Craziest table mates you have had.

[lorimay]

^^^^^ This, the part about people bragging about their lives and the other BS, I can't handle it.
Thats why we always ask for our own table. I often wonder how many people are embellishing their perfect lives.....

 

[hardis5]

Not crazy but our last sailing we were at a six top with another 3 person reservation that had one child. Night 1 nobody shows and we had the table to ourselves. Night 2 about 30 minutes after the seating started and our appetizers were just being finished the 2nd family shows. The only words exchanged being have we finished dinner in a question from the DW of the other family, she disappears for about 15 minutes and returns grabbing the husband and son saying they were at the wrong table (guess a little miffed they did not have their own table) and were sat near at an empty 8 top. The 3rd night we did not see them as they were not at the same 8 top moved to the night previous but sweet irony prevailed as about 30 minutes into the last nights seating, the head server walks them to the wrong table again and they could not turn around quick enough to seek their own table again with our head server.

I know Disney tries to best pair like reservations when possible (both our boys were similar in age) but for our table mates, the opportunity never was given a chance to be seen if a fit (or by their reaction, worked out best).

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Not crazy but our last sailing we were at a six top with another 3 person reservation that had one child. Night 1 nobody shows and we had the table to ourselves. Night 2 about 30 minutes after the seating started and our appetizers were just being finished the 2nd family shows. The only words exchanged being have we finished dinner in a question from the DW of the other family, she disappears for about 15 minutes and returns grabbing the husband and son saying they were at the wrong table (guess a little miffed they did not have their own table) and were sat near at an empty 8 top. The 3rd night we did not see them as they were not at the same 8 top moved to the night previous but sweet irony prevailed as about 30 minutes into the last nights seating, the head server walks them to the wrong table again and they could not turn around quick enough to seek their own table again with our head server.

I know Disney tries to best pair like reservations when possible (both our boys were similar in age) but for our table mates, the opportunity never was given a chance to be seen if a fit (or by their reaction, worked out best).

We've primarily cruised as an adult only couple. We've always had great table mates. There were 3 cruises where we were part of a larger party - once as a party of 5 & once as a party of 6. Both times we had our own table. One time we were a party of 3 and were seated at an 8 top with a party of 5. Only "match" was our 19 year old son and the 16 year old son in the other group. But they were very nice.

 

[85glht]

We had a family of three sitting with our family of five. Their child and my oldest were the same day and hit it off. But the parents bragged a lot about their job, home, other vacations and dominated the conversation. That wasn't too bad, we just deal because we knew that would be a chance we'd take. The big issue was always arriving late (by almost 30 minutes each night) then ordering EVERYTHING at once. Like...everything. Two apps, two entrees and before apps are even out for them ordering dessert. It was...weird. Our last night we wanted a meal without the kids, so the older one went into the club, the younger one went into the nursery. We were seated at a rectangle table with four seats on each side. My husband and I sat at one end next to each other, my mother sat across on the end. (So three seats open next to her and two next to me...) The family arrived (late of course) but it was just mom and kid - dad was even later. The mom sat at the far end on my side of the table and their kid sat right next to my mother. RIGHT. NEXT. TO. MY. MOTHER. Did that mom say anything? No. Did Dad when he arrived? No. (He sat across from his wife - with a seat between him and his kid.) Did I? Yes. "Why not go sit next to mom so she's not alone down there?" Did the mom hear me? YES. Did the kid move? NO. Mom ignored her the whole meal.

The bragging part I can deal with cause I can and would lay it on thick as they do just to entertain myself,lol.... but being late a half hour! No way in hades would I wait for that!

 

[MeLaNie9]

For our 1st DCL cruise it was just me and my 2 boys. DH chose a golf trip instead. He and I generally are pretty introverted. My boys were 5 and 7 at the time and my youngest has a serious dairy allergy and I was on-the edge-of-my-seat-at-all-times nervous about this. I didn't even think about the fact we would be seated with other folks. We were put with a couple who had a daughter (7) and the man's younger 2 granddaughters. We tried to sit at the table so that they could be close to the kids but it didn't matter because they paid no attention the granddaughters. The youngest would slather her hands with butter and touch everything at the table which made me have to watch her like a hawk so she wasn't touching any of my son's utensils. They always came late and then I think they had to wait longer to be served because they ordered late and then there seemed to be a wait for my son's food. Then one night their 7 year old literally took her top off at the table across from my 7 year old son! I know she's a young girl but I just gasped and put my hands over his eyes and asked her to get dressed ( her parents didn't even notice). Later in the trip, the woman started telling the server that she had a severe allergy to peppers and so started sending food back. The server was so confused because she hadn't mentioned it before. That was also the worst server team we have ever had and the poor server was on his own as our head server did nothing and our drink server was awful and annoying. From that point on we always request our own table, mostly due to the allergy but no way my DH would be up for something similar to that!

 

[Neptune's Fork]

We had a family of three sitting with our family of five. Their child and my oldest were the same day and hit it off. But the parents bragged a lot about their job, home, other vacations and dominated the conversation. That wasn't too bad, we just deal because we knew that would be a chance we'd take. The big issue was always arriving late (by almost 30 minutes each night) then ordering EVERYTHING at once. Like...everything. Two apps, two entrees and before apps are even out for them ordering dessert. It was...weird. Our last night we wanted a meal without the kids, so the older one went into the club, the younger one went into the nursery. We were seated at a rectangle table with four seats on each side. My husband and I sat at one end next to each other, my mother sat across on the end. (So three seats open next to her and two next to me...) The family arrived (late of course) but it was just mom and kid - dad was even later. The mom sat at the far end on my side of the table and their kid sat right next to my mother. RIGHT. NEXT. TO. MY. MOTHER. Did that mom say anything? No. Did Dad when he arrived? No. (He sat across from his wife - with a seat between him and his kid.) Did I? Yes. "Why not go sit next to mom so she's not alone down there?" Did the mom hear me? YES. Did the kid move? NO. Mom ignored her the whole meal.

Maybe they were hoping you guys would entertain their kid so they didn't have to.

 

[yellowfish78]

The bragging part I can deal with cause I can and would lay it on thick as they do just to entertain myself,lol.... but being late a half hour! No way in hades would I wait for that!

We didn't wait for them - and the service was definitely better for us than them because of this.

Maybe they were hoping you guys would entertain their kid so they didn't have to.

That is certainly how it seemed. I don't know how many times (loudly) I said "you should go sit next to your mom" and both the kid and mom ignored me. Its rude. I would have scolded my kid for sitting next to another family with no additional children around as a buffer.

 

[Tractortom]

My DW and I have been on a lot of cruises, on a number of different lines. Two years ago on Disney we brought everyone with us, the whole family. There were 9 of us at the table each evening, including a baby less than 1 year old, and for the most part it was fine. In the past, on other CL's we have been seated at a large table with other couples. It's usually OK, but nothing that I really want to do. So the last few cruises, I have asked for a table for two for the wife and I and then will interact a bit with the folks at the adjacent table. We find that BREAKFAST in the main dining room is a good way to meet new people. Each morning they fill the table with whoever comes in, and each time you have a new couple to chat with. This is usually fun. We have never met a couple on a cruise ship that we have had long relationships with, so, I have to think it's US, not the other people.

 

[85glht]

We didn't wait for them - and the service was definitely better for us than them because of this.

Good!

We find that BREAKFAST in the main dining room is a good way to meet new people. Each morning they fill the table with whoever comes in, and each time you have a new couple to chat with. This is usually fun. We have never met a couple on a cruise ship that we have had long relationships with, so, I have to think it's US, not the other people.

We have done this a few times and have enjoyed MOST of the people we interacted with.... some, not so much.

We have yet to really hit it off with another couple to extend the friendship beyond vacations.... so it is not just you, lol.

 

[dani24]

DCL searches the net/social media/public info sites for info trying to align pax for dining. It is shocking their level of depth that is accessed. DCL is miraculous joining groups at dinner. IOW they do a phenomenal job.

Does anyone know what kind of data they access and from where?

Because of my husband's profession, we take great care to scrub his information off of publicly accessible areas of the internet. It's constant maintenance, but something we take very seriously since we were once the target of death threats. My information is a little bit easier to find, but you'd be hard pressed to find anything connecting the two of us either. Unfortunately, as tablemates go, he's probably the one we would most need matching with. We've had issues before with people being really inappropriate or rude about DH's profession. So DH is really apprehensive about getting stuck with strangers every night that wind up ruining his escape from work.

It's too bad they don't have a profile you can fill out with your interests, languages spoken, etc. to help them with the matching.

 

[nearlyfallinstar]

Then one night their 7 year old literally took her top off at the table across from my 7 year old son! I know she's a young girl but I just gasped and put my hands over his eyes and asked her to get dressed ( her parents didn't even notice).

lol! I think this may have been a bit of an overreaction. Should she stay dressed? Of course. But a 7 year old doesn't have anything to shield his eyes from.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Does anyone know what kind of data they access and from where?

Because of my husband's profession, we take great care to scrub his information off of publicly accessible areas of the internet. It's constant maintenance, but something we take very seriously since we were once the target of death threats. My information is a little bit easier to find, but you'd be hard pressed to find anything connecting the two of us either. Unfortunately, as tablemates go, he's probably the one we would most need matching with. We've had issues before with people being really inappropriate or rude about DH's profession. So DH is really apprehensive about getting stuck with strangers every night that wind up ruining his escape from work.

It's too bad they don't have a profile you can fill out with your interests, languages spoken, etc. to help them with the matching.

I doubt that they do a search. Mostly it's ages, home location, family/group size and make up that they match. All stuff that's visible on your reservation.

 

[over50visits]

Does anyone know what kind of data they access and from where?
.

No, but some will probably guess.

I've supervised this kind of computer matching before and it's not hard. Just a couple of matches and people are pretty compatible.

 

[lorimay]

Does anyone know what kind of data they access and from where?

Because of my husband's profession, we take great care to scrub his information off of publicly accessible areas of the internet. It's constant maintenance, but something we take very seriously since we were once the target of death threats. My information is a little bit easier to find, but you'd be hard pressed to find anything connecting the two of us either. Unfortunately, as tablemates go, he's probably the one we would most need matching with. We've had issues before with people being really inappropriate or rude about DH's profession. So DH is really apprehensive about getting stuck with strangers every night that wind up ruining his escape from work.

It's too bad they don't have a profile you can fill out with your interests, languages spoken, etc. to help them with the matching.

I understand completely about this. We get info off of one site and then another pops up, so frustrating.
The thing with my husband is most people can guess his occupation, its crazy, he just has the look I guess.
I can't wait till he can say "I'm retired".

 

[lorenni]

Does anyone know what kind of data they access and from where?

Because of my husband's profession, we take great care to scrub his information off of publicly accessible areas of the internet. It's constant maintenance, but something we take very seriously since we were once the target of death threats. My information is a little bit easier to find, but you'd be hard pressed to find anything connecting the two of us either. Unfortunately, as tablemates go, he's probably the one we would most need matching with. We've had issues before with people being really inappropriate or rude about DH's profession. So DH is really apprehensive about getting stuck with strangers every night that wind up ruining his escape from work.

It's too bad they don't have a profile you can fill out with your interests, languages spoken, etc. to help them with the matching.

Can I ask why he doesn't have a Plan B profession for purposes of these meaningless dinner conversations? I don't like answering everyone's tax questions, so I am "a consultant" when I travel - no additional detail necessary. There is absolutely no requirement that you provide real info when asked what you do for a living.

 

[Pens Fan]

Does anyone know what kind of data they access and from where?

Because of my husband's profession, we take great care to scrub his information off of publicly accessible areas of the internet. It's constant maintenance, but something we take very seriously since we were once the target of death threats. My information is a little bit easier to find, but you'd be hard pressed to find anything connecting the two of us either. Unfortunately, as tablemates go, he's probably the one we would most need matching with. We've had issues before with people being really inappropriate or rude about DH's profession. So DH is really apprehensive about getting stuck with strangers every night that wind up ruining his escape from work.

It's too bad they don't have a profile you can fill out with your interests, languages spoken, etc. to help them with the matching.

It's anyone's guess what they use. I'm with Schmoo in thinking that the only thing DCL looks at is whatever is on your reservation and goes from there. I seriously doubt that they are doing internet searches on their passengers just to decide where to sit them at dinner. I can attest that our family has definitely not experienced that "miraculous" joining of groups in the past. We are a family of 3, and here is how we were paired on our first three cruises:

1. Perfectly lovely family - Mom, Dad, Grandma and one child about 8 or so years younger than ours. Nice people, but had nothing whatsoever in common.
2. Another lovely family - Mom, Dad, 3 kids (one of whom was within year of our son's age), however only the father spoke fluent English. Not a lot of scintillating conversations on that cruise
3. Lovely family # 3 - Mom, Dad, 2 kids and Grandma. One of the kids was the same age as my son, and though they had absolutely zero in common they were cordial to each other. This one, on paper, was by far the best match, though their young daughter had no one to match up with (and was kind of a terror). We ended up having drinks after dinner a couple of times with the parents, which was fun.

The next two cruises we asked for a table to ourselves and got it. I'm just kind of done with the whole small talk thing.

 

[Alicatt]

My husband is very shy and I don't know if he will like sitting with others but on the other hand what will we have left to talk about after being together all day? How hard is it to ask for a 4 top alone if it doesn't work out with table mates? Also Where else can we meet people if not at dinner?

 

[JW9DVC]

I understand completely about this. We get info off of one site and then another pops up, so frustrating.
The thing with my husband is most people can guess his occupation, its crazy, he just has the look I guess.
I can't wait till he can say "I'm retired".

Is he a LEO also?

 

[jrabbit]

Can I ask why he doesn't have a Plan B profession for purposes of these meaningless dinner conversations? I don't like answering everyone's tax questions, so I am "a consultant" when I travel - no additional detail necessary. There is absolutely no requirement that you provide real info when asked what you do for a living.

DW - is that you?!!! Aren't you up to your eyeballs in tax returns with no time available to post on the DIS.

 

[aVASTGrl]

My first Disney cruise was last year, and I went solo. I was really nervous about the dining situation, but after reading everyone's stories about how great Disney is with matching, I was feeling ok the first night. I was the first to arrive at the 8-person table. I sat there for awhile perusing the menu, and when it seemed nobody else was coming (no biggie, I don't mind eating by myself) I ordered and started my meal. About half an hour later, two ladies show up, don't say a word to my greeting, and sit as far away from me as possible. It was so awkward and worse than nobody even showing up. Thankfully, the next day, I met a wonderful pair of sisters who were traveling with their families, and I dined with them for the rest of the cruise. Otherwise, honestly, I probably would have skipped the MDR for the rest of the trip.

My next cruise, I'm traveling with my sister, who hates dining with strangers, and we've requested a private table.