Ty!! 

We were 34 once and had several tables. Ta worked with us and Royal to decide who sat where.  We were celebrating an aunt and uncle's 70th anniversary.  They kept their seats and the rest of us moved around so all the adults git to sit with the honorees.  Since there were several waiters involved we made sure they knew their tips wouldn't be affected by our table hopping!

[celoplyr]

I like the idea of not allowing people to sit next to each other so the groups get mixed.  I would also only have a "kids" table if the kids were old enough to be able to eat by themselves (like >3? 5? some age like that) and the fear of the meanest parent was instilled in them.  I remember being a pre teen at the kids only table, and we got into some mild trouble, and I was a really good kid.  It might also depend on ratio of kids to adults.

 

Also, set time dining so you have the same tables each time. Good plan. Good luck- I did a family cruise with 6 and I was ready to never do that again after the week!! And I was the youngest at 38!

[teddybear231]

We were with a group of 26, we had 2 tables of 10 and a table for 6, all right next to each other. I was worried honestly we wouldn't be next to each other but RCL did a good job!

[Royally Ready to cruise]

On 11/2/2022 at 12:23 PM, ldubs said:

 

We have done exactly that!  Kids liked it better I think.    

 

To your original question, I agree with the previous comments that you won't get a single table of 20.  We do a lot of large group cruises.  Always two or more tables in proximity to each other.  

May I ask do you use my time dining for a large group?  I thought first seating would be good as we have a lot of young kiddos going but when I was recently on the phone w RCCL requesting first seating, the agent talked me out of it, said much easier to make a reservation each day on the app.  My one and only experience with RCCL  we  saw a long line of guests waiting to get in dining room whenever we came out of the MDR. Ty for the help 

[njkruzer]

1 minute ago, Royally Ready to cruise said:

May I ask do you use my time dining for a large group?  I thought first seating would be good as we have a lot of young kiddos going but when I was recently on the phone w RCCL requesting first seating, the agent talked me out of it, said much easier to make a reservation each day on the app.  My one and only experience with RCCL  we  saw a long line of guests waiting to get in dining room whenever we came out of the MDR. Ty for the help 

Early seating traditional dining.  It's what we've done with groups. Waiter will know you and what the kids want.  You may need more than one table but your tables will be near/next to each other.  No waiting for a table. 

[ldubs]

5 hours ago, Royally Ready to cruise said:

May I ask do you use my time dining for a large group?  I thought first seating would be good as we have a lot of young kiddos going but when I was recently on the phone w RCCL requesting first seating, the agent talked me out of it, said much easier to make a reservation each day on the app.  My one and only experience with RCCL  we  saw a long line of guests waiting to get in dining room whenever we came out of the MDR. Ty for the help 

 

Pre-covid we used traditional dining for large groups and, like you say, opted for the first seating.  During our last RCI cruise on Oasis we opted for My Time because the early traditional seating was 5:30.  That is too early for us.  

 

We used the app to book the same time each night.  A My Time reservation must be entered for each day, but they can all be done on the app at one time.   Our daily time on Oasis was 7:15.  We would have preferred earlier but that was what was available.  We made the reservations after boarding.  Assuming it can be done, we should have done those reservations prior to sailing in order to have more options.

 

Lines were queued up by reservation time blocks (they had signs). It usually took 10 to 20 minutes to be seated once our time slot's line opened.  We usually queued up early.  There is also a separate long line of folks without reservations. I'm guessing their average wait was probably longer.   I will say it does look very confusing at first with all the people and different queues, but there is a method to their madness and considering the number of passengers on Oasis,  I think they did a decent job.  

 

If you are OK with a 5:30 seating then I would say opt for traditional dining.  It is just slightly easier and  likely less of a wait.  You would also have the same table(s) and serving staff.   

 

BTW, you can request the same table with My Time but I might advise against that.  It is not guaranteed and the wait may be longer if the desired table has to be cleared and prepped.  These potential problems will be magnified for a large group.   We tried that once and back-peddled when we were told the wait time would be long because the table was still occupied.   

 

I am kind of scratching my head at the information the RCI agent provided.  It is easy to make reservations on the app, but I can't see how it is easier than booking traditional dining.  Additionally, if you wait too long, the dining time you prefer may not be available.  Maybe they didn't want to deal with linking a group, IDK.

 

 

 

 

[gmerick]

Rather than stand around the MDR entrance waiting for stragglers, then waiting for dining room staff to prep the table, just meet at your family "touchdown spot" or a lounge (Vintages, Schooner, 270).  Folks can leave in groups of 4-6, or simply socialize for a while, then take off for a show and dine late.  there's too much stress and politics involved in large group dining.  Do group cocktail hour instead.

[njkruzer]

30 minutes ago, gmerick said:

Rather than stand around the MDR entrance waiting for stragglers, then waiting for dining room staff to prep the table, just meet at your family "touchdown spot" or a lounge (Vintages, Schooner, 270).  Folks can leave in groups of 4-6, or simply socialize for a while, then take off for a show and dine late.  there's too much stress and politics involved in large group dining.  Do group cocktail hour instead.

They said traveling with kids, so cocktails, etc probably won't work nor would waiting on lines.