Okay so here is my question if a group have either early seating or late seating, lets say for a 7 day cruise and they only eat in that dining room twice what happens to that table does it just stay vacant or do they give it to someone else, or are tables assigned even?
It stays vacant. Your dining room seats are reserved. If you're not going to be at your dinner seating, it would be courteous to let your waiter know in advance.
For some reason most of the people in our little alcove of the dining room on the Freedom stopped coming to dinner after the 2nd night. There were 4 or 5 tables vacant. This didn't bother us in the least since it was quieter and service was great!