Open seating vs fixed seating

We've always enjoyed late dining at a large table. Have met many interesting people, most evenings we are among the last to leave the dining room, we are having so much fun talking & sharing our day. In all our cruises we have had only one time where one of out table mates, a single lady up set every one at the table that nobody wanted to sit next to her. Any way it's all an experience that makes for great stories after you get home. Which ever choice you make I'm sure you'll enjoy your cruise.

Allan

We are frequent cruisers and we enjoy both fixed and open seating. Both have their selling points. We've only ever had disappointing table mates twice and only once did we choose to move to a different table, which was handled swiftly and efficiently. On one sailing, we had a couple sailing with their over indulged, eye-rolling teen age daughter. On another sailing we were seated with some folks who had chosen late seating and to their chagrin, ended up with early seating. They continued to disparage the "polyester crowd" (their description) who prefer to dine early. It didn't dawn on them that some of US actually seated at the table had CHOSEN to dine early. LOL.

We are sailing in a couple weeks with friends, and have chosen early fixed dining at our own table. However, last cruise we took we chose open seating.

Enjoy!

First HAL cruise we had open and I hated it. A couple of times we were seated with people that we didn't click with.. not HALS fault at all but it wasn't pleasant. When we requested a table for 3 we got the vibe that we were being difficult.

Next cruise I requested fixed with unknown tablemates. Then when we meet everyone that first night our tablemates are three single men travelers ( all traveling solo) . This made me uncomfortable, I felt like HAL was playing matchmaker. My sis and I are married and while my mom may have liked the eye candy ( cause ANY man is eye candy to her! ) I was not pleased.

I'm not a prude.. in fact I'm pretty progressive but it felt awkward . One of the gentlemen even said he felt the same way.,

My upcoming cruise will be open .. and for a table of 3.

After reading this I sound difficult.. really I'm not. I don't sweat the small stuff. All I wasn't is a nice dinner with nice people.

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We have been lucky (for the most part) with fixed dining, with great table mates.

We sometimes do Open however, especially if it is a port intensive cruise.

We prefer open seating, and usually request a table for 2. While I'm not anti-social, I'm not a fan of forced socialization. I suspect on our next cruise, which is 18 nights and the longest we've been on, we will occasionally choose to share a table.

As for always having the same server, even with open dining, we've rarely had any issue getting seated in the same area, if not the same table, every night, if we so requested. (we are patient and flexible, so if we have to wait, or if we don't get our requested area, we just go with the flow.)

Forced socialization-----I do love that term. May I use it sometime? :D

Thanks so much for your responses. I think since it is such a long cruise we will get late fixed dinner and hope we get a good group of tablemates.

I hope you get a good group - we have only once, in many times, wanted a change. Fixed seating on a cruise (getting together with a nucleus each evening with growing familiarity) is a social environment not experienced anywhere else - with a bit of luck in table mates and a bit of effort to find areas of common interest I am willing to bet that the experience will be one of your happy memories of the cruise.

I hope you get a good group - we have only once, in many times, wanted a change. Fixed seating on a cruise (getting together with a nucleus each evening with growing familiarity) is a social environment not experienced anywhere else - with a bit of luck in table mates and a bit of effort to find areas of common interest I am willing to bet that the experience will be one of your happy memories of the cruise.

(bold is mine) I agree about getting together with the same people, sharing shore experiences ("What did you do today?") is nice. I bolded that phrase because I think common interest can be found with almost anyone, if you're willing to try. We once sat with a couple from Texas. Imagine, die-hard Giants fans sitting with Cowboy fans... we had a great time bonding over mutual dislike of the Redskins. :D

Next cruise I requested fixed with unknown tablemates. Then when we meet everyone that first night our tablemates are three single men travelers ( all traveling solo) . This made me uncomfortable, I felt like HAL was playing matchmaker. My sis and I are married and while my mom may have liked the eye candy ( cause ANY man is eye candy to her! ) I was not pleased.

 

I'm not a prude.. in fact I'm pretty progressive but it felt awkward . One of the gentlemen even said he felt the same way.,

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My "baby sister" who's in her late 40's often sailed with my elderly parents on a variety of lines. She always enjoyed meeting other solo/single travelers as she told us there seems to be a fair number of people who also travel with elderly parents. Her take on it wasn't that that group were trying to hook up but rather enjoyed having folks they knew to socialize with after they "tucked the parents in for the night" (which for many of them is 9 or 10pm).

Just another way to look at HAL's dinner seating.:)

(bold is mine) I agree about getting together with the same people, sharing shore experiences ("What did you do today?") is nice. I bolded that phrase because I think common interest can be found with almost anyone, if you're willing to try. We once sat with a couple from Texas. Imagine, die-hard Giants fans sitting with Cowboy fans... we had a great time bonding over mutual dislike of the Redskins. :D

Hey, wait a minute, I am a Redskin fan, current NFC East champion. :p:p:p

Late seating (At a large table) works best for us. BUT, as some have noted, you run the risk of bad tablemates. Then we go open, and look for someone who we DO get along with. Find a few over a couople nights, and from that point on, you can agree to arrive at the same time and be seated at the same table... Best of both worlds!

We prefer late fixed dinning with a table for 2. Tried early on in cruising for tables of 6 or 8, but were uncomfortable with a few tablemates, so we switched. Never regretted it. Love that our server always has iced tea or coffee ready for us. . .

Enjoy your cruise whatever you choose. :)

My "baby sister" who's in her late 40's often sailed with my elderly parents on a variety of lines. She always enjoyed meeting other solo/single travelers as she told us there seems to be a fair number of people who also travel with elderly parents. Her take on it wasn't that that group were trying to hook up but rather enjoyed having folks they knew to socialize with after they "tucked the parents in for the night" (which for many of them is 9 or 10pm).

 

Just another way to look at HAL's dinner seating.:)

I get what you are saying but I sure as a heck would not approve of my DH hanging with single female eye candy after hours.

Doesn't have anything to do with trust, has to do with respect .

Anyway, my mom is up longer than me. Mama is a rolling stone.

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Hey, wait a minute, I am a Redskin fan, current NFC East champion. :p:p:p

Well, if we sat with you we could bond over dissing Philly, how's that??? ;)

We are confirmed Open sitting folks having had too many "issues" with fixed dining. DW and I prefer larger tables (6-8 is about perfect). We tend to dine late for HAL (that means after 7) and after a few days almost always find we develop our own table of folks we have met (and enjoyed) who all dine around the same time. In a sense it is the best of both worlds because our table is formed with folks that want to be with each other, and if we find a waiter that is special...we can usually work out a reservation that has us with that waiter most (if not all) nights.

The thing with fixed dining is you lose all your flexibility. If we happen to find some new friends at our cocktail hour (before we dine) we do not have to walk away at a specific time to dine...or, if they are also in open dining we might simply decide to continue our conversation over dinner. We cruise many different lines and have noticed how the open dining schemes have gained in popularity over the past decade. Even HAL has finally realized the popularity of open sitting and recently started allowing it on their Grand Cruisers (where they had previously insisted on a Fixed only scheme).

Hank

Well, if we sat with you we could bond over dissing Philly, how's that??? ;)

Hey, what did Philly do wrong to get pulled into this!!!!!

We have done gone back and forth between the two and can't really say what we prefer . We are still in touch with our tablemates from two of our cruises but we once did have a table with a group who didn't want to speak to us ... Awkward!

 

But then open seating can be very tiring for an introvert like myself and you do run the gauntlet of tablemates and waiting staff . Our last cruise wins for the worst tablemate ... A couple from Canada where the wife constantly complained about her adult children's choice of partners (tellingly they had all moved to other countries than Canada) all of whom happened to not be Canadian and the she started talking about immigration and was pretty racist in her remarks ...funnily she was so wrapped up in herself and her vitriol ranting she didn't seem to notice that the majority of the table was actually made up of the Chinese immigrants she particularly despised ... Her poor husband though he never got a word in edge ways and we heard she repeated the same rant on tours as well ...

Sigh. We must have had her cousin on a cruise last year. He was a bore (and a boor) and never stopped saying things like that, even after one lady at our table very politely said she'd prefer to discuss other topics. That just got her a louder rant. We bailed in the middle of the 2nd night's dinner, and we found out later that everyone else bailed on night 3! Since then we've gone to open and a request for a table for two (or we eat in the Lido which my husband (a non-talker like the OPs!) prefers.

IndyDenise, I want to sit at your mom's table she sounds like my kind of lady!

Hey, what did Philly do wrong to get pulled into this!!!!!

Just butting in to explain that it can be very hard to be an Eagles Fan :(. On the other hand, the "boo birds" that seem to live in Philly's sporting venues do a fine job dissing everything.

Hank

I lived in San Diego my entire life until we moved to Baja 4 years ago try being a Charger fan! It is a long football season!

IndyDenise, I want to sit at your mom's table she sounds like my kind of lady!

Mama ain't a lady of ANY kind after her Wang Wang quota...and if Wang Wangs aren't available Margaritas will do just fine:D

In fact mom killed it on Carnival during Michael Jackson's Thriller dance lessons.

She became the "star" of the onboard video...looping every 10 minutes on the cabin tv as well as a couple of You Tube Videos.

I'm still waiting for Tosh.O to call.

Hey, wait a minute, I am a Redskin fan, current NFC East champion. :p:p:p

No, my Cowboys are currently in that position :D (yeah, I live in the Seattle metro area now -- but I'm really from Dallas)

Ooops, don't want to have thread creep. I generally prefer fixed seating and have usually had good luck with that.

NFL Football used to be my favorite hobby.

Then this season happened, last year was bad enough.

#wehaveLuckbutnotluck #fairweatheredfan #coltsstampedeisimpeded

IndyDenise I do not know what a wang wang is but my drug of choice is white wine. Your mom still sounds like a lot of fun!

We always do open seating

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We prefer open seating, and usually request a table for 2. While I'm not anti-social, I'm not a fan of forced socialization...

Our sentiments exactly!