Main Seating ?

[AnotherVirginCruiser]

For formal dining, main seating 6pm, do you have to be there at 6- or do they give you any time limits- say before 7pm?:confused:

[Bruin Steve]

I believe they request you be seated by no later than 6:30. Of course, there can also be some etiquette and diplomacy questions. If you have your own small table, it doesn't matter. If you are seated at a large table with others, courtesy and etiquette usually dictate that you do not leave your table mates waiting too long...Also, a lot of waiters tend to wait for the entire table to be seated before starting the routine...

[Brucemcdou]

Hi, AVC - welcome to cruising; I bet you're going to love it!

 

You should try to be at your table within a few minutes of the assigned time. Your tablemates (you know you'll have some other passengers at your table, right?) and your waiter/assistant waiter would need to wait for you to arrive otherwise. Also, the kitchen is paced to serve the courses in order so it's difficult for a waiter to serve someone who's arrived significantly late.

 

One of my favorite stories about how good Celebrity service can be involves arriving late for dinner: I'd been on a shore excursion that arrived back at the ship very, very late. Dinner service had already been going on for 45 minutes and I debated not even going, but I changed clothes and showed up while the entrees were being served. The waiter greeted me and started serving me: he knew what I would like based on what I'd ordered previously and he had just set them aside for me. The wine steward also immediately brought me a matched glass of wine he'd been holding. So it can turn out OK, but the better way is to be on time.

[Danno]

All good advice...try to be on time, It makes your servers life easier (and these people work hard enough as it is) and it makes dinner disjointed for your table mates. Last cruise we were having dessert while a late couple was having soup.

[mii]

I can't even begin to tell you how important it is to be on time for dinner. On our last cruise we were always on time but the other couple who sat at our table was constantly late and I am talking at least 20-30 minutes every single day. It is not fair to the staff, certainly not fair to my DH and I and just plain rude. We have always made it a habit on the first nite of the cruise to let the staff and everybody at our table that if we are not there on time to go ahead and start the meal. I think it is the courteous thing to do.

 

marilyn

[AUNTDEBBA]

WOW

 

Didn't realize you could arrive that late and still be seated? It used to be that the "doors" closed 15 min after the appointed time and that was that. At least that is how it was when I cruised Princess many moons ago and since then I just always made sure I was there at the appointed time.

[dedlaw]

I would say that anything after 15 minutes late is pretty rude. And I agree that on some ships the doors are closed and you just cannot get in. If you think this is going to be a problem (for example, you plan to take every second you can in port and don't think you'll be ready in time for main seating), why not try to switch to late seating when you get on board -- they're set up in the dining room during boarding for exactly this purpose. We have always chosen late seating because we like to take the full time in port and we aren't that interested in seeing most of the shows.

[AnotherVirginCruiser]

Thanks for all the quick responses to my question. We are travelling as a large family and most of us are at one table- so I didn't think of holding others up if we were late. (Forgot to mention that!) Also, we have some children in our group, so late seating wouldn't work- but I was just curious about the window of time. I got a good idea from all your responses that there isn't much of one and we will adhere to that.;) Thanks

[Bruin Steve]

Notwithstanding all of the above, on the Millie in August 2003, we took the 10 hour Capri, Sorrento and Pompei shore excursion while in Naples...We knew going in that it would be tight...so did our tablemates...As it were, the excursion ran considerably over the allotted time...We got back to the ship, did a very quick shower and change and ran to the dining room just in time--about 29 minutes late...

 

As it turned out, most of our table mates also ran a little late in that port, so no one was waiting that long...The waiters also handled it very well...

 

Main Seating time on that ship was 6:30 with Late at 8:45...so there was really a two-hour window (which is typical on most ships)...with only an hour and a half to work with, they were still able to manage well...

 

Of course, we didn't make a habit of this--that one port was the exception on a 13 night cruise...

 

The one nuight we knew we were going to be late--in Santorini where the ship was in port until midnight, we merely made a reservation in the Olympic for a late dinner...Some of our table mates stayed and ate in port...Our table was empty that night...We all told our waiter about our plans the night before...

 

If you are skipping dinner altogether, always a good idea to let your tablemates and waiter know in advance...that way no one expects you...