66 of us going...How do we dine?

[Corryn]

Hello,
we're taking the April 24th 4 night Wonder cruise. There are 66 of us going, about half that are children. We're all families. We've talked with the travel agent about dining arrangements, but she seems unsure. How can we split up 15 families? Do we have to sit two families to every table, or can we get 16 or 17 at each table?
Also, since we made a reservation via travel agent, I cannot log onto the Disney Cruise website to check our reservations and look at excursions available.

Thanks for you help

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

heck i want to see how this is going to work out. boy or girl scouts? if its the girls all look out they are going for cookie sales lol.

 

[MarkRG]

You(or your TA) should be able to contact Disney and at least link the reservations- this should at least make sure you're all on the same rotation. They don't have modular tables- I doubt you'll be able to sit all together, or even near together.

 

[gottaluvdisney]

When booking thru a travel agent, you are not able to view your reservation on the website.

HOWEVER, if you go to www.disneycruise.com and click on PORTS OF CALL - you will be able to view the shore excursion information.

You may link your reservations - you will probably be sat based on your staterooms. Such as a family of four in stateroom xxxx will be with a family of four in stateroom xxxx. I don't think you will be able to break up and have a kids table for eight and a parents table for eight - and so on and so on

 

[mmouse37]

When we cruised with a large group we had several tables in the same section of the dining room. We even had the same serving team. That is probably what will happen to you.

DCL only has one large table that will hold about 14-15 people in the center of each dining room. To tell you the truth it was very hard to communicate with each other at a table that large. Most tables seat 8-10 and some seat 4-6 and some just 4. Most likely you will be spread out among several tables. Once you get to the dining rooms you can switch the parties up at the tables anyway you want....you do not have to stay at the exact table you were assigned (within your group...I don't want you to think you can switch to any table in the dining room). I mean that within your alotted 66 seats you can switch the adults and kids around any way you want.

MJ

 

[webray]

If some of the parties have children and some don't...you may want to make sure the families with kids have the early seating and the adults have the later. Are you sure you all want to eat together..every night??? I would try to stay at the same table you are assigned..either way..because you have to tip the servers from each table..if you switch it up from night to night..it could be a real nightmare come gratuity time at the end of the cruise.

As far as seeing the excursion..you can see what is available, and you can book them online at disneycruise.com...where you made your reservation makes no difference.

 

[mmouse37]

I agree with Webray if you have different servers for some of your tables then you should stay at your assigned table. My post above was assuming you all had the same servers.

MJ

 

[jrabbit]

if you switch it up from night to night..it could be a real nightmare come gratuity time at the end of the cruise.

I don't think that tipping would be a problem - everyone tips their assigned wait staff regardless of where they sit each night. Yea, it could get dicey if a couple of the servers stand out and you want to tip them (and they aren't your assigned servers). In this case go ahead and give them some extra cash on tipping night.

 

[kcashner]

We've had tables of up to 18 people. What they will do is to "link" your reservations, then divide the cabins up to tables. Since each server team can handle about 24 people, you will be in 3 different server areas, but they will place you close together. Within each server's area, they won't care if you change seats from one dinner to another. However, they will not be as happy if you change from one area to another as that way the servers won't know your preferences--essentially, they'll be re-learning each night. They will allow you to do this, but it will impact your level of service.

If you let them know which cabins you want seated together, they will do that. If this is as clear as mud, feel free to PM me and I'll try to do better.....

 

[MarkRG]

Ok, let me see if I can clear up my previous statement and explain dining better.

Each night there are two seatings for dinner, early and late. Early is at 5:30 and late is at 8. They are opposite the shows so if you are on early seating you will have the evening big show after dinner. Late gets the big show first. With kids, you're better off trying to get early seating.

With me sofar? The next part is harder to describe.

Now on each seating there are three 'rotations'. The ships have three themed restarurants and all three restarurants seat a portion of the guests, and the next night, those guests 'rotate' to the next restaurant on the list.

Read that as many times as you need to get it. It's a little complicated. Think of it as taking turns.

Linking reservations will make sure your entire party is in one restaurant, probably seated at tables next to each other, as what's been described better by others, they don't have a table big enough.

 

[Corryn]

Okey Dokey....I think I've got it so far....

When we made our reservations the TA was able to place us all in the same vicinity, not adjoining rooms, but all next to each other. We have a bank of rooms, 6555-6537 with a couple of rooms around the corner in the hallway behind our rooms and two veranda rooms across the way.

We all have the same seating, because everyone wants to hang out in the Bahama's as late as possible so we chose the 8:00 seating.

BTW it's a Girl Scout Troop

I'm going to read the posts over again, and then I'll talk with my TA.
I thought maybe there were a couple of big long tables that we can sit at each night.
I don't think anyone will want to switch their tables, like it was said before, because of the whole gratuity issue.
I don't want to upset the CM

If I have any other questions, I'm gonna PM someone, Thanks again!!!