I have not said that food quality has dropped because I don't know. I still would not spend extra money to go to another restaurant when I have already paid of food in my general package price. I'm sure the food in those other places was great, but I never had a bad one in the already paid for dining room or buffet either.
And I'm saying that it started, I'm guessing, with Covid when they had to put space between people to start back up again, and just like Disney a light went on and they figured that they could continue that for some that don't want to share a large table. And if they don't charge extra for that now, if it becomes a more common request, there will be an extra charge for that if there isn't already.
On Royal, it was an option on our 2013 cruise. We had a group of five in 2014 and weren't even asked.
That means you did share the table with people that you already knew and asked to be together at your table. Not the same thing. 9 compared to 2 changes the entire dynamic. I suspect also the each shipping company has different rules that can change daily. So far no one has mentioned the two ships I have been on Carnaval and Celebrity!
sitting with your party only did NOT start with Covid. NCL was doing it at least as early as 2010 and Royal at least as early as 2015. Personal experience in both cases.
You keep saying this, but multiple posters have told you that it isn't accurate. NCL, for example, has had freestyle dining since 2001. DH and I have been on many cruises well before COVID and we never shared a table with anyone else unless we chose to have a meal with people we met on the cruise. And I am certain from other family member experiences on other cruise lines (again PRE-COVID) that they did not have to share tables with strangers. And no, the cruise lines aren't charging for it. You are misinformed and keep doubling down despite everyone who has experience cruising telling you that you are making incorrect assumptions.
Yes, NCL, marketed freestyle dining quite a bit. Never traveled with them but a friend did at the same time we were on RC, in Bermuda. One boat waiting for the other to leave and then a race back to NYC to beat a hurricane. She commented on the food :
but of course things couldve changed since then.
TBH, if that was a concern why get on a cruise with literally hundreds and possibly thousands of people in the first place? I suspect most current day cruisers aren’t really worrying about their health on that level anymore.
I don't disagree with you on the surface I really don't. But what I'm saying is that the cruise lines know that this is something that is sensitive in nature. Even though norovirus and the like was a known thing on cruise ships and talked about look at how much attention is being paid towards the Queen Victoria cruise (I don't know if they've identified it as norovirus though just naming a high-profile illness that happens on cruises).
No, you are incorrect, it started before COVID, I don’t think COVID had anything to do with people wanting their own tables. However, due to loss of revenue there have been several changes, food options and quality has gone down, there is a fee for room service on some lines, the daily gratuity has increased, lack of towel animals, pillow mints are long gone, housekeeping just once a day instead of twice, no midnight or chocolate buffets…
While traditional seating is still offered, since the dining rooms consist of so many tables for 2 or 4, despite saying I am willing to share, the few tables for 10-12 are taken by large families.@kdonnel from an article dated March, 2023
”A good number of cruise lines today still offer "traditional" dining, which dates back to the era of transoceanic liners: a fixed mealtime at the same assigned table each night. This leaves passengers with some degree of uncertainty, like where their table will be and who they'll be sitting with. Other cruise lines, however, ask for preference on table size at the time of booking, and generally seat guests at tables ranging in size from two to eight seats. ”
You can still do it just do your research before you book
To each their own. We usually split half the nights between the MDR and half specialty dining. We don't really eat at the buffet except for breakfast sometimes or to grab a quick snack. We were quite pleased with the options offered and always enjoyed our meals. But of course everyone's opinions on food vary.Yes, NCL, marketed freestyle dining quite a bit. Never traveled with them but a friend did at the same time we were on RC, in Bermuda. One boat waiting for the other to leave and then a race back to NYC to beat a hurricane. She commented on the food :
That's been a very annoying thing to see. They just keep increasing and increasing. HAL which was a company we were thinking about last year just increased theirs to $17 per day per guest for non-suite and $19 per day per guest for suites (we would have done a suite). They aren't the highest in the industry though.
Specialty dining is why I think table sharing died on cruises.
It does seem like multi-generational cruising seems to have picked up on interests.
Some of those things (midnight buffets and pillow mins for example) have been gone since long before Covid. Towel animals are still pretty common. And I can understand why they started charging for room service. Way too much waste.
Generally we looked for repeated patterns of comments when searching for all-inclusive resorts when we did Mexico last year and then cruises which helped understand personal preference over company-style. There have been a lot of threads for example detailing some very lackluster overall shared opinions regarding cruises for DCL on the food front and while some of that is going to be personal preference other shared experiences seemed to be more of an issue on DCL's side and sometimes that was just a specific cruise where it happened. It's gotta be hard to please a ton of people from all over though.
