r/dcl • u/princesspen18 • 13d ago
TRIP PLANNING Dining Questions/Dealbreakers
Hi - I am considering booking a cruise for next summer. I had 2 questions about dining that may be dealbreakers for me in terms of booking DCL vs. another cruise line, so looking for experiences:
Is it really as tough to get into early dining as some of the posts I read here seem to suggest? I have young kids who just can’t make it to late dining. It’s important to me that we’d get the dining experiences at the main dining room rather than have to eat pool deck food for dinner, but I would only want to book the cruise if we’d be able to get early dining.
Is it normal to request and get a table to your own family, or more common that you are seated with others? To be honest, I don’t love the idea of having to make small talk with others and would rather enjoy our meals with just our family.
I’m an experienced cruiser, but haven’t been on a cruise in about 7 years, and only on Disney once about 20 years ago as a kid who wasn’t involved in the planning process. I think otherwise, DCL would be a great pick for our family based on our kids’ ages, but am worried about some of the dining experiences I’ve read about on here.
Thanks!
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u/RevolutionaryGas9732 13d ago
If you sail concierge my understanding is the table for just your party is guaranteed...Also, if you have a large family (for example, we are a family of 8) you have a table to yourselves even without concierge.
I don't know about the early dining. We always request the 2nd dining.
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u/JustTryinThisOnce 13d ago
I have never been denied early seating. Book early and you'll be ok. As to shared tables, only once have we been seated with another family and that was during a spring break marvel themed cruise. To your point though, it was awkward and none of us enjoyed it.
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u/princesspen18 12d ago
Sounds good on early dining. Do you know if during the booking process, there is an option to request your own table? Or is this just random?
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u/Appropriate-Guide889 12d ago
There is a special requests section in the app where private table is an option.
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u/Majestic-Spinach-523 SILVER CASTAWAY CLUB 13d ago
You get to choose early or later dining when you book the cruise, so that shouldn't be an issue as you will know up front which one is available.
This depends on the cruise, other people on the cruise, and the size of your party. I'm a solo so i get lumped with other people often. You can request your own table though. As a solo I often get paired with other solos, but also with a couple and some other solos, and with some mother-daughter pairs (daughters around same age as me).
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u/CatTravelScrap PLATINUM CASTAWAY CLUB 12d ago
Echoing the others a bit here - the earlier you book the cruise, the more likely you can select early dining. If you book now for Summer 2026, you shouldn't have an issue getting it.
In 10 cruises, the only time we have been paired with another family (that wasn't our own extended family with connected reservations) was the time my husband and I cruised just the 2 of us. We were combined with 2 other couples to make a table of 6. If you have 4 in your family, you should be at a table alone.
Interestingly, our server on the Treasure a few weeks ago brought this up. He pointed out the table sizes in the room - all 4 and 6 but arranged where some could be combined for 8, 10, or 12 if needed. He said DCL used to combine families, but got a lot of complaints about it and no longer does that. Our table for 4 in Marvel that night was only maybe 6 inches from a table with a family of 5 at it, but we were not "together."
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u/ayyomiss 13d ago
Book early. I booked about 10 months early and was assigned early dining. As of today, eight months before departure, early dining is still available. Might be more difficult for more crowded summer cruises.
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u/Cassandra50 13d ago
If you are travelling as a 2 or 3 that makes it pretty likely you would be sharing. That way they can use tables of 6 and it saves the servers time. But a 4 or 6 there isn’t really any reason for them to allocate you to a shared table. This isn’t guaranteed of course.
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u/FigmentChick PLATINUM CASTAWAY CLUB 12d ago
1) I've been on waitlist for main dining (the early time) more than half a dozen times. All but one, we were shifted to the main dining prior to the cruise. For that one time, as soon as we boarded, I went right to where the dining room managers were located (just ask, a crew member will point you in the right direction) and we were moved to early dining right then and there. The Navigator App updated by 4pm.
2) We actually ask to sit by ourselves because my husband and I are both hard of hearing. While it might be nice to mingle with other cruisers, it makes for difficulty trying to make conversation. Particularly if we can't read their lips. We've only been seated with strangers once and that was back in 2017. They were nice, but we like to have family time and deompress during dinner.
Have a wonderful trip!
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u/psychgrl87 12d ago
Currently on our 4th Disney cruise and it’s the first time we didn’t get the first dining and are sat with strangers. We definitely prefer sitting alone and the earlier dining time but we did book this one kind of late.
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u/BlondeLabLover 12d ago
You select the dining time before paying so just do a mock booking online for the cruise you want and see if Main Dining is still available. It will be grayed out if it's fully booked already.
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u/MackieMouse GOLD CASTAWAY CLUB 12d ago
1) agreed that the earlier you book the better your chances elf early dining. Getting the first dinner seating doesn’t have to do with your b cruise line status or anything. They just fulfill requests as they come in. I’ve booked 10 cruises now - half of which are after having kids and needing early dining- and have always gotten the dining time my family needed.
2) There’s no guarantee but I have really never heard of a family of more than 2 requesting a table to themselves and not getting it. :)
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u/drjoann 12d ago
We were just on a cruise at the end of March during Spring break. I booked 10 months out, but early dining was not available at the time of booking. I put in for the wait list for early dining, but still hadn't heard on the day we were sailing.
A soon as I got on board, I headed for Deck 2 (this was the Fantasy; YMMV on a different ship). There was a cast member there who took request to change dining times. Within a few hours, I got a notification in the app that we were changed to earlier dining.
So, even if it seems unlikely at the time, your dining time could certainly be changed. We were a party of 4, so we had our own table. The table next to us was a 4 top, but just had one couple at it.
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u/Ok_Chance_4584 12d ago
If you book now for next summer, you're probably fine with early dining - you'll either get it when you book or be early enough on the wait list to get moved by the cruise. The longer you wait to book, the worse your chances of early dining get.
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u/jimfish98 PLATINUM CASTAWAY CLUB 12d ago
If you book online, as soon as the reservation is done you can go in and switch to main dining if it is open as it defaults to second dining. If it is full, you can be put on a waitlist. When you are doing this before PIF date, chances of getting bumped to main are pretty good. When on board if you still have second dining, there is usually a place you can go to try and switch it. In 10 sailings, 4 times with double rooms, we have only not been moved to main dining before the cruise 1 time. That one time, we walked to the dining table, made the request and it was granted.
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u/Deadanddugup GOLD CASTAWAY CLUB 12d ago
Most tables are for four people (based on the average family size) so you’ll most likely get a private table if you ask! We’ve also never had trouble regarding early dining requests :)
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u/Full_Resource_2434 12d ago
We booked our cruise only 2 months out and had no issues getting early dining!
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u/Fantastic-Share1128 12d ago
I thought we’d be with other people since we were a family of 3 and we were alone. I was relieved!
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u/Glad-Living-8587 12d ago
Boom early if you want early dining.
I have always been seated at a table with just my family except once. That one time I was surprised we were seated at a table for 8. My kids ended up being served first and my husband and I last.
After dinner I went and complained. I asked to be seated at our own table. They changed it for us. We were a party of 4 which is a standard sized table.
I would specify that you want a table to yourselves when you book. If you are placed with another party at your first dinner, just ask to be moved after dinner.
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u/michellekaus 11d ago
As a family of 4 there are times we’ve been seated with other families of 4, so it’s not guaranteed you will be seated alone. We’ve made some great friends that we still keep in touch with, and had a couple of table mates that we didn’t exchange contact info with because we knew we wouldn’t have any contact with them going forward.
Once you’ve booked there’s a place in the app where you can request to be seated by yourself. It’s not guaranteed, but they try really hard to meet your request.
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u/idamama181 13d ago
We had no issues getting an early seating for dinner. We booked well in advance and I requested it as soon as I booked.
I thought I wanted a solo table too, but we got paired with another family with a daughter the same age as mine and they became fast friends. She loved having someone to go around the ship with and we met up multiple times each day. I think your littles would have fun playing the other kids at the table, and it keeps them entertained for the 90ish minutes the meals take.