Pros/Cons of linking dining with other DIS'ers?

[MelissaE1]

There is some talk on our cruise thread of some people linking dining. I think it sounds like fun to have a group of DIS'ers, but last time we had our own table of 4 and DH liked it that way. (He has a fear of getting stuck with someone at dinner that he doesn't connect with and having to make small talk all night). Of course we know that we may not have our own table this time, and I don't plan on requesting one.

The other thing that I think is holding people back is several people are already traveling in groups of their own. Thus far the interest has been shown by just a few people with younger children, which would be fine for dd7, but not so hot for ds11. He does tend to eat with us. The older kids on our cruise seem to be already attached to family groups.

So, question 1: Can people already in their own group of, say, 10 or 12 people link dining with a bigger group of DIS'ers and stay together? That way maybe we would still be close to someone his age.

And question 2: Have you done this, and what do you think of it?

TIA!

 

[ivanova]

on the repo cruise it actually caused problems for our group of 8 rooms (21 people) -- our TA had to call DCL more than half a dozen times because 3 of our rooms (7 people) needed to be on late dining, and the rest of us on main dining, because of all the Dis linking they kept getting pulled back into main dining -- we also had to "fix" some table assignments once we got onboard as well.

so although it was a great sounding idea, it didn't work out for us.

 

[scrapperjill]

(Ivanova) It sounds more like it didn't work for you because not every room in your group wanted to be at the same dinning time...which dosen't seem or sound like that's the case with the OP. As long as everyone who is linking is wanting to have dinner at the same time those sort of issues shouldn't come up. Myself...I'm not sure what other reasons you'd even have for linking your reservations together with others in the first place.....are there other things besides being seated together at dinner you get from linking?

OP....I didn't even think about dinning with others on our first cruise...either I just didn't pay attention to know that it was possible or I was to focused on the rotation to even find out...(which is what I think it was ). But some how we were sat alone...just our family(4). Which I really enjoyed. After having our kids off most of the day in the club and lab or just haning out with their new friends on the ship...it was nice to get together as a family for dinner...It gave us a chance to regroup and hear what everyone did. But....knowing it's just the luck of the draw as to getting tablemates or not..makes it a hard choice to make. Take the chance of DCL picking tablemates for you... or pick someone yourself. Myself...if I had a choice to either pick or have DCL pick...I'd rather do the picking. After all if you choose a fellow diser....at least you'll have that in common.

I've heard of LARGE dis groups linking reservations and being sat near each other in the dinning rooms...which could always be a possablity....as long as everyone wants the same dinning time.

And you never know...by picking a fellow diser to dine with...it could be the start to a wonderful thing. We met some great disers on our first cruise...and by hanging out together and chatting quite a bit...we became good friends...and all decided to rebook for the same time this year...I hadn't planned on meeting alot of people onboard...and never imagined I'd find people and connect so well..and to all cruise together again...

Anyways good luck on your choice.

Oh...I was also going to say...that I totally know what your DH is thinking...When we went to either breakfast or lunch onboard...and were sat with others... I felt VERY awkard...and felt like we HAD to make small talk. But I think if we were sat with the same group every night...it would get better and better as the week went on.

 

[musicgirl]

I thought it was great fun to get to know people from the cruise and then hook up for dinner. We were only linked with 1 dis family and 1 non. Mom2Belle&PeterPan had the REAS so when she talked to them about ressies for that, she was able to request if they could find a family with her dd age since we both had boys the same age.

We all got along great. So much that our server, Sami couldn't believe we had not met previously.

Our very first cruise was left to chance. While nice people who tolerated my ds's constant chatter, they had children in their early 20's.

 

[WDWLVR]

On our 10 day cruise last December we had two different people organizing dining (one for main and one for late). It worked great. Several families requested their own tables (some for 4, one for 6). Yet because they were linked with us their tables were right next to ours. So they had family time, but also everyone said hello as they were coming in and chatting on the way out. Of course there was also a little mingling going on between crouses (nothing to get in the way of the servers, just walking over with little gifts (Christmas eve) and things like that.


So maybe you could put through a reguest for a table for 4, but be linked to others to be in the same are.

We are trying the same thing on the Member Cruise tomorrow. We are at a table for 10 but I know of a few other families that have linked to be near us.

 

[my3kids]

I wouldn't do this for this reason: We were on a cruise a few weeks ago and were origionally placed with a nightmare family. We couldn't get out of the dining room quickly enough. The headwaiter switched us to a different seating and we never saw the Nightmare's again. It would have been even more uncomfortable if we had requested to sit with the Nightmare's, then had to disappear. It is a lot easier to dislike a stranger that you have no connection to than someone you thought you liked but in the end didn't. JMO

 

[Verandah Man]

We,ve linked our ressies with other DIS'ers for all three of our cruises so far and have had wondering dining experiences with them, so much so that we keep in contact with all of them quite often. For our August 2006 cruise, we already have about 11 or 12 ressies linked together, several families of whom I got to meet last month, at our mini DISmeet in WDW for dinner at the Trail's End Restaurant.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

On the May Repo cruise we had someone (thanks Steve - airtime 247) link dining reservations for the people with late dining...and we had a blast. We were at a table for 8 and I only knew these people before the cruise from our cruise meet thread but my Mom and I now have 6 friends for life (Hi Table 9 buddies...Steve, Amy, Bill, Liz, Angela & Susan )....we have stayed in contact since our cruise and are even planning a trip to WDW together in 2006!!!!! I think in total Steve linked and had something like 50 tables of Diser's...we were all sitting in the same general location of the restaurant and it was so much fun to see everyone at dinner!!!!! I guess each cruise is different, but we had so much fun with our DisBoard group that many of us have stayed in contact since the cruise and a lot of us are going on the 11 day Southern Caribbean cruise in September 2006!!!!!!!

Would I link dining reservations again...in a heartbeat....

 

[MelissaE1]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I can see there have been widely different experiences with this. My3kids, what happened to you is my worst fear... what if we didn't get along and we had asked to be there? Yikes! Actually, I worry more about DH being miserable than me. I can get a feel for people at least a little on the cruise meet thread, but I would hate it if he was "stuck" with someone he couldn't get a conversation going with for the whole 7 days and I was responsible.

It sounds like you could request to have a table for four but near other dis'ers, which would be really nice, if you actually got it.

Still thinking about it, but with much more info to base my decision on. Thanks to everyone who answered!

 

[airtime247]

I'm the one who booked the late dining for the westbound repo cruise (Hi Elaine! Miss you!)

In all we had 70 people filling up 12 tables. There were a lot of hurdles for a group this size. By default, Disney lumps everyone together when you link dining. The problem is that if you have families or groups in different cabins who want to be seated together, they may get split unless you call the dining coordinator, Debbie Wargo at 407-566-7411.

In one case, we had a family of four along with the DW's parents. We wanted to make sure they were at the same table. We also had a group of three who wanted to dine with one other person. We even had a group of 10 who wanted to stay together. Unfortunately, we could only get tables for 8, 6, and 4 so they had to go on a 6 and 4. We had to fill those up before we were given another block of 8, 6, and 4. In other words, we couldn't just request all tables for 8. My understanding is that they also only have a couple of tables for 10 in each dining room.

Debbie was a huge help and is what made this go so smooth. We ended up getting everyone together who wanted to be seated together. We were also seated fairly close to one another but for us it was more of a long row than a block in a corner.

If someone wants to organize this, I recommend nominating one person (who has my condolences I assure you) who will gather everyone's reservation numbers, cabin numbers, and names. Basically just list everyone's seating preferences and then call them in and have them linked to the reservation number for the person calling.

It is a lot of work but it was incredibly rewarding. As fun as the cruise itself was, it was the wonderful people I met and became friends with that truly made this the trip of a lifetime for me. I really have made friends for life with my tablemates. We email each other almost daily and DW and I just got back from a trip to Disneyland and San Diego with another tablemate who flew out from Georgia. Like Elaine said, we even have a great reunion trip to WDW planned for next year.

I'm sure it's always a little worrysome for anyong going in to a situation where you are seated with strangers. I wouldn't have guessed that our table of eight from Ontario, Georgia, Texas and California with ages ranging from 28 to 70 would have had such a great time but I honestly can't tell you the last time I've had so many laughs and good times. We actually dreaded going to Palo because it took us away from our tablemates for a night. Spooky stuff!

At least with DISers, unlike any other random party you may be seated with, you have something in common going into the trip. You can also get a feel for their personalities on the cruise meets thread to see if you think you might gel before committing to spending a week at the table with them.

Good luck and have fun with whatever decision you make!

-steve

 

[Ker-Bear]

I am doing this for our 9/06 cruise. I will try to organized it so each party gets their own table and we are all next to one another. So far, those interested in linking on my meet are traveling with a group. For example I have 7 in my party split between three cabins.

I got Debbie's name from the DIS board however, she asked me not to publicize the dining coordinator "methods'". In addition, I was afraid if we bombarded her, DCL would not offer this type of "service". She is super sweet and was very helpful.

With that being said, I agree that only one person should coordinate this. That way, Debbie is only dealing with one person instead of twelve people. You have to have the same dining time.

I can't imagine not having a good time with DIS'ers or not liking them. In all my time on these boards, I have only seen one person be ugly in their posts.

DIS'ers seem to be people who love all things Disney and I would imagine they are so happy to be on a Disney Cruise how could they be anything but wonderful.

 

[Hygiene99]

Funny..

We take our chances when it comes to dining , never know who you are going to meet..

on our last Cruise in May We ended up at a table for 6 All DISERS..

one couple we had cruised with before and the other we just met..

And a great time was had by all..

 

[verandah]

On the August Repo cruise we linked 101 early diners. We all sat in the same section of the restaurant and we all had the same rotation, I thought it was a great idea and hope to do it again.