Craziest table mates you have had.

[phinz]

Mrs. Homie and I were at 50's Prime Time Cafe, seated next to a table with a nice, younger (than us) family of a mom, dad, two kids. They struck up a conversation with us, and everything was going just fine until the subject of kids came up.

MOM: So y'all are here by yourselves, your kids back at the pool?
ME: No, we don't have any kids.
MOM: [silence]

They didn't say a word to us the rest of the meal.

At least they didn't say, "Why not?" My wife and I don't have kids and never really wanted kids. I've gotten the "why not" question plenty of times (well, at least until I lost my hair and my beard turned grey) and honestly it made me mad. It's none of their business why we didn't have children. My response eventually became, "Because we can't." That usually shut them up about the subject. They didn't have to know it was because I'd had a vasectomy.

 

[TxT365]

Oh, Lordy. This might be an issue and I may need to see if we can get a table to ourselves. I'm a little rough around the edges and what you see is what you get. If someone is being rude to the staff, I'll probably say something, and thus, be the rude one. If I stay quiet, then I'm condoning their behavior and I'm a jerk. But I was/am so looking forward to tablemates. Damn.

On a more serious note, if one of our party has a peanut allergy, do we need to request a separate table? She's very good at checking food for peanuts and peanut contamination prior to eating, and she's an adult, not a child. What do you think?

 

[1926Moon]

At least they didn't say, "Why not?" My wife and I don't have kids and never really wanted kids. I've gotten the "why not" question plenty of times (well, at least until I lost my hair and my beard turned grey) and honestly it made me mad. It's none of their business why we didn't have children. My response eventually became, "Because we can't." That usually shut them up about the subject. They didn't have to know it was because I'd have a vasectomy.

My go-to response to it is, "well, I can't try them out and give them back!!"
The usual reaction is shock and confusion as they try to figure out if I am serious or not

Edited due to atrocious spelling

 

[bobbiwoz]

We had a nice southern Caribbean cruise on DCL with 2 couples as table mates. I didn't think either was crazy until the last morning when one asked where I had gotten the nice carry on. I said it was the Platinum CC gift, didn't you get one? We all were wearing Platinum lanyards, but apparently we were not all Platinum. He admitted they were gold, but after that I wondered what we could believe considering his stories. Oh well, won't ever see them again.

 

[MamaBear58]

How/when/where can you request this? We are brand new to DCL and cruising at all!!

We did not even request it. Our family of 4 was sweated alone. No allergies. I was actually disapppinted because I have always enjoyed meeting others at dinner.

 

[rastahomie]

At least they didn't say, "Why not?"

I've dodged that bullet, mercifully. Only one person has ever asked me "Why not," and that was a small child, and I can forgive a small child faster than I can an adult because kids don't understand social norms and say what's on their minds. I simply told him that was a personal question and I wouldn't be answering it.

 

[wickedpixie13]

Mrs. Homie and I were at 50's Prime Time Cafe, seated next to a table with a nice, younger (than us) family of a mom, dad, two kids. They struck up a conversation with us, and everything was going just fine until the subject of kids came up.

MOM: So y'all are here by yourselves, your kids back at the pool?
ME: No, we don't have any kids.
MOM: [silence]

They didn't say a word to us the rest of the meal.

I would've said "I miss those days". Lol.

 

[richkaryn]

We sat with other couples, we had great conversations. One of the couples brought their stuffed animal children to every meal and sat them in highchairs at the table.

I guess you can be grateful they weren't also those people who have a fetish for dressing up in animal costumes themselves.

 

[phinz]

I guess you can be grateful they weren't also those people who have a fetish for dressing up in animal costumes themselves.

Hey now. Some of my best friends are furries.

 

[RedSox68]

Mrs. Homie and I were at 50's Prime Time Cafe, seated next to a table with a nice, younger (than us) family of a mom, dad, two kids. They struck up a conversation with us, and everything was going just fine until the subject of kids came up.

MOM: So y'all are here by yourselves, your kids back at the pool?
ME: No, we don't have any kids.
MOM: [silence]

They didn't say a word to us the rest of the meal.

Oh my ..... such rude behavior. Although it's none of anyone's business anyway, if I were on their end I would have thought maybe they can't have children and left it at that -- but still enjoyed conversation, etc. Talk about narrow minded.

 

[lorimay]

Here's a funny story from our cruise last Feb. It was me, my husband, our adult son, his fiancé and our 2 grandkids (my daughter's kids) on a 4 night on The Wonder. We went to dinner the first night and our server, I can't remember his name came over all happy talking to the kids and doing little tricks. Well our granddaughter then almost 5 was tired and in no mood, she stared straight ahead with a look of total disgust on her face when he was trying to talk with her, she would't give him an inch, I was mortified, meanwhile our grandson 6 was so excited and ready to see this trick and the server was trying to get her into it. He gave up and just gave Eric all the attention every night.

So on this cruise she was the craziest table mate we have ever dealt with.
We still laugh about this, how she can completely tune someone out without flinching.

 

[hoffman1]

Mrs. Homie and I were at 50's Prime Time Cafe, seated next to a table with a nice, younger (than us) family of a mom, dad, two kids. They struck up a conversation with us, and everything was going just fine until the subject of kids came up.

MOM: So y'all are here by yourselves, your kids back at the pool?
ME: No, we don't have any kids.
MOM: [silence]

They didn't say a word to us the rest of the meal.

We also do not have any children and tire of the questions. I had a religious friend who also does not have children tell me to give them the 411. I had no idea what she meant. She explained that when people asked, she would tell them that she liked to live by 1 Thessalonians 4:11 and they should try it too. When I looked it up, this is what I found, "and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you."
Best answer I have ever heard

 

[rastahomie]

We also do not have any children and tire of the questions. I had a religious friend who also does not have children tell me to give them the 411. I had no idea what she meant. She explained that when people asked, she would tell them that she liked to live by 1 Thessalonians 4:11 and they should try it too. When I looked it up, this is what I found, "and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you."
Best answer I have ever heard

A non-parent friend of mine, whenever she's asked how many kids she has, will point to empty space and say, "Four of them! There's Rufus, there's Prunella, there's Apricot Sunrise, and there's Nebuchadnezzar!" Seems to shut down awkward questions in a big hurry.

 

[persimmondeb]

We were, probably to the relief of many of our cruisemates, seated by ourselves at meal time. The first night, in spite of being the late seating, our table in Lumiere's was bordered by a couple of VERY unhappy toddlers. Even DH, who has a nearly unlimited appetite for the antics of other people's small children, was giving them the fisheye. Fortunately, there were no repeats.

DH did strike up conversations with the people seated next to us at all of our other meals. Most of them seem to have survived it. And the wait staff was lovely, despite DH needing everything served plain and DS eating enough for three people (and enjoying it all).

 

[MSPeeler]

Oh yikes, I have anxiety about having to sit with others... how many per table?! We are a party of 7.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

My DH and I request our own table when we cruise (and have always gotten it) because... feel free to roll your eyes at us... even after being married for awhile and dating years before that, and so on... we're just romantic and schmoopy that way. We like our nice dinners alone together. We're not anti-social, we like talking to people we meet in the adult bars, in the D Lounge, at the pools and on excursions. We don't go on cruises to meet other people, but we're happy to do so when it happens organically. But we just like to eat alone, and talk to each other. He's my favorite person in the world to talk to -- it's why I married him -- so I never get tired of hearing what he has to say. I know, I know.

Having said that, we're unabashed people-watchers. We've never seen anything out of the ordinary, but we do have a tendency to refer to people around us by nicknames ("George Lucas Beard Guy" or "Always Late Family" and so on). Nice ones. Usually. ;-)

Dead serious, on our first cruise on the Dream there were kids near us in Animators that were running around, zig-zagging through the tables (which are kinda close to ther tables in some areas), rolling in the floor, etc. One little boy who had already lapped our table a few times stopped at the side of our table, stared blankly at my teenage son, then jammed a finger up his nose. The little boy's nose, not my son's. He just stood there awkwardly for 4 or 5 seconds gazing at my son digging around in his nose then he ran off. That's when I decided the next group of wildlings who ran past our table, I'd stick a foot out.....accidentally, of course.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Oh yikes, I have anxiety about having to sit with others... how many per table?! We are a party of 7.

Chance are, with a party of 7, you'll have your own table. You can call DCL and have the request to be seated alone - it couldn't hurt.

 

[cheermom2four]

You can call DCL and have the request to be seated alone - it couldn't hurt.

Hi PrincessSchmoo, since I booked through a TA, do I have to have her call to request our own table or can I do it myself?

 

[sleepydog25]

Most of our cruises we sit alone, though not by design. We're okay with that as we love each other's company. On a couple of cruises, we've met a very amorous couple (Brits, on a honeymoon, and both were exceptionally attractive); an older woman with her grown son who were nice enough, but showed up very late on night 2 and then not at all after that; and a couple who wound up living less than an hour away from us. They were very nice, had similar interests to ours, and we wound up exchanging pictures and numbers. As for the craziest couple, none have been that but the amorous couple were fun to watch.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi PrincessSchmoo, since I booked through a TA, do I have to have her call to request our own table or can I do it myself?

Your TA needs to call to have the request placed on your reservation.