Cruise evening meals

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I haven’t spoken to many people who have been on cruises, so I may be wrong here, but is it the case that you dine at the same time every evening on a shared table with other people? 🫣 Or is that just on some low budget cruises?
Are there ships where you can just decide on the day what time you fancy dinner and then go to a restaurant? Also, is it possible to dine on a table with just your partner/family?

Who are you cruising with? This was not my experience with Virgin Voyages.

On my last cruise it was a set dinner time and a set table, same people each night. But that was a small Hurtigruten cruise.

I'm doing P&O over Christmas so I'm interested in these answers too.

We did a large p&o cruise this summer and you dine when and where you like, no table sharing unless you want to. We have a toddler I wouldn't have inflicted that on anyone else

Newer p and o ships all have freedom dining so if you want to eat in the main dining room you can go at any time in the opening times, at busy times you may need to wait a bit. You can dine with others if you want or just with your party.

older ships do allocated for the MDR where you will have the same table for either first or second sitting. You can request a table size for just your party or you can dine with others.

there are also a variety of other restaurants and the buffet you can use. Some of the speciality restaurants may have a surcharge.

Depends on the cruise line. Some have fixed dining times some dont

P&O you can dine when and where you want, and either enquire at the desk or book a table on the 'app'.

Cunard offer 2 sittings of fixed dining when you have the same time and table every night. Or you can sit in another part of the main dining room and turn up whenever you want (within the opening times). And on both you can opt to share or have a table just for your party.

Buffets are open all day and late at night.

I've done just as many cruises that didn't do this as cruises that did! It was actually the higher end cruises that did. Lower budget like P&O didn't.

It depends on the cruise line. Which are you going with?

Nowadays most have 2 fixed dining times (eg 6:30 and 8:30) and you sit at the same table with the same waitstaff each night.

They may also have freedom dining where you just turn up when you are ready to eat and are seated. You may also be able to book via an app on the day for this, or use a waiting list function.

Then the final option is to go to the buffet or one of the speciality restaurants - these usually have an extra fee.

Some people love the flexibility of freedom dining - timing and party size can be decided last minute. Others love creating rapport with their dining team

Go on the website/forum Cruise Critic. They have details of each ship and loads of long tome cruisers who answer questions

Agree with some PPs. I've cruised with P & O and freedom dining means you can go to a restaurant whenever you want (within the breakfast, lunch and dinner times) you can get a table with other people you don't know or you request to dine just with your partner/family. We have sometimes had to wait for a table - you get a little pager so you know when your table is ready.
The buffet restaurant is open from early breakfast til about 3am I think and you go in and sit where you like.

There are also other restaurants that you can dine at but will cost a bit extra, so you can book those as and when you want to.

Thank you all for your replies. I haven’t looked at any specific cruises yet as I was put off by the (perceived)dining situation, but will now look for freedom dining options.

Just a heads up, it's only called "Freedom Dining" on P&O. If you call up cruise companies they should help you. Happy cruising!

Royal Caribbean:
You can be early dining, late dining or my time dining decided when you book the cruise. Early and late is a set time at the same table with the same waiters. You can e mail ahead to request a table for just your family or go to the MDR on the first day to request this. It all runs really smoothly and you get to know your waiters which is nice. The times fit well with the shows. My time dining in theory means you can book a time or turn up and wait. From what I have seen you may have a long wait either way. I haven’t done this.

Alternatively you can eat in the buffet (included), or at one of the other restaurants most of which have a charge.

Lots of good info around like this on YouTube

We've just come off a TUI cruise. No set dining times unless you book a restaurant you pay for separately from the AI options. All are rock up and see - if you have to wait, you get a time to come back.

Celebrity Cruises - two set meal times each evening or you can choose your own time. We usually just turn up whenever we are ready. You can share a table with other passengers if you like but we usually just sit at our own table. It's all v flexible. On the rare occasions we have shared a table we've met some interesting folks.

There's also the buffet option instead of the main dining room (MDR) which is more informal.

Depends on the cruise line. Disney cruises is a fixed time and you dine in a different restaurant each evening but with the same waiters who follow.

As others have said, it will vary according to cruise line, and sometimes even by ship within the same cruise line. It’s worth checking if it’s important to you, as some cruise lines only offer a limited number of passengers on ‘anytime dining’, or a limited number of individual tables.

We usually cruise with Norwegian, as we love their freestyle dining - you can always just turn up when you like (except speciality restaurants which it’s best to book in advance) and you never have to share a table unless you choose to. Occasionally there’s a little wait if it’s a peak time, but they give you a buzzer, and we’ve never waited more than a few minutes.

To be honest, not sharing a table is important to me, and I’m a bit nervous about trying other cruise lines if this isn’t guaranteed.

Your best bet to understand how it all works is to start watching various cruise vlogs on you tube - there are a LOT. You can probably find the exact ship and itinerary if you search for it. Travelblogjamie and cruise with Ben and David are particularly good, they each cover very different types of cruises. There are tons of others though.

From what I understand Tui Marella have a buffet option .

Me and DD did P&O last year. One night shared a table we thought it would be fun. The rest of the time just headed to the restaurants/buffet whenever we fancied and just had a table for us two.

we had to book some of the speciality restaurants (these are things like steakhouses, Indian, etc), before we went. Again just two of us.

just back from NCL cruise this summer and it's the same as above. Lots of easy choice whenever we fancied it.

We've only done Royal Caribbean and have mainly done My Time with booking a slot in advance on the appp once we know our plans for the day. Usually got the same table and always the same wait team. But once we did do fixed dining and were on a big table with about 8 other people and it was fabulous, I really enjoyed talking to them about their home countries, their travel plans, their families and sometimes we ended up in the bar with some of them. It was nice at the end of each day to catch up with what everyone else had done that day too. I'd definitely do it again.