Craziest table mates you have had.

[squirrel]

We've had some interesting and fun table mates over the years. One of the funniest was a couple who were on their first ever cruise. This was a few years ago on the Magic. My adult DD and I were seated at a table with three other couples. We were all seasoned DCL cruisers except for this one couple. The man was reserved but his wife was extremely excited for all things Disney. She gushed and gushed about everything and asked endless questions of our DCL knowledge. It was kind of refreshing watching her enjoying her first Disney cruise. Anyway, one night the Head Server stopped by our table and the wife couldn't contain her excitement. She was praising how amazing our Server and the dining room experience has been. The Head Server leaned in close and lowered her voice and told our table, "Your Server is one of our best and today is his birthday but don't let on I told you. He would be so embarrassed." After she left, the wife couldn't let it rest. She said we just had to do something to recognize him and his service. Before we knew it, she stood up and with fork against glass she proceeded to get the attention of the entire dining room. She then made an enthusiastic speech about our wonderful Server and would everyone please join our table in singing happy birthday to him. Everyone did and then followed up with clapping. When things settled down and we were giving our dessert orders she said to our Server, "I hope you didn't mind that. We just wanted to show our appreciation." He just looked at her and said sternly but calmly, "It ISN'T my birthday!" I caught a glimpse of our Head Server standing nearby and she was laughing so hard!

One of the ToT CM's told us it was his co-workers birthday and to please wish him a Happy Birthday after he got us all seated. I was the only one to fall for it. It also wasn't his birthday. I guess the CM's get bored and that's all they can come up with for a joke.

 

[twindaddy]

With all due respect, I read not one post that was "hollyer than thou". I have been reading about all different types of perspectives, preferences and experiences.

With all due respect, have you read this entire thread? I have seen several. Sometimes, people who scream tolerance are the least tolerant out there.

I could be reading too much into peoples posts, but I don't think so.

We've had some interesting and fun table mates over the years. One of the funniest was a couple who were on their first ever cruise. This was a few years ago on the Magic. My adult DD and I were seated at a table with three other couples. We were all seasoned DCL cruisers except for this one couple. The man was reserved but his wife was extremely excited for all things Disney. She gushed and gushed about everything and asked endless questions of our DCL knowledge. It was kind of refreshing watching her enjoying her first Disney cruise. Anyway, one night the Head Server stopped by our table and the wife couldn't contain her excitement. She was praising how amazing our Server and the dining room experience has been. The Head Server leaned in close and lowered her voice and told our table, "Your Server is one of our best and today is his birthday but don't let on I told you. He would be so embarrassed." After she left, the wife couldn't let it rest. She said we just had to do something to recognize him and his service. Before we knew it, she stood up and with fork against glass she proceeded to get the attention of the entire dining room. She then made an enthusiastic speech about our wonderful Server and would everyone please join our table in singing happy birthday to him. Everyone did and then followed up with clapping. When things settled down and we were giving our dessert orders she said to our Server, "I hope you didn't mind that. We just wanted to show our appreciation." He just looked at her and said sternly but calmly, "It ISN'T my birthday!" I caught a glimpse of our Head Server standing nearby and she was laughing so hard!

That is Awesome!!! We did the same thing to our assistant server, but it actually WAS her birthday. I even spilled a bunch of sugar packets under the table and asked her to help my daughter pick them up. She knelt under the table, there was my DD with a slice of cake for her. She ate it in about 30 seconds flat while crouching under the table!

 

[PizzieDuster]

With all due respect, have you read this entire thread? I have seen several. Sometimes, people who scream tolerance are the least tolerant out there.

I could be reading too much into peoples posts, but I don't think so.




That is Awesome!!! We did the same thing to our assistant server, but it actually WAS her birthday. I even spilled a bunch of sugar packets under the table and asked her to help my daughter pick them up. She knelt under the table, there was my DD with a slice of cake for her. She ate it in about 30 seconds flat while crouching under the table!

Yes, I read the entire thread. Who's screaming? I guess we just read posts differently

 

[fnrsgrl]

To contribute to this thread I'll say our 'craziest' mates were in 2 out of our 4 cruises:
In both cases their religions frowned upon alcohol so I had to cut back on my drinking so as to not offend them
I would usually consume 1 bottle (with DW) a night, plus beer and liquor.
In these 2 case I would restrict myself to 1 glass of wine, drink it fast and be done (and then continue after at the bars )
That's it.
.

My DH and I both grew up in very conservative Christian families, and, although we are not as conservative as our parents are, we don't drink. However, unless they were becoming raucously drunk or belligerent, we certainly would not frown on someone else's decision to consume alcohol at our table. Did they actually indicate that they would be offended if you drank, or did you just feel uncomfortable drinking around them? If I were you, I would have ordered what I wanted; it's none of their business what you drink!

And that reborn baby video! Oh, my goodness. It's one thing to have them; I guess maybe the couples can't have kids or something. But, you took them to the nursery? You put on sunscreen? You're talking about how one sleeps through the night better than the other? Umm, I try to be pretty tolerant, but that's a little weird. It's almost as if the "mother" doesn't realize they're not real babies!

 

[cocabill]

I'm heading out on my 5th trip next week. I've had some great table mates and some really bad ones. One family had a daughter who hated EVERYTHING they served. They prepared everything from PB&J, hot dogs, you name it and they tried to make the family happy. NOTHING would work. This is a 12 year old at dinner. Each evening - the early service - she'd put her head in the middle of the plate and sleep. (nothing medical wrong - just attention getting) You HAD to feel really bad for the servers who jumped thru hoops to try to please them and nothing worked.

 

[mrslaney]

Holy moly...I can't stop watching her videos!! She has desitin for the "babies". That just doesn't seem healthy.

I stumbled across this girl months ago and spent hours watching her videos. It was like watching a train wreck. I just couldn't stop. I still can't wrap my head around it. I've had more than my share of miscarriages, but I just never thought that a baby doll would help with the healing. Lol. Maybe I am missing out on something.

 

[thdarragh]

On our last cruise, we had the worst luck with tablemates. First night, we had a table with a couple and a young daughter from New York. All the DW wanted to talk about was this guy named "Jimmie" from her other cruise and how he liked ice cream cones. Even showed us a picture of him. Weird. We switched tables the next night and were paired up with another couple with young daughter from NY. They were originally from Russia and the DW had a bag full of prescription, OTC and homeopathic remedies. Everytime one of us mentioned a headache, sore throat or stomach ache, she would reach for her bag and offer us a "remedy" or pill. Our third night we swithced again and were with a nice family, but the wife actually believed she was the cruise director and started including us in activities with her family. Telling us where and when to show up for parties and bar events. After that, we went to Cabanna's for the remainder of the trip for dinner.

 

[Disneybridewifemama]

Before we had our DD my husband and I cruises three times on another line, for our honeymoon we were seated with three other couples and it was the most amazing experience ever. One couple was celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary (about our parents age) one couple celebrating their 50th cruise together (our grandparents age) and one foreign couple who were absolutely lovely and taught us all about their country's traditions and our entire table even tried their special requested Indian cuisine one night. It was so much fun and we loved every minute of it. We learned so much from all of them.

Boy was that setting us up for disaster. We assumed all table mate experiences would be that wonderful and we were soooo wrong! Our next cruise we were seated with the snobbiest rich couple who were just the most rude, arrogant people I had ever met and the other family didn't speak English and it was the worst seven dinners of my life.

Our next cruise we had three couples, one nice mother/daughter combo and one husband/wife who were so weird, the husband spoke for her and she never made she contact with any of us. The other two were two female friends who fought (out loud) with each other all night every night.

Needless to say, we always request to dine alone now.

 

[beach baby]

I still can't wrap my head around it. I've had more than my share of miscarriages, but I just never thought that a baby doll would help with the healing. Lol. Maybe I am missing out on something.

Ditto! I would think it would be more harmful than healing. Kind of refusing to accept the reality.
Stuffed animals, Duffy, even these dolls, being owned and carried around by adults, would make me raise an eyebrow but think different strokes for different folks.
However, if they were at my table and ordered food and made the servers treat them like real children, after awhile of being socially polite I would probably start to unleash my crazy! If they want to make us accept their realness then I would call them out on everything they are doing that you would never do with real children!
"You can't feed that to a baby! You have to cut it smaller! Babies can't drink that! EWWW! You should really go change his diaper! It's pretty stinky! Perhaps you should take him for a walk to calm him down. He's crying pretty loudly! Are you sure he's ok? It's ok, I won't let them take your plate away. It might be cold but it will still be here when you get back. Welcome to motherhood! Many years of cold meals!"…..etc. etc. etc.!!!!
Perhaps they would be the ones to ask to be moved to another table! to which I would say ……mission accomplished and thanks for all the great stories I'm going to tell when I get home!!
Next thing you know, I'll be the subject of the next bad table mates thread!

 

[Dug720]

I have sailed both ways. Actually I liked our non-concierge cruise seating than our concierge seating. On our concierge sailing it seemed that we were seated in the middle but way in the back. Far away from the crush screens and I really liked the booths in the Animators palate but we were told we couldn't have one.

When I said non-concierge, we were in the middle of the entertainment so it entertained my daughter and niece and nephew.

Never had a complaint on the servers. All were top notch!

I agree. I was not overly impressed with our servers when we sailed concierge in July, but my sister and I had awesome servers in February when I was sailing solo (she works on the ship and was granted permission to dine with me).

Concierge, yes, we were seated by ourselves, and I have no complaints about the location, but in Royal, the tables were all so close together, they might as well have been pushed together. And the father at the table next to ours seemed to think that the distance was short enough we should all converse with each other. The service team was meh - nothing horrible, but nothing great either.

I had been assigned to a table for my solo February cruise, but I went to Palo (solo - HEAVEN!) the first night, and then while there was space for my sister at my assigned table, we opted for our own (yes, there was an empty table in the MDRs on my rotation) just so that a) we could have sister time and b) she would be able to eat without being asked questions all the time (she had to come in her whites). Our only weirdness was a table near us in AP where the children were basically given free run around the table while the adults (it appeared to be a family) talked (pretty sure they were from Brazil as I think I heard that mentioned more than once - again, close tables) - in AP the first night, a bit of roll came flying and landed on our table and then later on a pea somehow appeared there - we assume from the kids again as there were peas on their table but nowhere else. A mother and her daughter were seated next to us, so we got to see the serving team interact with them and I can honestly say they were AWESOME and far better than what we experienced with the supposedly superior service concierge guests get in the MDRs.

 

[Baidoo]

That's one of the ones I was talking about. I don't get it, but if it makes them happy...

Makes you wonder what things the stateroom hosts have seen.

 

[princesspiglet]

We've been very lucky because we have had some awesome table mates. Only one "strange" family, but they were nice! We were seated with another family the same size as ours: Mom, Dad and daughter. The daughter was only a few months older than mine, but the parents were considerably older. DH and I were 37/39 and the other parents were 60/61 and our daughters were both 7.

What we found strange about them was their obsessive love of Disney. Don't get me wrong, we love Disney, but they were the ultimate Disney family. Every night they came in dressed head to toe in Disney attire, covered in Disney pins. I'm talking pants, shoes, tops, hats, everything. And they each wore a Disney vest every night that had at least 100 pins on it- front and back. The only thing they would talk about was Disney- as soon as you asked them anything else like "What do you do for a living", they would say, "oh, that doesn't matter...how many times have you been to Disneyland? Do you like the Matterhorn? Have you had a turkey leg?" On an on an on....

After night 4 of this and experiencing all the MDR's, DH decided he couldn't take it anymore and we skipped the last 3 nights in the MDR.

 

[phinz]

Makes you wonder what things the stateroom hosts have seen.

I worked my way through college doing room service for three years. I don't have to wonder what the hosts have seen.

 

[Leighbert]

Hi, I'm a longtime lurker, seldom poster but I just had to reply to this thread. A few years back when DD was 7, my daughter and I took a 3 night cruise on the Wonder. I am a single mother and it was just the two of us. On the first night, we arrived in the main dining and found out we were sitting with a married couple, probably in their early 30's at a four person table. I can usually manage to talk to anybody so I tried to engage this couple in conversation. I found out that they were from the midwest and that they had a four year old child that they had not brought on the cruise. I didn't find out much else from them. They weren't really interested in talking to me but they were very interested in talking to my daughter. I had an uneasy feeling but I shrugged it off until they told me that they really liked my daughter and would love to take her to Castaway Cay and let me have some alone time to myself. Of course, alarms started sounding but I was polite and told them that the point of our cruise was for mom and daughter bonding time. They persisted but finally let it go. I thought that would be the end of it but it wasn't. The next night was the "Golden Mickeys" show and practically from the point we sat down, they started saying that they would love to take my daughter to the show. At this point, I had had enough. I looked the wife in the eye and said--bluntly--"I don't know you and there is no way in h--- that I would ever entrust my child to a stranger." We couldn't get out of the dining room fast enough. On the third night, I was pretty hesitant about sitting with the couple again but we did it. They still weren't done. They told my daughter that they had seen her on the video screen of the pre-show for the Golden Mickeys and thought that she was adorable. So they went and bought her a Golden Mickey for a souvenir. My daughter, being completely unaware of the undercurrents going on around her, was delighted and I didn't see a polite way to make her give the thing back. But as soon as dessert was over, I got her out of there.

I didn't know that you could request a different table. Knowing that now, I wouldn't hesitate to do it if ever in a similar situation.

 

[lulucornbread]

Hi, I'm a longtime lurker, seldom poster but I just had to reply to this thread. A few years back when DD was 7, my daughter and I took a 3 night cruise on the Wonder. I am a single mother and it was just the two of us. On the first night, we arrived in the main dining and found out we were sitting with a married couple, probably in their early 30's at a four person table. I can usually manage to talk to anybody so I tried to engage this couple in conversation. I found out that they were from the midwest and that they had a four year old child that they had not brought on the cruise. I didn't find out much else from them. They weren't really interested in talking to me but they were very interested in talking to my daughter. I had an uneasy feeling but I shrugged it off until they told me that they really liked my daughter and would love to take her to Castaway Cay and let me have some alone time to myself. Of course, alarms started sounding but I was polite and told them that the point of our cruise was for mom and daughter bonding time. They persisted but finally let it go. I thought that would be the end of it but it wasn't. The next night was the "Golden Mickeys" show and practically from the point we sat down, they started saying that they would love to take my daughter to the show. At this point, I had had enough. I looked the wife in the eye and said--bluntly--"I don't know you and there is no way in h--- that I would ever entrust my child to a stranger." We couldn't get out of the dining room fast enough. On the third night, I was pretty hesitant about sitting with the couple again but we did it. They still weren't done. They told my daughter that they had seen her on the video screen of the pre-show for the Golden Mickeys and thought that she was adorable. So they went and bought her a Golden Mickey for a souvenir. My daughter, being completely unaware of the undercurrents going on around her, was delighted and I didn't see a polite way to make her give the thing back. But as soon as dessert was over, I got her out of there. I didn't know that you could request a different table. Knowing that now, I wouldn't hesitate to do it if ever in a similar situation.

OMG!!! This gave me the creeps!

 

[Maddysdaddy]

My Wife, Daughter and I dined with a very nice family on our cruise back in 2011, and were looking forward to meeting a new family when we sailed the Fantasy in February. We ended up at a table by ourselves, and actually missed not having other people to talk to.

Our normal dinner conversation encompasses what happened at work/school for each of us, but on the cruise, the question "So what did you do today?" was met with the response "Pretttttty much the exact same thing you did".

 

[momof2n2]

My Wife, Daughter and I dined with a very nice family on our cruise back in 2011, and were looking forward to meeting a new family when we sailed the Fantasy in February. We ended up at a table by ourselves, and actually missed not having other people to talk to. Our normal dinner conversation encompasses what happened at work/school for each of us, but on the cruise, the question "So what did you do today?" was met with the response "Pretttttty much the exact same thing you did".

LOL. This is what I'm thinking will happen on our upcoming trip.

 

[momof2n2]

Hi, I'm a longtime lurker, seldom poster but I just had to reply to this thread. A few years back when DD was 7, my daughter and I took a 3 night cruise on the Wonder. I am a single mother and it was just the two of us. On the first night, we arrived in the main dining and found out we were sitting with a married couple, probably in their early 30's at a four person table. I can usually manage to talk to anybody so I tried to engage this couple in conversation. I found out that they were from the midwest and that they had a four year old child that they had not brought on the cruise. I didn't find out much else from them. They weren't really interested in talking to me but they were very interested in talking to my daughter. I had an uneasy feeling but I shrugged it off until they told me that they really liked my daughter and would love to take her to Castaway Cay and let me have some alone time to myself. Of course, alarms started sounding but I was polite and told them that the point of our cruise was for mom and daughter bonding time. They persisted but finally let it go. I thought that would be the end of it but it wasn't. The next night was the "Golden Mickeys" show and practically from the point we sat down, they started saying that they would love to take my daughter to the show. At this point, I had had enough. I looked the wife in the eye and said--bluntly--"I don't know you and there is no way in h--- that I would ever entrust my child to a stranger." We couldn't get out of the dining room fast enough. On the third night, I was pretty hesitant about sitting with the couple again but we did it. They still weren't done. They told my daughter that they had seen her on the video screen of the pre-show for the Golden Mickeys and thought that she was adorable. So they went and bought her a Golden Mickey for a souvenir. My daughter, being completely unaware of the undercurrents going on around her, was delighted and I didn't see a polite way to make her give the thing back. But as soon as dessert was over, I got her out of there. I didn't know that you could request a different table. Knowing that now, I wouldn't hesitate to do it if ever in a similar situation.

This is horrible.
I'm aghast.
Even if it was as innocent as they missed their dd how completely inappropriate.
Awful.

 

[holula]

My Wife, Daughter and I dined with a very nice family on our cruise back in 2011, and were looking forward to meeting a new family when we sailed the Fantasy in February. We ended up at a table by ourselves, and actually missed not having other people to talk to. Our normal dinner conversation encompasses what happened at work/school for each of us, but on the cruise, the question "So what did you do today?" was met with the response "Pretttttty much the exact same thing you did".

We have been seated alone twice now and we like socializing with other people at dinner, I love DH but we own out own business and inevitably end up talking only about that when we are seated alone on a cruise.

 

[MousseauMob]

It's almost as if the "mother" doesn't realize they're not real babies!

That's what I wondered. Was she playing it up for the cameras, or is she really that out of touch with reality? If it is the latter, than why doesn't her mom seem more concerned instead of playing along?

We've only had tablemates once, and it was wonderful. I'm really glad I didn't decide first night though. I was exhausted with a massive headache, and we had a couple of little boys at our table that were over stimulated, tired and grumpy. Despite my misery, I felt bad for the mom, who I could tell was worried about it. I'm so glad I stuck it out and didn't "jump ship" after that first night, because it just got better and better. Dinners were one of my favorite memories from that cruise.