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Dining Room Table Reservation

In today’s world, cruise lines offer you a number of options for dining from been able to dine with whom when ever to a more traditional style of dining with 2 seating for dinner.

If you have selected to sail on a ship that has a more traditional style of dinning they will usually offer you a choice of early/first or late/second seating for diner. As part of your pre- cruise documentation that you receive from the cruise lines about 90 days prior to departure, there will be a Dining Room Request form that should be completed with your preferences and return to the cruise line as soon as possible. The dining room request form will usually ask the following question,

• Early/First or late/second seating
• Preferred table size 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10
• Preferred age group
• Request for the same table with family or friends in different cabins
• Smoking or non smoking (if the cruise line allows smoking in the dining room)

While the cruise line and the Maitre d’Hotel or the Restaurant Manager will do their best to accommodate your preferences, there maybe occasions where they have excessive demand for a particular seating and they will allocate your preferences in the date order of your booking or the date that they received your dining room preference request.

With regards to table size, please bear it in mind that most ships only have a limited of tables for 2 and you shouldn’t be surprised if the cruise line has not been able to allocate you a table of 2.

Upon embarkation, you will usually find a dining room table reservation card in your cabin that will identify the dining room and seating time, along with your table number.

Word of advice, one of the first things you should do, once you are onboard is to review to dining room table reservation card to ensure that they have fulfilled your requests and to go to the dining room and find your assigned table. If everything is OK that is great, but on the off chance something is wrong or you want to make a change you should see the Maitre d’Hotel or the Restaurant Manager, at this time. Do not wait until you arrive for diner on your first night aboard because it will be very difficult for the Maitre d’Hotel or the Restaurant Manager to make any changes until the next day.

Also you should be aware, if your ship has a traditional style dining arrangements, you will be assigned a table and will not have control over who will be your tablemates. Some times it works out to be a wonderful experience and you make new friends. However, sometimes it doesn’t work out for one reason or another and some times could turn out to be a total disaster. If this is the case, do not suffer in silence or make a big scene, quietly see the Maitre d’Hotel or the Restaurant Manager as soon as possible and asked to be moved to another table. This happens all the time and you should not fell embarrassed about making such a request.

 

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Last Modified: 11/25/05