MDR: Do they ever sit families with young children with adult only groups?

[dcassetta]

No! They have never done this, unless the adult only group were travel companions in a different cabin.

I have to disagree with you, based on my personal experience. Two of my cruises where I traveled with my mom, once on the Wonder and once on the Fantasy we were placed at a table with a family that had a small child. On all of my other cruises, I've only been placed at the table with other adults. Either of those situations has been fine with me. I've never had unpleasant table mates and have had enjoyable conversations.

 

[CurtisB]

In 5 cruises we've never been disappointed with our tablemates and still keep in touch with people from all of our cruises. They do a fantastic job of matching people up and it's part of the fun of cruising.

 

[TrySomethingNew]

We've always gotten our own table (2A, 2K) -Dream, Magic. We did not request a private table, we just got them. However, I personally would leave it to Disney - if you are seated with others, they will likely seat you with similar aged kids. Shy kids? Just stick an adult buffer between them or they will sit on your lap (like they would anyway). Also, if you are paired with other parents traveling with their infant/toddlers you may get to have a good/relevant conversation.

The crazy table mates thread is a funny read- but you'll motice that you can request to switch tables, or the other family might not even show up again. Have a great cruise!!

 

[MickeyManiacMom]

My experience has been mixed. On our honeymoon cruise (which was documented with DCL) my husband and I who were traveling as a party of two, were seated with a family of 4 with 2 small children. Not very romantic, but perhaps a life lesson all the same for us newlyweds. LOL! We made the best of it.

All of our following trips with various numbers in our party, we've always had private tables.

 

[clten]

There are some people on this board who if you don't do things exactly as they would do them, you are cruising wrong. It's fine to get another perspective to help make your choice but don't let them put you off an experience that might be right for your family. Only you know your children and how they might react to dining with others. I assume you didn't think they would be traumatized dining with others or you wouldn't have asked the question. (Sometimes putting a shy child in a controlled situation like this will help them build some skills to overcome their shyness.)

Now that you have other perspectives, if it has sparked some things you hadn't considered and now think getting a table for just your family is the best way to go, then call and make the request. But if you don't have new concerns and still think that it might be a fun cruise experience to have DCL seat you with others, go for it. We have had all sorts of experiences with table mates. Some have become great friends, some we were glad to see go at the end of a cruise. But all in all, the good tablemates have enhanced our cruise experience but the bad tablemates never lessened it.

 

[MUN]

I have to disagree with you, based on my personal experience. Two of my cruises where I traveled with my mom, once on the Wonder and once on the Fantasy we were placed at a table with a family that had a small child.

So it has happened only twice.

 

[tinkerone]

I agree with clten. You know your children best. There is fear mongering sometimes and I don't think that does anyone any good. Yes the thread posted has some bad results but I would bet if you saw a post about good tablemates it would be five times as long. The tendency is to post the bad, seldom the good.

I think even shy children would benefit from a shared table with a similar group or just others. If your child is undecided about the kids clubs and they meet up with another child going to the clubs then it could take fear away. They would have a buddy to go with. The parents could share their experiences and as this is your first cruise you may learn things that you didn't know. Great benefit right there.
All in all, I don't think it would be harmful in anyway to have your children learn to dine with others. The plus, they could make life long friends, that would be nice.
All up to you but don't be fearful from things you may read. Your experience could be totally different from others. Enjoy your cruise.

 

[bumbershoot]

I honestly don't know exactly how they do it, but absolutely DCL does has those "demographics" to pair-up traveling parties.

Agreed.

As its our first cruise we are keen to get the most of the experience... part of which is shared dining. I really cant decide!
I will report back after our cruise.

Just go with the shared dining.


I say this AS a shy kid (and adult)....even if they are shy, kids want to be around other kids. And ultimately it can help them. But gosh, the 1 year old won't even care, and the 4 year old isn't likely to have this be a problem. In my experience. (and from my experience BEING that shy 4 year old hiding behind my mom *when being introduced to adults*) As a kid (and adult) I also had and have a ridiculous amount of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), so if I was coddled and kept away from kids because I might be shy (and sometimes my mom did that b/c she was an extrovert and absolutely positively did NOT know how to deal with me, even though she really wanted to help), I would then be jealous of the fun I wasn't having. (and that still happens. sigh.)

On our first Disney cruise we chose to not dine with extended family because the kids love each other and talk and are silly and don't eat. Mistake. We barely spent time with them because of it, or our time was very split. The kids would have gotten hungry enough, they would have eaten. And we could have spent a lot of time together. Silly us.

 

[shoes99]

A nice story. We are adults, no kids, and we were seated at a 6 top. We arrived first, and the server says Hello Mrs C., didn't know how he could know our names.
Next a family of 4 come down with two beautiful teenage daughters. The server says Hello Mrs C.
The family of 4 had the same last name as us. They were delightful. They had just suffered a terrible loss, their 12 year old son
died of leukemia. They were doing the cruise to thank the older sisters for their patience and kindness towards their little brother.
They were from the west coast, and we were from the east coast. The teenagers excused themselves after the main course to go
to their club. The adults stayed for dessert and coffee and they were able to share some great memories of their son with two
complete strangers. The girls were delightful and great tablemates. How did Disney know to match us up??

 

[FigmentSpark]

Everyone's different. We look at dinner time as our time to catch up. Having to share that with others would be okay, but I want to just be able to enjoy my family's company. Now if I meet you in the theatre or on deck or at the checkout in a shop, we'll be quite friendly. But meal time is my family time.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

We have been really happy with our table mates. Disney definitely matches you up with kids of same ages, or similar. One cruise our tablemates had a DS with same birthday as our DS, right down to the same month and day. Another time we were a bit worried at first as the family at our table did not have any boys, but the girls were the same age as our DS and they really hit it off anyway. After the first night, one of the little girls would re-arrange the drinks at the table to make sure she was sitting beside our son. She would hold DS' hand when they went to the kids club at the end of their dinner. Of course it was very cute as the kids were only 6. For our third cruise disney asked me on the phone (i was calling them about something else) if we want to put in a request for a private table and my answer was No.
I think it's a great part of cruising, but I realize not everyone likes it.

 

[Imahikergirl]

My first cruise when we were booking with our TA, DD requested a table for 6. Disney seated us with another couple with a DD only 10 months younger than our DD. They became fast friends the first dinner and they had an awesome time together the whole cruise. We enjoyed the company as well.

 

[OrcaPotter]

I just returned from the Fantasy and my family of 3 always requests a 4-top. I indicated "private" with my TA but all that means is just a table that limits additional guests, I'm sure. For the first time in 5 DCL cruises, we had a tablemate: a solo adult traveler. I'm sure this person was placed with us because we were an odd numbered group of adults... Not necessarily in the same age range, though. It certainly made for an awkward meal each night, as we didn't really mesh.

On the other hand, when I did a 4 night with my best friend, we were paired with 2 awesome people who we are still friends with to this day. It was great when I was with my best friend, but when I'm with family I prefer it just be us.

 

[roobug]

Another thing to think about is if you are going to have your four year old go to the club you may want to have table mates - they may have a child the same age that your child can buddy up with in the club make it easier and more fun to go to the club. It may not happen but if you have a table by yourself there is no chance of it happening.

 

[kiford]

We have no children and have always been placed at tables with adults only. We've been generally pleased with our table pairings. We've been seated twice with one couple (unplanned but very happy it happened). On our second Med cruise we were seated with a couple and two brothers. We got along so well we planned another cruise together last year. The couple convinced friends of theirs who they had met on a previous cruise to come along. We've visited the couple in Florida when we went to WDW last year and are visiting them again this year. The brothers have visited them too. We keep in touch; we also keep in touch with a couple we met on our first Med cruise.

Thank you for the further input. Im now undecided. Do I go for the safe option, or take a risk on a weird pairing ?

If you get a weird pairing you can ask your head server to reseat you on the first night.

We've even had good experiences with meeting people at breakfast or lunch or on excursions, running into them later and having a nice time together. After all - you know you have at least one interest in common: Disney!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Our experience has always been seated with a family with children of similar age. I honestly don't know exactly how they do it, but absolutely DCL does has those "demographics" to pair-up traveling parties. Ages of passengers is no secret and can easily be written into a computer program to match similar. Is it guaranteed? No, there may always be a couple of parties that don't match up. But in our experience it has worked very well. As others state, you can request a change if you find you simply don't "mesh" with the others at your table.

Enjoy your cruise!

I agree. DCL can match ages, locations, and does keep some info on file for repeat cruisers. We've practically always been assigned to tables with adult only groups. Only exception - our cruise we had our just turned 19 year old son with us. We were at a table with a mom and her 16 year old son, 12 year old daughter, 22 year old daughter and 3 year old grandson. I think the "match" there was the two boys, possibly the 22 year old and a 19 year old (young adults) and the fact that they, as well as us, were from a southern California location.

And, there's going to be some "left-over" groups that get seated together, on occasion. But we've pretty much been matched up with similar demographic groups on all cruises.

 

[Hundredacre]

We hate it when our servers have a huge table in their section. The service is never smooth because the servers get overwhelmed by and consumed with the big table.

 

[FamilyHolidayPlanner]

Thank you to everyone who has posted their experiences here- it has been very useful. Our 4 yr old loves making new friends and we hope he would be more likely to sit through a long dinner service with some company. So, we have decided to take the "risk" and not request our own table. We leave in just over a week- I will report back after our cruise to let you know how it goes

 

[KristiMc]

Thank you to everyone who has posted their experiences here- it has been very useful. Our 4 yr old loves making new friends and we hope he would be more likely to sit through a long dinner service with some company. So, we have decided to take the "risk" and not request our own table. We leave in just over a week- I will report back after our cruise to let you know how it goes

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[mevelandry]

DH and I are child free, most of our friends had children when we met them and I can reassure you: the kids all survived the first dinners with us... Even worst: they LOVE us now. Bunch of weirdos.