Would you request your own dinner table in this situation?

[pearljammer]

We are a family of 3 and have always had a private table - as that’s what we requested. Merely our preference.

 

[coast2coastmickey]

I've only been on one cruise but my wife has been on many.

I would feel weird at a private table. We're a family of 3 with a 1.5 year old; they sat us with a family of 5 with 2 young boys and 1 young girl. Wonderful people, and it was great getting to interact with them if only for a short time each evening.

I think the only time I would request to be moved would be if seated with a blatantly racist or otherwise horrible person.

Silly story: In the Port Canaveral terminal, before getting on the boat, some lady was talking with her peers about [politician] this and [politician] that. My wife remarked that we were about to unplug for a few days, and we better not hear ANY political talk one way or the other! We agreed that we would asked to be moved if she was at our table!

 

[SarahSnow]

My sister and I went our first cruise this past December we are in our 20's and were seated at a 6 top with 3 newlywed couples. They were all nice people but it was kind of awkward on the first night when everyone got a Congratulations dessert lol I also don't think that they were really "into" disney as much as we are they were really just there for a cruise experience

 

[NOLA_Tink]

...We're a family of 3 with a 1.5 year old; they sat us with a family of 5 with 2 young boys and 1 young girl. Wonderful people, and it was great getting to interact with them if only for a short time each evening...

Thanks for sharing this! I'll be with my mom (early 60's), DS5, & DD2. I was wondering if they paired toddlers with other really young kids. Althought DS5 will be in the Oceaneer's Lab most nights, I was worried that some people would not want to sit with other people's young children. However, I don't want a private table because my mother is a social butterfly and LOVES making new friends. I'm actually really looking forward to being seated with others because she'll have more people to talk to (and I've already heard her best stories several times, lol).

I'm still on the fence about whether DH & I are doing an adults-only cruise in February or if we'll bring the kids. (He can't come in November & it would be great to spend time with just him.) If it's just us, he'll probably want our own table because he isn't very talkative or social.

 

[jdb in AZ]

We've had dinner companions that were really a lot of fun, and others that were problematic. DH and I are often assigned with other couples and it's surprising how much we have in common -- or not.

It reminds me of a quote from Forrest Gump -- "Life is like a box of chocolates -- you never know what you're going to get." That also applies to table mates on a cruise.

 

[Van Houten]

Of our five cruises, we were only seated with others once. It was a 10-top with another family of 5, 4 adults and one girl about 7 (we were 2 adults and 3 kids, ages 6, 4 and 8m). I could definitely see us getting along if it was the main seating. However, this was late seating, and on most nights I went there with with two kids, had them fed and checked into kids club at 9, then finished quickly and brought dinner to my wife who stayed in the room with our little one. This routine wasn't a surprise for us - but we were likely very odd companions for our table mates.

 

[emilymad]

Do they ever put couples with families with children?

We have requested a table for 2 on most of cruises. Our request has only been granted 2 out of 5 times. One time we sat with others since it was only a 3 night cruise. We were seated with 2 other couples and we all had stuff in common. It worked out fine. On our last cruise we were given a table for 2 but our waiters had 2 other tables of 8 people each so we were completely ignored. It was like they shoved a table in and then forgot us. We ate at Cabanas most nights. I know we could have addressed this issue but it was another short cruise so we didn't worry about.

We have a 7 night coming up. We were wait listed to main dining which just came through. I hadn't put any other requests on our reservation since we really want main dining this trip. Do we try to request a table for 2 on the ship or just let it go? We don't want to switch to late dining. I feel like we are really pushing our luck with the requests.

 

[DisneYE]

Do they ever put couples with families with children?

We have requested a table for 2 on most of cruises. Our request has only been granted 2 out of 5 times. One time we sat with others since it was only a 3 night cruise. We were seated with 2 other couples and we all had stuff in common. It worked out fine. On our last cruise we were given a table for 2 but our waiters had 2 other tables of 8 people each so we were completely ignored. It was like they shoved a table in and then forgot us. We ate at Cabanas most nights. I know we could have addressed this issue but it was another short cruise so we didn't worry about.

We have a 7 night coming up. We were wait listed to main dining which just came through. I hadn't put any other requests on our reservation since we really want main dining this trip. Do we try to request a table for 2 on the ship or just let it go? We don't want to switch to late dining. I feel like we are really pushing our luck with the requests.

I would suggest to just let it go and see what you get. We joke amongst ourselves before going to the 1st MDR night saying "are you ready for the MDR roulette?" - and 6 out of 7 cruises we've been fortunate to have had good table mates.
After all, it's only 60-90 minutes a night (if that) you spend with other people at the same table. It's no big deal IMO.

Also, may I ask you, about your request for main dining:
- How far away is your cruise? and is it a 7 night or less?
We've also requested a change for our upcoming 7 night and nothing yet. We sail in 3 weeks.

 

[lds0191]

We have sat with others and also have requested a table by ourselves. We have made great friends dining with others but we now prefer sitting alone. My main reason is because dinner goes so much faster with a 3 or 4 top vs an 8 top with strangers. We usually have checked out the menu before hand and know what we want. I have noticed on the last 2 cruises a significant increase in families dining alone. There seem to be very few large tables and the ones we have paid attention to seem to be large groups traveling together. Or maybe they have all become very friendly in a short amount of time together, lol.

 

[dcassetta]

Do they ever put couples with families with children?

We have requested a table for 2 on most of cruises. Our request has only been granted 2 out of 5 times. One time we sat with others since it was only a 3 night cruise. We were seated with 2 other couples and we all had stuff in common. It worked out fine. On our last cruise we were given a table for 2 but our waiters had 2 other tables of 8 people each so we were completely ignored. It was like they shoved a table in and then forgot us. We ate at Cabanas most nights. I know we could have addressed this issue but it was another short cruise so we didn't worry about.

We have a 7 night coming up. We were wait listed to main dining which just came through. I hadn't put any other requests on our reservation since we really want main dining this trip. Do we try to request a table for 2 on the ship or just let it go? We don't want to switch to late dining. I feel like we are really pushing our luck with the requests.

About 10 years ago, I went on a cruise with just my mom. We were seated at a table with another adult daughter/mom pair and a couple with a son, if I recall correctly he was 11. Both families were nice, but that is the only time I have traveled with only adults when I was seated with a family with a child.

It is my impression that the early seating tends to have more people and if your sailing is full, they may not have an empty 4 top. I don't the MDRs have any actual 2 top tables. When you check-in look at the first-day navigator for the location to request dining changes. The worst thing that can happen if you ask is they say no.

 

[emilymad]

I would suggest to just let it go and see what you get. We joke amongst ourselves before going to the 1st MDR night saying "are you ready for the MDR roulette?" - and 6 out of 7 cruises we've been fortunate to have had good table mates.
After all, it's only 60-90 minutes a night (if that) you spend with other people at the same table. It's no big deal IMO.

Also, may I ask you, about your request for main dining:
- How far away is your cruise? and is it a 7 night or less?
We've also requested a change for our upcoming 7 night and nothing yet. We sail in 3 weeks.

We sail at the end of April on a 7 night on the Fantasy. We have been on waitlists for many cruises and this is the first time it has actually been fulfilled.