category # and service

[waymickey]

At the disney parks there are tiers of resorts, value moderate and deluxe also DVC. There are obvious perks to staying at each,bigger rooms, pools, boats, closer bus stops and covered bus stops, Sig.restaurants and so on.
This got me wondering, is there perks to staying in say category 4 room on the ship over say category 7? I know the room size and maybe location but is there anything else? For example, Do they sit you in the restaurants with a better view, (not next to the kitchen). Anything?

[Ed]

There are no real "perks" unless you are in a concierge suite. All other categories are treated identically.

[BrerGnat]

Really, it's only a matter of where your cabin is located on the ship, how big it is, windows, verandah, etc. That's what makes the categories vary so much in pricing.

While on board, everyone in "steerage" (i.e. NOT concierge) is treated the same.

[waymickey]

How do they decide where to seat people at dinner then? Some areas of the dinning hall are nicer than others. Is it completely random? curiosity only ....

[BrerGnat]

How do they decide where to seat people at dinner then? Some areas of the dinning hall are nicer than others. Is it completely random? curiosity only ....

It's mostly random. The maitre'd is responsible for making table assignments. There are tables with 2, 4, 6, and 8 seats at them. People are seated according to group size, special requests (some groups ask to be seated with specific other passengers, some people request a private table for only their party, etc.). It's like a huge puzzle to solve, so it's done to maximize the serving efficiency, mostly.

Once onboard, you can head to the dining room to find out your seating assignment, and you can make a request to have it changed if you don't like it.

[waymickey]

I was curios because on our two cruises we had very different experiences. First cruise we had great dinner seats kinda of in the center of everything , and very attentive servers. Second cruise we sat by the kitchen and felt detached from the rest of the restaurant. We were in a corner. We heard and saw everything that went on in and out of the kitchen and our dinners took forever with little interaction from the servers. First trip Cat. 4 second trip category 6 I think. So I figured it had to do with our cabin cat. Both times we sat at our own table due to my DD allergies.

[BrerGnat]

Your dining experience had nothing to do with your category, as a category 6 on Disney cruise line is still pretty high up there. It goes all the way down to Category 11.

Totally random. As mentioned, you can always petition for a change of table from the Maitre'D. However, it's not always possible. Because of your special request for a table just for your party, it may be that was the only table they could assign you to for that particular cruise.

[waymickey]

I guess it was the luck or unluck of the draw. I had a great time on both trips. However next trip I don't think I will go the restaurants much. It just took too long and we really were not blown away by the food. Can you go just for desert? That we liked a lot!