Seating at Gumbae

[tbmrt]

  How many people are at a table?  Do you get seated at whatever table is open when you enter according to your reservation time or are the seats preassigned? 

 

I'm hoping that some of the younger people will groan when they see that they are seated with us!

 

We're older than most of the SL passengers, but very young at heart.  Husband is an 80 year old personal trainer!

[CruisingWalter]

58 minutes ago, tbmrt said:

  How many people are at a table?  Do you get seated at whatever table is open when you enter according to your reservation time or are the seats preassigned? 

 

I'm hoping that some of the younger people will groan when they see that they are seated with us!

 

We're older than most of the SL passengers, but very young at heart.  Husband is an 80 year old personal trainer!

 

6 to 10 I believe are the sizes of the table. We had six at our table. There were four of us and we were seated at a table for 6 with folks we had never met but became friends by the end of the meal. You're seated at random with folks unless you come in with a large party. 

[jon81uk]

Most of the tables hold six or eight I think and they will generally seat four to six at a table. 

 

For those who really want to be on their own it is apparently possible to get seated as a two but mainly towards the end of the night. 

[cantgetin]

Each table we've had was intended for 6.  You are seated with other parties to get to that number.  There are a few larger tables intended for groups of greater than 6 who have made reservations together.

We've had 2 groups that were great and one group (2 of us, 4 of them) where 3 of the 4 either didn't or wouldn't speak English; one man was translating to the server.  That was a little awkward, but we just chatted with the translator for a few minutes and then acted as if it was a table for 2.

[Jessetfan]

It was six for us last week. We had the unfortunate experience of being seated with two grumpy couples, most of whom spent the meal buried in their phones. The food was great, but the meal was extremely long. I would recommend against booking on the night of embarkation.

[_tacocat_]

1 hour ago, Jessetfan said:

It was six for us last week. We had the unfortunate experience of being seated with two grumpy couples, most of whom spent the meal buried in their phones. The food was great, but the meal was extremely long. I would recommend against booking on the night of embarkation.

My experience has been totally different hah- the first time we were on, we went to Gunbae after our Cozumel port day.  Everrrrryyyyone had a garbage time in port because, well, it was Cozumel.  Everyone at our table was so grumpy because it was hot, there was too much walking, we got ripped off by xyz vendor, my excursion sucked, etc., so conversation was not great to start.  Then one of the other couples at our table dove head first into an unprompted politics/second amendment debate. We quickly excused ourselves as soon as we finished the meat course because "we had a show to catch."

 

Flash forward to the next voyage, and we went embarkation day - everyone was still in a great mood, and most of the conversation centered around how cool the ship was, what VV was like, and travel in general.  It does take forever, so we typically try to book around 6:30-7 if we're doing it the first night.

[karmamule]

Fortunately most people get the basic etiquette of not discussing politics in a cruise/vacation environment with a bunch of strangers. It's always so awkward when someone starts on a rant. We'd also have a "show to catch" in that situation. 😄

[cantgetin]

Funny, we were seated with a couple where the husband had the same hobby as my daughter--they talked "shop" the entire evening....not rudely to the exclusion of others at the table, but they did have a great time.  The rest of us talked about the ship, travel, etc.

You can make a reservation and later add people to it if you meed others on the ship who you would like to invite to join you.  Just use the edit function of the app in the reservation section.

Edited March 27, 2023 by cantgetin

[Sherry84]

I guess we got lucky on our 2 cruises as both times we were seated at a table for 6 and the 2 other couples were very pleasant. Ages ranged from our age (late 40s), to a  bit younger, to very young (20s)! Luck of the draw I guess. We have an upcoming Scarlet Lady cruise in August and hopefully our luck won't run out the 3rd time around 🙂 

[Jessetfan]

9 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

Then one of the other couples at our table dove head first into an unprompted politics/second amendment debate. We quickly excused ourselves as soon as we finished the meat course because "we had a show to catch."

 

We ran into this as well. I wish we could have had anywhere as an excuse to be. It was well past showtime, and it would have been rather unconvincing that we were hardcore PJ people. I had to duck a question about my state's newly elected governor when I knew that my answer would not go over well nor serve any purpose since I was unlikely to see the people we were seated with again. 

 

Honestly, these were the only grumpy people we encountered, so I'm glad we got it out of the way early. Everyone else we encountered was absolutely lovely, and I think it really is just luck of the draw. We ended up talking to people at a lot of the restaurants because the tables are fairly close together everywhere, and we got advice on what to eat elsewhere or just had really pleasant conversations some of which developed into chatting when we ran into them again on the ship. I think we'd give Gumbae another shot either hoping to have made friends to go with or hoping for better luck with tablemates.  

[tinkr2]

On 3/27/2023 at 9:35 PM, Jessetfan said:

We ran into this as well. I wish we could have had anywhere as an excuse to be. It was well past showtime, and it would have been rather unconvincing that we were hardcore PJ people. I had to duck a question about my state's newly elected governor when I knew that my answer would not go over well nor serve any purpose since I was unlikely to see the people we were seated with again. 

 

Honestly, these were the only grumpy people we encountered, so I'm glad we got it out of the way early. Everyone else we encountered was absolutely lovely, and I think it really is just luck of the draw. We ended up talking to people at a lot of the restaurants because the tables are fairly close together everywhere, and we got advice on what to eat elsewhere or just had really pleasant conversations some of which developed into chatting when we ran into them again on the ship. I think we'd give Gumbae another shot either hoping to have made friends to go with or hoping for better luck with tablemates.  

I was solo and had a great table at Gunbae but as you said the tables are close . I got blind sided with politics in The Wake . It was super awkward . I rambled ơn about the weather to change the subject.😀

[cantgetin]

12 hours ago, tinkr2 said:

I was solo and had a great table at Gunbae but as you said the tables are close . I got blind sided with politics in The Wake . It was super awkward . I rambled ơn about the weather to change the subject.😀

I'm confused.  The Wake will seat solo diners at a table for 2.  I did it when my cruise partner was still asleep!  Did you set up a group in advance for The Wake and then it turned out to be not such a good group?  They don't normally ask if you want to join other diners.  The only restaurant that makes groups is Gumbae.   We've had good and slightly awkward groups there, but that was due to a language issue....

[jon81uk]

2 hours ago, cantgetin said:

m confused.  The Wake will seat solo diners at a table for 2. 

I think as the previous poster mentions the tables being close together they were at a table for two, but by another table who shouted across slightly to make conversation. We’ve had this at Razzle Dazzle where the tables for two are easily close enough to make conversation with neighbours.

[cantgetin]

12 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

I think as the previous poster mentions the tables being close together they were at a table for two, but by another table who shouted across slightly to make conversation. We’ve had this at Razzle Dazzle where the tables for two are easily close enough to make conversation with neighbours.

I've experienced this at RD as well, but it is relatively easy to determine whether those at the next table want to talk or be left alone.  Maybe I was lucky because I didn't find the tables at The Wake to be close....or maybe my cruises weren't as full as some....

 

[tinkr2]

The 2 tops are all in a row less than a foot apart . 

[cantgetin]

4 hours ago, tinkr2 said:

The 2 tops are all in a row less than a foot apart . 

I didn't measure it, but I don't think they are that close. They are close, but I didn't have any trouble getting in without bumping a different table, and my servers had no trouble standing between the tables.  On the other hand, it is possible that they adjust the number of tables based on how full the cruise is. I know other lines do that.

[Travel-and-See]

It depends on which section you are seated in. The Wake, Razzle Dazzle, and Pink Agave have tables for 2 that are EXTREMELY close together. As far as conversation goes, Test Kitchen is also set up where you are seated close to other groups but in my experience, they leave a seat in between you and other groups which actually separates you MORE than in the other restaurants. 

 

 

 

 

[Sherry84]

I remember commenting to DH on how close the 2 tops in The Wake were as I had to strategize how to get out from the booth side and not have my bum in the faces of the diners next to us, lol! 

[Jessetfan]

18 hours ago, Travel-and-See said:

It depends on which section you are seated in. The Wake, Razzle Dazzle, and Pink Agave have tables for 2 that are EXTREMELY close together. As far as conversation goes, Test Kitchen is also set up where you are seated close to other groups but in my experience, they leave a seat in between you and other groups which actually separates you MORE than in the other restaurants. 

 

 

 

 

That wasn't our experience. We were seated directly next to another couple at the counter. It ended up being an absolutely great time, and we ended up seeing them throughout our cruise. 

[cantgetin]

The only place I felt out seating was perhaps "too close" was test kitchen.  We were at the high counter once and at the tables the second time.  We made friends with the couple at the next table.  We found RD to be close, but not offensively so.  Maybe we were just lucky in the tables we were assigned.

[Travel-and-See]

4 hours ago, Jessetfan said:

That wasn't our experience. We were seated directly next to another couple at the counter. It ended up being an absolutely great time, and we ended up seeing them throughout our cruise. 

For me... there were empty seats between me and the 2 other groups at the counter but the server addressed us all together.  We certainly conversed a bit. I got the zero proof drink pairing and the couple next to me got the wine pairing so we compared drinks for sure.

 

I would have felt a bit closed in if the seats directly around me were filled. 

[curlstravel]

The seats were really close on our cruise and they were for most of the time so you had people sitting close to you on both sides.  That’s one thing I don’t like about virgin cruise and you can’t really go out for a romantic dinner and feel like you and your partner are having a private dinner. You have people sitting so close to you you feel like you were in a group.