Dinner at Captain's table

[cruisebliss]

How are passengers chosen to sit at the Captain's table? Are there any certain criteria that must be met? Are passengers recommended or randomly chosen? Who makes the final choice (ie, guest relations, Assistant Maitre'd, captain himself, or someone else)? How far in advance are invitations issued?:)

[Lois R]

Hi:) there are a variety of replies that are coming.....this topic is brought up every few months.

 

It used to be the invitations came from the "Social Hostess" and there were a variety of people invited.

Actually, some folks have said "Suite Pax" and returning cruisers were priority.

Neither one was true in my case. I was invited on my very first Celebrity cruise. I sail solo and had an inside cabin. It was an honar and I had a wonderful time:)

 

Then (last year) I was told Capt's Table Pax actually came from Corporate Headquarters in Miami and the Social Hostess did it if any of those invitees declined.

I don't really know what is "The Truth" about who is invited and who does the inviting.

 

I had my 2nd invitation in March, accepted and had a nice time again:)

 

How far are the invitations sent out?? About 2 days before each formal night.

They expect an RSVP so they know who is accepting.

[OCruisers]

Lois .... Really think the info you gave is correct. On Celebrity we know we were invited as a "fill-in" by the Social Hostess.

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[Lois R]

Hi:) ...you 2 were a Fill In? How did you find that out? You should have been their FIRST CHOICE:D

 

Actually, I became friends with 2 of the gals on Century in March. I was a bit embarrassed.......they even asked me who I preferred to sit with:eek:. I said, "what do you mean"? She said, "Hotel Director or Staff Captain"......talk about feeling embarrassed!

Stacey (I met her on here and she was one of my regular tablemates) and I were both invited for the 2nd formal night. I think it came from on board.

[Bruin Steve]

We dined at the Captain's Table for the first time on our recent Southern Caribbean Connie cruise...

 

The invite came right away, long before we ever met the Social Hostess...

 

I told my wife they must have mistaken us for someone important...

 

We are Select CC members and will not become "Elite" until our next cruise in July...We are also Platinum C&A members on their sister line...so the folks back at HQ probably know that as well...

 

On our prior cruise, to Alaska on the Summit last July, we took TWO suites but weren't invited, maybe there's some sort of "institutional memory" - like they noted "whoops, didn't fit them in last time, we'll make up for it this time"...

 

Anyway, here's what I'd noted at OUR table with the three other couples:

One was sure they were invited as a token because they gave up their cabin after checking in so that a family who were the subject of a mix-up could have an adjoining cabin for their small kids...

The second couple included a husband who was on his 27th cruise with Celebrity...

The third couple were two single women, one of whom who had been a Chief Purser on Royal Caribbean ships for 12 years...

And, then there was us...

 

Maybe they read this board and picked up on me from my posts here?

 

Maybe they looked at my combined history with RCCL and Celebrity and realized how much money I've spent with them over the years (we've booked our share of Suites and Balconies with separate rooms for the kids and have done airfare, cruisetours, pre-cruise and post-cruise hotels all through Celebrity and RCCL)...I figure with computers what they are today, they've got to have a lengthy file on a lot of us...

 

I am assuming, though, that they give out the honor in a number of ways:

I am sure famous people or dignitaries get an invite (One cruise we were on, the US Ambassador to Denmark was on the cruise and he got an invite)...

I am certain that people with exceptionally large number of cruises with Celebrity generally get an invite...

I am also sure they invite peiople for odd reasons as a good will gesture (like the couple at our table)...

Past there, it's anyone's guess...

[OCruisers]

LoisR .... You are too kind! Remember we're OCruisers ... not LoisR or chesterh! :D

 

We KNOW we were "fill-ins" because the social hostess on Celebrity called us "the morning of" as well as sending an invitation that morning. She had met us a couple of times and we do make friend easily and would not embarrass anyone ... AND ... she probably knew we would either accept or decline gracefully -- :rolleyes: not say...what we were actually thinking: B, C, D List! :D

 

It's not all bad! We seem to make good "fill-ins"! Have had the same thing happen of Princess and HAL.

 

Bruin Steve .... Because of your town, you'd be easy to spot and you are well know on this board and always make sane helpful comments ... BUT, like you, have no clue how or why they do it.

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[tawcat]

Not sure the procedure either. On an NCL cruise we were invited and I went to guest relations and asked, they told me the invite came from the home office.

 

This past Galaxy cruise we were invited to dine with the Staff Captain. He was of Greek decent, there were 2 other couples from Greece invited. It was my DW's 50th b'day, maybe that had something to do with it, not sure. Our last name is Jaros, have been asked many times if it is Greek. I whispered in my DW's ear, "not sure why we were invited, maybe they think we are Greek, don't tell them we're Polish!" At any rate we had a marvelous time on both occasions and would never turn down an invite with such honor.

[TurnSmiles]

Is the Captain at the early or late seating?

[Char]

I don't know how they choose who gets to dine with the officers, either! We are Elite Captain's Club with 16 cruises and have never been invited :eek: But we have taken the coveted Bridge Tour several times! Seen one, seen 'em all! Dinner would be nice for a change :p I remember to use my Dial and clean up pretty good :D

[alpal1993]

Tawcat- Now that was funny,I should make sure I am not drinking anything when I read these posts.

We are select members and never have been invited,but it would be fun and quite interesting,I think.

[chessbriar]

The list for invites for the Captain's table comes from headquarters. It's based on level of CC memebership or if you are booked in a Suite. The CC hostess has the ability to to use Captain's Club members as fill ins if someone from the list opts out. This was the new procedure instituted in November when the Social Hostess became the Captain's Club Hostess.

[Randyk47]

We were invited and sat at the Captain's Table with the Chief Engineer on the Galaxy in March. I figured it was simply because we were in an RS as we had never sailed with Celebrity before. It was fantastic and quite an experience. We'd cruised with HAL several times before in suites/non-suites without an invitation.

[tawcat]

whatever the reason, we accepted the invite with joy and excitement. 12 cruises and 2 invites, i think that is pretty darn good.

 

the difference between ncl and x; on ncl we were all seated at the table and then the officer joined us. with x we gathered at reserved tables in the rendezvous lounge, drinks were served and the staff captain joined us for a bit of pre-dinner conversation. we were then escorted to the dinner table with the staff captain being the last. we decended the grand staircase in the dining room, kinda like a semi parade. led to the table and seated. a white wine was served with the appetizer, a nice sorbet to clean the palate followed. then red wine was poured and the dinner served, just happened to be lobster. then dessert. it was 5 star service and the food impeccable!

 

can ya tell we really enjoyed ourselves!!!!!

[Druke I]

I don't have a clue how people are selected. On our first Crystal Harmony cruise, we were assigned to the Staff Captain's table for full 10 nights. Very good service, and he even took the whole table, at the company's expense, to Kyoto dining room one night.

 

I think it is a totally random thing, much like upgrades.

[par5n3]

Get close to the Assistant Maitre'D. We were invited to dine at the Captain's Table (with the Hotel Manager) on the Summit this past winter after mentioning casually to our Maitre'D that we had been on many cruises and would love the experience of sitting at the Captain's Table. We received an invitation for the last formal night (invitations are only extended for formal nights). It was an experience we will never forget.

[CruiseForever]

We have been invited to dine with the Captain on all four occasions of sailing with Celebrity. The first two times we were in a royal suite and the last two times we were in the PH. On the first two occasions, the social hostess came to our cabin before we sailed and interviewed us, for lack of a better term, later that evening we received our invitation. During the last two cruises there was no social hostess, only the cruise hostess, whom we never saw.

 

We have been told that PH suite pax will always be invited, as will the

cruising pax with the most number of cruises. Beyond any special people or

dignitaries on board they use the royal suites as the next area to invite guests from. The captain wil usually only eat in the dinning room once during the cruise on the first formal night. The other formal nights his table will usually be used by another officer. It is always the second seating .

 

Ron

[giddyup]

On my first cruise with Celebrity, on the Century, my friend and I were invited to sit at the Captain's table. Sadly we turned it down, as we were travelling with a group of friends and didn't want to miss out on our last formal night with them, or want any of them to be upset. In hindsight (shortly thereafter) we regreted our choice and wished we had gone, though we very pleased to have been asked. We were lounging by the pool when our invitation came, so it seems as though invitations come for all reasons :)

 

If you are asked .... don't turn down the opportunity!! ;)

 

We were honoured to be asked, and have a story to tell, but wish we had attended.

[smoothdancer]

I can add my 2 cents, and observations...

 

We received an invite on our cruise to the captians table ... But a few things I noticed.... We were at a dinner table of 8... 2 of us in royal suites, one in a sky suite, and one not in a suite.... I think it was on the 2nd night the social hostess comes to our table, with a list.... She asks for the couples by name...yup, the 2 in the royal suite... She introduces herself to us, and strikes up this casual conversation.... Now my husband is a great conversationalist.. and just starts to chat away..... The other couple was quite reserved, and did not talk much to the hostess...

 

Can you guess what happened... The room stewart the next morining delivers an inviation to dine at the captians table.... We have never cruised X before, so we were not an Elite status.... I could not resit, I had to joke with my husband, good job!!!... Ahh the poor table, that has to deal with my husband... He is anything but stuffy, tastefully, just likes to have a good time, where ever he is.... We did not actually dine with the captain, just his officers..... Guys, it is not a big deal.. It actaully made me a bit nervous, and I missed the usual fun we had with our tablemates.... The kidded us the next night about our invite!! ...We took it in stride!!

[Ma Bell]

On our last cruise in April we were invited twice. The first formal night we dined with the Captain. We had lovely dinner companions and the Captain actually seemed to enjoy himself. When we got an invitation for the last formal night to dine with the Hotel Manager I was surprised and asked the Captain's Club Hostess if they would like to invite someone else since we had already dined with the Captain. She said the Hotel Manager had specifically requested that we be invited. We had another wonderful evening.:)

[BEARFACE]

Hi All, We have been seated at the big table if it may be called that. Once each with the Asst. Hotel Manager, Hotel Manager, and the Captain. Everyone is correct about how people are chosen. First is V.I.P.'s, second is suite pax's, third is repeaters and fourth is graditude or appoligies for whatever reason. All the decisions are made on the ship not from the home office. The first time we were at the embarkation desk checking in and the social hostess approached us at the end of the line and asked how many cruises we had been on with Celebrity. The second time, was that we had the most cruises on the ship. The third time, we knew the social hostess from our previous cruise. On our last cruise after talking to the social hostess at the repeat cruiseres cocktail party she said that if she she had room at the table that she would have given it to us.

[MSUSigmaK]

My daughter and I were invited to the Captain's table and had a wonderful time. We met the Captain's Club Hostess while we were checking in. Had a suite and it was our fourth Celebrity cruise. The Captain's first name was Anastasios my daughter Anastasia, so we easily remembered his name for the balance of the cruise. We would see him often and he would always wave. We were also invited to the bridge as we left Key West, a fantastic experience.

[tawcat]

Ok, I'll sit quiet after this, but I think ya'll are painting a picture for us that never do suites, penthouses or even balconies, that there is not a snowballs chance in hell for us to be invited. If you read my two previous posts, I can assure you of these facts.

 

1. On both occasions we received invitations we had inside cabins.

2. Probably not due to most cruises either, NCL we probably had sailed them three times and this past cruise was our first Celebrity.

3. We did not rub elbows with maitre'd's or social hostesses.

 

Bottom line, I don't think there is a method to their madness, I think its like a lottery, if your name or cabin comes up you get an invite.

 

Sure wish someone that worked for one of the lines and knew about this stuff would respond and set all of us straight.

[kelmac]

Hi everyone; as some of you know I have a different theory about this.:rolleyes: My wife and I have sailed on Celebrity eight times, and we have been invited to the Captain's table on four of those occasions. We usually cruise 3--5 times a year(on various lines) and stick to inside cabins to afford this addiction. We do early seating, so all of our experiences have been with staff officers. These guys are usually younger, and many times single. I believe these officers tell the social hostess/Captain's club hostess to invite who she has to invite, but look for attractive, fun women to sit to their immediate right and left.

I'm a nice enough guy, but my wife is an outgoing, fun, tall, blond who turns a few heads. She teaches literature, and can engage in any conversation with ease.

We have always had a great time and it is very obvious to me why we get selected. :rolleyes: :D

 

Enjoy!

Kel

[ABSCruiseLuvers]

No question that at one time it was the SH who made the call...they were very open about this back then. Then Miami seemed to be making the picks but I think that has changed too. When the Assistant Maitre'D makes his rounds the first night to all of the tables he also makes notes on people and has at least some input.

 

I have one more theory too…it has to do with the attractiveness of the female…but I am not sure about that.

[Lois R]

Ok, I'll sit quiet after this, but I think ya'll are painting a picture for us that never do suites, penthouses or even balconies, that there is not a snowballs chance in hell for us to be invited. If you read my two previous posts, I can assure you of these facts.

 

1. On both occasions we received invitations we had inside cabins.

2. Probably not due to most cruises either, NCL we probably had sailed them three times and this past cruise was our first Celebrity.

3. We did not rub elbows with maitre'd's or social hostesses.

 

Bottom line, I don't think there is a method to their madness, I think its like a lottery, if your name or cabin comes up you get an invite.

 

Sure wish someone that worked for one of the lines and knew about this stuff would respond and set all of us straight.

 

Hi:) this is just a suggestion....please don't take it as sarcastic because it is not my intention.

But you could call the Headquarters in Miami if you really want to have a correct response. I am not sure who you would ask for but I think there is a gent with the last name of Hanrahan who would probably know the answer.