30 Big Dining Mistakes to Avoid on a Cruise

Are you going on a cruise? Are you looking for cruise tips on how to make your main dining room experience the best possible? This is the video for you!

In this video I share with you 30 mistakes that are made in cruise ship main dining rooms along with the cruise tips on how to avoid them.

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Hi! We are Jason and Kellie! We've been married 23 years. We have four awesome children! We were both Army officers! We love Jesus! And, we love life! Travelling the world is what we do! One of the best ways to do that is by ship! Our passion is to give you the best tips, tours, and money saving techniques available! We hope you will subscribe and take the journey with us!

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Cruise Dining Tips
00:00 Introduction
01:32 Check your table on embarkation day
01:53 Change your table assignment if needed
02:22 It is possible to get a table for two
03:00 Ask if you need a new seating time
03:37 Large groups will need to split up
04:03 View the menu before dining
04:35 Try new foods
04:52 Feel free to order more than one
05:18 Order food the way you want it
05:56 Ask for the extras when you order
06:24 Know that the menu rotates
06:57 Ask the wait staff for recommendations
07:21 Check out the children's menu
07:49 Remember to pack for formal dining
08:27 Know the dress code expectations
08:50 Top menu items are on formal night
09:06 Expect day one main dining to be chaotic
09:49 Pace yourself
10:04 Make dietary requests early
10:30 Don't feel like dining has to be long
11:05 You can get food to go
11:30 Go to main dining for other meals
11:52 Embrace the quirks
12:15 Get to know your wait staff
12:28 Be on time
12:44 Communicate if you will be absent
12:59 Avoid controversial discussion topics
13:14 Treat wait staff with respect
13:45 Do not be wasteful
14:04 Take after dinner talk elsewhere

#cruisetips

[TheTravelScouts]

QUESTION: What cruise dining room tips would you add?

[RED-cyig]

Thank you for talking about being respectful to crew and guests. People need to be reminded.

[angelaivy]

Another hint is you can order a main dish in an appetizer size and you can order an appetizer in a main size. I do this when I love an appetizer and not really loving any of the mains or if I love 2 of the mains I get an appetizer size of each of them. Really great!

[georgeroberts]

True story: On a Hawaiian Island cruise, we had delicious filet minion steaks with eggs available for breakfast. Being a Westerner, one morning I asked if I could have my steak with a bacon wrap. The waiter seemed unfamiliar with the concept, so I explained that it was simply a strip of bacon wrapped around the steak. The waiter assented to my request. When the steak arrived, the strip of bacon was wrapped around it like a ribbon on a present. Not around the edge of the steak. 😅

[loyaldawg]

Appetizer tip: if a few of the appetizers sound good, you can order one as your appetizer and one as your main. A great way to try some extra things and also helps to avoid overeating

[jackiegromacki]

I have only been on 1 cruise. The wait staff treated us like royalty. They would bring us extra different foods to try. There was 6 of us and I really appreciated the way we were treated. We left a very generous tip to show our appreciation. Wish I could have them on the next one.

[josephcollins]

As a newcomer to your channel and a cruise veteran of 29 trips we still have found several great new ideas!! THANKS so much!!!

[stephensladaritz]

We cruise on Carnival and have for years. My wife is allergic to garlic. So, we have to order her next night's meal the day before. Our last cruise on the Dream was a dream. The head waiter made sure that my wife had a choice of garlic free dinners. In 13 cruises, we have only had one head waiter that was a little absent minded, and had to be reminded to bring a non-alcoholic beer for me.
Other than that, Carnival wait staffs have all been super and reminded me of my tours in Germany when we'd eat out.

[jlawrence]

You will be surprised what a good waiter can get you if you ask. One day, I was talking to the lead waiter who was Filipino and asked him what night chicken adobo, his national dish would be served. On the final night, he told me that he had something special and brought out a plate of chicken adobo.

[high-pov]

30 cruises and not once have I considered looking at the children's menu. That banana split is mine next cruise.

[vanessabullock]

I'm a girl. Traveling solo. I always ask to sit with other solos. I always make friends that way.

[susantownsend]

Great info.
Not only do we frequently order off the kids’ menu, our grandson figured out around age 10 that he could ask for things not on the menu and often get it. Note that this was in Disney where the three dining rooms have different menus so sometimes what he wanted was available from one of the other rooms. (This always earned extra tips for the wait staff.)

[CaptainOE]

I was previously subscribed to three other cruise news channels and unsubscribed after all three went news and views. Appreciate getting the straight skinny from Jason with no “fluff”.
Great site to get news.

[Batantinha]

Thanks for your tips. They are very appreciated!!Taking notes here!! Going on my 2nd cruise next week.

[BG]

I thought most of it was like all you can eat and buffet. I had no clue about table assignments. I’ll be going for the first time next year. Thanks for the advice. Great videos thus far.

[pamelabottino]

We are going on the NCL Joy in June and I am so happy to hear they will go back to the E-Muster drill. Just came back from a Royal Caribbean cruise and did their E-Muster and it was so simple. Did the majority of it on the app and then went to our muster station, got scanned in and all done! No standing around in a crowd!!!

[RobStevens]

We didn’t do Number 1 on our cruise on the Disney Wish. We got stuck with literally the worst table possible in Worlds of Marvel (back in a corner alcove next to a service entrance, completely away from the show). This table was so bad I don’t understand why it even exists. Then in Arendelle, we again had a terrible table and it was impossible to see the show. We asked and they were able to move us to another table where a different party had reservations elsewhere that night. So yes, I’ll be checking that table assignment every time we embark now!

[harlanabraham]

Am already subscribed. Even hit the like button. Yes, trying new items is good on a cruise. If you don't like it can order something else. I made the mistake of not ordering steak sauce when I ordered a steak one night. Not again. Yes, not asking the wait staff for recommendations could be a mistake. Always take a sport coat and a suit. Dress shoes and tie also. Carnival has good sea day brunches. Getting to know the wait staff is an important thing. Always treat the wait staff well. When I was in the military the told us to take as much as we wanted, but, to eat it and not throw it out. Try to stick with this.

[jenniferkimmel-kvpr]

I never knew they had banana splits I also had no idea you could order peanut butter for your chocolate melting cake. Thank you I will defiantly be ordering both of them on my next cruise in March.

[bkmartin]

We were advised to contact the cruise line two weeks before our cruise to ask for table for just our group or to say we would like to share a table.
Do not just show up for the your time/anytime dining. Just breakfast, brunch, and lunch use the ships app to notify the Dinning Room staff that you are ready to eat, how many people, and if you want to share a table with others. They will then notify you when your table is ready. Do not go before you know your table is ready.
I enjoy the singing and dancing the wait staff do, , , sometimes. When we are trying to get to a show or hook up with friends the little show just slows things down. On two occasions we saw a tray of food brought up from the galley and knew our desert was on that tray but, it's SHOWTIME. So all the wait staff go get what props they need and get in place. Ten to fifteen minutes later, yep there is our desert which we now need to go. My other problem is the volume. I have problems with sound sensitivity. On some ships the volume of the music is so loud I have to bring ear plugs to dinner every night or get up and leave until the show is over.