We used to request a private table for the 3 of us after a bad experience with a shared table. After a few cruises though, we decided to let fate match us up again with another family and about 10 cruises ago we got matched up with another family that also was from central Florida and also had a DD the same age as ours (their birthdays are 1 day apart). We most definitely hit it off and had a great time with them.
They have become our best cruise friends and we have 3 upcoming cruises with them in the next year. (we have taken 4 with them so far). We both cruise in concierge now and always split a cabana. We sit together at dinner and our girls love sitting together at the show each night.
I am not saying everyone will make cruise friends on board but we definitely did and it all started with a random seating assignment one spring cruise on the Wonder a couple of years ago.
To each his own. I personally don't think enjoying Disney cruises is unique enough to make other people who also enjoy them "like-minded". Just reading & posting on these boards has shown me how completely different people with similar vacation preferences can be...
I'm an introvert and look forward to relaxing and talking with family at dinner. I really don't want to have to spend it making small talk with strangers who I will never see again after the cruise.
I hope DCL takes note of all of the private table requests as they design their new ships. It would be nice if that could be an automatic option rather than something you have to beg for.
yeah. typo, my bad
I meant we always get 2nd seating, which I hate and always have to fight to get 1st seating.
we've only been assigned 1st sitting on our first cruise when our DD(now13) was 4yo.
On every other of our next 7 cruises we've been assigned 2nd and have I've requested change to 1st every time via email and phone.
I've only been able to be changed on two and that was when we boarded real early and headed straight to the place where they try to accommodate your dining requests.
Huge inconvenience from DCL imo.
I’m just curious....why even have shared seating on cruises? If so many people prefer private tables, why not just have all private tables?
(I’ve never been on a cruise, so am probably missing something, but was just wondering!)
Make the request. If it's granted, you're done.
If it isn't, you always have the option of eating in Cabana's if you don't like your tablemates.
We tried that once, but then our reservations were linked for everything, including booking excursions, checkin, etc.I do find it kind of ironic how many people are all about FE groups and getting to know people online before the cruise on social media, etc. and yet it never seems to occur to them that they could link reservations for dining with these new "friends" they have met online. Just an observation I've made recently.
We tried that once, but then our reservations were linked for everything, including booking excursions, checkin, etc.
I thought of that too, but I wasn’t comfortable with the lack of privacy with people I had never met in person. If we had cruised together before, I may have been more comfortable.You still should have each been able to do your own thing with all of those. But another option would be to wait until all that is completed and then link the reservations.
Is there an optimal time to put the request in for a private table? Our cruise is over 6 months away.
In traditional cruising, tables were shared. Private tables were unheard of or at least extremely rare. When Disney built its ships, it initially wanted to keep the traditional model and so the MDRs have a certain number of square feet. As more and more people are wanting their own table, they separate them as much as they can, but sometimes there is very little space between them simply because the rooms were not designed for all individual tables.
That makes sense. Thanks for the explanation!