Having dinner alone

[Hitch]

You board the ship as a first class passenger alone, you don't know anyone. You are not famous with the other first class passengers, so you don't take notice. And now its time for diner, what now? If you don't know anyone, do you have to eat alone or what?

 

[Michael H. Standart]

No. I suppose you could dine alone if you wanted to, but if not, you could just take whatever your place was in the 1st Class Dining Saloon the same as anybody else.

 

[Jeremy Lee]

>>suppose you could dine alone if you wanted to<<

There would always be empty tables right?

 

[Noel F. Jones]

To save confusion on sailing night and to prevent social gaffes, most express transatlantic liners had the first class seating plan 'expertly' compiled in the office before departure. Intending passengers would have been asked to make their wishes known at time of booking.

The resulting plan could be varied at the head waiter's discretion or on application to the purser's bureau.

Most lone travellers would be allocated to a six or an eight and, depending upon their perceived social standing, ideally at a table hosted by an officer. This would in any case render an odd number of passengers at table.

Noel

 

[Geoffery Jackson]

Just to add my two pennies...if I were a first class passenger and did not recognize anyone on this maiden voyage, I think I would have preferred to dine in my stateroom. I can think of a couple of passengers who did so. I am planning a cruise in the next couple of months and it has been explained to me that my main dining will be with 6 other strangers. I am not anti-social but I am also not inclined to dine with complete strangers. My personal choice would have been to make the occasional appearance in the dining saloon but for the most part eat all by myself curled up with a good book!! I plan on doing this at least once on my cruise in August.

 

[Tracy Smith]

Well, I'd give the dining room a try. Who knows? You might make some interesting shipboard acquaintances. And if it turns out that you are not compatible with your table mates, you can always change to the dining alone idea.

 

[David F. Smith]

Hi Geoffrey, I can understand the reluctance to dine with strangers. But this was overcome one vacation when a restaurant seated myself and two other friends at a long table, 10 people on each side. As they sat us down, they introduced us by name and the State we were from. That immediately broke the ice as we all asked questions about our vacations, locations and occupations. Within minutes we found ourselves chatting with the other people instead of just the three of us as which would have happened if we sat by ourselves.

 

[Kritina Johnston]

"You might make some interesting shipboard acquaintances. And if it turns out that you are not compatible with your table mates, you can always change to the dining alone idea"

And incompability happens more than getting along like a house on fire, I would imagine. Nothing more awkward than staring at a bunch of people for an hour whilst trying to clean your plate.

I'm more inclined to take Mr. Jackson's idea, personally. Although I can very well dine alone at a table and not feel uncomfortable...but do they even offer that option on a cruise?

 

[Tracy Smith]

I guess a lot depends upon whether one is a natural introvert or extrovert. I imagine extroverts have an easier time of it meeting and adjusting to new people.

 

[John Clifford]

On the Queen Mary 2, Jason and I were assigned to a table for 12 (though the seating diagram, in our cabin, showed it a table for 8).

On the first, we met two of our table companions, two lovely ladies from the East Coast, and waited to see who would be joining us.
Turns out, the others were a group of men, one of whom was livid that they did not have a private table; he made quite a fuss, and refused to sit with us. His group was soon escorted out (they might have been reassigned to the early dinner seating).

After that, the ship staff reassigned six others to our table, a retiree from Florida, a mother and daughter, a lady from Essex, and a couple from Surrey. They were all great people, and I definitely enjoyed their company. It also made it nice to run in to each other, at the book store, walking on deck (on the last day at sea), being at the front of the ship when we came in to New York, as well as waiting for our turns to disembark.

On the Queen Mary 2, they do have the Food Court area on Deck 7, where people can sit at tables for 2 or 4, which can make it easy for one to dine by himself or herself.

 

[Kritina Johnston]

"On the Queen Mary 2, they do have the Food Court area on Deck 7, where people can sit at tables for 2 or 4, which can make it easy for one to dine by himself or herself"

Thank the Maker for that option...it seems to me that the travel industry is one of the last places where it's almost acceptable to unofficially discriminate against people travelling alone. Usually, these people are single (though not always). I guess there's still some segment out there that thinks single people don't have the inclination to travel. Wrong. They're more likely to do so, usually because they have more disposable income than families or couples. But just try to find a package deal with prices quoted for single occupancy (other than with a package specifically designed for singles). It would be easier to find a swizzle stick in the Pacific.

"I guess a lot depends upon whether one is a natural introvert or extrovert"

Extroversion not only helps in being able to make conversation, but also in being more likely to have something in common with other people to talk about. Introversion guarantees that anything you're interested will automatically bore 99.9% of the population to death.

And extroversion also provides one with that other essential in good communication...a personality.

 

[Geoffery Jackson]

I am all for the idea of meeting new people. In my case for this coming cruise is that I am not expected to socialize with other passengers....it is an option not a requirement. I do not consider myself an intravert. As for 1912 and dining....if I were crossing the ocean at this very same point in my life I would still be inclined to dine alone. I would prefer to encounter a friend and potential dining companion in the smoking room or lounge. Now here is something I just thought of....most of Titanic's 2nd class passengers were on those saloon style dining tables and for the most part they all got along well. What of 3rd class? Did the White Star Line go to any extremes to make sure that all English speaking ticket holders dined together? Meals would have certainly been an experience if you were from London and all your table mates were from Russia!! Lastly....traveling on the QM2 would be an awesome experience. However for this, my first cruise, I chose Carnival. There are many different types of people who cruise. They each pick a cruise line because their ship represents a bit of their style, class, attitude, age and of course economical status...etc.. I chose carnival because as a lowly E-4 in the Navy I cannot afford QM2 prices. My apologies for rambling here.
I hope you all had a great 4th and remember to enjoy the freedoms that we have in the US and all of the free world.

Geoff

 

[Iain Stuart Yardley]

We took a 24-hour Amtrak journey from Seattle to San Francisco (Oakland) recently and, as there were no tables for just two people we had to share each meal with at least two people, total strangers. It was a great experience.

At the first meal we met a belly-dancer from Euegene, Oregon, who had 'performed' at her friend's wedding the night before. At dinner the same night we met 'Miss Maureen', a bird-watcher from L.A. and a young woman whose intention was to embark on a nine-week charity cycling trip from San Francisco to Washington DC. It was actually a very enjoyable meal and we all talked well past chucking-out time, with the waitress and waiter (Abid, who we literally bumped into in Long Beach 3 days later, this time with his family). Breakfast next morning was spent with a farmer from Bakersville and a chap from San Francisco. The Frisco chap was telling us about how he heard about 9/11 whilst trekking in the woods of Washington State, how they heard little bits from people they passed on the trails and then the final realisation - days later - that something massive had indeed occured.

I enjoyed meeting these people and hearing their stories. We would never have known they existed had we ate in our cabin.

Cheers,

Boz

 

[Kritina Johnston]

That...is strange, at least from my perspective. How do you actually go about TALKING to anyone for more than five minutes in a situation like that? It's always weird to see that so many people can do that so easily. And how do you find something to talk about that's mutually interesting to everyone in the group? I've honestly never done it!

It must be that human thing y'all have in common!

 

[Iain Stuart Yardley]

To be honest, we didn't do that much talking, we mostly listened - Americans love to talk and they tell you all kinds of things with only the slightest provocation! A bit like the Molly Brown character in ANTR telling the old British chap about her husband ce-menting silver dollars in the floor of their house. They were interesting people, not full of themselves but all were travelling with a purpose, either going to or coming back from something and that's always interesting. Oh, and there was a woman in her 80's with her husband (he was back in the cabin, too frail to come to the restaurant car) who was travelling back from her grandson's graduation in Seattle. They nearly missed it because Amtrak had been 17 hours late getting into Seattle. I forgot to mention there was also a wine and cheese tasting session, a good idea in my book as booze tends to loosen a few tongues. I find that people just love to talk and I'm more more of a listener. I don't always remember the names but I always remember what story they have.

Cheers,

Boz