Dining with other families

[IamgoingtoDisney]

Hi Everyone,

I am very excited to be going on the Disney Dream at the end of the year. Our first Disney Cruise.

We will be travelling with 2 other families. We dont want to spend every moment with them but would like to make sure we are seated together at dinner.

What is the best way of doing this? I know I can login & add the other families to My Reservations but is this necessary for just being allocated together at dinner?

We would also love to have 2 tables next to each other rather than one large table (13 people all up) can we request this?

Also, with breakfast & lunch do we need bookings or are the allocations? or do we just turn up when & where we choose? I know you would need to book specialty dining but I am talking about main dining rooms

Thanks in advance

 

[olafLover]

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[clten]

If you link your reservations on the website, you will be "fully linked" meaning not only will you be together for dining but each of you can see the other's full reservation - any activities you book in port or at sea, etc. If you don't want to be "fully linked", you can call DCL (or your travel agent if you used one) and asked to be "linked for dining only". This way you will be scheduled for dinner together. They typically have one very large table in each dining room and I have seen where they have put tables together to have a group seated at "one" table even if the group is over 8-10 people. So if you would prefer two tables to one large one, have that request added to your reservation as well (again that requires a call to DCL or your travel agent). With as loud as those dining rooms can be, I too would prefer smaller tables for a group. You can swap out who sits with whom every night as both tables should be in the same serving section.

You are only assigned an MDR for dinner. For breakfast and lunch it is open seating at either the open MDR (not all dining rooms are open for breakfast and lunch) or the buffet. You can come and go as you please with whomever you please. If you are in a smaller group and going to the MDR, depending on how busy they are, they may ask if you mind being seated with others. (Of course if you show up with enough people to fill a table yourself, they would seat you all together.) When going to the MDR, they do ask you for your cabin # but that is only to check your reservation for notes such as allergies - not to keep track of your dining!

 

[hardis5]

We have seen many families eating together where the adults seat themselves at one table and another has all the kids. You may want to do the same excursions and if linking your reservations together (especially if trying for a Cabana or actually getting) having linked reservations make selecting coordinated excursions easier.

 

[IamgoingtoDisney]

Thank you so much for your responses. We have cruised with another cruise line before but we just turned up & waited for tables to be made available to us, I love how Disney is a lot more organised with this it seems & gives a chance to try the different dining rooms.

Super excited!

 

[GPaLarry]

As mentioned earlier, food allergies are a big deal on DCL. Be sure, your first night, to mention to your servers if anyone in your party has an allergy. Because the servers stay with you as you rotate MDRs, they will make sure all concerns are addressed every night. Hope no one is allergic to Mickey Bars, my favorite...be sure to ask for one or two.

 

[IamgoingtoDisney]

So all our reservations are linked. Do we need to do anything else or does Disney just see that they are linked & put us together?

Thanks