Am I Anti-Social? Want to Eat with Just My Family

[brandyleeann]

I am wondering about seating in the MDR on the Fantasy.

The last time we sailed we travelled with my brother, his two kids, and my mom, so we linked our reservations and had a table of eight. This trip, we are going by ourselves, so just the four of us. Are we able to ask to be seated by ourselves, just our family of four, or will we have to be put with another family? Is that awful? My daughter will be three and can be a bit of a handful and I would prefer to just have family time without having to do small talk etc… for the week.

Plus, it looks like one of the restaurants have these neat looking booths that I can't imagine sit a bunch of people, and I would love to have one of those (unless they are not in a favourable location - does anyone know what I am talking about?) and do the request for that with my request to sit by ourselves.

Are those requests you can make before we board or do we have to do that when we get on the ship?

Thanks

 

[tinkerone]

you can make the request before you board but it will only be a request and not guaranteed. if you booked through a t.a. have them send in the request. if you booked directly with dcl then call them and put the request in yourself. when you get on board there will be a time set up to do dinning changes. make a point to check in there and ask if your request was granted. if it wasn't they will try to arrange it for you then. note that you have a better chance of getting your own table at late dinning.
also, if its the round tables in enchanted gardens that you are asking about, also have that noted on your reservation. to me though, people are always walking by you and it is hard to get in and out of if your in the middle. they look nice but myself, i wouldn't want one. jmo
have a great cruise.

 

[OKW Lover]

Plus, it looks like one of the restaurants have these neat looking booths that I can't imagine sit a bunch of people, and I would love to have one of those (unless they are not in a favourable location - does anyone know what I am talking about?) and do the request for that with my request to sit by ourselves.

Those booths are a lot more pretty than they are practical. Because of the curve of the table you wind up really close together and have little table space.

In general, there are tables for 4, 6 & 8 in the MDR. You can request a table size that suits your preferences. We love to be seated with others. Its fun to share experiences.

 

[TACK]

I asked for a table for just myself and my daughter by calling a few months ahead to make note of the request on my profile. I did not check with guest services prior to my first seating, but we did get a table to ourselves. It was nice as we had time to talk which her since our lives were a little topsy turvey before the cruise. Can't beat that quality time !

Oh, and I don't consider myself anti-social but I do want to enjoy my dinner without having to deal with the unknown table mates.

 

[Keyser]

If you are a family of 4, you stand a decent chance of getting your own table (but should request it). They have plenty of 4-person tables, and I saw lots of 4-person families seated at their own table. Our family of four has been 3/3 in getting our own table, even though we only requested it once. Like you, we prefer to eat with our own family. I imagine it's a lot harder to have your own table if you are a family of 3 or 5.

I've heard it said that the main difference between introverts (which I am, and my wife is to a lesser degree...) and extroverts is whether they become tired or energized by interacting with others. I think this is pretty accurate - I have met many people in my life who I've been glad to meet and talk to, but it can be exhausting. And, the thought of spending dinner every night with another family/families, no matter how nice they are and how much I enjoy meeting them, is not exactly my idea of a vacation...

 

[Melissa S]

Not anti social at all! We have always requested to sit by ourselves (family of 3 soon to be 4 ) and our requests have been granted. I work a lot and for us vacation is time to connect and enjoy family time. DD eats with us for about 15 minutes and then goes to the club and DH and I have our "date" nights.

 

[squirk]

I agree. It's not anti-social to want "vacation time" to be "family time". I, too, travel a lot for work, and vacations are our time to really reconnect with each other. Not that there aren't plenty of lovely people on the ship (in fact, the one time we had to share a table, it was with a perfectly nice family of three), but I'd rather be engaging with my family than make small talk with strangers I was forced to sit with.

And how awkward is it to be seated with people who are really not your cup of tea? Yes, you can change your seating. But still - awkward.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

(1) it's family vacation time, you paid a lot for it worked gar, do what you want, I have shared but we prefer on our own, we can do private talk, no small talk, not slowed or speed up for others. We can order what we want without thinking if others and start promptly without waiting for those who maybe late.

(2) Had the booths, never again, small hard to get in or out really they should only take three, and the walkway next to it should be called Broadway or Times Square.

 

[Dug720]

Once upon a time, all cruise seating was communal - it was an accepted and expected part of the experience. As we've moved more and more into a ME! ME! ME! society, people have demanded seating with only their party.

Cruiselines do the best they can, but they have fixed spaces for dining and those spaces can only accommodate so many people and so many table arrangements. The more I've cruised, the more I've seen servers struggle to be able to do an adequate job of getting food and drinks to people without having to hand the plate to someone else to pass or ask for the glass to be passed across the table because there is simply not room for anyone to walk between the tables.

So yes, it's possible to have a table for just your family. However, as crammed in as they are, it's hardly "private". You'll be lucky if there is a full foot between your table and one next to you.,

 

[timrousbeastie]

I am wondering about seating in the MDR on the Fantasy.

The last time we sailed we travelled with my brother, his two kids, and my mom, so we linked our reservations and had a table of eight. This trip, we are going by ourselves, so just the four of us. Are we able to ask to be seated by ourselves, just our family of four, or will we have to be put with another family? Is that awful? My daughter will be three and can be a bit of a handful and I would prefer to just have family time without having to do small talk etc… for the week.

Plus, it looks like one of the restaurants have these neat looking booths that I can't imagine sit a bunch of people, and I would love to have one of those (unless they are not in a favourable location - does anyone know what I am talking about?) and do the request for that with my request to sit by ourselves.

Are those requests you can make before we board or do we have to do that when we get on the ship?

Thanks

I don't think it's "awful" at all. To me, a Disney cruise is all about bringing my extended family together. It is the wonderful setting, where we have time to talk, interact, and form happy family memories, that makes the cruise worth the high cost to me. As much as I admire families who have the extra energy to socialize with strangers over dinner, I am very protective about the times that we have for everyone in the family to interact with each other, in particular those who normally live on different continents or otherwise don't get to spend time together. In our case, there are also language barriers that would make it even more awkward to share a table with an American family. Having our own table(s) was one of the first requests I made when I booked our cruise. That's not to be anti-social, we certainly enjoy to interact with other guests during the cruise, but I do what I can to plan around potentially uncomfortable situations that we have no control over. With my family, dinner can be challenging enough as it is .

 

[daneenm]

Those booths are a lot more pretty than they are practical. Because of the curve of the table you wind up really close together and have little table space.

I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one, Jeff . We had requested the EG booth and then I read comments here and was worried that we would be knocking knees throughout dinner. Not so. In fact, I asked at the table (family of 4, 2 adults, 2 adult sized teens ) if my family felt like we didn't have enough space and everyone felt just fine. I didn't notice the table feeling tremendously smaller than the 4 top we had at the other MDRs. I found them all to be a bit tight, to be honest. I felt like I was always moving things around to make space as new dishes came.

All this to say, people's experiences with the EG booths vary, so if you think you would like it, our family would say go for it.

 

[OKW Lover]

Glad it worked for you Daneen.

 

[squirk]

Once upon a time, all cruise seating was communal - it was an accepted and expected part of the experience. As we've moved more and more into a ME! ME! ME! society, people have demanded seating with only their party.

Cruiselines do the best they can, but they have fixed spaces for dining and those spaces can only accommodate so many people and so many table arrangements. The more I've cruised, the more I've seen servers struggle to be able to do an adequate job of getting food and drinks to people without having to hand the plate to someone else to pass or ask for the glass to be passed across the table because there is simply not room for anyone to walk between the tables.

So yes, it's possible to have a table for just your family. However, as crammed in as they are, it's hardly "private". You'll be lucky if there is a full foot between your table and one next to you.,

I'm not sure I can agree with that first part. For what DCL is charging, one should have no qualms whatsoever in asking that your family of five have its own table vs. sharing an 8-top with another family of three.

So long as doing so doesn't inconvenience another guest, and isn't an undue logistical problem, why not? I don't think it's selfish or betrays any sense of entitlement to make the request if it makes your family's vacation better.

I think accommodations like this, given happily whenever possible, are prime examples DCL would give as to why they charge more.

 

[Dug720]

I'm not sure I can agree with that first part. For what DCL is charging, one should have no qualms whatsoever in asking that your family of five have its own table vs. sharing an 8-top with another family of three. So long as doing so doesn't inconvenience another guest, and isn't an undue logistical problem, why not?

I think accommodations like this, given happily whenever possible, are prime examples DCL would give as to why they charge more.

My point was that it IS beginning to impact logistics and other guests. They cannot create more floor space, and every time they have to split tables apart, what space there was in the floor layout gets decreased. We were literally less than 12 inches from another table in Royal Palace on the Dream - not only could the servers not pass between the tables, the father at the other table decided that we all should be best buddies when we weren't even seated together.

They are getting to the point where they'll have to have tables in the regular walkways (which I suspect would violate some kind of code) or remove tables and go to three seating because they can't just create space where it doesn't exist.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Those booths are a lot more pretty than they are practical. Because of the curve of the table you wind up really close together and have little table space.

In general, there are tables for 4, 6 & 8 in the MDR. You can request a table size that suits your preferences. We love to be seated with others. Its fun to share experiences.

DH really dislikes booths in general because he needs more space between the table and his belly. If the table is moveable and he pushes it toward me, then I don't have enough space. So those pretty booths in the Enchanted Garden wouldn't work for us.

For us, it's more of a priority to get a table next to the video screens in Animator's Palate. We didn't make any table requests, but DH really had fun interacting with Crush. Our waiter was still laughing about it the next night.

As for table mates, we've had the good and the bad and the indifferent. Most are o.k. and sharing a dinner table is doable -- just don't ask me to share a breakfast table before I'm fully awake.

 

[squirk]

My point was that it IS beginning to impact logistics and other guests. They cannot create more floor space, and every time they have to split tables apart, what space there was in the floor layout gets decreased. We were literally less than 12 inches from another table in Royal Palace on the Dream - not only could the servers not pass between the tables, the father at the other table decided that we all should be best buddies when we weren't even seated together.

They are getting to the point where they'll have to have tables in the regular walkways (which I suspect would violate some kind of code) or remove tables and go to three seating because they can't just create space where it doesn't exist.

Well, that's more the cruise line's fault for overbooking and trying to squeeze more fares onto a ship than is comfortable for the guests, no? I mean, it's not like DCL launched the Dream-class ships with nothing but communal tables and then had to break them up due to guest demand, right? They knew going in that families (especially American families) would prefer to have discreet tables, and if they did not make the MDR big enough to accommodate that, then that's on DCL.

I don't think it's a "ME! ME! ME!" thing if your cruise dinner is personal bonding time for your family. Having to sit with others may be a "fact of life" when cruising, but I don't think the request for your own table is out of bounds at all. That having been said, if the cruise line can't accommodate due to logistical or safety reasons, people shouldn't throw a fit, either.

 

[Dug720]

Well, that's more the cruise line's fault for overbooking and trying to squeeze more fares onto a ship than is comfortable for the guests, no? I don't think it's a "ME! ME! ME!" thing if your cruise dinner is personal bonding time for your family.

Having to sit with others may be a "fact of life" when cruising, but I don't think the request for your own table is out of bounds at all. That having been said, if the cruise line can't accommodate due to logistical or safety reasons, people shouldn't throw a fit, either.

I just know when we cruised the first time in the 80s, there was not even a question of having your own table. You were seated with others and that was that.

Something changed across all lines between now and then, and much of it truly does boil down to the "it's all about ME" mentality - ditto the dress code slipping (my parents could tell tales about the fits my sister and I pitched about having to dress for dinner each night, but we did it because it's what was expected).

We were always a pretty "bonded" family - but we had activities during the day (no shipping the kids off to a club somewhere) and stateroom time (one stateroom, 4 people - and we all survived...even did as adults 2 years ago) so we weren't limited to an hour or two at night.

I can kind of see the reasoning, but that doesn't mean I don't wish things hadn't slipped as far as they have.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

We always ask for our own table, not because Disney was putting us at tables with other people, but because Disney was "match-making" us with other people they thought we'd relate to. Every time we cruised with our grandsons, we'd be paired with other families with kids; every time we cruised without them we'd be paired with people who were older than dirt

 

[OKW Lover]

Disney was "match-making" us with other people they thought we'd relate to

Disney does do this. In our many DCL cruises we've found their match making to be pretty good. Only one cruise did we get table-mates that were, shall we say "less than fun"?

 

[squirk]

I just know when we cruised the first time in the 80s, there was not even a question of having your own table. You were seated with others and that was that.

Something changed across all lines between now and then, and much of it truly does boil down to the "it's all about ME" mentality - ditto the dress code slipping (my parents could tell tales about the fits my sister and I pitched about having to dress for dinner each night, but we did it because it's what was expected).

We were always a pretty "bonded" family - but we had activities during the day (no shipping the kids off to a club somewhere) and stateroom time (one stateroom, 4 people - and we all survived...even did as adults 2 years ago) so we weren't limited to an hour or two at night.

I can kind of see the reasoning, but that doesn't mean I don't wish things hadn't slipped as far as they have.

I 100% agree that there is an extraordinary (and extraordinarily ugly) sense of entitlement among some Disney guests nowadays (parks and cruises). But it's nothing new that people, especially Americans in general, enjoy their personal space and don't like to be forced to interact with others. If communal tables were just the way it was thirty years ago, people just went ahead and dealt with it, but that does not mean that their preferences didn't lie elsewhere.

And, again, for the premium DCL charges, I think you are, yes, entitled (and frankly, in many ways encouraged by DCL) to be a little more "me"-centric than you would in "normal life". That doesn't mean acting with an air of entitlement in general; that doesn't mean being obnoxious; that doesn't mean treating other guests with discourtesy; that doesn't mean demanding preferential treatment. You pay dearly for the "Disney Difference," and if having some personal space at dinner makes your cruise more "magical", I don't think it's inappropriate to make a request.

If you can't get your own table, you will likely still have a great time on the cruise. Even if you get unpleasant table-mates and have to move, you will still have a great time. But I don't think wanting the personal space and asking for it, politely and respectfully, and fully aware that DCL might not be able to accommodate you for very good reasons, is untoward.