Curious how friendly do you get with your tablemates?

[jm106]

I cruised way way back when I was 21 yo and then DH and I went on windjammer and it wasnt assigned seating. I wonder, how much chatting and getting to know each other do you like to do with those at dinner? I am assuming they match you up with ppl in similar age/family size and age?
I sort of worry that we will have a lot of time of feeling obligated to make friends and small talk. DO you relax to the idea quickly(I make small talk ALL DAY at work so it would be nice not having to work so hard on vacation.)Tell me your stories please, your friendships and fun with tablemates

 

[Sir William]

One of our fondest cruise memories is our table mates on our first Disney cruise. DW and I were seated at a table of Canadians and we had a great time. By the end of our first meal together we were all chatting like old friends, and consequently we all looked forward to getting together each evening to compare our day. A few times I ran into some of them around the ship - in the hot tub, at one bar or another, at one of the shows, etc - and we quickly picked up where we'd left off at dinner or wherever. To this day we still exchange emails. One of the ironies was that with one couple we actually knew people in common.

On other cruises we've been with groups (some we knew, others we didn't) and we quickly gravitated toward those we enjoyed being with.

I've also engaged people at neighboring tables. On our last Disney cruise the table next to ours was a family with two young boys, who kept falling asleep (we were at the 2nd seating), so we engaged the parents in our conversation.

I like meeting people on cruises. I've met people who live nearby, or from places I've lived or visited, or have a common interest, or even know people in common. I may never see them again, but meeting them added to the positive experience of the cruise.

 

[pearlieq]

It will depend on your personality/mood and dumb luck.

There are people who can chat up a brick wall and who thrive on meeting new people. As long as everyone's at least a little friendly, they'll be fine. There are also plenty of people who can socialize and make small talk, but it feels like work to them. In that case, unless they really "click" with their tablemates, it will probably be a neutral experience at best.

Here's what we, as two adults, have experienced:

#1 - Put at a table for 8 with 3 other couples. Everyone friendly, one couple didn't speak English. Polite small talk all week. Dull but inoffensive.

#2 - Put at a table with a mom, dad, and teenage son who did NOT appear to be happy we were dining with them. We made one night of strained conversation and then begged to sit with some nice people we met on the DIS. Had a wonderful rest of the week with our DIS friends.

#3 - Put at a table for 8 with 2 other couples. One couple stayed for part of dinner one night and were never seen again. The other couple was polite and we made dull small talk about Disney and our respective jobs/hometowns until DH and I had enough and just started eating at Cabanas or the snack bar for dinner.

#4 - Asked for and got a private table on Dream. Yay!

#5 - Linked dining with friends from home.

#6 - Had enough of small talk with strangers. Asked for private table on Wonder. Could not get one. Head Server offered to just seat us at whatever random table was open that night, which we did once. Did alternate dining the rest of the cruise.


I've always felt obligated to chat at the table--we've never felt comfortable just ignoring the other people and talking to each other. That said, only once did we have unpleasant people. The rest was just like being at the world's longest cocktail party for work.

Given a choice I'd prefer a private table, but it's not a dealbreaker. If you are a party of 4 or more (or even 3, often) you can request your own table and it's likely you'll get it.

 

[racingfandj]

I wish we would have interacted more with the single dad and kids on our first cruise. It took several nights before we finally started talking to each other rather than catching up amongst ourselves. Once we did, the kids had a great time. We would compare days and talk about excursion plans.

I think if your kids are close to the same age it will be easy. It also gives the kids someone to plan a club/pool friend to play with. For us that was key for the second cruise. On our first cruise, she would call after 15-20 minutes ready to be picked up from the clubs. Second cruise, we made a friend at the disboard meet-n-greet and she would stay and play for an hour if her friend was there.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I cruised way way back when I was 21 yo and then DH and I went on windjammer and it wasnt assigned seating. I wonder, how much chatting and getting to know each other do you like to do with those at dinner? I am assuming they match you up with ppl in similar age/family size and age?
I sort of worry that we will have a lot of time of feeling obligated to make friends and small talk. DO you relax to the idea quickly(I make small talk ALL DAY at work so it would be nice not having to work so hard on vacation.)Tell me your stories please, your friendships and fun with tablemates

Our first cruise we were seated at an 8 top with 3 other couples, roughly in our age range. We had the best time the whole cruise. It was a 15 night cruise, and, except for 1 night for each couple(when we each went to Palo), we all dined together the whole cruise. We kept in touch with 2 of the couples on that one, and linked with them for our 3rd cruise, when they decided to take it also.

On our second cruise we were again seated at an 8 top with 2 other couples and a mother/adult daughter combo. Again, had a wonderful time with our new friends.

In fact, for all our cruises, we have no complaints about any of our dining companions. It's fun to meet new people.

 

[tessasmom]

If you are worried about it, I would suggest you ask for a private table. It's no guarantee, but you can always ask!

Our first DCL cruise we linked our reservation with another couple we met through our Dismeet/FB group who had a daughter about the same age as ours. It worked out wonderfully! We still stay in touch.

Our next one coming up, we are also linking with several other couples we have met here and in our wonderful FB group. I'm sure it will all be great!

I have cruised other lines where there was no linking involved and to be honest we have never had a terrible experience enough that we would stop going to dinner!! That to me is crazy! You are paying for being served in the MDR. If there is that big of an issue, ask the Head Waiter to be moved. We still talk about past table mates in a great light, and those which were just boring or ho hum have just gone forgotten.

I hope you have a wonderful cruise!!

 

[DisneyMouseHouse]

We have taken several cruises - once we were sat at a 4 top with just our family, but my kids are so talkative, they made friends with the two older couples that were sat on one side of us, and the other couple with kids about their ages on the other side! We all ended up talking to everyone the whole dinner.

Last cruise we took, we were seated at an 10 top, and we actually had someone request to be moved. We always talk (were seated with another couple from India and it was very neat to learn about them). In addition, one of the chefs was Indian and we got served a traditional dinner as a special treat one night...it was GREAT!

 

[jm106]

If you are worried about it, I would suggest you ask for a private table. It's no guarantee, but you can always ask!

Our first DCL cruise we linked our reservation with another couple we met through our Dismeet/FB group who had a daughter about the same age as ours. It worked out wonderfully! We still stay in touch.

Our next one coming up, we are also linking with several other couples we have met here and in our wonderful FB group. I'm sure it will all be great!

I have cruised other lines where there was no linking involved and to be honest we have never had a terrible experience enough that we would stop going to dinner!! That to me is crazy! You are paying for being served in the MDR. If there is that big of an issue, ask the Head Waiter to be moved. We still talk about past table mates in a great light, and those which were just boring or ho hum have just gone forgotten.

I hope you have a wonderful cruise!!

I am not that worried about it just curious. I am not fearful or shy just want to relax too(I work in a salon so I am used to chatting and being interested in getting to know others.) I just dont want it to feel strained. I have kids so they consume a lot of my attention and conversation lol. Like I said, just wanted to hear experiences, it relaxes my over thinking. Plus, I have 88 days to kill, so I need something to post about

 

[kcashner]

We've had great, we've had "just OK," and rarely we've had ICK. We have had tablemates who are friends to this day, facebook buddies, and people we've chosen to sit with when we found out we were booking the same cruise again.

The WORST case, we avoided before we even sat down with them. I was with my teenager (just the 2 of us), and while in the terminal before boarding, we heard an elderly lady screaming to her husband as she read her KTTW card--"It says XYZ, what does that mean?" as she was concerned about every letter or number on the card. We realized that they were at the same table we were. My daughter shot me this look of "NO WAY," and I just whispered that I'd take care of it. A quick chat with the head server got us a much more appropriate assignment.

DCL does try to seat "like" groups together. However, if you wish to be "just us," all it takes is a request in advance and a confirmation after boarding.

You'll often see tablemates around the ship. If the relationship is good you might choose to spend time together, etc. If not, you say hello and keep walking!

 

[Silver Queen]

We are two middle-aged adults who were on the Jan. 12 Eastern Fantasy cruise. I have been planning on emailing DCL to commend them on the excellent job that they did matching us up with table mates for our cruise. They seated us with two other couples who were about our age, one couple from Canada and the other from Florida. We hit it off from the very first night. Every night after that we looked forward to going to dinner and talking with our table mates. We would occasionally see them during the day and stop and chat for a bit, but everyone went their own way during the day. We were all sorry to say good-bye and exchanged email addresses at the end of the cruise. Each night our conversations were interesting and fun.
We had the second seating (which we prefer) and didn't request particular servers or a particular rotation. We both agreed that in the future we would probably never put in any requests because we'd hate to interfere with whatever system gave us such great table mates (even though it might have been pure luck).

 

[lorenni]

You absolutely do not have to make small talk. A polite hi "how are you" and then focus on your spouse/family/kids is just fine. I also spend a good part of my day talking with clients (as does my husband) so our dinners at home tend to involve very little chatter - we focus on the baby, and often sing songs, clap hands and play other toddler games (apologies in advance to whoever sits with us on our next cruise and has to listen to "John the Rabbit" every night).

 

[tinkerone]

only once were we seated with people we did not know. it was three other couples. i'm like you, have to make small talk at work....sorry, recently retired so I should say 'used to' have to make small talk at work. I really don't enjoy much of it when i'm on vacation. a quick hello or nod does me just fine.
the three other couples seemed to really hit it off and I believe they got together to do some things. we just weren't interested in sharing our alone time.
so, it will really depend on you. they do do a good job at matching people up but if you find its just not the right fit talk with the head waiter and see what he can do for you.
good luck.

 

[Dizzyworld]

I find that sometimes the noise in the dining rooms make talking difficult.

 

[moore523]

We are linked with 2 other staterooms--so we are a total of 9. What are the chances we'll be seated with others??

 

[PizzieDuster]

Our last cruise we had a teen the same age my DD13. They hit it off and would always take off together after dinner. They also had the same age daughter as my nephew5. Very cute. We got along wonderful. I traveled with my mom who went to bed early. Her husband went to bed early too (he had a back injury). Us two moms took off to the clubs. Best times

On the 2 day cruise to nowhere was the only time I had a problem. When my DD12 and I walked up to the table, two moms with their 2 daughters, same age saw us walk up and when we sat down one of them said to the other "oh god, here we go!" And they rolled their eyes and ignored us and the girls laughed. I was not going to sit through that. We got up went to the head server who was so understanding and put us at a table by ourselves. And boy did we get the royal treatment! I'm sure they watched the whole thing! Luckilly, it was only a 2 nights

 

[Meghatron]

We are linked with 2 other staterooms--so we are a total of 9. What are the chances we'll be seated with others??

We are a family of ten this trip and I have no illusions about strangers at our table, no matter how much I've enjoyed that part of cruising in the past.

 

[Lollipop's Mom]

First cruise (not dcl) or table mates never showed up at all. Loved that.

2nd cruise had a nice group of friendly people all single woman cruising with one child at a table for 8. Great time.

3rd was a single mom and daughter like us and we got along well

4th cruise was terrible! Mom/dad and 2 teen sons that would barely talk and were kind of odd in our books.

Next cruise I am thinking of trying to get a private table if we don't care for our dinner mates!

 

[njdisneylovr]

We were on the Fantasy in April and were seated with a Grandmother and her two teenage granddaughters ( we have 2 teenage sons). Well, the four of them became instant best buddies and still Syke to this day, nearly one year later. Nothing romantically, just friends. My boys are saving money to buy plane tickets to California to see them!

 

[Purplejewel]

My DH and I have been on 6 cruises. The first three cruises we were seated with three other couples so it was a rather large table. For the most part, all of our dinner mates on the first three cruises were fine. They were all around the same age as DH and I and they either did not have children or they were not with them on that cruise. We mostly chatted with each other about what each couple did during the day and what was planned the next day. One slight negative was one couple on our 2nd cruise that did not speak English very well at all. They were on their honeymoon and were from India. I really would have enjoyed talking to them about their culture but since they spoke very little English that was impossible. We mostly just used hand gestures to convey words to them or just smiled at them. I am sure it was more dissapointing for them since they could not join in on much of the table talk. But, they were always in a happy mood each night - probably because they were on their honeymoon The only other negative would be a pair of gentlemen who were seated with us on our 3rd cruise who came to dinner each night already drunk and proceeded to continue drinking all during dinner. I have to admit they were very friendly but it is annoying to speak with someone who is wasted and keeps repeating things they have already said.

On a much happier note, my DH and I met a great couple on the Disboards right before our 4th cruise and decided to link reservations so we could sit togeather at dinner during that cruise. We all hit it off so well we booked the same cruise the next year and are going on our 3rd cruise with them in less than two weeks - I can't wait to see them again. We will probably book our t4th cruise with them while we are on this one.

 

[NikkiFB]

We requested a table by ourselves (me + DH + our 2 little boys) and got it.... and proceeded to spend nearly every evening chatting with the family of 4 at the table next to us! Their 2 girls were the same ages as my boys, and one of the girls had a birthday during the week so we got to help them celebrate.