Chances of stranger at dinner?

[MissMeggieMurphy]

On a cruise with my husband out of San Jan on RCCL and ended up at a 12 top with 10 non-english speaking passengers. For no other reason than we couldn't understand anyone we politely left, and proceeded to the check-in point where we immediately were switched with a spanish speaking couple who had encountered the same situation in reverse.

 

Personally, I love sitting with a bunch of strangers. But then I love talking to people while waiting in lines, and at a bar, or playing trivia, of just leaning on a railing. And I've also, apparently, been pretty darn lucky because I haven't had a bad experience, yet.

[maggieworkman]

We usually cruise with 5 (me, dh, dd,dd, dmom) and have always been seated with another family of 3 or 5. Usually they have been families with a teen(s) because my girls were teens.

 

I doubt they will seat you with a single traveler.

 

Maggie

[arpie05]

Sometimes my son and I travel with an older single lady from work. She enjoys sitting with families because she has no kids in her family (3 siblings - none had kids :().

 

You never know if they might put 1-3 people at your table. Your children may enjoy meeting someone from somewhere else. ANd if the person(s) don't enjoy it - they will ask to move.

 

And you don't nessessarily have to engage them in conversation the whole time. I've sat A LOT closer to people at the table beside or behind me than at my table because I was at a large table.

 

Don't worry about who you will sit with at dinner. I'm still friends with people I've meet on cruises (not dining companison). My son and I have some of our best memories (laughs) about people we meet at dinner.

[detroitlions]

I am up in the air on sitting with people at dinner I dont know. My DW is too. We just ask for the 3 of us at our own booth it works out best. I have a DS who will be 10 on this cruise. A lot of time we leave early no desert or one of us take our son to kids club before dinner is over. Also a issue we have is my son has allergys to peanut and egg. My wife is really social but likes to keep things intimate for dinner. Me I can be social but sometimes I dont want to deal with people expecialy while I am eating and just want to get out of there and have fun. I dont like to revolve the day around the dinner anyway I normally dont cruise for the food. Even though the food in the dinning room is good I dont like most of the buffett food niether does DW so I have to go to the dining room almost every time. We have been on excursions where the day was too late for our dinner time usally 1 day out of our week it is always a sandwitch for me.

[RazorbackBelle08]

This is fascinating to me. A friend of mine and I sailed on Carnival last year; anytime dining; we were always seated at a table for two. I can't imagine being sat at a table with a bunch of strangers; then again, it wouldn't be much different from a hibachi restaurant I guess...

[WetToes]

 

Personally, I love sitting with a bunch of strangers. But then I love talking to people while waiting in lines, and at a bar, or playing trivia, of just leaning on a railing. And I've also, apparently, been pretty darn lucky because I haven't had a bad experience, yet.

 

 

Would the "strangers" say the same?

[crusinpsychRN]

I was seated alone with a family of 5. But I had fake booked my 2 adult kids so there were 2 empty seats at the table. The married couple were just about making out at dinner. It was disgusting! I changed tables.

[2 cruzen]

You can send the ships Maitre'D an email and make a request for whatever table/seating arrangements you like.

 

I was just going to suggest this or check as soon as you get on board, but sending a request beforehand would be easier for all.

[marym933]

I traveled with extended family members that made a group of 7. Much to our surprise, Carnival set a solo lady traveler with our family. She was very interesting. We looked forward to hearing her stories each evening.

 

About booths - I always visit the dining room when it opens about 1:15 p.m. to see were our table is located. If it a booth, I ask to change to a table.

[Colorado Kat]

I was seated alone with a family of 5. But I had fake booked my 2 adult kids so there were 2 empty seats at the table. The married couple were just about making out at dinner. It was disgusting! I changed tables.

 

Fake Booked? And why fake book 2 more, instead of 1?

[Captain Carnival]

Somewhat contrastingly to many of the previous posts, we always ask to be seated at a LARGE ROUND table so as to meet other cruisers (aka strangers) just to share in our mutual cruise story experiences.

[Thoth]

I have been that "stranger" placed at a table with a family. No...I'm not offended by being called a stranger. By the end of the week though, I'm your best buddy ;) and no longer the outsider.

[Mikey22]

We were a family of five and they sat us with an older Kiwi couple on a table of eight, they were great fun and we really enjoyed it, the only down side was if we were running 10 mins late they were waiting for us and I felt bad about that.

[funinthesun1964]

People are strange when you're a stranger

Faces look ugly when you're alone

Women seem wicked when you're unwanted

Streets are uneven when you're down

 

After I have been breaking out in song here, I'm thinking there is no stranger on a cruise. I love to meet other people. As long as they are willing to have a conversation with me, and be nice, they are then my friends.

[Thoth]

People are strange when you're a stranger

Faces look ugly when you're alone

Women seem wicked when you're unwanted

Streets are uneven when you're down

 

After I have been breaking out in song here, I'm thinking there is no stranger on a cruise. I love to meet other people. As long as they are willing to have a conversation with me, and be nice, they are then my friends.

well said and true here with me :)

[shiningprincess]

On AnyTime Dining, we're a pair and have almost always been seated at a two-seat table... but we usually end up chatting with the people sitting next to us anyway.

 

On other lines, we often end up with a large table of other couples or families at breakfast, which I love. I'm a chatty person, and love to hear other people's experiences in port, and around the world. We've made some good friends (and found some great tour guides!) that way...

 

To paraphrase The Simpsons' 'Streetcar!' "A stranger's just a friend you haven't met." ;)

[vzarah84]

I have heard cruise lines try to group people of similar bookings. That is to say Couples with couples, small family with small family, and singles with singles.

 

Its been a few years, but I thought the main dinning rooms had tables for 12. YMMV

 

That is what they normally do. On one cruise, it was me, my sister, and friend. They put us at a table with a family of 4. We all got along perfectly!

[pamurchu]

We are a couple and have been seated with strangers on the last three cruises we scheduled. By the second dinner seating, we were no longer strangers. We never became best friends, exchanged email addresses, or facebooked each other. But we certainly enjoyed the conversations we had discussing our experiences of the day over prime rib and creme brulee. But this is a personal decision. Good luck, and have a great cruise.

[lady_cruiser]

It seems a little impolite to me to call a solo traveler a "stranger".

Look at it this way, they are a stranger until they are introduced to each other.

 

But I wonder if they will feel uncomfortable first knowing they are sitting with a family they don't know yet.

[KatieCharlotte]

I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about it. And I am not someone instantly comfortable with new people. It's part of the cruising adventure.

 

When dh and I cruised alone, we were placed with another couple who were so much like us in personality it was a little scary, only they were ten years younger and on their honeymoon and missed all but two dinners. We still joke about how we were more interested in eating a nice dinner without our children, while they were still more interested in ... staying in their room.

 

When we cruised as a family of five, we were placed at a table for four with a chair on the end. The table was a little crowded with all the place settings and ds knocked over his sister's water glass trying to butter a roll, but it worked okay. We also wouldn't have minded being with another family with young children, just not adults we'd worry about disturbing. It looked like they placed families with young children in the same area of the restaurant.

[092306]

On our last cruise, which was our honeymoon, we showed up to the MDR and were led to our table. It was a booth....with another couple sitting there....one on each side. Hilarious! You should have seen the looks on their faces, and ours! We apologized to them and politely said "we are on our honeymoon and we would really prefer a table for two but we definitely do not want to sit in a booth with 2 people we don't know across from each other and side by side with them. They promptly moved us to a different table. We still laugh about that to this day!

 

That happened to us on our honeymoon too, but it was our first cruise and it didn't even occur to us that we could change. They only showed up to dinner 1/2 the time though. We've been seated in booths w/other couples on other cruises before we did YTD but always our request for a table for 2 granted the next day. That's probably the most awkward seating arrangement. Would much prefer a large table to sitting with just one other couple. We did sit at breakfast in the MDR with a solo cruiser a couple of times and he was hilarious, had tons of cruising experience and lots of stories, it might end up enjoyable if it actually happens that way.