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We will have a party of 11


Muushka

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8 adults and 3 children. Anyone have any idea how they seat a party this size?

I just noticed on another thread that the largest table is for 8 :confused:

 

Thanks!:)

 

Each dining team serves a 4 top, a 6 top, and an 8 top. Larger parties will have their tables pushed together (an 8 & a 6 make a 12 top). In the cases of even larger parties, they could put 2 8 tops together, but it's really awkward doing so.

 

I will point out that the MDRs are fairly noisy, so talking to others at a table that large can be a challenge. And the servers try to bring a whole tables' course service (all the appitizers, or all the entrees) at one time, and that many all at once can slow down service.

 

As long as you don't mind not being able to talk to anyone other than the 5 or 6 people in your immediate area and the time it takes to get dinner done, a large table is quite do-able.

 

:)

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Do you think it would be better to have a table for 8 and a table for 4, close by (but not together)?

 

Personally I think that is a good idea. It would allow a nicer experience for both the servers and us. And we could rotate our seating.

 

Could be fun, good idea?

 

We have always done DCL sans kids, these are our nieces coming on the family cruise.

We always chose late dining, but we chose early for the kiddos. Should be interesting!

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Do you think it would be better to have a table for 8 and a table for 4, close by (but not together)?

 

Personally I think that is a good idea. It would allow a nicer experience for both the servers and us. And we could rotate our seating.

 

Could be fun, good idea?

 

We have always done DCL sans kids, these are our nieces coming on the family cruise.

We always chose late dining, but we chose early for the kiddos. Should be interesting!

 

Personally, I think that splitting into 2 tables would be a good idea . Splitting into 8 & 4 top could make it possible for you to have the same servers at both tables, so switching out seats each night won't be a problem. The servers are quite good at learning quickly who is who at their station.

 

Splitting 6 & 5 might actually put you with 2 different serving teams, so could be a problem. Although they might be able to do it by placing 6 of you at an 8 top and the others at the 6 top in your service area. If the ship isn't too full, this might be possible.

 

I'd suggest that you call DCL (or your TA should, if you used one) and request to be seated at 2 tables with the same serving team. They should be able to do it.

 

:)

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We were a party of 14 and we were all seated together. Service did seem a little slow and I did not think about it being because of the size of our party until I read this post. We were his only table though so I am not sure what caused it. I attributed it to the fact that he was not happy on the Fantasy, he had come from the Magic and was not happy because he had to walk so much farther to the kitchen.

 

This year I think we are going to give Cabanas a try for dinner at least one night. And we are going to try room service for the kids and putting them in the club so there will be fewer to serve some nights. I hope we get one of those great servers that we have read about here!

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We were a party of 14 and we were all seated together. Service did seem a little slow and I did not think about it being because of the size of our party until I read this post. We were his only table though so I am not sure what caused it. I attributed it to the fact that he was not happy on the Fantasy, he had come from the Magic and was not happy because he had to walk so much farther to the kitchen.

 

This year I think we are going to give Cabanas a try for dinner at least one night. And we are going to try room service for the kids and putting them in the club so there will be fewer to serve some nights. I hope we get one of those great servers that we have read about here!

 

On the Fantasy the combination of several factors cause a slow service: distance from kitchen (yes, singular) to dining rooms; and making sure he had everyone's appitizer/entree to serve at the same time. When serving 3 different tables it's easier to pick up 4, 6, or even 8 plates for serving the whole table at the same time.

 

Except for one Asst Server (and I think she was real new, and just hadn't gotten a handle on how things work), we've always had excellent servers (including our head servers).

 

:)

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We were a party of 14 and we were all seated together. Service did seem a little slow and I did not think about it being because of the size of our party until I read this post. We were his only table though so I am not sure what caused it. I attributed it to the fact that he was not happy on the Fantasy, he had come from the Magic and was not happy because he had to walk so much farther to the kitchen.

 

This year I think we are going to give Cabanas a try for dinner at least one night. And we are going to try room service for the kids and putting them in the club so there will be fewer to serve some nights. I hope we get one of those great servers that we have read about here!

 

You might want to check the Cabanas menu earlier in the day. I wasn't feeling great one day and did not want to take the time to sit through a dinner in the MDR. There were not many entrees on the menu and the chicken I ordered was very dry (If I had felt better I likely would have asked for something else). The servers were wonderful, however. There were maybe 15 of us eating at that time and I think every server there came to ask me if they could get me something.

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You might want to check the Cabanas menu earlier in the day. I wasn't feeling great one day and did not want to take the time to sit through a dinner in the MDR. There were not many entrees on the menu and the chicken I ordered was very dry (If I had felt better I likely would have asked for something else). The servers were wonderful, however. There were maybe 15 of us eating at that time and I think every server there came to ask me if they could get me something.

 

I agree. The menu at Cabanas is a selection of items from the menus available in the other MDRs that evening as well as a salad bar and carving station. It's probably a good idea to check that one of those items is something you want.

 

:)

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  • 2 weeks later...

We were a party of 11 sailed jan 26th on fantasy. We had a table set for 12 every night setting was fine actually had room where that extra chair was if baby fell asleep to put stroller . There was high chair set towards middle since we had a one year old and two four year olds sat in regular seats. They do have boosters though. Our servers. Eder and Oswald were absolutely wonderful. Have never had such a wonderful team. Thought ahead helped with children entertaining and quite efficient. Wish we could have them all the times we travel and if possible will definitely request them I suggest you do the same. With them we had schedule ERAERAE. Don't know if they would always be on that schedule though

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We were a party of 11 sailed jan 26th on fantasy. We had a table set for 12 every night setting was fine actually had room where that extra chair was if baby fell asleep to put stroller . There was high chair set towards middle since we had a one year old and two four year olds sat in regular seats. They do have boosters though. Our servers. Eder and Oswald were absolutely wonderful. Have never had such a wonderful team. Thought ahead helped with children entertaining and quite efficient. Wish we could have them all the times we travel and if possible will definitely request them I suggest you do the same. With them we had schedule ERAERAE. Don't know if they would always be on that schedule though

 

Dining room serving teams are changed cruise to cruise. One of them may be at the end of their contract, while the other still has some time to go. Or they may be separated to work with other partners. Or moved to a different ship.

Or placed on different rotations.

 

If you want to request a server, it's best to only request one. Requesting a team just confuses DCL, if the team isn't together any longer. DCL won't know which server to assign you to and won't grant the request for either.

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We had a party of 11 on the Dream in December and we had a long table that accommodated everyone in each dining room.

 

They can move and reconfigure the table setup as needed for their guests each cruise.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

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