Open dining all the way

As the dynamics of cruising have changed so dramatically over the last few years, one area of peoples cruise holiday which always seems an important decision to make when booking is which dining option should we choose? The right decision could make your holiday, you could meet people who you have a great deal in common with, stay friends for many years to come, even book future cruises together, on the downside the wrong decision can make you dread heading down to the dining room and resort to you dining in the buffet or even room service for the rest of your cruise.

So many people ask me when booking what would you suggest?

Over the years I’ve spoken to many passengers who have got a tale to tell me about their dining experiences, the main two points being other passengers bragging about how many cruises they have been on and the most popular one of all time, ‘How much did you pay?’

This always makes me laugh, but I appreciate it really does make you mad when you find out the chap sat next to you has paid half the price you did for the same cruise.

The way I look at it is if you see somebody in a restaurant or pub at home who’s wearing the same boots as you, do you feel the urge to race up to the bar and ask them how much they cost? When I go to see a band play would I ask the couple next to me how much were their tickets????

I worked overseas for many years and never once had passengers come to see me to complain that the people around the pool paid less than them so why with the cruise culture does it become such a necessity to ask other passengers how much they paid? I think it’s damn rude myself, if anybody asks me I say mind your own business, I wouldn’t dream of asking a complete stranger about their finances.

Anyway back to dining. My advice is, if you have the chance on any cruise to select open dining, go for it. You can get a table for two or join other passengers so you could be dining with different people every night. That way if you do meet people you really get on with you could arrange to meet the following night and could have found friends for life. If you sit with people who really get on your nerves you don’t have to speak to the ever again!

You will also find now that many cruises offer a great selection in the buffet restaurant and fantastic speciality restaurants, if you had chosen a fixed table at 8:30 for six passengers and the other two couples  have made other plans you’ll be sat there looking like Billy no mates!

My advice is go for open dining, as Peter Kay once said ‘it’s the future’