Stories from a mixed table.

If my DW and I are cruising as a couple we like to be on a mixed table such as a table of 8. On our last cruise again we opted for a mixed table and on the first night as we were just to sit down for our evening meal and looking forward to meeting new people the other two couples asked for the table to be separated. It did not affect our cruise but we do like to meet fellow cruises from other parts of the world and in reality there was very little space between the table for two and the table for four.

Have any of you had any experiences when on mixed tables good or bad?

 

 

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If my DW and I are cruising as a couple we like to be on a mixed table such as a table of 8. On our last cruise again we opted for a mixed table and on the first night as we were just to sit down for our evening meal and looking forward to meeting new people the other two couples asked for the table to be separated. It did not affect our cruise but we do like to meet fellow cruises from other parts of the world and in reality there was very little space between the table for two and the table for four.

Have any of you had any experiences when on mixed tables good or bad?

 

 

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You must have been dining in Blu if the tables were that close and could be separated but still remain close. Since Blu is open dining, you could meet different couples each night.

We have always gone for 'big' tables and never had a problem except once...or twice.

On our first cruise, we got sat on a table for 4 and the other couple never turned up, so after the 3rd night we asked if the maitre d' would ask the people on the next table if we could sit with them, where there was space for 2. They said yes and we are still friends with all of them after nearly 12 years.

We did 3 b2b's in the Med (only 4 and 5 night cruises) and we again had a table for 10. First 4 day cruise...no one else showed, so lots of people watching!. Second 5 day cruise we were unlucky enough to have one couple who had 'seen it, done it' etc. I'm sure you know the type:D. I love hearing about other peoples experiences, but they really were the pits ("Oh, the Captain asked us to stay on for the next cruise as there are lots of newbies on and he'd like us to help out" Yeah, right :rolleyes:). Anyway, they never stayed for dessert, so the rest of us had a great time after they'd gone!!!.

Apart from those, everyone has been interesting and 'nice'. Now, we always do Select dining and as most people go to dinner about the same time, we now perm 8 companions from a pool of about 30...never know who you are going to get, which I think makes it more interesting...though you do have to remember who you have told anecdotes to!:)

 

Simon

One of the reason we now usually book open seating is due to having a bad experience with another couple in fixed dining.

On the first night of our very first cruise (we had opted for Select Dining) we asked for a table for two in the MDR. I have to say that there was virtually no space between the tables so we ended up in reality on a table for 6! Made it extremely difficult to have a private conversation without seeming rude. On subsequent nights we asked for something rather more private - it's not that we're antisocial, but for us our holiday is time for us to spend together.

In the seven Celebrity cruises that we have done, we have only encountered one cruise where there were problems at our assigned table.

 

We always ask for and get a large table, usually 8. Our last cruise we were assigned to a table for 12, but the first night there were only 6 persons, including us at the table.

 

The next night, one of the couples was enticed to move to a table with friends where there were vacancies, leaving four. Then about half an hour into the meal, two more couples show up. One of the person of those four was somewhat irritating and the next night they were late by 40 minutes.

 

We asked to be moved and were moved to another large table with two other couples that we very much enjoyed their company. The head waiter told us that our original table was fully booked, but for a table of 12 two couples never showed up and two others were always late.

The key word is "move".. If you don't like your table mates ask for a change. We like traditional seating but sometimes the people or the surroundings are not to our liking

Except for my last cruise, which was on the Silhouette, we always had set-time-dining on our previous 6 cruises with Celebrity.

 

I have to say I always enjoyed the group. 2 couples, each from different cruises, we still maintain close friendship. Both live within a 100 miles from where we live. Never had anyone move from the table but had folks that never showed from day one.

 

The only thing that is helpful is, if you know you can't make it (like coming in late from a shore tour, doing a specialty dining, etc..) let your table mates and/or waiter know prior so serving will not be held up.

Met some pretty wonderful by being sat at a large table with others. Gone on to keep on touch with them through social media sites and even one couple has included us in their holiday family car mailing list. DW and I both agree we prefer the group table over the two top.

My 1st ever cruise with my then 15 yr old daughter, which was not on Celebrity, had us seated with a family from NYC - the Grandmother and Mom spoke no english - Dad only a touch and their 13 yr old daughter was fluent. :eek: 7 nights of them speaking that we could not understand and the daughter translating. I was a newbie and had no idea that we could have request a move. By day three I was dreading dinner :( What kept it interesting was that the 13 yr old dressed in the most inappropriate clothing - like a working girl - we still laugh about it 15 yrs later.

 

I'm a convert to Select dining where I know I can't be permanently stuck if table mates aren't a good match. :D

Edited July 27, 2014 by Jane2357

This is probably a goofy question, but maybe those who sit at large tables all the time know the answer or see a pattern..... are the tables set up completely randomly (i.e. they fill the first table with the first 8 people to book early seating, the next table with the next to book, etc.) or do they have some kind of pattern like, people from southern states get put together, or people from the west coast of Canada and the US sit together.

 

Someone above mentioned becoming friends with people who live within 100 miles of them, so I just wondered if they try to put people together in any way or if it's just completely, randomly, luck of the draw.

 

We usually do Select with a table for two, because dining alone is still a novelty to us :) so I have no experience with the large table set-up.

We have been very fortunate and always been able to dine alone. same as dining in any land restuarant we never ask to be seated with others.

 

In the buffet, lounge or etc if we see empty chairs at a table occupied with others we will ask if we can join them. It has always been an enjoyable experience and that is how we normally meet others.

 

The other places we meet passengers is waitng in line, sitting next to us in the theater, standing at a bar waiting for a drink, or on tours. This makes it less stuck with and more of a choice with no bad feelings if we don't get along.

 

Happy sailings 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

We have only had two bad experiences with fixed dining. The first one was on one of our early cruises, when we were seated at a table for ten with eight members of the same family. They chatted to each other and totally ignored us. We were not sure if moving was an option, but asked and were seated at a much more congenial table.

 

The second one was a table for eight where one obnoxious man dominated the conversation and talked loudly about how lawyers were rogues, police were on the take and doctors were just in it for the money. We asked for a move for the second evening, as DH said 'before he gets to accountants'.

 

Now that Select Dining is an option, we usually choose that for the flexibility.

Edited July 27, 2014 by smtcan

We prefer the flexibility of Select Dining. Some nights we've been asked if we would share a table and we've always agreed. For the most part, after the introductions, you can usually find a common interest to talk about. While there have been table mates who we've enjoyed more than others, we've never left a meal with an outright disdain of anyone. Even the woman we dubbed "Miss Oklahoma" who rarely quit talking the entire meal.

 

 

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We always do AnyTime dining when it is available because we do not want to have to dine at the same time every night. Sometimes we do a table for 2, sometimes a large table.

 

Maybe we have been lucky but we have never had a really bad large table experience. Some have been better than others but they have never been bad.

 

DON

 

The second one was a table for eight where one obnoxious man dominated the conversation and talked loudly about how lawyers were rogues, police were on the take and doctors were just in it for the money. We asked for a move for the second evening, as DH said 'before he gets to accountants'.

.

 

 

Love it Sheila! Made John and I laugh out loud. Xx

 

 

 

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We have had mostly good luck with choosing to dine with others. Sometimes it works better than others, but we have never had bad experiences per se. The downsides we have experienced (and I confess we have not done this too often as we used to regularly travel with extended family) were a table of eight where often other couples did not show up, and a table we shared with another family who did not show up after the first night (not sure why - we seemed to all get along fine).

 

We also had one experience where we inadvertently caused some problems in some people's opinion. We chose a table for 8 for my DH and I, on a 10 night cruise. Very soon before we sailed, we decided to book a 5 night specialty restaurant package. Even though we explained that to our table mates and to our waiters, it seemed that our doing that created a bit of a strain on the others. It was such a late decision I don't think a request for a two top could even have been honored, but we felt like we were letting our tablemates down. No one was unfriendly or anything, but I am very sensitive to other's feelings and I sensed some frustration with us. It is something to think about for future sailings.

We REALLY enjoy tablemates...sure, some are more fun than others, but so far, we've never had a problem getting along with any of the folks we've eaten with. I guess we've been lucky that no one has been too loud or obnoxious....seems to me, that everyone is just there to have fun!

One of our best experiences with a large table in the MDR was what we still call our "international table". Table for 8- one American couple (us)' one Canadian couple, one couple from Puerto Rico with one person who only spoke Spanish and one couple from Martineque with one person who only spoke French & the other with limited English. We all managed to enjoy each other's company and had a great time trying out our limited language capabilities. Very interesting folks!

I think in all of our cruises we just had to move one time. But that is usually no problem in the MDR.

we have met some really lovely people whilst dining at a larger table. Have only had a couple of experiences where things weren't as enjoyable in recent years. One lady ruined the meal so much for us we didn't have dessert or coffee as we couldn't wait to leave the table. Quite often now we tend to ask for a table for two as we just don't want that to happen again.

To us, one of the great pleasures of cruising is dining at a large table with the same group every night. In many cruises we have never had to ask to be moved and in some cases have had really outstanding tables. In every case we've had fun and looked forward to going to dinner every night.

 

We tried AQ one time but didn't care for it because there was no special fun in dining at tables for two every night. DH and I dine together almost every night so we have ample time for private conversation.

 

On our last cruise we were at a table for 10. One woman complained incessantly about the food, in fact complained the night before about the food when she was looking at the menu. Another woman never stopped talking whether anyone was listening to her or not, she basically just kept a running commentary. But she was very cute and had a really great accent and sounded like Zsa Zsa Gabor.

It was all very amusing and we never knew exactly what to expect each night and it gave us lots to talk about when dinner was over!!

In our 10+ years of cruising with traditional (2nd seating) dining, our positive experiences have by far outweighed our negative ones. In fact, we are getting ready to go on Summit with some friends we met in the MDR on Jewel of the Seas -- nearly 10 years ago! :cool:

 

Only one time (Century to Hawaii), we immediately knew that we weren't going to "click" with the other folks at our table. The four others at the table insisted on having political discussions, and totally ignored any attempts to bring the conversation back to something safer (like cruising). We politely excused ourselves before dessert, and went to find the maitre'd. He found a 2-top for us -- thankfully across the room. ;)

I've only had one bad experience in my over 30 cruises with fixed dining. It was my very first cruise and they sat me with three couples that were traveling together. Obviously, they didn't want to converse with me. I asked to be moved and was then seated at an officers table with some wonderful folks.

 

I've had some wonderful experiences. On my last Celebrity cruise, we had a table of 5 of us from the roll call...I had a wonderful time and the company was great. On a Crystal cruise, I was seated at one of the officers tables and we really got a little rowdy, singing with the mariachi band, drinking quite a bit and the officer had us in hysterics telling us stories. The Captain's table was the next table over and when the Captain left (of course, our table was the last to leave), he came over and said that he wished he would have been sitting at our table.

Edited July 27, 2014 by NLH Arizona

We have had wonderful experiences sitting at large tables meeting people from all walks of life and enjoying their company. We had a couple of not so pleasant experiences but in hindsight we should have asked for a change of table after a couple of nights. Our last three cruises, two with Princess and one with Celebrity have been with anytime dining and we have asked to be seated in the same general area (same wait staff). After a couple of nights, the same people are around us and it is one big happy family all sitting at tables for two but not too far away.

 

On our next two sailings one with Celebrity and one with Princess, we are going back to traditional late dining. The ports and associated tours are not all-day tours and we'll have time to get ready for late dining.

 

Regarding last to leave the restaurant scenario - we often are at a large table at breakfast. We meet new people, start a conversation and all of a sudden it's quiet all around us - we are the only people left.

This is probably a goofy question, but maybe those who sit at large tables all the time know the answer or see a pattern..... are the tables set up completely randomly (i.e. they fill the first table with the first 8 people to book early seating, the next table with the next to book, etc.) or do they have some kind of pattern like, people from southern states get put together, or people from the west coast of Canada and the US sit together...

We generally do Early Traditional with a request for 6-8 people. I have never noticed a geographical clustering of people. BUT it does seem like there are patterns. I think the only time we have ever been assigned with people who didn't speak English fluently, they were Canadian Francophones - their English was somewhat better than my French (on some cruise we were talking to the Maitre d' and asked about the colors they had on various tables, and he said "languages"). We are in our 60s, and have generally had people our age +/- 15 years. Everytime we have ended up at a table for four, the other couple has been Elite like us. Hard to believe that is all by coincidence.

 

Thom