Can we request to eat alone?

[Silver Queen]

On our previous cruises we have always been seated with other adults, most of whom were similar to our ages. Disney did an excellent job of pairing us with table mates, especially on our January Fantasy cruise. We really enjoyed the people we dined with and would love to have the opportunity to sit with them again.

 

[Ofinn]

Does a party of 4 generally get their own table, or should I request?

We are a family of four 2 times we have been seated alone and 2 times with another family. We have never made requests. I prefer being seated alone. Our last cruise with 4 preteen boys at one table got a little loud. The kids had a great time, and still talk about the friends they made on the cruise. I'm cruising without dh this time so I'm actually hoping I get seated with another family. I would like some other adults to talk to.

 

[irishtwins1112]

Wouldn't it be nice to meet and get to know someone new? Of course that's just me. I find other people fascinating.

I am firmly in the "recluse" camp. I have very few people that I am actual friends with outside of family. The thought of having to make small talk with people I don't know several nights in a row gives me the willies. I told the dcl consultant that both my husband and I had anxiety issues when it comes to sitting with other folks at dinner and she said she would note it in our reservation. We double checked that our request was honored once we got on board. It was, and we had a great, small-talk free, dinner every night.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

6 DCL cruises - 3 just DH & I, 2 of them we were seated with 3 other couples (same age group) at an 8 top. The 3rd one we had linked with a couple from our first DCL cruise and requested a 6 top (so, one other couple) and that's what we got.

1 cruise as a party of 5 and 1 cruise as a party of 6 - both times we had our own table.

1 cruise we were a party of 3 (DH, me, DS18) and we were seated with a party of 5 (mom, DD15, DS 16, DD20 and her son aged 2). Not a really great match, but they were a lot of fun.

We've only requested on the one cruise for a specific size table, other than that we take what DCL gives us. We've been really happy with all our table mates.

 

[sunella]

Our first cruise, my daughter and I, were with 3 other groups of one parent and one child. After the first night 2 of the families never came back. But we got to know the one that did come back, and it was nice. We shared stories from the day, we awed at each others bravery of food choices, and found commonality between their California and our DC families. .... Our 2nd cruise, we sat alone. We had better tables but I have to say, it was disappointing. it seems to be a prime opportunity to interact with people that are like you. if it turns out poorly then i would think you could ask for a change.

 

[Lisa Lisa]

As a party of 3 (2 adults and DD) We've had two so-so experiences being seated with parties of 5. For our upcoming spring break cruise, I requested that we be seated alone. I know many have suggested asking to be moved if the assignment doesn't work out, but I can't help thinking how awkward that would be as we'd most likely run into the people again!

 

[epfootballcutie04]

The first 3 Disney cruises I had been on were with my family : younger sister, myself and my mom and dad... we always (without requesting) had a table with no table mates.

Last year, my husband and I went by ourselves and had purposefully linked up our reservation with two other families we "met" on our sailing through Facebook and so we had a table for 10. including us (mid 20's) and a family with a mom and dad and 2 kids, and a family consisting of an aunt and her sister and their niece and nephew. We had a blast!

This year we wanted to try for something different... we requested a table for two, and with it being Jersey week we knew the ship was pretty full... we were granted our request and the tables next to us on each side were tables for 2 as well... we were all actually seated at a table that could technically seat 4, but only 2 people were at each table.

It was REALLY nice. Hubby and I like to eat fast to get on with all the night time activities and have time to go to our room and change... our wait staff realized that on night one and one night we were seated, ate all courses including desert and were leaving the dining room in under 45 minutes!! It was perfect for us!! We had our dessert as the large table next to us was just getting their appetizers

Now don't get me wrong, we had the BEST table mates last year, and I think that actually played into why we requested our table for 2... we were afraid that our table mates wouldn't be AS awesome as before. lol

Keep in mind, if you do have table mates, your wait staff will generally try to wait until everyone is seated before they take orders. So if you have people that like to show up late then it could hold you up a little bit.

I was kind of sad this year because I really wanted to be able to interact with Crush at animators and i thought since we were a table for 2 then crush wouldn't talk to us... WRONG I WAS!!! We were seated directly in front of the screens and crush talked to me 3 different times and all together, for about 8-10 minutes!!! It was amazing!!

 

[bumbershoot]

Just keep in mind that sitting alone will not keep said children from beating on the table the whole meal in unison with other children and throwing a shoe in your dinner plate. True story! Haha!

So true.


And if you're seated with other adults it might not end well either...this wasn't on DCL but on our honeymoon cruise we were seated at an 8top, but 4 never showed. The other couple was SO obviously a man and his mistress that it was painful. And really disturbing to us honeymooners.


But Disney does it well. First cruise we were concierge so we were at our own table. Second cruise we were not, and we were matched with a family who had two boys whose ages flanked DS's age. It was absolutely positively perfect! Boys and boy-parents, LOL. The boys were even adventurous eaters, like DS can be!

They go out of there way to sit you with people that are like yourself so you would likely be sat with other childless couples - it's matchmaking Disney style.

Good way to put it.



As for small talk, a pox on that! I felt that our tablemates and us got into the good stuff, not just light nonsense. Even the boys got into the spirit. At one point all 3 boys needed the restroom, and the dad of the two agreed to go with them. When they got back it turned out that the boys had all gotten into a discussion about, of all things for 8,9, and 10 year olds to talk about, religion. They came back discussing Jesus and Buddha in a very happy, sharing of information, sort of way. It was awesome. They were quite disappointed when the boring adults made them stop their fascinating conversation.

 

[slzer0]

As a party of 3 (2 adults and DD) We've had two so-so experiences being seated with parties of 5. For our upcoming spring break cruise, I requested that we be seated alone. I know many have suggested asking to be moved if the assignment doesn't work out, but I can't help thinking how awkward that would be as we'd most likely run into the people again!

This.

 

[MissMaleficent]

On my first cruise with DBF we were seated with 2 other couples...one couple only showed up one of the nights and the 3rd couple was very nice and we looked forward to seeing them each night. However, on our second cruise we requested to be seated alone and it was granted. We preferred having our own table and when I go with my mom in January I will again request a private table...I know my mom will prefer that in fact maybe I should call right now

 

[dpswift]

We had a very bad experience on our last cruise and so when time gets closer (we are booked for April of 2015) I plan on requesting a private table.

On the first night they walked our table mates over to us they gave us a dirty look and asked to be moved. We had a good meal although we felt insulted. The next night their daughter told them that they insulted us and they ate with us. It went fairly well. I could understand their reasons for wanting to eat alone. For one thing they did not drink so the night we sat with them I ordered a soda. Since I had a soda that one night for the rest of the cruise a soda was dropped off without me asking. By the time the assistant server came back it was too far into our dinner to enjoy a drink.

They never came back after that one night.

Also on cruise families get split up a lot during the day and it is nice to use dinner to catch up with the kids.

 

[ness0905]

I am actually excited to get tablemates now after hearing they try and match up kids ages I have a dd7 and ds4 they love to play together but if they can make new friends their age that will be great and if they are the same sex that will be over the top as our ds4 is the only boy in his prek haha

 

[DisneyBill]

My DH and I travelled alone in March of this year. We were seated at a table with a newlywed couple and a young couple who were expecting their first child. It was a very pleasant experience for sure. Surprisingly, we had lots to talk about.

We bought gifts for each other when we left the ship on excursions and have tons of pictures of the 6 of us together. We even spent Pirate Night together laughing and dancing. It was nice having other friendly faces on board we would run into on occasion.

DH and I were worried at first, but appreciated that Disney put thought into who we sat with. It was a wonderful experience and we were glad we did it

That is a very good testimony. This past May we (DW & I 50's, DD & DBF 20) were seated at a table next to a party of 4 adults (45-50ish) who had met during a prior DCL sailing, lived in different parts of the country, yet were traveling again reunited on DCL. They seemed to have a marketed good time, I was envious of their situation.

 

[CatManDoo]

I am firmly in the "recluse" camp. I have very few people that I am actual friends with outside of family. The thought of having to make small talk with people I don't know several nights in a row gives me the willies. I told the dcl consultant that both my husband and I had anxiety issues when it comes to sitting with other folks at dinner and she said she would note it in our reservation. We double checked that our request was honored once we got on board. It was, and we had a great, small-talk free, dinner every night.

 

[JERME81]

Thanks for all the responses!!

I think people who travel on Disney Cruise Line without kids will appreciate knowing that Disney does their best to pair people up at dinner time.

 

[Dug720]

One thing to keep in mind... If the ship is at 100% capacity it will be much harder to accommodate your request.

Also as has been pointed out "alone" could mean 4-6 inches only from your neighboring table - and some don't regard the space as making the tables separate.

 

[dpswift]

One thing to keep in mind... If the ship is at 100% capacity it will be much harder to accommodate your request.

Also as has been pointed out "alone" could mean 4-6 inches only from your neighboring table - and some don't regard the space as making the tables separate.

This is how the table set up was on the Carnival cruises we took. We had my time dining. I actually liked this set up you could chat back and forth but still be separate. At times we met some very nice people and other times we were ignored. One couple was so rude to our waiter that we were glad that we never had to sit "with" them again.

 

[disneybride96]

Sure, you can request that you dine alone in the MDRs. However, I think DCL will not pair you up with a family with children. I bet you would be paired with another childless couple. Mike

Not correct in all cases. My husband and I were once seated at a six top with another couple and a mother and pre-teen son. Kind of felt sorry for the kid.

 

[loribee]

We have no children and like to eat alone, so were very worried about the dinner seating situation. We finally came to the conclusion, we may be out one night, but if we did not like our dinner table mates we could:
request our own table
eat at a buffet
order room service
Much to our surprise, we sat next to people that were also without children, also worried about the seating and were very interesting. I look forward to this now. We have an out-but don't need it.

 

[BBCakes]

I am firmly in the "recluse" camp. I have very few people that I am actual friends with outside of family. The thought of having to make small talk with people I don't know several nights in a row gives me the willies. I told the dcl consultant that both my husband and I had anxiety issues when it comes to sitting with other folks at dinner and she said she would note it in our reservation. We double checked that our request was honored once we got on board. It was, and we had a great, small-talk free, dinner every night.

I hear ya!! I just got off the Fantasy this past weekend (7 night W Caribbean) and requested private MDR seating for my 12 yr old DD and I after the 2nd night of our cruise, which was immediately granted. In a way, I felt bad, because DCL worked so hard at matching us up with another single Mom and her child (boy, age 6). However, both nights they accidentally knocked their water over (twice in one night) and soaked our table and clothes and the boy was so misbehaved; would never sit in his seat, would crawl on the floor and poke at his Mom the entire dinner. My DD was so bored and never spoke. I pretty much had enough and ran out of things to say with the Mom and her son. In the middle of eating my meal, I would look up to find the Mom staring at me. It was just awkward. In the future, I'll be sure to request private seating. After all, you're not entirely alone with so much activity taking place . It's basically a personal preference I'll have going forward.