Dining Questions

[SplashMom]

My husband and I are celebrating our 30th anniversary on our first cruise in March on the Dream. Since we are just travelling as a couple, will we get a table for 2 in the restaurants?

I think I read that we will have to share a table. What happens if we aren't happy with our dining companions? I don't want to offend anyone, but this is an adult trip for us so we would prefer not to share every meal with young children (not that we don't like them, lol). Even worse, what if the other guests are obnoxious or rude. Has this ever happened to anyone?

I know that most people are just there to enjoy their vacations, but I am just wondering about other people's experiences.

[PirateTigger]

On our cruise last October we were seated with 3 other couples traveling with out children, we all had a great time at dinner.

[dfriia]

My husband and I celebrated our last anniversary on Wonder. We are childless. We asked for a table for 2 alone for those reasons and we got one. Ask, if they can grant your request, they will.

[jdb in AZ]

DH and I have cruised DCL three times as a couple and have always been paired with other couples of similar "vintage." Most have been great. Only one woman was a pain, and if we're ever assigned to the same table as her again (very unlikely!) I'll ask to be reassigned.

[glassslipper2004]

My suggestion: soon after you board, go to the location where they are taking reservations for Palo, etc. Usually in this same location you can ask how many people are seated at your main dining room table - and if it is not to your liking, request a change at that time. This saves the awkwardness of realizing the situation only when you show up at dinner.

On most of our cruises, we confirmed our request to be seated just the four of us, and each time we confirmed it, we were told no problem, you've got a table for four (and we did). The one time we forgot to confirm, lo and behold we were at a table with another family. They had teen daughters who were older than my kids and not very friendly (sort of intimidating to my girls), and this made the experience less pleasant. Often the mom didn't come to dinner, and one time the dad just came by himself. He was nice enough, but overall the situation wasn't great. I should have immediately at least inquired about a change, but I felt embarassed and didn't. Lesson learned.

[kcashner]

First, call now and make a request for a table for "just us" if you wish. Then, when you board, go to "dining changes" to see what you got and change it if you are not happy.

An alternative is to take what you get and if you are not happy after the first night, talk to the head server. You WILL be moved.

[PrincessShmoo]

Originally Posted by SplashMom

My husband and I are celebrating our 30th anniversary on our first cruise in March on the Dream. Since we are just travelling as a couple, will we get a table for 2 in the restaurants?

I think I read that we will have to share a table. What happens if we aren't happy with our dining companions? I don't want to offend anyone, but this is an adult trip for us so we would prefer not to share every meal with young children (not that we don't like them, lol). Even worse, what if the other guests are obnoxious or rude. Has this ever happened to anyone?

I know that most people are just there to enjoy their vacations, but I am just wondering about other people's experiences.

The default on DCL for dining is to seat you with others. As has been noted by PP, in all likelyhood you will be seating with others of a similar makeup. If you've noted your anniversary on your reservation, you're also likely to be seated with other anniversary couples. On only one of our cruises were we seated with another party not the same makeup as us.(we were 3 adults, DH & me, DS19) and we were seated with a family (mom, DS16, DD15, DD22 and her DS2).

We prefer to be seated with others, it's a nice way to end the day, discussing what everyone did. And you may make new friends. It's not uncommon for some of those friendships to last much longer than the cruise.

If you decide to take the chance and see if DCL seats you with others, and then you find that you really don't mesh well, you can speak to your head server and be reseated elsewhere. There's no problem with this.

Or, if you'd just rather not try, you can call DCL (or your TA if you used one) and request to be seated by yourselves.