New dining protocols

[margsbolton]

I am travelling alone for the first time on Arcadia in August 2022 and I have just received a notification advising me that the new dining protocols mean no sharing of dining tables with other guests unless specifically requested. I don’t mind having breakfast alone but it would be nice to share a table at Dinner. Does anyone have experience of this ???

[mickey1959]

12 minutes ago, margsbolton said:

I am travelling alone for the first time on Arcadia in August 2022 and I have just received a notification advising me that the new dining protocols mean no sharing of dining tables with other guests unless specifically requested. I don’t mind having breakfast alone but it would be nice to share a table at Dinner. Does anyone have experience of this ???

What dining did you opt for when you booked? We are on in july and have not had an email, but booked table for 2.

[margsbolton]

I opted to share a table for 6 or8 on 2nd sitting dining.

[mickey1959]

8 minutes ago, margsbolton said:

I opted to share a table for 6 or8 on 2nd sitting dining.

I'm not sure how that's going to work for you then! It's a bit strange we opted for 1st sitting at 6.30.

[mickey1959]

11 minutes ago, mickey1959 said:

I'm not sure how that's going to work for you then! It's a bit strange we opted for 1st sitting at 6.30.

How ever our booking does say table for 2 not confirmed.

[loveheart]

We are a party of 3 who want to dine with my brother and wife who are on a separate booking. How will this work?

[Bobcat1884]

Have recently returned and when requesting a table for 2 on Freedom Dining, if there were none available, we were often asked if we wanted to share a table.

[mickey1959]

18 minutes ago, loveheart said:

We are a party of 3 who want to dine with my brother and wife who are on a separate booking. How will this work?

You will need to link your booking.

[Pine Man]

1 hour ago, margsbolton said:

I have just received a notification advising me that the new dining protocols mean no sharing of dining tables with other guests unless specifically requested.

I wasn't aware of any changes to dining protocols.

 

My next cruise is on Britannia in June 2022 and I selected Club Dining. My booking receipt shows '6 - Requested, not confirmed'.  There is no dining information on 'My P&O Cruises' and I have heard nothing from P&O to indicate that this has changed.

 

Have i missed something?

[mickey1959]

4 minutes ago, Pine Man said:

I wasn't aware of any changes to dining protocols.

 

My next cruise is on Britannia in June 2022 and I selected Club Dining. My booking receipt shows '6 - Requested, not confirmed'.  There is no dining information on 'My P&O Cruises' and I have heard nothing from P&O to indicate that this has changed.

 

Have i missed something?

Well we haven't heard any thing either we are on Arcadia in july!!

[loveheart]

14 minutes ago, mickey1959 said:

You will need to link your booking.

Will P&O do this or our TA ?

[davecttr]

This concerns solo cruisers, travelling on your own. Before covid if you opted for club dining. The default option was sharing a table with other solo cruisers unless you did not want to. I opted for a shared table. Since Covid the default has been changed to eat on your own and you have to opt for a shared table. My next cruise is Iona with only Freedom dining and I probably won't use the mdr at all.

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

This concerns solo cruisers, travelling on your own. Before covid if you opted for club dining. The default option was sharing a table with other solo cruisers unless you did not want to. I opted for a shared table. Since Covid the default has been changed to eat on your own and you have to opt for a shared table. My next cruise is Iona with only Freedom dining and I probably won't use the mdr at all.

 

That’s a shame, Dave. We’ve always opted for Freedom Dining and very much enjoyed the company of the many people travelling on their own. It’s always worked out well, and the variety of diners at every meal has been really enjoyable and really interesting.

 

Is it simply not allowed now then to have mixed tables? I very much enjoy my wife’s company, but we eat together most of the time, and eating with other people on cruises is part of the fun.

[margsbolton]

Thankyou to Davecttr  for explaining the situation properly. I am not sure that I want to spend the whole cruise on my own !!! I may have to consider cancelling before final payment is due !!!

Edited April 24, 2022 by margsbolton

[Harry Peterson]

1 minute ago, margsbolton said:

Thankyou to Davecttr  for explaining the situation properly. I am not sure that I want to spend the whole cruise on my own !!! I may have to consider cancelling before final payment is due !!!

I can absolutely understand that, but I do hope there’s a way you can join other people on shared tables.

[terrierjohn]

13 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

 

That’s a shame, Dave. We’ve always opted for Freedom Dining and very much enjoyed the company of the many people travelling on their own. It’s always worked out well, and the variety of diners at every meal has been really enjoyable and really interesting.

 

Is it simply not allowed now then to have mixed tables? I very much enjoy my wife’s company, but we eat together most of the time, and eating with other people on cruises is part of the fun.

It is allowed, but with omicron being so much more infectious, and with the consequences of quarantine, it is perhaps not worth risking sharing a dining table.

[zap99]

41 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

 

That’s a shame, Dave. We’ve always opted for Freedom Dining and very much enjoyed the company of the many people travelling on their own. It’s always worked out well, and the variety of diners at every meal has been really enjoyable and really interesting.

 

Is it simply not allowed now then to have mixed tables? I very much enjoy my wife’s company, but we eat together most of the time, and eating with other people on cruises is part of the fun.

I very much enjoy dining with my wife and have convinced her to share a table for 2 with me.🤣

[Josy1953]

29 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

It is allowed, but with omicron being so much more infectious, and with the consequences of quarantine, it is perhaps not worth risking sharing a dining table.

I am surprised that many people want to share a table with strangers while covid is hanging around and as you say the variants are becoming more infectious albeit less severe. 

We not chosen a shared table for years,  even before anytime dining we would request a table for 2 when we booked. I can however understand singles wanting to share in order to have someone to chat with. 

[mickey1959]

2 hours ago, loveheart said:

Will P&O do this or our TA ?

You can phone P&O and just ask them to link your booking, every thing else will just fall into place, dining, shore excursions etc.

[wowzz]

49 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

It is allowed, but with omicron being so much more infectious, and with the consequences of quarantine, it is perhaps not worth risking sharing a dining table.

The tables for two are so close together, I don't think it makes any difference if you share a table or not.

[bbtablet]

Re earlier posts, don't be concerned if your booking shows Table for 2 "requested - not confirmed" - this is automatic and standard wording.

P&O need to tell you they have heard your request and if you booked fairly soon after the cruise went on sale you will get your table for two, even before COVID, but they don't promise it to you ahead of the cruise because it limits their flexibility in case circumstances change. Having said that, we have always had our requested "not confrmed" table for two without any bother.

Edited April 24, 2022 by bbtablet

[zap99]

10 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

I am surprised that many people want to share a table with strangers while covid is hanging around and as you say the variants are becoming more infectious albeit less severe. 

We not chosen a shared table for years,  even before anytime dining we would request a table for 2 when we booked. I can however understand singles wanting to share in order to have someone to chat with. 

Folk seem to have a different mindset. In Lanzarote we found folk naturally waited for the next lift if it arrived occupied. We would be fairly happy to share a table, but normally prefer a table for 2.

[Clodia]

4 hours ago, margsbolton said:

I am travelling alone for the first time on Arcadia in August 2022 and I have just received a notification advising me that the new dining protocols mean no sharing of dining tables with other guests unless specifically requested. I don’t mind having breakfast alone but it would be nice to share a table at Dinner. Does anyone have experience of this ???

You soon get used to dining alone; I've been cruising and land travelling alone for years and I like it, as well as it being less risky at present. I started asking for a table alone at breakfast as I have an extreme allergy to baked beans, which shouldn't IMO be served at breakfast, but..I would see the Head Waiter and explain that I would have to leave if someone ordered beans on my shared table, so was always seated alone. It was a short step from there to being alone at dinner or lunch. Now I prefer it. And of course if you eat in the speciality restaurants as I always do on several occasions on a cruise, you are seated alone.

[loveheart]

30 minutes ago, mickey1959 said:

You can phone P&O and just ask them to link your booking, every thing else will just fall into place, dining, shore excursions etc.

Thank you x

[grapau27]

4 hours ago, margsbolton said:

I am travelling alone for the first time on Arcadia in August 2022 and I have just received a notification advising me that the new dining protocols mean no sharing of dining tables with other guests unless specifically requested. I don’t mind having breakfast alone but it would be nice to share a table at Dinner. Does anyone have experience of this ???

When we went into the main dining room on Iona in March we were asked if we wanted to share a table but we said no because we wanted a table for 2.

On Britannia last week there was no mask wearing except in the theatre.

Restrictions seem to be getting less so for August to be told you can't share a table seems extremely unusual.