Dining Preferences Poll

[Dug720]

I prefer to dine with just my family. I'm not one for small talk, more of an introvert, and it would make the whole dining experience uncomfortable for me. Although we were at separate tables, I didn't even particularly enjoy being seated near the same family for all of our rotations because by the end of the cruise our kids were chatty with theirs which prompted the adults to have conversations as well. Luckily my husband is an extrovert and enjoys chatting

You do bring up a good point about the proximity of the tables. Probably because the MDR footprints were designed with the traditional cruise model of sharing tables, it's hard to do too much movement and many times the tables end up less than a foot apart. Even "separate" is not like separate in most (read: not NYC diner) restaurants.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

I prefer eating with just my family, as I can sometimes be shy around people I do not know (which is sometimes seen as standoffish.) On my first cruise to Bermuda, I was traveling with a large party, so even though we were seated at a big table, it was people I knew. On my honeymoon cruise to Alaska, we went NCL, which has freestyle dining, so we always got to sit alone. On our first DCL cruise, we requested and received a table for two.

For our next cruise, we requested to be seated by ourselves, but I don't know if that will happen because we have main dining this time. I guess sharing a table could be okay. We were seated very close to another family at 50s PTC at WDW, so it was almost like we were sharing, and ended up meeting a very nice DISer who I actually kept in contact with for a while.

 

[llqool]

My husband absolutely refuses to sit with others unless he knows them (3 of our cruises were with friends, and of course we sat with them). We have a family of 4, and getting our own four top has never been an issue.

The whole table proximity thing is probably what put him off even trying it -- on our New England/Canada cruise, there was a family whose table was so close that they might as well have been at our table, especially in AP. They were very strange, had kids that didn't talk and had weird conversations with one another that made it seem like they didn't really know one another and were a "fake" family. Then on a Western Caribbean cruise, we witnessed an 8 top comprised of 4 different couples. They looked SO uncomfortable. They weren't talking together at all. They weren't even talking to the other person who they were with. By the end of the cruise, it was down to only one couple coming to dinner. Weird!

We just put in our request for our Baltic cruise -- a 4 top by ourselves!

 

[kid-at-heart]

We prefer to dine with others as it is a great way to make new friends. Unfortunately, I am asthmatic and my triggers are residual cigarette smoke and cologne so we generally have to request a table with just our family and/or with close friends who are willing to forego the cologne.

 

[MelSpees]

We were at an 8 top with three other couples and had a good time.