I think on our last cruise, WE may have been the something shocking for some passengers.
The whole situation actually started on our first cruise, in 2011 on the Wonder. Two things happened- On pirate night and on Parrot Cay menu night, we realized that I am allergic to nearly all of the dishes available because of the spices added. Rather boring, but it set us up for our 'shocking' cruise the next year. The other plain Jane thing that contributed was that we had an AWESOME Palo server.
Now, fast forward 12 months. We had requested our same server for the MDR as our last cruise, and the same Palo server as well. Once boarding we found out our requested MDR server had left that day for vacation. Oh well. But to appease us, our family had a table alone.
The first night in the MDR our head server came over and told us that because I would miss out on 2 menus, it would be his pleasure to arrange his own surprise menu for us each night. Okay.... Cool. The next morning we went to Palo. Our former Palo server Vladimir had been promoted to officer, so he couldn't be our server. But they called him down, and so as we had brunch, this officer in his crisp white uniform comes down to see us, big hugs all around, brings us 'special' stuff from the kitchen. Unbeknownst to us, 2 tables from near us in the MDR were also having brunch, so now they had witnessed our special treatment the night before and now this morning. Every night in our MDR we had special service from the head server AND our former Palo server would stop in and chat, pull up a chair or bring us something special. The 2nd to last night we had dinner in Palo and our server sent back chocolate soufflés for the kids- and yep, one of those same families was there to see it. Also, because of his position as training officer, he was often just watching the wait staff- so we would often walk with him or chat during the day and yep, it looked like we had a special officer guide!!
I had no idea how all of this must look until at the Pirate party that night! Both families came up to us and asked WHO we were to get so much special attention!! They thought we were very rich or influential. Ummmm- nope. I don't think they believed us- because on the last night we somehow managed to get an awesome spot for the character parade where a member of the cruise staff made sure our daughter first got pictures with everyone. And yep- the same families were there to see it!
Trust me- we did nothing to demand this service, but we did enjoy it!!