dinner companions

[HeidiHo]

At the evening dinner, how is the seating? Will we sit with the same people nightly or will we sit wearever we like? ALso, if it is "assigned seating" are you with people that are all close in age?

Heidi

you sit with the same people each evening. The folks we sat with were similar to us - older (40s, 50s), professionals, nice folks. I was impressed with how we were matched up.

[Fighterone]

So does Carnival make every effort to match adults with other adults of the same ages or, is it possible that an older couple will wind up with a family with small kids?

On all of our cruises (3 Carnival - 1 Disney) we were seated with "like" people. My experience is that Carnival does a nice job matching based on age of your group.

[SandyW]

Yes, Carnival does try to match people up as best they can...singles with singles, etc.

If you find you can't stand your table mates you need to see the Matre'd (that's not spelled right...sorry)....anyway...he will do his best to find you other seating.

Only in the main dining rooms is there assigned seating...and on many cruises only at dinner time. Breakfast and Lunch (on port days) in the main dining rooms is often what they call open seating. You are seated at an open table with whoever arrives at the same time you do.

[Stefanie]

We were matched up with a very nice 30-something couple like us. I noticed by looking around the dining room that it looked like people with kids were matched with other people with kids and older couples were matched with other older couples. It seemed like they must have done a good job since there was a LOT of socializing going on.

[Kuki]

I think Carnival is one of the few lines that actually makes a note of passenger ages on their booking forms. That enables them to more easily match similar people for dining assignments.

[hilltopfamily]

any thoughts on our chances of being just the 5 of us at a table? Looks like Carnival has some tables for 6 and that would work great for us---- no one else would have to put up with my talkative children!!!!! (although I love them dearly and enjoy listening to them.

[Harry Martin]

If you link your reservations (and ask your TA to say so) you should easily be hooked up on a table for 6.

Harry

[Dorothy]

Too bad were weren't sailing the same ship, Hilltop Family! My son (13) is QUITE the talker and loves to meet similar outgoing people. And, of course, he never met a stranger, so anyone that stands within 5 feet of him experiences his chatter. But I love him!!!

We were seated with a family with 2 small children, which wasn't great, but I suppose they were thinking "kids with kids."

dorothy

We have been on two carnival cruises. We have been sat with people of different ages.
We have really enjoyed sitting with different people. We have never been sat with anyone with children, as we dont have any. They usually put familys together with other families.

This will be an anniversary cruise for my husband and me and we would like to sit alone. Is that a problem?

No problem if you want a table for two. Carnival has them available.
However, on my honeymoon cruise, my hubby & I sat at a table for 8, and noticed that the couple seated at a 2-top table next to us asked to be moved to a bigger table the very next night. (They felt a little TOO isolated!)

I went with my husband and 3 kids and we got a table to ourselves. That is just how they put us. It was nice for us that is how we prefered it.

Our family went on the Legend, (school vacation week, 800+ kids), and dined in a separate connecting room that had children at every table. Not many tables in the main dining room had children. I guess this is Carnivals way to make the "adults" without children happy. To tell you the truth, the separate kids dining room was much quieter than the main room. The wait staff truely liked the kids on board, because many of them have kids back home they have not seen in months.

If you don't want to cruise with kids, don't book during school vacation weeks: Christmas break, Feb Presidents Day week, just about any week in April (different states have different weeks off) and summer months. You can tell school vacations weeks by the fares, they are allways peak weeks.

I went on the galaxy (Celebrity) in 3/02 and we went to dinner with people in their sixty's.
Mind you I was 23 and my friend was 26 at the time.
It was interesting.

I have been on 15 cruises never had a bad table-mate.
(maybe the others would say i,m the bad apple?)