Should I / can I request a table for 4 for just my family??

[Leigha]

I'm not sure about sitting with strangers each night. I suppose it works out well if you get along well. My sister said the people she sat with were nice but reserved. I think it made her uncomfortable. Can you - should we - request our own table? Do I have my TA do that?

 

[Michelle]

Sure you can! Just have your TA request a table for four on your reservation. DCL won't guarantee you'll get it but they'll do their best.

 

[Leigha]

Is that what you would recommend? I've never cruised before so I don't know.

 

[CamColt]

You should do what you are most comfortable with.

Personally, I dread the thought of eating with strangers and it is really bothering me that most likely that will be the case. In fact we almost didnt book Disney just because they have no tables for 2(in the end my love for Disney won out). However, some people look forward to having tablemates and go on a cruise with the specific intent to meet new people. In fact, Ive been called "weird" on these boards because I want to spend time alone with DH and not with strangers. But, everyone is different and you have to do what you would like the most. In the end, its up to DCL anyway, but you can try and ask for what you want. Good Luck!

 

[CarolAnnC]

On my first cruise my late husband and I requested a table for four with our two DD's. We did enjoy it as a family and I am so glad now we were able to have that special time together.

On my next cruise I linked my ressies with those of two other staterooms which were relatives and friends. We had a blast also.

My last cruise, my DD's and I were seated with two other sets of people. They were very nice, but older people. The girls did not enjoy it as much as they were the youngest there and felt somewhat stifled as far as their usual laughing and kidding around. I think I would request a table alone the next cruise, if possible.

 

[Diz-Me]

Hi Leigha

On our DCL cruise in 2000 with DD and DS we requested and got a table for 4. We have requested a table for 4 for our upcoming DCL cruise again. With teenagers it is nice to have some long uninterrupted dinners for a change!

(I called DCL directly to request our table for 4.)

When DH and I cruise without the kids we do like to sit with others and have been fortunate to have had some very interesting tablemates in the past. But the thought of spending 7 evenings with people you don't particularly enjoy is always a concern.

 

[cruisnfamily]

On our only other Disney Cruise we(DH, me, DD, DS) were seated with a family of 4. 2 adults and kids about 10 & 12. Mine were 4 & 7 at the time. These people were real duds. They were complaining about everything and had that "entitlement" mentality and expected to have their feet kissed. We just contained our conversations to our family and virtually ignored them. we were not rude, they had no interest in us either. We are again requesting a large table in hopes of getting better tablemates and possibly friends for the kids who will be 6 & 9 this time.

 

[wdwobsessed]

My TA requested it for me. But also suggested we go to the place they are doing dining changes to request it again once on board.

I REALLY hate even places like I-HOP where they have those long booths and tables with just a few feet between them.

I hope we get a 4 top.

wdwo

 

[mouseclick1]

I was expecting to eat with table mates on our first cruise, and was a bit uneasy about this. Surprisingly, we were seated at a table for just the 4 of us. I really enjoyed being with just the family, and made this request the second time we cruised. They did honor our request with a table for 4. It's not that I don't like meeting other people, but at dinnertime, I really prefer to be with my own family.

 

[dis4me]

On Our first cruise we were giving a 4 top for our family. At first I was disappointed because I thought it would be fun to meet new people.However we thoroughly enjoyed it and requested it for our second cruise. Luckily DCL was able to accomodate us on the second cruise. The table next to ours had people who didn't show up until halfwaythrough the meal and then kept our poor waiters busy with drink orders(one family member at a time).After seeing this I knew I made the right choice.This way whent he kids are done you can leave and not have to worry about anyone else.

 

[chrisn]

and got a table for 4. At first I was also disappointed but it turned out to be wonderful because we were totally catered to by our servers at dinner. Not only did we notice but people at other tables around us were talking about how much time they spent at our table. Maybe it was just the company because we loved them and I believe they were very comfortable with us. It was wonderful.

 

[dianthus]

On our first cruise, my family of 3 sat with an older couple and another family of 3. 15 minutes into dinner the first evening, we knew it was not going to work! The family of 3 uttered about 5 words (& that included their names) the entire dinner. They didn't even talk to, or look at each other. The older couple ( 80 ish... ) complained about everything and then some. It was really bad! We are pretty friendly & "up" people and they were bringing us down. I got up in the middle of dinner and spoke to the Head Server. He found us a table for 4, so we sat by ourselves the next evening, which was just fine with us after one evening with the other crew. We made friends with the table next to us & we had the best time for the rest of the cruise.

It's your vacation. If your tablemates aren't a good match, ask for a "transfer". I'm really glad we did!

 

[DisneyBB]

I hated the thought of sharing on our cruise and requested several times to have a table just for 3. When we boarded we were given our table allocation and found that we were sharing. I went down to change it as soon as I could and they said they had not note of my request! But they did give us a table for 3. I think for us it was important because we were with our 4 yr old and she would have felt uncomfortable with all the other adults. Next time it will be our 3.5 yr and 8 yr old, so we would request a table on our own again.

 

[Chattyaholic]

on our 1/13/01 Magic cruise. We didn't make any kind of "request" before our cruise. My husband and I were celebrating our 25th anniversary and didn't have any children with us so we were "expecting" to be seated with other adults as the cruise brochure states that "generally adults will dine with other adults and families will dine with other families." I was very surprised to see crayons at one of the table settings when we went to dinner the first night of our cruise. The couple we were seated with had three children, the youngest was about 6 and was rather annoying but we decided to "put up with it" rather than request a change. The other couple was nice, and conversation flowed quite easily with them, but we had absolutely nothing in common with them. We are cruising on the Magic again next January and if we don't really, really like our tablemates we will request a change this time. Also, last time we didn't eat at Palo's as we didn't want to "miss anything" in our regular dining rotation but this time we hope to eat at Palo's at least one night, possibly two if we can get the reservations for it. And I've heard that Topsiders is now open for dinner, so we'll have that choice as well.

 

[scottie]

Hi!

We will be sailing on Sept. 22 and there will be a total of 5 in our party made of 3 adults and 2 children. I think we would like to be seated by ourselves if possible. We booked our reservation through DVC a few weeks back. Any suggestions as to who we should call to request a table to ourselves be added to our reservation?

Thanks
Scott and Sunny