Dine alone or with table mates?

Fltwin

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 23, 2011
DS will be almost 3 when we cruise and I wondered if it would be better to dine at our own table or with table mates,,,, thoughts?
 
DS will be almost 3 when we cruise and I wondered if it would be better to dine at our own table or with table mates,,,, thoughts?

Ummm... How could a bunch of strangers on the Internet even begin to answer this question? Which would YOU prefer?
 
DS will be almost 3 when we cruise and I wondered if it would be better to dine at our own table or with table mates,,,, thoughts?

You can request your own table. But it is only a request. 50/50 really. So you may have no choice anyway.
 
From my only one cruise experience ;) , Disney was great in matching our family with another family. We were matched with a family with girls the same age as our girls. That week they became the best of friends.

It is personal preference. Being seated at a table with a strangers was never a concern for us. It is up to you and your family.
 


An advantage to dining with others is that you get to share experiences and hear each others opinions on what they did. Harder to do if its just your immediate family who (presumably) were with you the whole time.

Of course, this could also be a disadvantage. You may get table mates that are boring or boorish.

We've had great luck with our table mates. :sail:
 
I loved each and every one of my table mates on the transatlantic and panama canal cruise.

everybodys differant,I agree with cerbrus.
 
My DH and I did an 11 night Med cruise last May, we were seated at a table for four, but it was just the two of us. This was nice, but after a while we missed discussing the days events and excursions with others. We have sailed five times and have never had a bad experience with tablemates. Even the personalities that didn't really mess with mine didn't make a difference...just talk to the people that you're interested in and have fun. Plus you can always ask to change tables if you get a tablemate from hell. I hope that you have fun on your cruise!
 


We were seated with another family with kids all around the same age. They came to dinner for 2 nights and then we never saw them again at dinner. They were having trouble with the late dining so they switched to early. We did see them several times during the cruise and had great conversations. My DH and I were happy to have the table all to ourselves but also missed the conversations/experiences of our table mates.

I still prefer dining with just the family but I will not be upset if we have table mates.
 
It's just my DH and me, no children.

Will they sit us at a table with other adults only?

Thanks.
 
Ummm... How could a bunch of strangers on the Internet even begin to answer this question? Which would YOU prefer?

As Cerberus says how we know what is right for you and your son?


Are you comfortable making conversation during the hour and a half + with adult strangers over a meal each night, or would you prefer small talk?
Are you comfortable with eating with other Guests you may not share similar tastes with or discipline of their child or children, or social background?
Do you like having a conversation when eating, or prefer to eat quietly?
Is your son comfortable at a dinner table with other strangers being close by?
Does you son have any special needs, does he have challenges?
Is he scared of characters?
If he does then it wouldn't be reasonable to expect the other family/families to not have a character come over to you table because your child is upset by them.

At 3 yrs old, will the dining experience be mostly for yourself and your partner, or as a whole family, or will it be totally about your son?

I think if you provide more intimate details about your family then you might get a better answer to your question that will provide a lot more information and experiences! ;)

Ex Techie
 
It's just my DH and me, no children.

Will they sit us at a table with other adults only?

Thanks.

Maybe, maybe not. I've heard it both ways. I think they TRY to seat people w/o children with other people w/o children, but sometimes, it doesn't always work out that way. Although if you're in late dining, I think you probably have a better chance of sitting with people w/o kids, since I think mostly families try to get early dining.

What I would do if I were worried about that is, I would go onto my cruise meet thread, meet some other people on your cruise who don't have any children, and link your dinner reservations together (not necessarily your room reservations... just your dinner reservations). That way, you're sitting with people who you've gotten a chance to talk to online a bit, and you're less likely to be put with families with children. ;)
 
When DH and I went in 2000 we were seated with an older couple. They were very nice. We enjoyed it.

This trip it will be Myself, DH, 2 kids and my inlaws so 6 total in our party. Will they still seat us with others or is a table of 6 large enough that we will sit alone? I don't mind the company but it seems like any more would be a large group at one table! :)
 
Maybe, maybe not. I've heard it both ways. I think they TRY to seat people w/o children with other people w/o children, but sometimes, it doesn't always work out that way. Although if you're in late dining, I think you probably have a better chance of sitting with people w/o kids, since I think mostly families try to get early dining.

What I would do if I were worried about that is, I would go onto my cruise meet thread, meet some other people on your cruise who don't have any children, and link your dinner reservations together (not necessarily your room reservations... just your dinner reservations). That way, you're sitting with people who you've gotten a chance to talk to online a bit, and you're less likely to be put with families with children. ;)

Makayna,
I think you have posted the wrong post in the wrong thread.
The original poster has a 3 year old that they are worried about him and them seated at a table with other people.

Cr*p happens sometimes! :hug:

Ex Techie
 
As Cerberus says how we know what is right for you and your son?


Are you comfortable making conversation during the hour and a half + with adult strangers over a meal each night, or would you prefer small talk? Not really.
Are you comfortable with eating with other Guests you may not share similar tastes with or discipline of their child or children, or social background? Nope
Do you like having a conversation when eating, or prefer to eat quietly? Eat quietly
Is your son comfortable at a dinner table with other strangers being close by? No way.
Does you son have any special needs, does he have challenges? No
Is he scared of characters? YesIf he does then it wouldn't be reasonable to expect the other family/families to not have a character come over to you table because your child is upset by them. Nope
At 3 yrs old, will the dining experience be mostly for yourself and your partner, or as a whole family, or will it be totally about your son? My Family
I think if you provide more intimate details about your family then you might get a better answer to your question that will provide a lot more information and experiences! ;)

Ex Techie

Can you tell we like tables to ourselves?!:lmao:
 
It's just my DH and me, no children.

Will they sit us at a table with other adults only?

Thanks.

Maybe, maybe not. I've heard it both ways. I think they TRY to seat people w/o children with other people w/o children, but sometimes, it doesn't always work out that way. Although if you're in late dining, I think you probably have a better chance of sitting with people w/o kids, since I think mostly families try to get early dining.

What I would do if I were worried about that is, I would go onto my cruise meet thread, meet some other people on your cruise who don't have any children, and link your dinner reservations together (not necessarily your room reservations... just your dinner reservations). That way, you're sitting with people who you've gotten a chance to talk to online a bit, and you're less likely to be put with families with children. ;)

These go together.
 
Can you tell we like tables to ourselves?!:lmao:

It would be the same for me if I had paid for a cruise on DCL.

I ate in Lumiere's one night with my ex partner and his family after getting clearance from the CD, and fortunately we had our own table to our selves (5 of us). :thumbsup2

Not knowing who your going to be seated with for meals every night must be a really lottery guessing game!

Not a lottery I would personally want to enter into, even if I could make new friends!

Ex Techie
 
We only cruised one time prior on Disney.... They did a great job of putting us with a girl that was my eldest girl's age. But her mom was single. So after the first night her mom stopped joining us and sent her daughter alone. I never asked why she didn't want to join the group, at least the girls had fun together. This coming year there are too many of us to be seated with another family. I think that would be fun. But oh well. I'll just have to put on my smiles deckside and make some friends. Happy cruising!!!!!
 
It would be the same for me if I had paid for a cruise on DCL.

I ate in Lumiere's one with my ex partner and his family after getting clearance from the CD, and fortunately we had our own table to our selves (5 of us). :thumbsup2

Not knowing who your going to be seated with for meals every night must be a really lottery guessing game!

Not a lottery I would personally want to enter into, even if I could make new friends!

Ex Techie

You have the same tablemates for the length of the cruise, so at least after the first night, you kind of know them. It's just not for us.:confused3
 

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