Table Assignment; Linking Cabins together -- Without them knowing?

[Tequila MockingBird]

Good Morning! 

So, here's my situation. My best friend has booked a cruise coming up in November with her family (husband and 4 kids). This is her first cruise and she was a bit concerned about going through the dinning room, specifically the idea of her dinning with "strangers". She invited me to go with her but I politely declined. Secretly though, I've booked the same cruise without her knowing.  I would like to surprise her by being there and seeing our family at the dinner table waiting for her and her family, lol.  

With that being said, I would like to let the dinning staff aware of my intentions. I would prefer for me and my husband to be assigned to the same dinning room table as her family. I know that the best way to do this is to link the reservations together, but obviously, I want to surprise her by actually being there on the ship. I'm aware of the option to link reservations together which will guarantee that the tables will be assigned to the same cabins, but my questions are this: Should I link the cabin with hers, will her family be notified or made aware of this linking on their end? If not, will they be made aware of this during check in? My ideal situation is to be as discreet as possible until they see us at the dinning room table the first night on sea. 

 

[ellcee]

Welcome! I know that if you link reservations when you're on the site and the app it shows that you are linked. 

[Pattycruise]

Once your reservation is linked you can see other people linked in the app.

Did you use a travel agent>  maybe have them reach out to Royal to see about seating together, without linking your reservations. I honestly do no know if that is a thing. One  problem I foresee, if she goes to the MDR on boarding day to ensure she is not at a shared table and then is told she IS at a shared table (if you were able to make the arrangements pre-boarding) and she asks to be moved.

You could also visit the main dining room on boarding day to get the cabins seated together, the problem with that is your friends won't know where to go to sit because their seapass card will have the old table # (unless somehow the table they are at had room for you)

It will also be very difficult for you to avoid her family on boarding day.  Dinner is a long way from boarding times.....it's a big ship, but not that big.


 

[CrimsonCruiser]

This might be something best done on board. You could talk to the staff at the MDR on boarding day and request that you be partnered with whatever room they're in. They're usually really good about those uncommon requests in person.

 

[Jersey Judie]

Similar situation! I booked cruises to surprise my daughters and families.  Even though my reservations are linked and I can see them in the app, it won't allow me to secure reservations. When I click on their names to add them to my "My time dining reservation", it says they must reserve. 

[Tequila MockingBird]

49 minutes ago, Jersey Judie said:

Similar situation! I booked cruises to surprise my daughters and families.  Even though my reservations are linked and I can see them in the app, it won't allow me to secure reservations. When I click on their names to add them to my "My time dining reservation", it says they must reserve. 

My understanding is that the reason why you're having this issue is not necessarily because they must reserve on their end but because of the fact that you've chosen the "My Time Dining" option which, as I understand it, negates you from having a table assigned to you at all. In our situation, we have the dining room set at 5:30 PM which is consistent with how my friend selected it. In theory, she should have an official table set up. 

4 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

Once your reservation is linked you can see other people linked in the app.

Did you use a travel agent>  maybe have them reach out to Royal to see about seating together, without linking your reservations. I honestly do no know if that is a thing. One  problem I foresee, if she goes to the MDR on boarding day to ensure she is not at a shared table and then is told she IS at a shared table (if you were able to make the arrangements pre-boarding) and she asks to be moved.

You could also visit the main dining room on boarding day to get the cabins seated together, the problem with that is your friends won't know where to go to sit because their seapass card will have the old table # (unless somehow the table they are at had room for you)

It will also be very difficult for you to avoid her family on boarding day.  Dinner is a long way from boarding times.....it's a big ship, but not that big.


 

I've booked it through Royal Carribbean. No travel agent. I might consider calling Royal Caribbean directly but I suspect that they're just going to offer the option to link the reservations (which, as I understand it now, will spoil the surprise so now I'm entertaining the thought of communicating directly to the dinning staff instead). I don't want to confuse my friend, but I don't think that there should be an issue with seating arrangements. There's 6 of them and only 2 of us.  

Regarding the boarding times and avoiding the family before dinner, I respectfully disagree with this sentiment. The ship sets sail at 4:00 PM and dinner is at 5:30 PM. Not to mention going through the mandatory muster session. I'm almost certain that they're going to want to settle in their cabin and unpack and then exhaust all their remaining free time at the waterpark or maybe the arcade with their children until dinnertime. It's only an hour and 30 minutes of hiding in plain sight from them and knowing which "danger areas" there are to avoid, lol.  

[PatsFanBrian]

1 hour ago, Jersey Judie said:

Similar situation! I booked cruises to surprise my daughters and families.  Even though my reservations are linked and I can see them in the app, it won't allow me to secure reservations. When I click on their names to add them to my "My time dining reservation", it says they must reserve. 

Try doing it on the website.  We just returned from a sail with our friends and, during the time leading up to it, I was able to reserve everything for the 4 of us via the cruise planner on the website.  I've done that two other times in the past with no issues, but I never use the app to do my reservations, so I don't know if there's a limitation with it.

[ellcee]

1 hour ago, Jersey Judie said:

Similar situation! I booked cruises to surprise my daughters and families.  Even though my reservations are linked and I can see them in the app, it won't allow me to secure reservations. When I click on their names to add them to my "My time dining reservation", it says they must reserve. 

I had no problem on the website last week. I did a bunch of MTD dining nights for myself and a friend who is linked to me.

[Linda R]

I might suggest booking a table next to your friends table.  Arrange it at the dining room as soon as you board.  You can then change it to a table of 6 after that.   But I have never done My Time dining, so not exactly sure.  Having  travel agent helps.   Also you could just wait at entrance to dining (out of sight) after speaking to desk about your request/plans.  Then maybe they could then  seat you next to them (or even with them at their table) and have something already arranged to do that?   Good luck and sounds like a lot of fun!

[Pattycruise]

2 hours ago, Tequila MockingBird said: 

The ship sets sail at 4:00 PM and dinner is at 5:30 PM……It's only an hour and 30 minutes of hiding in plain sight from them and knowing which "danger areas" there are to avoid, lol.  

4:30 is sail away. 
Boarding  the ship begins at 10:30 and typically continues through 2/2:30….of course this depends on the ship and the port.     The realty is you can have up to 7 hours between boarding and dinner. I’d recommend you find out their arrival time (which opens to select about 45 days prior to sailing) and pick  yours accordingly. Note: If they have unvaxxed kids their arrival/processing will be extended to include testing at the pier, which can add another 30/60 minutes to them being able to get in the ship. 

[RWDW1204]

@Tequila MockingBird.Do you know their cabin # or reservation # ?Try emailing rcldining@rccl.com and explain what you're trying to do. They might be able to get it done.

[wordell1]

There is no way to link and reserve without them knowing.  If you both have MTD, or the same dinner seating, I am sure it could be handled by a trip to the restaurant manager on day 1.  My honest opinion is that you should surprise her by meeting them at the cruise terminal instead of the first night dinner - You could easily run into them on the ship before dinner anyway.

[mpdahmer]

It is my understanding from doing this same thing in the past that in order to link accounts both parties have to agree to it. You could have an annoying neighbor/relative/friend who booked the same cruise without you knowing and link accounts and now are awkwardly stuck with them for the entire cruise. 

On one cruise I had my nephew take the place of my son who couldn't make it on the sailing. It was easier because I knew where he was and he kept his distance knowing where we were. Then he sent a photo of us to my kids...at first they were like, that's weird, Sam just sent us a photo of us standing here by the pool...after a few seconds they caught on and they scanned the deck for him until he came out from behind us.

IMHO I would stay in contact with one of their group that you could trust to not spill the beans and plan a surprise somewhere on the ship like sail away. Towards the previous posts, not sure if your cabins are near each other but if you have the same Muster station you might accidentally bump into them. I think they will be just as surprised whether you do it at dinner or after getting on board. At least you will be able to enjoy sail away together...just my opinion. 

[smokeybandit]

Linking does not guarantee a table together. I experienced that just this week.

[whitsmom]

8 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Linking does not guarantee a table together. I experienced that just this week.

We had that happen to us on the Oasis in 2019 (we had first seating not MTD).  They did correct it after the 2nd night so this time we will go see the dining room manager as soon as we board to make sure that our table will seat all 8 of us.  Lesson learned.

[smokeybandit]

1 hour ago, whitsmom said:

We had that happen to us on the Oasis in 2019 (we had first seating not MTD).  They did correct it after the 2nd night so this time we will go see the dining room manager as soon as we board to make sure that our table will seat all 8 of us.  Lesson learned.

Your table number appears in the app once you board, fyi

[whitsmom]

58 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Your table number appears in the app once you board, fyi

Good to hear - this is the first time cruising with the APP for us.

[Jersey Judie]

21 hours ago, Tequila MockingBird said:

My understanding is that the reason why you're having this issue is not necessarily because they must reserve on their end but because of the fact that you've chosen the "My Time Dining" option which, as I understand it, negates you from having a table assigned to you at all. In our situation, we have the dining room set at 5:30 PM which is consistent with how my friend selected it. In theory, she should have an official table set up. 

  

Oh that makes total sense actually! One of my daughters has a 1 year old!...so that will work well with her, but for me 5:30 is way too early to eat. Hmmm...what to do? what to do?

[Reigert2008]

In my opinion, there is no good reason to "surprise" someone on a cruise.  Now that you've already booked, that would be the surprise and now you can work together to plan things together (or apart).  They also may think somethign is wrong if they see some "wonkiness" in the app or on the website when tryng to do things and not know that you have secretly done things.  You would also prevent any awkwardness if the party being surprised, decided to change thier plans and now you're "stuck" (although is anyone ever really stuck with a cruise  ).  

We once surprised our nieces at Disney World, but we had coordinated it with my sister to make sure it went smoothly.  

As the designated "travel supervisor" for several families, I've learned that things just go smother when parties are involved, at least the adults.  

[Summer Bee Sweet]

3 hours ago, Reigert2008 said:

In my opinion, there is no good reason to "surprise" someone on a cruise.  Now that you've already booked, that would be the surprise and now you can work together to plan things together (or apart).  They also may think somethign is wrong if they see some "wonkiness" in the app or on the website when tryng to do things and not know that you have secretly done things.  You would also prevent any awkwardness if the party being surprised, decided to change thier plans and now you're "stuck" (although is anyone ever really stuck with a cruise  ).  

We once surprised our nieces at Disney World, but we had coordinated it with my sister to make sure it went smoothly.  

As the designated "travel supervisor" for several families, I've learned that things just go smother when parties are involved, at least the adults.  

I had a friend surprise me by coming aboard and it was the best thing ever. We met on a ship and have taken several cruises together.