Barcelona: My time or "regular" dinner times?

[schmoopie17]

We already booked our cruise for next April on the Liberty out of Barcelona. We reserved the late dining at a large table. We typically enjoy meeting new tablemates and sharing stories. However, it seems that there aren't a lot of Americans on this cruise and while that isn't necessarily a bad thing, we don't want to be at a table where nobody else speaks English. Would we be better off reserving My Time Dining or just bite the bullet and bring a Spanish-English dictionary to dinner each night?

[swsf99a]

We had a lovely Irish couple , their daughter and her friend on the med cruise a few years back. The Irish group and my wife and I were at different tables to start with , each half full, so they threw us together day two and we had a blast! I could listen to their accent all night. We still exchange Xmas cards. Go with the flow, you might end up having a great time.

[taxatty]

We were on this cruise last summer and it was about 15-20% Yanks (in other words, hundreds of them). We shared a late seating table with a nice US couple and had a very enjoyable time.

 

Les

[jletsgo]

We were on this cruise in September 2011 and there were alot of english speaking cruisers. There was no language barrier at all...You will love this cruise :)

[Iamthesea]

We were on this cruise in September 2011 and there were alot of english speaking cruisers. There was no language barrier at all...You will love this cruise :)

 

That's good to know as we will be on the cruise this coming September. :)

 

OP, we have decided to go with MTD because the late seating (which we normally book) is going to be 9:30 on this cruise. The Europeans like to eat laaaate! We do not like to eat that late. We plan to make MTD reservations for around 7:30 or so.

 

swsf99a - Here is our tablemate story.

 

On our last Liberty cruise out of Miami, we had a bad experience the first night of dinner. DH and I were alone at a table for 6, when half way through our dinner, an oriental couple was seated with us. They were from the states, but the wife either didn't speak much English, or she was just plain rude. The husband was nice enough, but a little strange (talked with his mouth full, etc.) I did feel sorry for them, as the rest of their family was in another part of the dining room (split into 3 groups.)

 

The next night, we were changed to what we thought was going to be a table for two. It was a 4 topper, but we thought we were going to have the table all to ourselves. Just after we had ordered dinner, another couple arrived at our table. The looked very nice, young, and as they introduced themselves, I thought to myself that we will be alright with them as table mates. However, the more they started to talk, we realized that they were from Germany, and on their honeymoon. We struggled to make conversation as their English was not great, but we really enjoyed them. ;) We assumed that they would leave our table that night, and request another... especially since they told us that they had met another German couple that were also on their honeymoon.

 

However, the next night, the German couple returned to our table. We had five more nights with them, and became fast friends. It has been 4 years since that cruise, and we are still emailing each other. The wife helped me plan my daughters wedding a couple of years ago. Last May, they met us in Rome with their new little girl. :D They are going to try and arrange to meet us again this fall. We still email about once a month.

 

PS - I failed to mention that DH and I are 54 and 59.

[trolleydolly]

We cruised out of Barcelona and had a large table all British!!

[CVU]

We had a large table in May from Barcelona. We are changing all our cruises booked for a table of 6 now. This was the second time in a row B2B, we had some problems with a large table.

In May- Only 1 couple were there nightly, another British couple came when they wanted, usually as we were eating dessert or leaving:eek: and the other 4 came once!

 

They changed our dinner time back to 6 PM from 6:30-- early dining-- as there were not as many Spanish on board our cruise. We had a note on our pillow when we boarded, of the New Change in dining time.

[schmoopie17]

Thanks for all the replies. We thought about the late dining being an issue, but then also figured that 9:00pm ship's time will be 2:00pm "our" time. So having dinner then will almost be like having late lunch.

 

But thinking about it some more, we may encounter more English-speakers at the early time. The problem with booking early is getting back in time from excursions, getting changed, etc. (Or at least I'm envisioning problems...which is typical, since I like to worry about a lot of unnecessary stuff :)). Any issues with getting back in time for early dining (which I believe is around 6:00-ish)...??

[Iamthesea]

We had a large table in May from Barcelona. We are changing all our cruises booked for a table of 6 now. This was the second time in a row B2B, we had some problems with a large table.

In May- Only 1 couple were there nightly, another British couple came when they wanted, usually as we were eating dessert or leaving:eek: and the other 4 came once!

 

They changed our dinner time back to 6 PM from 6:30-- early dining-- as there were not as many Spanish on board our cruise. We had a note on our pillow when we boarded, of the New Change in dining time.

 

If the time is changed back for Late seating, then it would be 9:00. Still a tad late for us.

 

How about booking MTD for 8:30? That would give you at least 2 hours after coming onboard from excursions, seeing as most of the stops have you all aboard at 6:30.

[CVU]

If you are later or too tired, on port excursion days, then there is the WJ and skip the dining room. Many did this on our port intensive cruise. There were many of the same menu items in the WJ as in the dining room.

[schmoopie17]

Not fans of the Windjammer for dinner, or most other meals, either. We like the ambiance of the dining room and the ability to sit back while someone else goes and gets the food.

[PCWalton1]

Not fans of the Windjammer for dinner, or most other meals, either. We like the ambiance of the dining room and the ability to sit back while someone else goes and gets the food.

 

I agree with you there, I want to get waited on. We just got back from Europe on Splendour and did MTD. For most of the nights we made a reservation for the same time and table (table for two). It was a nice setup as there were tables for two on either side of us and they are close enough if you want to chat you can or if you want to keep the conversation to just the two of you, you can do that too. Also gave us the opportunity of having the same wait staff every night. On the way out the door we would just stop at the MTD desk and at a moment to book for the next night.

 

Bill

[Pushka]

We opted for MTD. The early sitting is too early and the late sitting is too late given the port heavy cruise. We are not fans of buffets either, we dont like them at all. Hate juggling plates and kids and chairs and people. But we dont like being told when we have to eat either. In a cruise in February I had early dining sitting, and found that it was never at a good time when leaving a port, as invariably it was on when sail away was happening, and I love watching sailaway. Went to the buffet for dinner once, never again.

 

So we have booked for 7.30 each night which we might change as we go, but I am pretty happy with that.

[colmat]

Hi just back off the A.O.S out of Malaga & we did my time dining. On the first night we were asked if we wanted to share -I hesitated a little because of the language thing & she said 'with other English speaking guests" we decided to share & met lots of lovely people & we all seemed to 'rotate" so we ended up sharing withh some couples 2 or 3 nights and others only once. In 7 nights we only had 1 non English speaking couple - who were very nice but it was a bit difficult to communicate across the table. They obviously try their best to put people together that speak the same language. We pre booked for 7.30 every night & it worked really well.

.

[schmoopie17]

So...the advantage of MTD is being able to pick your time. The disadvantage is (at least as I see it) you will be seated at different tables with different people each night. We would prefer to keep the same table mates throughout the cruise, so even though the time isn't ideal, looks like we may end up keeping our assigned seating.

[saw777]

Hya,

 

we have got booked up for the Liberty out of Barcelona at the start of May next year.

You had a choice of 4 times for your traditional dinning at 6.30 Or 7 Or 9 Or 9.30pm.

If you didnt want any of those 4 times you could have went for MTD.

 

We selected 7pm

 

Steven

[karen s]

One our one and only Med cruise out of Barcelona we requested late dining (9pm) at a large table. We were seated at an excellent 10-top on the top floor overlooking the dining rooms below. And much to our suprise, the other 6 guests joining us were 3 American couples - one on their honeymoon. We had a fantastic time! With excursions so long each day, it was nice not to have to rush to get ready for the MDR. I don't like dinner in the WJ - much prefer the MDR experience.

 

On our next Med cruise, we're going to try and link reservations with some of our fellow cruisers from our roll call...it'll be nice to know we'll be seated with folks we already "know".