Ahoy there, Everyone - Captain here ...

In the old days a Captain and his officers would host a table each night in the dining room and getting an invitation to the Captain's table was considered, by many, to be the highlight of the cruise. This doesn't happen very much any more, and quite often, the Captain will only appear in the dining room once or twice during a cruise.

So, the emphasis these days is not so much on how to wrangle yourself an invitation to the Captain's table, but how to make sure you get the right table assignment for YOU for the duration of your cruise.

This forum explores the possibilities and how to deal with problems with your table assignments.

Looking forward to hearing your views ...

One of the best changes to cruising has been the introduction of the so-called freestyle dining. In the early days, the traditional dining, usually an early and a late sitting, meant you were stuck at the same table for the duration of the voyage. And not only stuck at the same table .... stuck with four or six boring fellow passengers. On one voyage it reached the stage where we could no longer face them and chose to have room service (which, mind you, also saved dressing up and having to compete with a peroxided fellow-diner who seemed to have her entire wardrobe aboard and should have known better than to flaunt those short skirts .... yes, that’s how long ago that was!) Anyway, it’s great now to have freedom of choice.

Never mind “boring”! What about those who left their table manners behind? On the whole we’ve had some memorable dinners and met some wonderful fellow travellers and even made long-time friendships with strangers sharing our table. But we’ve also had several unhappy experiences. Haven’t you come across the soup-slurpers, the burpers, the double-dessert dippers, the loud moaners and groaners about the quality of the cuisine, or the ones who happily share your wine but never dip into their own pockets? I’m all for freedom of choice. A different table every night.

The change to freestyle dining also means that you didn’t have to bow and scrape to the maitre d’. Some of them are great but in my time, especially in the old days, I’ve come across others who were nothing more than trumped up waiters with fancy Italian names with their oily hands stuck out waiting for a bribe to make sure you get a decent table. Who needs that.