Indy 10/28/14 solo - requested shared table, was sat alone

Who am I? 18 year old male who like to travel alone.

The case, is it normal practice? So the case is that I chose My Time dining for 8pm and I also requested to share a table. I love meeting new people and this is an ideal way to do so.

When I got there sometime before 8 they told me that no one else had requested to share a table at that time, therefore I was given a table for my self for the rest of the cruise.

Now, I understand that may not have been anyone actually wanting to share but when I told them that I really wanted to share a table, WHY didn't they ask me if I would like to move to another time and dont do the My Time.??

It actually made the whole cruise experience a lot less nicer than it could have been. Luckily I bumped into some folks on the 3rd day and I was invited to their table. :) I had to spend two dinners alone tho.

Been on three NCL cruises and would pick NCL over RCCL any day sadly as I thought RCCL would be a class up from NCL. No way, service is better at NCL and I really feel welcome onboard their ships. I am still looking forward to Anthem in April tho, ship looks very nice!

Any comments on this?

If you join the roll call and explain how you like traveling alone but would like to share a table at night I am sure that you would get invitations to share tables.

I could have done that but didn't. Just not very impressed by how RCCL handled the situation onboard.

If you join the roll call and explain how you like traveling alone but would like to share a table at night I am sure that you would get invitations to share tables.

I sail solo and have always had table mates in TDR - traditional style. In fact, if all the others have chosen to dine elsewhere the waiters seem worried about me and keep trying to get me to move to another table for that night and I have to keep reassuring them that I don't mind staying at my normal table alone.

I agree with you. My husband and I eat eat together every night at home. We love to meet others cruising, and dining with others is the way to do it. We hate MTD because we usually end up at a table for 2.

Shirley, Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

So sorry that your dining experience did not work out as expected.

Perhaps try traditional dining on future cruises. There isn't much the staff can do if no one wants to share a table. I think many people choose MTD simply because they want to eat with their group/family/or just as a couple.

On traditional dining at least you would have tablemates (hopefully unless they don't show up), but as others said the waiters will usually try to accommodate you.

Also agree that the meet and mingle may have given you an opportunity to meet others to eat with.

Hopefully your next cruie will be better. Not sure what type of dining the Anthem has though.

Part of it may be due to booking a specific time each night. The pre-bookings are treated differently to walk-ups and after you said 8pm they would need to match you against the others who have chosen the same time.

If you just walked up at 8pm each night then you would probably have been sharing a table almost every night. At least that is my experience. Only once have they put me at a solo table.

Curious how you are traveling solo at 18 when RCCL's policy is that you have to have someone 21 or over in each cabin.

Curious how you are traveling solo at 18 when RCCL's policy is that you have to have someone 21 or over in each cabin.

That was my thought too.....

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Curious how you are traveling solo at 18 when RCCL's policy is that you have to have someone 21 or over in each cabin.

Royal allows minors in a stateroom if a parent or guardian is next door or across the hall.

Curious how you are traveling solo at 18 when RCCL's policy is that you have to have someone 21 or over in each cabin.

Wondered about that too. Notice OP is from Norway, maybe different rules, although it seems odd.

I could have done that but didn't. Just not very impressed by how RCCL handled the situation onboard.

I of course was not around at the time, but why did you not insist on a different time going forward? It's very easy & feasible. At least it is with my experience of MTD. We actually ate 4 different times at 3 diffrent tables with MTD. We just asked and they accommodated.

Who am I? 18 year old male who like to travel alone.

 

The case, is it normal practice? So the case is that I chose My Time dining for 8pm and I also requested to share a table. I love meeting new people and this is an ideal way to do so.

When I got there sometime before 8 they told me that no one else had requested to share a table at that time, therefore I was given a table for my self for the rest of the cruise.

 

Now, I understand that may not have been anyone actually wanting to share but when I told them that I really wanted to share a table, WHY didn't they ask me if I would like to move to another time and dont do the My Time.??

 

It actually made the whole cruise experience a lot less nicer than it could have been. Luckily I bumped into some folks on the 3rd day and I was invited to their table. :) I had to spend two dinners alone tho.

 

Been on three NCL cruises and would pick NCL over RCCL any day sadly as I thought RCCL would be a class up from NCL. No way, service is better at NCL and I really feel welcome onboard their ships. I am still looking forward to Anthem in April tho, ship looks very nice!

 

Any comments on this?

The problem is that they wait for someone to "request" to share rather than offering the opportunity right at the door. I had the same thing happen to me on my last cruise. When I asked the girl if she was offering others the opportunity to share she replied "no one else has 'requested' to share". My response to her was, "have you asked anyone if they would like the opportunity to share with others?" She didn't seem to understand that it is ok to do that and only started doing that when I demanded to speak to the maitre d. Since I was not only on a back to back cruise but also platinum she finally started offering people the opportunity to share. I ended up meeting people who had sat by themselves their entire cruise!! Totally unacceptable and inexcusable!!!!

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So the case is that I chose My Time dining for 8pm and I also requested to share a table. I love meeting new people and this is an ideal way to do so...

That's why I won't try NCL with it "freestyle" and "my time" dining despite living in New York and the frequency of NCL sailings here. As a solo who likes shared tables the situation you describe is exactly what I want to avoid.

Rarely, though it happens, couples don't want to be seated with a solo for fear they will meet a "clinger" who will give them no privacy for the entire voyage. (On the other hand a solo can also be unwillingly "adopted" and expected to join them everywhere.)

My husband and I eat eat together every night at home. We love to meet others cruising, and dining with others is the way to do it. We hate MTD because we usually end up at a table for 2.

 

 

Shirley, Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Our sentiments exactly. What I do is reach out to rcldining@rccl.com about 2-3 weeks before we set sail on a cruise. Ask them to PLEASE put us at a table for 8-10 people, making sure we already have a confirmation for the MDR traditional seating we like (which for us is Early Seating). Viola, we get it.

We don't like MyTimeDining, have no interest in doing it and this works wonderfully for us.

This is one of the things I am expecting to be disappointed in with DD. For our next cruise on Indy in February 2015, DD isn't offered yet and I am glad.

Royal allows minors in a stateroom if a parent or guardian is next door or across the hall.

But then they wouldn't really be sailing alone and they would have had someone to dine with unless, of course, they had no desire to dine with the parent or guardian.:D

Unfortunately, most folks who do MTDing don't like to eat with others....you should have requested to have a traditional seating at a large table. Live and learn!

Curious how you are traveling solo at 18 when RCCL's policy is that you have to have someone 21 or over in each cabin.

OPS sailed on Indy out of Europe where the age to book a cabin is 18 and not 21.

Unfortunately, most folks who do MTDing don't like to eat with others....you should have requested to have a traditional seating at a large table. Live and learn!

If you book ahead then you specifically ask for a certain sort of table which would then generally match the size of your group. If you just take pot luck and turn up when you feel like it (which is what I do) then you will generally end up at a larger table.