Craziest table mates you have had.

[johnnchristi99]

I just got back from my first cruise on the Magic last week. It was great! The ship was awesome.

The part of the cruise I felt a little nervous about before we went was being assigned to a table with other people. I like to talk and make new friends, however, my DH is very shy and I was afraid he would not like it. But after reading so many posts here on the DIS about how Disney was great at matching people and many lasting friendships result I thought, why not? It could be fun.

Our first night everything seemed great. We were seated with another couple about our age with a son the same age as my DS, 6. As the boys got to know each other they became friends and even wanted to play in the clubs together.

On the second night, I was feeling pretty great about my choice to have table mates when the Mom of the other boy started letting her crazy show... She was laughing loudly then obsessing about little details not being right on the table setting, just weird stuff like the napkin off center. Our boys were becoming great friends so we just ignored this at first. The kids then were telling stupid jokes and playing guessing games sort of loudly (as boys that age often do). It seemed like normal child behavior to me. Then, out of nowhere the lady reached over and stabbed her son with her fork! We weren't quite sure how to react, but I did discreetly tell the server later what had happened. It wasn't hard enough to puncture the skin, but it was still pretty hard. The little boy started screaming and crying. We had to leave right after that. How would you react to this sort of situation? Needless to say I don't believe DH will want to sit with others on future cruises.

What is the craziest table mates you have had?

 

[squirrel]

Yikes! That is crazy. Kind of wonder what else she does to him when nobody's looking. What did the dad do? Did he seem upset or anything?

Never had bad tablemates. We missed out on tablemates the last time, I think because my niece was with us and is lactose intolerant. I kind of missed having someone new to talk with.

 

[Tashinwdw]

I am really nervous about dinner mates as my DH sounds similar to yours, I have not even told him that we may have others at our table. I am hoping because there are six of us that it might not happen.

Did they change them to another table once you told them?

I am not sure I am game to read other nightmares others have had

 

[alaskanabbott]

Not bad table mates but interesting We have 6 kids and travel with my dad, so the only time we have had table mates was when DH and I did a grown-ups cruise two years ago. We were seated at an 8 top and there were two other couples when we sat down. We were all wondering about who the 4th couple would be when we see a couple being led to our table- suddenly the wife realizes that she is going to GASP be seated with others! She literally stops in her tracks and begins sobbing!! The CMs are trying to comfort her and she is having none of it, she runs out the MDR. Our table was a little shocked and we all agreed that we were happy miss crazy wasn't sat with us!
On a side note- I am a sign language instructor, something I would have no idea that DCL would know- and one of the other couples was deaf. They were so happy to have another couple to visit with, and I was able to interpret between the other couple as well. In fact it was the Deaf woman's birthday and I taught them Happy Birthday in ASL...our wait staff was so excited to see our table signing it as they sang.

 

[livie1205]

FAMILY! ( extended) never Ever again! Haha

 

[ChristinaDK]

We are going on our first in September on the wbta. We have requested to be seated with another couple the we meet on the Facebook page for our cruise. We are 20 years apart, but they seems to be a nice couple. We have talked to them many times by FaceTime. We live in Denmark, and they live in the state

 

[geoly1]

My teenage nephews who only came out of their room for dinner & ordered room service during the day! What a waste...never again

 

[serenitynow]

Our table mates on the Dream spoke French to each other and just stared and smiled at us when we tried to make small talk with them the 1st night. Alas, we don't speak French so it was a no-go. Then the servers came and they ordered in perfect English. Throughout the meal, our table mates made easy small talk with the servers in English, but ignored us. They spoke French with each other chatting freely throughout the meal. Finally we just ignored them right back.


By the second night it seemed slightly weird, but we adjusted. By the third night it was like being on a elevator with strangers, still strange but we just spoke to each other like they weren't even there.

 

[Lisa Lisa]

Our table mates on the Dream spoke French to each other and just stared and smiled at us when we tried to make small talk with them the 1st night. Alas, we don't speak French so it was a no-go. Then the servers came and they ordered in perfect English. Throughout the meal, our table mates made easy small talk with the servers in English, but ignored us. They spoke French with each other chatting freely throughout the meal. Finally we just ignored them right back.


By the second night it seemed slightly weird, but we adjusted. By the third night it was like being on a elevator with strangers, still strange but we just spoke to each other like they weren't even there.

OMG -- That's crazy! I think I would have had to request a new table in that situation.

On our last cruise on the Fantasy, we were seated with a party of 5. Two parents with a DD a little younger than our DD and a couple that were good friends of theirs. They were clearly not expecting to have others at "their" table, and they didn't acknowledge us at all when we arrived. It took a couple of days of constant effort on my part, but I finally managed to get some conversation going with three of the adults. One of them didn't say a single word to us until maybe the 5th night. The girl was so shy that she wouldn't even make eye contact with my DD for the first few days. The most uncomfortable night by far, though, was the last night. One of the women had way too much to drink and got really belligerent toward me. DH and I looked at each other a few times like WTH? but the other adults at the table acted like nothing was wrong!

After that experience and a so-so one on the Dream in 2012, we had decided to request our own table for our upcoming cruise on the Fantasy. We ended up getting to know another family through our cruise meet thread, though, and decided to share a table. It will be so nice to have tablemates that are expecting us and happy to see us!

 

[mmouse37]

On the Maiden Voyage of the Magic back in 1998 First cruise for us and first official cruise for Disney. We were so exited!!! We were a group of 7 at an 8 top (during lunch we found what table we would have for dinner). We wondered who the 8th person would be if any. As we approached the table for dinner I saw someone already sitting there with Mickey Mouse ears on and thought yes, someone who is as excited as I am about this first cruise for Disney. As we got closer we noticed he was pretty unkempt looking and wearing a stained white tank top undershirt and ragged shorts. We quickly realized he was not all there. Picture Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump at his lowest point (he had the same personality). We tried to converse but only got glaring and grunting in return so after several minutes we kept conversation to our own group. Our daughter (who was 14) had a roll on her plate. The man reached over, took her roll, took a bite out of it and then put it back on her plate. We were shocked. He then proceeded to rub our friend's back and kept touching her arm/neck/face. saying she was beautiful She and my husband asked him to stop but he continued. He made our female server cry by saying something crude to her. We realized he had some major issues and could not figure out why/how he was traveling alone. My husband found our head server and explained what was happening and that it was not acceptable behavior. The head server apologized and said they also had complaints about him from our serving team. They promised he would be moved elsewhere on the next night. We were relieved that we would not be sharing a table with him as we could not imagine more nights at dinner like that. Our 3 kids were terrified of him. The following night we saw him at a table by himself, talking to himself. It was sad and we don't know what his whole deal was but we saw him at various times during the cruise and he kept asking women in close proximity to him to push him in his wheelchair. It was really bizarre.

But, 29 cruises since that one and we have had nothing but wonderful tablemates!!!

MJ

 

[noahdove]

That's my fear that we will have tablemates that won't talk or talk toooooo much My husband will be ok, but, I am rather shy when meeting new people. My husband says he is shy, ha, no truth to that...

 

[kapoof]

Dh! At AP we sat down and the server placed some crayons on the table ( he did tricks with them) well dh thought it was to color with...so he drew a red smiley face on the white table cloth!! I was livid He didn't take the time to notice it was cloth and not a paper one! as I was snarling under my breath at him the server came out with a surprise cake for our 24 anniversary and sang...atleast it was memorable. . Never again will he be aloud to have crayons at dinner though.

 

[sunryzez]

FAMILY! ( extended) never Ever again! Haha

I was going to post the EXACT same response....LOL!

 

[dc1969]

Then, out of nowhere the lady reached over and stabbed her son with her fork!

 

[disprincess4ever]

Never had table mates and hopefully never will. I can say that on our last cruise, the family at the table next to us came 30 minutes late every night. It really annoyed me because it created extra work for the serving team. But I guess you can't change people...

 

[disneynme]

We had great tablemates our first cruise. Our second cruise, which was last summer--not so great. I don't want to get into specifics in case they're here, but they made all three of us very uncomfortable and we did not look forward to dinner each night. DH wants me to request our own table for our cruise next month. I hate to be difficult, so I haven't made the request yet.

 

[Magical3]

On our honeymoon cruise on a different CL we sat with another Newlywed couple who bickered the entire time!! It was so uncomfortable - they tired to be pleasant with us but it was a stark contrast to how they treated each other.

The first cruise I ever went on was with a friend when we were 23. We got to the dining room and saw a table of people our parents' age. Little did we know they'd be more wild and rowdy then we were!

 

[Saamh]

Not bad table mates but interesting We have 6 kids and travel with my dad, so the only time we have had table mates was when DH and I did a grown-ups cruise two years ago. We were seated at an 8 top and there were two other couples when we sat down. We were all wondering about who the 4th couple would be when we see a couple being led to our table- suddenly the wife realizes that she is going to GASP be seated with others! She literally stops in her tracks and begins sobbing!! The CMs are trying to comfort her and she is having none of it, she runs out the MDR. Our table was a little shocked and we all agreed that we were happy miss crazy wasn't sat with us! On a side note- I am a sign language instructor, something I would have no idea that DCL would know- and one of the other couples was deaf. They were so happy to have another couple to visit with, and I was able to interpret between the other couple as well. In fact it was the Deaf woman's birthday and I taught them Happy Birthday in ASL...our wait staff was so excited to see our table signing it as they sang.

Sometimes I think DCL has an entire team of private investigators that collect background info on passengers and use it to set up table mates. They are usually really good at finding similarities and putting people together. It is so cool that you were able to help the table communicate with your signing skills.

 

[pcannizzaro76]

We too have had interesting experiences with table mates. Our second Disney Cruise was in the Med, and when we arrived at our table, we found we were seated with 2 men and a boy. We were expecting the worst. We figured they were foreign and would not speak English. It turned out they were from New York(we are from Atlanta). They were great, and we had the best time hanging out with them at dinner and after. We have kept in touch with them over the last few years, and we are planning on doing another cruise with them soon. On the bad side, our fifth and most recent Disney cruise was over Thanksgiving. We were seated with a family of three that were clearly culturally different from us. We made the best of it and tried to make small talk, but it was difficult to communicate with them. Also, at every meal they had to order special cultural food which had a very strong smell. Needless to say, instead of looking forward to the dinner experience every night, we were just trying to get through it as fast as possible.

 

[DisneyHeather]

On a side note- I am a sign language instructor, something I would have no idea that DCL would know- and one of the other couples was deaf. They were so happy to have another couple to visit with, and I was able to interpret between the other couple as well. In fact it was the Deaf woman's birthday and I taught them Happy Birthday in ASL...our wait staff was so excited to see our table signing it as they sang.

That is so cool that you were able to communicate with them and teach the others some sign language that must have made their trip that much better.

No bad experiences for me so far. First cruise it was just family as there were 6 of us and second cruise we met new people and are actually doing the EBTA with them again next year.