Dining Rotation Question

[disneyholic family]

i totally agree....it's definitely NOT the kids fault...as i said, it's the parents who are unwilling to teach their kids what is and isn't acceptable behavior (either out of laziness, or insensitivity to others) ...

now that my kids are grown up i don't have to put myself in harms way....that is, i'm happy there's a "no kids rotation" for people like me who would really rather not have to have the little tikes around any more.....what can i say....i'm no longer child proofed.....i suppose once i have grandchildren i'll be back in the kiddie rotation.....for now, i'll enjoy the quiet of the stodgy adult rotation...

by the way, on the cruise we were on, we requested a table just for the 4 of us and we were very pleased to be seated at our own table.....we go on all our family vacations to be a family....just the 4 of us.....it's great fun and we're still doing it even with my daughter almost 20....we go on about 4 short vacations a year and one very long one, and love every minute of all of them....oh...and on one of the vacations we take my brother-in-laws 5 kids with us....so we don't totally hate other people's kids....

 

[kcashner]

With one exception, we have always started at a table with just the 2 of us. On one trip, our server approached us privately and asked if we would mind sharing a table with another family as he had been assigned an additional table, and it would help him to have them close together. We agreed, and he said that he would talk to the other family and let us know in a minute.

It worked great--my daughter became the "big sister" to the girls in the other family. We ended up going to shows together, etc, and the little ones fought to see who could get to sit on her lap.

On one cruise, we were at a table of 6...2 adults together, a grandmom and 18 year old grand daughter, and me with my 11 year old. It actually worked very well, although it was not as "fun" as it might have been with someone my daughter's age. I don't know how we've been so lucky as to be mainly seated alone, but it has worked for us on 7 of the 9 cruises.....

 

[jvas]

How many are usually seated at a table? 8?
There will be 5 of us....all 18 or over.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

How does it usually work? I mean do they have some tables for parties of 2, some for 4, but the rest all together? If so, our family of 5 will most likely always be at a long table with other famlies- right?

I hate to tell you- but I've asked for late dinner seating and I'm HOPING for the rotations that are either for older children or adults. We'll have varying ages of children at the time- so who knows which I'll get. but why do I prefer that? Well let's see....
1) as it stands now (from reading that chart) on those rotations end up being the restaurants I would prefer being at when semi-formal and formal. I'd rather NOT have to do semi-formal and formal at P and A- and then Lumieres on other nights- that's dressing up more nights(since Lumieres is usually dressier- right?)! I'm not the type that would want us all wearing our "dressier" stuff over and over for all semi-formal, formal, and then Lumiere's nights on top of that. So we'd have to have MORE dinner clothing brought with us, more shoes, etc. LOL
2) I'm HOPING (and I know my kids real well right now- unless they do a 100% change-around by the time of our cruise) that the kids won't want to leave the clubs/labs to come to dinner. Most likely they will not- that is just how they are and I can see us having major issues about getting them OUT of the clubs/labs. Probably only to swim- other than that we'll have to fight them! And if that is the case... I, like yourself, would rather be dining with older children/adults. I'd be bummed to FINALLY have some dinners without our children -only to end up with a ton of other kids all around us anyway. I plan on even trying to "make" this work out by having the kids eat earlier at Topsiders or something- so we'd have even a better chance of eating alone. I don't think that will be a problem with my children- they are NOT the type that would want to leave a fun enviroment to go sit and eat dinner for an hour or more.... just not their cup of tea at all. LOL
Plus I can see it now... they'd just about FLIP to be able to eat "junk" at dinner instead of going to eat with us. I can even tell you what they'd eat- youngest two chicken nuggets, oldest pizza. LOL

 

[disneyholic family]

interesting point....about managing to have your younger ones in the labs and then ending up with other people's kids....
and that's probably what will happen, since they put you in a rotation based on the ages of your entire party...
however, don't fret....i think that all of the second seatings are somewhat quieter than the first seatings....

as for tables....i seem to remember some round tables near us...not long ones....i would guess that with 5 people they'll put you with others, but it probably depends whether you're on a very full ship or not...
if you'd like to be alone, i suggest calling DCL and specifically requesting your own table.....they will NOT guarantee, but they'll put it down as a request.....if the ship isn't full they might be able to accomadate you....but don't set your hopes on it...

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Oh no, I don't mean to say we need to dine alone- was just curious how it would most LIKELY end up with our party of 5 (that's how many is in our party- doesn't mean that's how many is actually going to go to dinner each night LOL)

I have heard they put you in the rotation based on your children's ages- but what about when you have a young one, middle one, and preteen to teen one? What then? LOL

 

[lbgraves]

Originally posted by rolyjp
I checked several websites and it appears that the dining rotation for the eastern 7 night cruise is as follows:

saturday - restaurant menu / casual
Sunday - Captain Gala / formal
Monday - restaurant menu / casual
Tuesday - Tropicali / caribbean
Wednesday - Restaurant menu / casual
Thursday - Best of menu / semi-formal
Friday - small world /casual

Can anyone who has recently been on this cruise verify this?

Yes, this is how it was for us on the 11/15 Eastern. It must be the Western that has the tropical night on Wednesday.

 

[disneyholic family]

i don't know...i can only tell you that in our rotation we only had teenage and older diners......no little tikes at all....and not even that many teenagers now that i think about it...
it may have been the teens decided to go off on their own...who knows....

as for sitting alone....i'd ask for it....we prefer eating alone...
when our kids were younger, we used to go on these week long hiking vacations twice a year (in the desert or mountains, depending on the time of the year).....dining was in a big mess hall with everyone at these long communal tables....which was fine....except every now and then we'd get these really strange or intrusive people that we'd really rather not have had to make conversation with (one woman kept telling us how many calories were in EVERYTHING we ate....i was ready to put my fist in her mouth....it was so funny though....my husband and kids, who are very tall and very very thin and eat tons and tons and tons of food, chowed down with such gusto just to spite her....i couldn't help but laugh)....
anyway.....while it's fun to talk to others and make new friends, we prefer to be just a family at dinner...then we don't have to be embarrassed about our weird eating habits....

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Hmm, that's a thought. We were seated with others at Beirgarten but I think we lucked out- seeing as we are a family of 5 they didn't have many seats left so we were seated and then 2 women (together) were seated with us later on. They were nice and not intrusive at all. (and btw, who KNOWS if they were "bothered" by being seated with our family- don't really know, but they didn't seem bothered? We don't let our kids act like heathens though- and we were seated on the outside so our many trips to the buffet and the one time the kids got up to go down to the stage for the stuff they were doing there should not have been bothersome to them- hopefully not!)

But I guess it COULD be weird.... especially in a case like you said. LOL Telling me the calories or something of that nature (commenting on my choice of food at all would bug me to be honest LOL) would get on my nerves too....

Okay so maybe they do ONLY teens/adults on the one rotation.... and we'd end up in the "middle" on- where it's not all adults/teens but not all the YOUNG children? Probably so- considering 2 of ours wouldn't be all that young?

 

[disneyholic family]

that's true...i'm sure we're a strange family to have to eat with...
we don't drink alcoholic beverages of any kind....not a drop.....no beer...no wine....nothing.....and we don't eat desert....at dinner that is, because we're too full from eating double portions of everything else...
yup...we're definitely strange...

 

[jvas]

We will be taking the 4 night cruise on the Wonder starting
July 4th 2004, do they have only 1 formal night on the 4 day cruise? If so, is it in a particular restuarant?

Originally posted by BibbidyBobbidyBoo
How does it usually work? I mean do they have some tables for parties of 2, some for 4, but the rest all together? If so, our family of 5 will most likely always be at a long table with other famlies- right?

I hate to tell you- but I've asked for late dinner seating and I'm HOPING for the rotations that are either for older children or adults. We'll have varying ages of children at the time- so who knows which I'll get. but why do I prefer that? Well let's see....
1) as it stands now (from reading that chart) on those rotations end up being the restaurants I would prefer being at when semi-formal and formal. I'd rather NOT have to do semi-formal and formal at P and A- and then Lumieres on other nights- that's dressing up more nights(since Lumieres is usually dressier- right?)! I'm not the type that would want us all wearing our "dressier" stuff over and over for all semi-formal, formal, and then Lumiere's nights on top of that. So we'd have to have MORE dinner clothing brought with us, more shoes, etc. LOL
2) I'm HOPING (and I know my kids real well right now- unless they do a 100% change-around by the time of our cruise) that the kids won't want to leave the clubs/labs to come to dinner. Most likely they will not- that is just how they are and I can see us having major issues about getting them OUT of the clubs/labs. Probably only to swim- other than that we'll have to fight them! And if that is the case... I, like yourself, would rather be dining with older children/adults. I'd be bummed to FINALLY have some dinners without our children -only to end up with a ton of other kids all around us anyway. I plan on even trying to "make" this work out by having the kids eat earlier at Topsiders or something- so we'd have even a better chance of eating alone. I don't think that will be a problem with my children- they are NOT the type that would want to leave a fun enviroment to go sit and eat dinner for an hour or more.... just not their cup of tea at all. LOL
Plus I can see it now... they'd just about FLIP to be able to eat "junk" at dinner instead of going to eat with us. I can even tell you what they'd eat- youngest two chicken nuggets, oldest pizza. LOL

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Jvas- I really have no idea. I hope someone can answer your question. Sorry I can't help, we haven't cruised yet and I haven't looked into that because our first cruise is going to be a 7 day cruise.

disneyholicfamily- I don't think that's weird. We don't drink alcohol either. Well we HAVE -but the times are few and far between. Maybe 2-3 times in the past 10yrs on special occasions? But definitely not regular drinkers. And I'm the same way- never have room for dessert. I TRY to -if desserts are especially intriguing- but it never works out that way. In most restaurants I end up being full after appetizer and salad... and end up taking 3/4 of my meal home. LOL

 

[rae519]

disneyholic family - Loved that stodgie comment~!!~ I can apprecaite your comments and enjoy them! Tom is 53, I'm 48 - and Michael is 8 - we want our dinner on the ship to be the same as our dinner at home (good manners, polite conversation). He was very shocked at the children who did not show good table manners.

My Mom likes to eat alone (she's 74) - we did have this once during a cruise - very nice!!!! But we have also had wonderful times with DIS friends and well behaved children!! So it's a toss up!!

But if Michael says, "Kid's club??" - you'd see me there in a heartbeat! Love more adult time dining!!!

Since you say you are a "strange family" - if we ever cruise together, we can sit together!!! HAAHHAHA!!!

Rae

 

[mmouse37]

There are no formal nights on the 3 and 4 day cruises. Triton's dress code is a jacket for Tritons, but there is no formal night.

MJ

 

[kcashner]

In my experience, a family of 5 is usually seated at a table for 6 with one place left empty. Most of the tables are for 4 or 6, and are pushed together to make the long "mega tables" for the groups of 18. They really do a remarkable job of seating families together without others....except that they sometimes place groups of 2 with other people (again, usually another group of 2 or 2 groups of 2 at a table for 6), so it isn't like you are the outsider at someone else's table.

We don't drink alcohol (well, maybe one drink a year!), but never found that to be a big issue on the ship. We do eat the desserts....hee hee. But, your server will do whatever you want. They offer alcohol, but don't really push it. Of course, if you don't order dessert, you server may bring one anyhow...or bring all 5!

Suggestion...if you want to be at a table with just your family, tell them at the time of booking, and confirm that you got it soon after you board. We've never had a problem getting any request honored. However, one time, we requested our favorite server and got him. Another family was very upset that they had requested him and NOT gotten him. It turned out that 15 people had requested him on that cruise, and not all requests could be met. He made a point of visiting with the families that couldnt' get him and chatting with them, etc. We found this out because we met one of the families that didn't get him, and they knew about us (multiple cruises, same server, etc). I think the key is that there are 2 of us, whereas a party of 8 would have been more difficult to move.

Bottom line...tell DCL what you'd like to have. They will do their best to meet your requests.

 

[mmouse37]

We are a party of 5 and on two of our DCL cruises we were seated at a table for 8 with a party of 3.

MJ

 

[rae519]

Largest we shared was on the Wonder, 3 of us with 2 friends linked to our reservation seated with a family of 5 - children all under age 8 and the most well behaved children you could ever imagine. We dined late and the children were always neat, clean and had very good table manners - youngest was 3! You couldn't have asked for a nicer family or better table mates!

Sometimes you just get lucky!

Rae

 

[awatt]

kcashner and rae- Who are your very favorite servers?

 

[blueswoman]

I myself was wondering if there was a formula for kid/adult seatings and rotations. We are travelling with 6 adults and 4 kids, ages 2, 5, 8, and 11. I guess in our case there was no "predominant" age group (my parents are in their 50's and 60's, 4 of us are in our 30's and of course the 4 kids.) Plus DCL gave us late rotation. My sister's kids go to bed at 7:00PM most nights, so this may be a challenge for them. Maybe we should consider trying to change our dinner times to the earlier seating.

We figured we would eat a cheese tray and have some cocktails or something in the rooms earlier (the adults, not the kids!) and feed the kids something to tide them over before the show, in order to deal with the 8:30 seating--which means our kids will be in bed around 10:30 at night--which cuts in to our bar time!

Of course, never having cruised on DCL, and being accompanied by 4 kids, all plans are subject to change

I don't really care which restaurant we are in on what nights--I planned on dressing well anyway. I love to dress up and I'm looking forward to this opportunity!

 

[disneyholic family]

you can call DCL and request early seating...
if your kids can't make it to the late seating, then earlier is better...