Tablemates

[zeldacruiser]

A conversation with another cruiser got me to thinking...It's just me and my teenage daughter on the 7-night this time, and I've been counting on having a few tablemates to add to the conversation at dinner. Seems like with just two of us we're bound to get seated with others - anyone found it to be that way or otherwise? Disney seems to do a good job of matching people, and our ages are a clue that we're not honeymooners who want to be alone, but...should I bother checking on this when we get on board?

 

[allears]

You're correct that it is most likely that you will be seated with others. Disney will try to accomodate requests for couples and families who want to sit just with their own group. We are usually a family of 5 and have been seated with another family. On our last cruise it was just my DW and I and we ended up being seated alone, not because we had requested that, but because our rotation was changed to seat us in our favorite head server's station. Apparently to do this they just added a small table for us in the station. It turned out to be very nice and romatntic.

 

[ivanova]

If you are actually looking to have tablemates, I think it would be worth checking once onboard. Because if they end up seating you alone, if you check as soon as you board, they still have time to make some changes and seat you with someone else.

 

[jrabbit]

Put in a request that you sit at a larger table. That request is usually granted because there's a large group of people that will "only eat dinner with their family and not a bunch of strangers" (I've ignored my family the rest of the year and in these few days I want to make it up for the past year).

 

[sweetinmaine]

We had wonderful table mates on our Wonder cruise. A couple from Washington DC celebrating her birthday and a newlywed couple. It was just my DH and myself and we had the late seating. Very Nice....

 

[pdarrah]

Another option you may want to consider is joining up with someone from your cruise meet thread and requesting you be seated with each other. We had a wonderful time last October with DISer friends we "met" here. (On the weird side -they live less than 10 miles away from us!)

pdarrah

 

[Jilliebean]

Both times we have been seated with other people, Disney has done a GREAT job of matching us up. The first time we ended up with another family traveling with just one little girl just like us. Both girls were the same age and became great buddies on the ship. The second time we were seated with a Japanese American couple close to our age and a Japanese couple with a daughter my daugher's age. While communication was sometimes challenging because only the Japanese American couple could speak both languages it was also a blast! The three other times we've cruised with traveled with extended family and we were seated with only our large group. We enjoy it both ways!

 

[zeldacruiser]

Thanks for all the advice! I think I'll go ahead and let Disney work its magic, and then check once on board to make sure we have tablemates.

 

[kcashner]

Since I'm a single mom, DD and I are always travelling "alone together." On the Magic, we're normally seated with a group or another family. DCL has done a wonderful job of approximating the age of the daughter in the other family or families. On occasion, we have been seated alone--primarily when we have requested a change to our favorite server.

I'm all for letting the DCL computer work it's magic. It's always been good to us.

 

[zeldacruiser]

kcashner, your experience sounds like what I've been hoping for. My dream would be for us to be seating with a family including another teen, and having the teens hit it off well. And I wouldn't mind some adult conversation myself!

 

[logan1_2000]

On the two cruises that were not with extended family or friends, so that we were grouped by DCL with "Strangers", we're 1 for 2 in terms of success. First time DW, DS and I were paired with another family of three, though their daughter was 2 and DS was 6, there were terrific, we had fun, swapped ideas for the next day's shore activities, and often as not ended up running into them and hanging out some.

Last month we were seated with an assemblage of 5 family members, including cousins, great aunts, single mom and two kids, with all of their children in the party being teenagers. The teenagers were at a phase where it wasn't "cool" to pay attention if DS, now 8, tried to engage them in conversation, and these folks weren't communicative, anyway. Terribly stiffening every evening, and it did detract from the cruise experience. It happens, I guess. Just a completely different background and never found any conversation topic in common in order to find something in common to talk about.

I have requested DCL give us a table for 4 for the three of us for dinner, and while they won't guarantee, they took the request and we'll see. Would prefer a good match like the first example to just being by ourselves, but the downside to a bad match having been shown to me, I'd forfeit the comradery to avoid the deadening aspect of such poor luck again.

I like the idea of finding table buddies here at a cruise meet thread, and might change my tactics to that one.

 

[simba928]

I've never been on a DCL cruise, but I like the idea of table mates. If we end up going on one in January, I'll try and get my mom to request a larger table for the 4 of us. Does anyone know the table sizes? Thanks!

 

[sweetinmaine]

On our cruises, there were 6 of us to a table. There were smaller and larger tables in the room also. I never saw only 2 people at a table. Enjoy the experience and meet new friends. You've all got something in common just by lovin' Disney!

 

[bairdbeth]

My DD ( then 7) and I went last year on the Wonder. DCL placed us at a table with a family of 4. Their DD's were 4 and 6. It worked out great. We saw them around the ship. My DD loved swimming with the girls and dancing with them at the deck parties!