Main Dining Room Table Assignment

[Robpuffdaddy]

It has been like 6 years since I have been on a cruise. How does the table assignments work now for the dining room?  Do they still automatically assign you a table?  Do you go to the dining room after you get on board to go check table assignments to see if you like it and request a table change if they put you at a table or 6 or 8 people when you are just a couple and would prefer a table for 2?  We are going on the Freedom in March.  Thank you

[skrufy]

You will be assigned a table. You can go check it out, if not liked ask to have your table changed to a table for two.

Edited November 7, 2022 by skrufy
Addition

[mz-s]

If you have any time dining you will be seated at a table for two each night anyway. You might be mere inches from your neighbor’s table but you’ll have a table of your own.

[MistyRo76]

You can ask to be seated somewhere else! We actually had two table moves on our last cruise. One because some friends surprised us by showing up on our cruise. So they talked to the Maitre D' about us being all seated together. They had to move us to a larger table. Then we had some issues with the people seated next to us that caused us to move again after the second night. First time in 19 cruises that we had to do that! 

[Island Dog]

I said this before, but it bears mentioning again. If you ever have a problem in the main dining room just go see the maitre d. Those people will bend over backwards to make sure you are happy!

[SDPadreFan]

We always make a habit of checking out our table assignment during embarkation if we have assigned dining (which we generally prefer). When doing assigned, we always ask for early dining. If we could only get late dining, then we would try to switch to early or anytime dining. When doing assigned dining, our preference is for a 6 or 8 top table. We've had larger tables (10+) but because of the size, it's hard to have a conversation with anyone unless they are seated directly next to you.

 

Our choice for assigned vs anytime really depends on the type of cruise. For a standard Mexican Riviera or east/west Caribbean, we pretty much try to stick to Early Dining Assigned. For our 10 day Alaska this year and next years 12 day Baltic Sea cruise - Anytime Dining was what we had (and what we will have). Panama Canal, repositioning, or Hawaii cruises are others where we would request Early Dining Assigned due to the number of "at sea" days.

 

Haven't yet had a table with poor dining partners (knock on wood). We've had a couple of boring ones (RCCL), but never poor ones.

[ninjacat123]

I have always been able to request another table if we have been assigned a large group table with the Maître D upon embarkation day around 1:30.  Having said that, my last cruise this past May I was told "sorry this is the best we can do" and seated us at a table for 10. Fortunately we had charming table guests and it all worked out, although I saw plenty of four tops available that my party of three could have been seated at.  Probably a staff shortage issue.

[Island Dog]

48 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I have always been able to request another table if we have been assigned a large group table with the Maître D upon embarkation day around 1:30.  Having said that, my last cruise this past May I was told "sorry this is the best we can do" and seated us at a table for 10. Fortunately we had charming table guests and it all worked out, although I saw plenty of four tops available that my party of three could have been seated at.  Probably a staff shortage issue.

Wow. That's disappointing. I've always had great experiences with the Dining Room management and they've always been very accommodating. I hope that's the exception and not the rule now. 

[staceyglow]

2 hours ago, Island Dog said:

Wow. That's disappointing. I've always had great experiences with the Dining Room management and they've always been very accommodating. I hope that's the exception and not the rule now. 

Or it could have been that those tables were assigned to parties that never ate dinner in the MDR.

I have seen empty 2-tops and 4-tops for the entire cruise in the MDR even pre-Covid.

[laniriveira]

We’ve always chosen the ‘your time dining’ so we could request a table for our specific party size.  Obviously, there are busy times during dinner that would require you to wait longer for an available table.  

[ronrythm]

7 hours ago, SDPadreFan said:

Haven't yet had a table with poor dining partners (knock on wood). We've had a couple of boring ones (RCCL), but never poor ones.

I’ve had to switch tables once for poor dinner partners. My mother and I did a southern Caribbean RCCL cruise out of San Juan Puerto Rico. There was some horrible weather that caused tons of flights to be delayed, including ours. We were supposed to arrive at noon. We got to the ship just in time for dinner. And we had late seating. We were seated at a 4 top with the other 2 seats empty. About 30 minutes later a couple comes in to take the other. They barely greet us and the female starts complaining to her husband that there aren’t as many activities that night as there are at Club Med. And she complained the whole rest of the meal.

 

We finished our meal, I looked at my mother and we immediately went to the desk to see about changing our table. As I approached, the Maitre D  turned around saw me and said “Ron, so good to see you again.” Paul, he remembered me from a cruise 2 years before! I remembered him as well and I explained the situation, he gave a quick glance at the seating chart, and said “I’ve got just the table for you. See me tomorrow night”.

 

The next night, we were moved to a large table with a group of retired Southern Bell workers. We laughed and had so much fun at our table, other people were asking to move to it.  Thanks Paul!

[Island Dog]

10 hours ago, staceyglow said:

Or it could have been that those tables were assigned to parties that never ate dinner in the MDR.

I have seen empty 2-tops and 4-tops for the entire cruise in the MDR even pre-Covid.

While that may be true, I have never experienced MDR Mgmt. saying "I'm sorry,  there's nothing we can do". It may have taken until the next evening to accommodate my request, but they always came through. I've only had MSC tell me that statement. And that was after being told the night previous we would be accommodated. So 10 of us were crammed into a table for 8 for 7 nights. 😡

[ninjacat123]

10 hours ago, staceyglow said:

Or it could have been that those tables were assigned to parties that never ate dinner in the MDR.

I have seen empty 2-tops and 4-tops for the entire cruise in the MDR even pre-Covid.

We were on Ecstasy which didn't have specialty dining options.  I don't know why our party of three wasn't assigned to a nearby four top which would have been within a wait staff's section.  Just odd.

[staceyglow]

2 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

We were on Ecstasy which didn't have specialty dining options.  I don't know why our party of three wasn't assigned to a nearby four top which would have been within a wait staff's section.  Just odd.

Maybe they went to the buffet every night. I have seen plenty of posters s ON CC who say they never go to the MDR.