Dining.....I am just curious

[jwalk03]

I am completely fine with it. My son not so much but he is neurodivergent. I do think as a society we are becoming more isolated. Things like engaging in small talk with strangers is the first step in how you make friends and learn about different viewpoints.

I worry that as a society, we are definitely starting to lose sense of community and we are becoming incredibly focused on just our own nuclear families. I understand for people that are dealing with social anxiety, neurodivergent, disabilities, and hearing issues that a shared table might not work for them, but I think there are many of us who are just slightly uncomfortable with engaging with strangers and might find some real friends if we could push past that.

100%. I absolutely cringe when i watch people sitting in a restaurant just staring down at their phones!

 

[galbat]

Other than the obvious difference in the time you are eating, are there any other considerations when choosing what seating to dine at? For example, is the availability of menu items at the later seating the same as the early? Is the vibe the same for both or are they unique? Are there shows that one misses when dining later?

 

[jwalk03]

Other than the obvious difference in the time you are eating, are there any other considerations when choosing what seating to dine at? For example, is the availability of menu items at the later seating the same as the early? Is the vibe the same for both or are they unique? Are there shows that one misses when dining later?

No the menus and food availability is the same. I suppose there may be a chance they run out of something but i would say its a very small chance. Vibe is the same though early dining tends to be busier and likely will have more young children than late dining. (Though not entirely- there are certainly still children at late dining as well.)

The shows are scheduled so there is a show opposite both dining times- so you won't miss anything with either. If you have early dining you go to the main show after dinner. If you have late dining you go to the show before diner.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I am completely fine with it. My son not so much but he is neurodivergent. I do think as a society we are becoming more isolated. Things like engaging in small talk with strangers is the first step in how you make friends and learn about different viewpoints.

I worry that as a society, we are definitely starting to lose sense of community and we are becoming incredibly focused on just our own nuclear families. I understand for people that are dealing with social anxiety, neurodivergent, disabilities, and hearing issues that a shared table might not work for them, but I think there are many of us who are just slightly uncomfortable with engaging with strangers and might find some real friends if we could push past that.

I don't think a cruise ship, especially with several thousand passengers, really applies there. I think there have always been people who preferred to not sit with people they may not vibe well with for multiple days in a row but it was for a long time part of the cruise ship industry as a norm. Then times changed over the years where it was looked at changing things and including more passenger feedback. The pandemic only made it even more popular but cruise ships take years to build and thus are ordered well in advance and it has steadily become more and more wanted.

I've never had an issue talking it up with strangers, a hallmark of being from the Midwest is we often do this all over the place, but I love having a private table. Although the Seabourn ships we have been on have been much smaller than DCL we love to chat it up with people on excursions, on the ship and out and about, at the bars, in the hot tub, etc, honestly the laundry room is where its at lol so I think people need to rethink this assumption that dinner at night is simply the only way to engage with people and it's part of the cruise experience because frankly that's not the direction the cruise industry is going anyhow.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Gotcha... I really hope we don't need to share so my parents will be able to enjoy themselves. My dad has very poor hearing and having another family's conversation happening the whole time we're eating would make it really hard for him to interact with us. The cross chatter is bad enough at any Disney restaurant that he often feels left out of the conversation.

That's like my step-father-in-law. Does your dad have hearing aids? In a loud environment it wouldn't be a perfect solution (and isn't a reason if you don't want to to not get a private table) but can still be something.

We actually suggested my step-father-in-law get hearing aids last month as he's always had less hearing in one ear and now the other one has gotten worse so many times he just disengages in conversation since he can't hear as well and it was mostly because we were noticing the cognitive decline worsening for my mother-in-law who also really should be getting hearing aids. Turns out he does have hearing aids but just doesn't wear them..which obviously isn't going to be helpful. This is a complete tangent here but there are very strong links to dementia and hearing loss so if your dad hasn't gotten them but he's suitable for them (like medically speaking) I would suggest looking into them. My mom got hearing aids in her mid-50s when she was just starting to notice an issue. A lot of it is the social aspect, that if we disengage from social interactions due to hearing loss it can affect our cognitive health, we end up missing hearing words which helps keep the mind connected, etc. Anywho just a thought; I've always felt bad for my step-father-in-law just more or less feeling like he can't keep up with the conversations as well just because he was having to cup his ear and really lean in to someone and then would often give up

 

[BStieers]

If you don't vibe you can always request to move, the dining team will do their best to accommodate you, they want you to have a good time.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If you don't vibe you can always request to move, the dining team will do their best to accommodate you, they want you to have a good time.

Some people don't want to have to or feel comfortable doing so, at the risk of offending those they had been seated with whom they may see on the ship. I don't think people should be judging others who want to sit with people nor judging people who don't so if someone requests a private seating or that's their preferred way who are we to make remarks about them.

 

[lanejudy]

Some people don't want to have to or feel comfortable doing so, at the risk of offending those they had been seated with whom they may see on the ship. I don't think people should be judging others who want to sit with people nor judging people who don't so if someone requests a private seating or that's their preferred way who are we to make remarks about them.

I didn't take the PP's post as judging. The reality is that DCL won't guarantee a private table unless you are concierge. They do try to honor requests but as you can see from posts on this thread, it's not always granted. PP was simply pointing out that you can ask for a change.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I didn't take the PP's post as judging. The reality is that DCL won't guarantee a private table unless you are concierge. They do try to honor requests but as you can see from posts on this thread, it's not always granted. PP was simply pointing out that you can ask for a change.

Agreed and I wasn't making that comment towards them in particular though I did respond directly to them as I said a specific word of vibe and they included that in their comment. Mine was more general towards what some have said. People infer too much about someone's dining preference.

 

[Disnsyncey]

100%. I absolutely cringe when i watch people sitting in a restaurant just staring down at their phones!

I know you're talking about people in groups, but in my two solo vacations in May I tried my DARNDEST not to be a person just with my face in my phone (though I did take pics for IG, so others could pretend they were vacationing with me! haha), but I think I succeeded 50% of the time......you don't think about how often that your brain wants to know an answer and goes to look it up! One restaurant I think I pulled my phone out every 4 min to look something up

 

[Peaseblossom36]

I spent a good portion of time talking with the person next to me before the theatre show started, I’ll chat while at the pool if someone wants to chat or the bar. But at dinner I want to sit and talk with my family, hear about what my daughter did in the kids club or what we’re doing tomorrow.

While I know that Disney generally does a decent job pairing people up, like I mentioned earlier they did pretty poorly on my first cruise. To the point that I had to reassure everyone that private tables are a thing to get them on another one 21 years later (wow, that makes me feel old).

 

[Skippyboo]

Other than the obvious difference in the time you are eating, are there any other considerations when choosing what seating to dine at? For example, is the availability of menu items at the later seating the same as the early? Is the vibe the same for both or are they unique? Are there shows that one misses when dining later?

They basically have everything in the evening geared around the 2 dining times , if you have the 815 pm dining, you can always pop up to pool deck for some food to carry you to your dining time. I normally do 545 pm dining but next year doing the Wonder in Alaska doing the later dining because the port excursions are pretty lengthy unlike the Caribbean port excursions.

 

[foodiddiedoo]

That's like my step-father-in-law. Does your dad have hearing aids? In a loud environment it wouldn't be a perfect solution (and isn't a reason if you don't want to to not get a private table) but can still be something.

We actually suggested my step-father-in-law get hearing aids last month as he's always had less hearing in one ear and now the other one has gotten worse so many times he just disengages in conversation since he can't hear as well and it was mostly because we were noticing the cognitive decline worsening for my mother-in-law who also really should be getting hearing aids. Turns out he does have hearing aids but just doesn't wear them..which obviously isn't going to be helpful. This is a complete tangent here but there are very strong links to dementia and hearing loss so if your dad hasn't gotten them but he's suitable for them (like medically speaking) I would suggest looking into them. My mom got hearing aids in her mid-50s when she was just starting to notice an issue. A lot of it is the social aspect, that if we disengage from social interactions due to hearing loss it can affect our cognitive health, we end up missing hearing words which helps keep the mind connected, etc. Anywho just a thought; I've always felt bad for my step-father-in-law just more or less feeling like he can't keep up with the conversations as well just because he was having to cup his ear and really lean in to someone and then would often give up

He has had hearing aids and wears them diligently but still cannot hear well in loud situations. I have requested the assisted hearing device for him for the shows on the ship. Hopefully that has some captions or makes the volume loud enough directly into his hearing aids. He has very nice Bluetooth ones with a streamer for his TV and phone it's just his hearing loss is fairly bad.

 

[Skippyboo]

He has had hearing aids and wears them diligently but still cannot hear well in loud situations. I have requested the assisted hearing device for him for the shows on the ship. Hopefully that has some captions or makes the volume loud enough directly into his hearing aids. He has very nice Bluetooth ones with a streamer for his TV and phone it's just his hearing loss is fairly bad.

If you don’t get a private table, maybe he can sit on the end of the table. You basically can only talk to the person across and next to you even less during the dining that have a show element going on.