How do they choose tablemates?

xiphoid76

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 6, 2011
I would love to know the algorithm Disney uses for assigning random strangers to sit with you for two hours at dinner. I think they must consult with eharmony or match.com. They do an amazing job. On 9 cruises so far we have met some amazing friends and great people. We are a gay couple in our mid 40s. Huge Disney freaks :) We have only had two semi bad experiences. Well, really one. One couple was very conservative but they didnt join us after the first night which was fine - I think really they just wanted a table alone. The last cruise was funny though -
they paired us with two guys who were 18 years old who thought they were on a booze cruise. They had never been on a cruise before and never to Disney either - they thought they could drink on international water. They were very upset :) They were very young and funny - it was the least compatible pairing we have ever had at dinner - I think they thought two guys together may be gay, let's pair them with these two guys :) It was still fun: I have never felt so old at 45 before in my life while trying to converse with two 18 year olds for two hours :)
I just want to know how they do the assigning.
 
That's funny about the 18 yr olds. Many, many yrs ago dh and I went on a Disney cruise for our honeymoon. We didn't know we could ask for a private table. We were sat with a single lady who was cruising alone. She was in her mid 70s, it was like being with a grandma--on our honeymoon!:crazy: She was actually a lot of fun and we enjoyed our time with her.​
 
No idea but we have been paired with a family of 3 (like us) with a daughter close to our daughters age every time. Most of the time, they are from Florida like us.

A few cruises ago when our DD was three we sat with a family from the Tampa area whose DD had a birthday 1 day before our DD and the girls hit it off. We have been on a couple of cruises with them since meeting them and our DD calls the other girl her "cruise friend".

They were walking around the boat together on our last cruise a few months ago and an older lady came up to them and asked if they were sisters and our DD was very quick to say........."she isn't my sister, she is my cruise friend"

Some times we sit alone but we have met some very nice families over the years as well.
 


We were commenting on this while on the ship last week. We are on cruise #6 and nearly every time they have paired us with a family with a child just about the same age as DD. It makes it extra fun. The first night on the way to the MDR, she even said "oh, I wonder who my dinner friend will be??". We were worried that this would be the cruise where they wouldn't pair us the same way. We got there and there was a girl about 6 months older than her. yea! Her and the other girl ended up hanging out on the ship a ton and really had a good time. In general, I have been impressed on their pairings!
 
We're going on Disney Cruise #3 and DS has Down syndrome. In his 15 years of life some people enjoy being around him, some don't. On our first cruise we chose to sit by ourselves. Cruise #2 was with friends so we all sat together. I think for #3 we'll take our chances with random tablemates but I'm a little nervous. DW isn't so I'll just go with it!
 
The one time we've been assigned to random tablemates we were with my wife's best friend. The three of us like our wine and cocktails with dinner, and our conversation tends toward the more adult direction. We were seated with two daughters in their late 50s/early 60s and their mother who was in her 80s. They were the epitome of the homey Midwestern stereotypes (I'm not saying this is a bad thing, so don't be offended. They just fit that straight-laced stereotype so commonly portrayed). I knew things would be awkward when we got to dinner 5 minutes late and they already each had glasses of milk while we ordered two bottles of wine for the three of us. Conversation was stilted and we didn't have much at all in common. It was awkward to say the least.

We never saw them again except on the elevators. Turns out they had switched to first seating because second seating was too late for mom. I think it also had to do with having dinner with us three heathens. :D
 


I'd love to know their algorithm as well. On my first cruise I was a single mom sailing with two of my daughters. Seated at our table was a single dad with two of his daughters. :) lol... Disney TRIED, I have to give them that!! He was a nice guy and his daughters and my youngest really hit it off. It was a nice experience!! Since then, I've been remarried and have sailed with my husband and girls so we always end up at a table alone, which is also really nice. lol
 
No clue what they do as our experiences have been very mixed:

We are a family of 3 with one son.

Cruise #1 - Paired with a family of 4 - Mom, Dad, Grandma and a boy about 8 or 9 years younger than our son. Nice people, but really nothing in all in common.
Cruise #2 - Paired with a family of 5 - Mom, Dad and 3 kids (one was about the same age as our son) - Seemed nice enough, though it really was hard to tell as only 2 of them spoke fluent enough English to hold a real conversation
Cruise #3 - Paired with a family of 5 - Mom, Dad, Grandma and 2 kids (one was the same age as our son) - This was the best fit. The boys were cordial at dinner, but had nothing in common at all and didn't hang out away from the MDR. Our son spent most of his spare time in Vibe on that cruise and the other boy didn't care for it. Now the parents and DH and I got along great and we spent time with them in the evenings after dinner. That was fun.

After that we gave up and asked for (and received) our own table on the next 2 cruises. One of the things we appreciated on the NCL cruise we just finished was that we didn't have to deal with the whole table mate issue at all. We met plenty of nice people on the cruise, but it was just during the natural progression of things, not some forced situation. I know a lot of folks rave about the matches Disney makes and that's terrific for them, but we haven't really had that experience and quite frankly are just over the whole shared table thing.
 
No idea. As a couple without kids, we're normally grouped with other pairs (platonic, sibling or romantic) without kids.

On our first cruise, we were grouped with a honeymooning couple from Germany and sisters from Japan. As we're Aussies, it made for quite the "international" table.

On our second cruise, we were grouped with two female friends travelling together and what was meant to be four singles, but only two of the four singles ever showed up at the main dining rotations (I guess the other two ate in their rooms or at Cabanas).
 
No idea. As a couple without kids, we're normally grouped with other pairs (platonic, sibling or romantic) without kids.

On our first cruise, we were grouped with a honeymooning couple from Germany and sisters from Japan. As we're Aussies, it made for quite the "international" table.

On our second cruise, we were grouped with two female friends travelling together and what was meant to be four singles, but only two of the four singles ever showed up at the main dining rotations (I guess the other two ate in their rooms or at Cabanas).
We've (2 older adults) always been seated with other couples. Twice one of the pairs was a mother/adult daughter combo. One time we were linked with another couple and requested a 6 top. We were paired with a single woman (who switched to late seating after the first night), and single man (who never showed until debarkation breakfast).
 
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On our med cruises they haven't matched us very well at all. First med cruise was a single lady and her son, younger than our DD, and her friends, a couple with a son the same age as her son.
Second med cruise was a couple with their son who was three years younger than our DD. We didn't really have anything in common with them.
However, our Dream cruise Christmas 2015 we were sat with a couple and their DD who is the same age as our DD. The girls quickly became " best friends" and we have stayed in touch. We are meeting up with them at WDW in a couple of weeks, and are planning a Christmas cruise with them again next year.

Claire :)
 
I think it's probably easier for them to match families with kids - age/gender etc

Twice we sailed with extended family so own table (9 of us last family cruise)
Cruise 1 on our own we asked for own table, sat at table for 4, other 2 never turned up ... 4 nights wondering if this would be the night they showed!
Last cruise, sat at table for 8 ... we're gay couple in 40s, sat with 3 married couples all of whom had left their kids at home (3/3/5 kids respectively) for the cruise. They all had much more in common than with us ... it wasn't great tbh. 3 out of 7 nights we ate elsewhere (Palo and Cabanas)
 
Its been a mixed match with our two cruises. #1 was awesome. Just DH and I sat at a 6 top with two other couples (I even ran the 5k with the of the guys). #2 though was a complete disaster. It was DH, me, and our two youngest (DS16 and DD5). Well, we were paired with a couple that had two TEEN boys aged 17 and 15. We had nothing in common and tried to hold a conversation but they just kept to themselves and after the first night they never came back (at least they told our servers as thats how we found out we would be alone the rest of the cruise). Oh well, I'm hoping #3 it will just be the 6 of us with our cruise friends (family of 4) on a 10 person table.
 
We are traveling with a party of 9, will they split us up? The thought hadn't occurred to me!
 

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