Not so great table mates

[ArmandXG]

Our first cruise was an enjoyable 7 day. We were at a table for 8 and one couple NEVER showed. We were celebrating our 16th anniversary. One couple was on their delayed honeymoon and other couple was closer to us than the newlyweds. We were all polite and shared in conversations about our excursions and such. Although My DH and I aren't very sociable (especially DH) we at least made an effort. It did help that we visited Sessions every night before dinner!

Our second cruise was a 4 day and we were stuck with this elderly couple that had to have special diets and made things quite uncomfortable for us. Just because I call them Mom and Dad does not mean that it made dinner conversations any better! I call this our working vacation, as they made everything a little stressful for us.

Also on this cruise were another elderly couple that just seemed to be everywhere we were. Every time we turned a corner, there they were. They had this little froo-froo dog they dressed in cute little clothes and pushed around in a stroller. They allowed people to take pictures of and with the dog; they allowed children to come pet the dog, all the while calling the dog a "service dog". They would hold up lines and block the flow of traffic with their "photo ops" and were just generally annoying. Where I come from, one does not allow people to touch or socialize with a service dog. I really wanted to ask what type of service this dog provided, but I bit my tongue as I realized I couldn't say it without sounding rude. So I'm saying it here!!!

When helping two of my sisters plan their Disney Cruise last year, I apologized in advance to anyone who got stuck with them at a table or on an excursion. They can be rude and a bit uncouth at times. I am related to them and I don't like to be with them in public settings! They are mouthy, bossy and like to fight with each other. I've always joked that when I win the lottery I'm going to treat my entire family to a cruise. Then I will wave to them from shore as they sail out to sea, holding a sign saying "We'll catch the next one!"

 

[has]

We are looking forward to dining with our new friends Meum , MJ Girl, and their families on the June 12th sailing to the Baltics. Canadians, Californians, and Utahans Great dinners here we come!

My first sailing I had fantastic table mates. DM, and DN. So glad DM is on this cruise. Wishing DN now 13 was also going. That will have to be another time.

See you soon MJ and Meum.

Heidi

 

[Tami0220]

Wow, this is an interesting and informative thread. I'm going on the 15 night PC cruise (saw a few of my fellow cruisers posting) and am worried about 15 nights. My DH can get along with anyone and he and I get along very well. I think I can get along most of the time but also at times I can be what he calls the LFH (lady from H$%@). That's only if you get on my bad side. Generally we are quite fun. However this thread worries me. I hope after our cruise I dont find any posts that sound like us. We are travelling without our adult kids but do find well behaved kids a pleasure. Also reading our giant thread I dont think there is any of our DISers that I wouldnt be fine sitting with. So I guess I will just wait and see.....

 

[HooKooDooKu]

We've never has "bad" table-mate, but definitely had some that were less enjoyable than others.

Now our 2nd cruise, we had awsome table mates. It was the Wonder's 1st year of sailing, and DCL was having problems filling both ships, so they were offering huge discounts to Disney employees.

At the time, we were only a couple and we were seated with a mom and her older son, another mom with her older daughter (the daughter worked at AK) and another couple where the husband was a Disney project manager.

The combination of two Disney employees at the same table quickly go us all talking everything Disney. The project manager had all sorts of stories about getting the ships built and getting AK started up. The mother/son had some great stories to tell about previous cruises they had been on. Then to top it off, by the end of the cruise, the two older "children" were a couple. Last we had heard, the boy was graduating and moving to FL to live with the girl.

 

[stitch'sgirl]

Why is it that the miserable trips are the ones that are the most fun to talk about? I guess not many people want to hear that you had a great time, when they are sitting at home wishing they were on vacation too.
Six or so cruises and only one "not so great" experience. I have to say "not so great" because it wasn't horrible, and all of the other times we met great people and had so much fun with them. One time Disney sat our family of three alone, and I really felt a little lonely. For me, it's a lot harder to meet people on board if I'm not connected to anyone at dinner. (IMHO)

Looking forward to meeting some more people on the Dream!!

 

[PurdyBertnie]

We haven't had any terrible tablemates but we have only been on one cruise lol. On that cruise we were at a table for 8 mom, me (20), honeymooners (about 23ish), a couple from Quebec (again early 20s), and we were sort of seated with another mom and daughter. I say sort of because they showed up the first night...late... barely said two words to us and then found apparently better people to sit with (they said they were friends). The next night they decided we were not so much beneath them I guess so they sat and chatted pretty pleasantly actually, and the third night they were again gone same thing at breakfast. But it acually worked out quite well we enjoyed the other tablemates and it made it much easier to talk. We are leaving on sunday for our next trip which includes a 5 nighter with mom me a cousin and an aunt, we are a fun crew and I hope anyone we get seated with is in the mood for fun too. If not we'll have plenty of fun on our own but people tend to enjoy us once they meet us lol

 

[BRdadx3]

We have been on two cruises so far. Both times, our family of 5 was seated at an 8 top with a young couple with 1 child. Well, having three boys, you tend not to sweat the small stuff any more. (That is my way of saying we may be a little less strict with our youngest.) I mean, if they feel like just taking a few bites of supper and skipping straight to dessert, why not?!?! We are on a cruise! Both times though, I could see it in the other young parents' eyes that we were probably a bad influence on their child.

Like so many others, I have been reading this thread looking for us to be described here. So far, I have not seen any descriptions that fit us.

But this has me thinking, what do we have to do to get talked about in this thread?!?!

We are going on our third cruise pretty soon, and I am considering reviewing this thread with my family and maybe setting a goal that to make it into this thread.

It can't be that hard if we set our minds to it.

Some ideas for achieving our goal of "bad tablemate" fame:

Vegitable flying contests at the table
Playing the ever popular "Guess what I just ate"
Flip the spoon into the cup game

I am sure my kids can come up with many other things that might be able to get us into this thread. I mean, it is always good to have goals.

 

[pearlieq]

We just got back from our first Norwegian Cruise Line sailing, and I'm not sure how well I'm going to do going back to the "fixed" model on DCL.

It wasn't until I got to experience being able to choose whether we wanted tablemates or not that I realized how exhausting it is to make polite conversation with a bunch of strangers for an hour and a half every night!

I get sick of smiling, making polite inquiries, and trying to keep the conversation going. I don't feel like I can just ignore them and chat with DH. So it's either silence or small talk.

Even when they're nice and trying just as hard as I am, it feels more like work than a vacation and I just don't have a tolerance for that anymore.

As for our past experiences, this is what we had:

Cruise #1: We were sat at a table of 8 with 3 other couples. One couple didn't speak English, one couple didn't speak, and the other couple was pleasant enough, but no one we realy "clicked" with. Dinners were OK, but not great fun.

Cruise #2: DH and I were seated at an 8 top with a mom, dad, and their teenage son. They did not seem at all happy to have us there. I tried my best to make polite conversation and it was like pulling teeth. Luckily, we ran into some very nice and fun DIS friends on board and they let us join their table. Once we made the switch we had a ball, but if we had been stuck at that first able all week it would have been miserable.

Cruise #3: I honestly have no recollection of the people we sat with. I know it was another 8 top of 4 couples, but it was only a 3 day cruise and I don't remember anything about them. It was OK, not great.

Cruise #4: Yet another 8 top, but this time it was another couple and a group of 3 adults, who sat down, got up 10 minutes later and never reappeared. The other couple was much older than us, but they were friendly and we made small talk during the meal. After that DH and I just couldn't face the idea of doing it two more times, so we skipped the MDRs for dinner and ate elsewhere.

We'll see how #5 goes. I'm going to request our own table and do my best to get it. If not, we'll probably stick it out since I want to see the new dining rooms on the Dream.

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Wow, this is an interesting and informative thread. I'm going on the 15 night PC cruise (saw a few of my fellow cruisers posting) and am worried about 15 nights. My DH can get along with anyone and he and I get along very well. I think I can get along most of the time but also at times I can be what he calls the LFH (lady from H$%@). That's only if you get on my bad side. Generally we are quite fun. However this thread worries me. I hope after our cruise I dont find any posts that sound like us. We are travelling without our adult kids but do find well behaved kids a pleasure. Also reading our giant thread I dont think there is any of our DISers that I wouldnt be fine sitting with. So I guess I will just wait and see.....

we can sit together, we can worry about it together, hopefully we can have a laugh about it together.

 

[*Flower*]

We went on our first commercial cruise last year. I chose the 4 nighter after Thanksgiving because I thought that the 3 night would be too short and I didn't want to freak out DH with a 7 night cruise for his inaugural civvie cruise.

I'll begin my mini story by saying that DH was in the Navy for 28 years, and just couldn't face cruising AGAIN after doing it for so long. I told him that pleasure cruising is much different from military cruising.

Now that the stage is set- I'd booked the 4 night cruise with a military discount. Of course we'd heard about Palo, and the only night that we could get a decent reservation time was the first night of the cruise. Awsome!

Night 2 we show up for our 'first' regular dinner seating, and are shown to a 4 top. We were the only ones to show up! Our server and assistant told us when we asked about the empty seats that the couple that we were SUPPOSED to dine with were extremely unhappy that they had to 'share' a table with someone else!!

They evidently dined in their stateroom on night 2 after dining alone at the 4 top on night 1- and on night 3 our server told us that they'd been found a 2 top so that they wouldn't have to suffer through dinner with our company.

We had a great time with our servers though- he was Ukranian, and she was from the Dominican Republic (I think).

We're scheduled to do the same cruise next year on the Dream, and are hoping to find some congenial tablemates from the DIS who might not mind sharing a table.

I should check back to this thread every so often though- some of these stories are out of the Twilight Zone!

 

[Lil' Grumpy]

hi susan, . [ ill give you a lil'attention before this thread
gets slam & the door closes, but for all the good reasons.]

....how scott?

i guess the best way to describe our "great expectations", we

were delighted having you guys for tablemates!

the only thing better, would have been if your boys could have made it!


i think it funny, how this thread make others want a table by
themselves. remember the young couple with the 2 cute kids? they
sure were happy to join our lil'party!

it was in~deeds , a very fun cruise!





ps.., my new hobby is learning the " in's & outs " of the dvc. , oh, my!
there's seem to be shysters, manipulators & personality disorders
running amuck! what are they putting in the kool-aid? , hoodoo?! is
my first guess

 

[WarrFamily5]

The one good time was on a longer cruise on the Magic when we sat with family members traveling with us. The two bad times were on shorter 3 night cruises on the Wonder where we purchased last minute tickets with discounted rates.

The first 3 nighter we were seated with a bunch of people who we had nothing in common with at all. It was our first cruise. One couple was a very young couple who had just been married and no kids. They were not old enough to drink, very quiet, very uncomfortable. Basically acted like two kids bummed that they had been sat at the old folks table. I felt bad for them. (We are in our 40s with three young children, but were traveling sans kids. We tend to talk about the kids a lot when away from them at this stage in our lives. It was our first time leaving them.) The other couple was older than us and were total Disney fanatics. It's all they wanted to talk about every meal. We were given the hard sell on Disney cruises. One of them worked for Disney. We were convinced that they had been planted at our table to sell longer cruises to us. You know, rope them in with shorter cruises and then convince them to spend money on the longer cruises. They were practically used car salesmen! Oh, and the whole time they demonstrated how to make the waiters hop. They constantly asked for special treatment for one reason or another... ordered two entrees just for the sake of doing it, asked for special foods not on the menu, basically made pains of themselves. It was weird and over the top. Very uncomfortable.

The second cruise it was my mom and I and we were sat with two other couples. In one couple the wife worked for Disney. She also did the Disney hard sell. I am convinced that they get some type of referral bonus if they talk someone into booking on board. LOL! This is the cruise where the waiter acted like he hated all cruisers and was beyond rude. You may remember me posting about it. The only thing that makes me forgive the waiter was that our tablemates were rude also. Constantly complaining about food, sending it back, etc. They came to every meal, even semi-formal night, in jean shorts and in ripped, stained t-shirts with cut off sleeves! No lie! I don't mind that they weren't dressed up, but at least be clean for the sake of your tablemates!

I am not a fancy person or uptight, I promise you, but I do expect people to have a certain amount of manners and class at the table. There's a lot more I could tell you, but as both sets of tablemates had Disney fanatic people in them I worry they are on these boards!

So now I have a fear of Wonder cruises, especially ones where we got the FL discount rates at the last minute. Going on a 3 night cruise is NOT the same as a 7 night, although a lot cheaper. It is a whole different atmosphere all together. We are going to try the Wonder once more in August for a 5 night cruise. If it is bad a third time, we will stick to the longer cruises after this.

Valerie

First of all, being in the 40's, you are not the old folks table and I resemble that remark!!
B), are you sure you were not seated in the Employee's Section!!
ANd Finally, we have never Cruised on a 3 day but have heard that it is a different clientele?!?
Hoping your 5 night goes better!!

 

[MarkRG]

as for recognizing people:

I read a story a few pages ago about a LOUD family who were sucking up to Grandpa and Grandma (the payees)....there was MUCH more to the story...maybe page 3 or 4

anyhow, after reading the story I read it to my DW. The I asked "who were they writing about?"

she said " The XXXXXXXXXs" (real name not used) They are related to us and took ONE Disney Cruise years ago.....were not very happy with the accommodations....well, fit the story PERFECTLY!

I'd be most curious to know when this story took place from the poster...I'll bet ANYTHING it was them

we always have said, we love the family well but would never want to be stuck sitting near them in a restaurant or, God forbid, a Cruise ship! No escape possible.

I know they don't read these boards but I still played it safe by omitting the names...

PLEASE tell me when this story took place....it HAS to be them

I'd guess you're referring to my story waaay back on page 1.
That was one of the longer cruises, could have been May 5th 01, May 3 03 or it could have been Christmas of 04?

 

[wcw57]

MARKRG:

the may time frames work...i think 9 years ago would be right....obviously i'm not going to ask them when they cruised so i don't have to explain why

was grandpa a great big guy?


Its GOTTA be them.....

I have been laughing all over again since you responded....I'm sorry you had them as shipmates but glad it wasn't me!

 

[MarkRG]

MARKRG:

the may time frames work...i think 9 years ago would be right....obviously i'm not going to ask them when they cruised so i don't have to explain why

was grandpa a great big guy?


Its GOTTA be them.....

I have been laughing all over again since you responded....I'm sorry you had them as shipmates but glad it wasn't me!

Yes, and he sat at the head of the table like the patriarch of one of those old evening dramas like Dynasty or Dallas.

My best definition of the whole time of them there would have to be surreal. They kept on acting out in a way I've only seen on that kind of tv show. It was truly bizarre.

 

[qohweddings]

Whew....

My partner and I are a gay couple in our late 40's - we're DVC members and while not Disney phanatics, we really enjoy Disney and DCL.

We're both easy going, have good manners and easily strike up conversations with people of any age.

We generally pick late seating as not only does it give us more time to chill when returning to the ship from excursions... we figure most couples with smaller children will select early seating.

We'll be on the Magic in October for the second time and are a little worried over our seating arrangements even though on our last Disney Cruise we were seated at a table of 6 with only one other couple.

We struck up a great conversation, had a great week and still keep in touch several years later... the other couple never appeared - we all just assumed that they got the early seating.

We also cruise on NCL fairly frequently, like the freestyle dining and generally meet up with people from the message boards to dine with...

In one situation in Hawaii we were at a late seating, asked if we would be interested in sharing a table and thought we were going to be seated with the two women (about our age) in line ahead of us...

We were actually seated with an older African American couple who were there with a large church group- which made us a little anxious and they ended up being alot of fun to dine with...meanwhile the two women were seated right next to us were He!! on wheels, HATED everything and made a huge scene...

Guess you can't judge a book by it's cover...

 

[KATHINOWA]

how do you request a "private" table? i notice on our reservations it states that "table for 5 on request". is that alll i need to do? my dh and i are not big talkers and our 3 kids would rather not talk to strangers. my ds has food allergies. i hate to play that card, but i could.

 

[williamson_ja]

We've only been on one Disney cruise so far, but our tablemates were quite lovely. We went without the kids and they sat us with 2 other couples of similar age without kids. We found lots to talk about and had a great time. This time we are bringing 6 kids with us and I imagine we'll be at a table by ourselves considering we are a party of 8. I'm feeling kind of bummed that we won't be meeting new people and having friends to talk with at dinner each night. lol.

 

[aldapl]

how do you request a "private" table? i notice on our reservations it states that "table for 5 on request". is that alll i need to do? my dh and i are not big talkers and our 3 kids would rather not talk to strangers. my ds has food allergies. i hate to play that card, but i could.

If you have faxed in the medical form indicating your son's allergies, there is a good chance they will honor your request for your own table. My son has severe food allergies and we have never been seated with another family, even when it is just the 2 of us traveling.

 

[knewton64]

Thats the thing, I LOVE to meet new people the idea worries my mum, but Len and I love it,

.......just leaving me in stitches.


somewhere I am hearing "WHO LET THE DOGS OUT" song.

Mine? She's 13 yrs old and named Ladybug.


Keeping it real in Dallas -



T.T.F.N.