Craziest table mates you have had.

[jrabbit]

...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?

I don't think that you need to request a separate table. DCL will be very careful!! and unless you get rude, slob-ish tablemates, they should be able to keep their food to themselves. Your Daughter will get her own bread and probably "bread spread of the day" so she's not sharing with others. We shared a table with two couples, each had different food allergies (shellfish and gluten). We/they never had any issues with the rest of us at the table. DCL did a great job taking good care of them and us.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

If the allergic party must actually ingest the peanuts to have a reaction, there should not be a problem. Can't see how what anybody else at the table does would cause her to ingest peanuts. Unless she is worried about cross-contamination but they are supposed to prepare the food in a different area.

 

[TxT365]

Thanks! But one slight correction...my wife will love having her own spread for the bread!

 

[ChicosWife]

We didn't have table mates per se, but this family sat next to us every evening for dinner. It was an older couple, in their 50's, with what we assumed to be their teenage daughter. Every night they ordered a weird meal , not on the menu and ate off paper plates and had paper napkins and plastic silverware, but drank wine out of glasses? The daughter honed in on me and was constantly staring at me. She had a sarcastic look on her face, so it wasn't an endearing childlike stare, it was an uncomfortable please-stop-looking-at-me stare. The only night of relief from the stare was when we ate at the Enchanted Garden and we sat in one of those big booths, with the high backs, so she wasn't in eyeshot of me.

 

[twowolfs1]

Some years ago we did a Med cruise. We had booked a Disney hotel while waiting for our transportation to the hotel we found out that there was two other couples staying there also. We get to hotel rooms are not and we are starving one couple said we could go to McDonald's. When we travel we like to eat local cooking and I had done a lot of research on the restaurants near us I let the other 2 couples know this one said yes the others said nothing but went. So before we get on ship we decided to have the same table big mistake. The lady from couple 3 was a picky eater so she order very specific and as usual servers would place her order and when it came out she would always say she order that wrong button t it was what she order. Then she would ask to see the next nights menu and would always say that can she order from that menu and then not eat.

 

[jillbean78]

Our table mates were by no means crazy it was just awkward. We are a family with an only child and were seated with a family that also had an only child. I was actually excited when we first arrived thinking it could be fun. Then they arrived. They spoke little English and were just different. We considered asking for our own table after the first night but felt like we were being rude so we sucked it up. Most nights they were very late arriving or didn't show up at all. It was all good in the end. We made the most of it but it was just strange not really being able to speak with the people you were sitting with.

 

[persimmondeb]

We didn't have table mates per se, but this family sat next to us every evening for dinner. It was an older couple, in their 50's, with what we assumed to be their teenage daughter. Every night they ordered a weird meal , not on the menu and ate off paper plates and had paper napkins and plastic silverware, but drank wine out of glasses? The daughter honed in on me and was constantly staring at me. She had a sarcastic look on her face, so it wasn't an endearing childlike stare, it was an uncomfortable please-stop-looking-at-me stare. The only night of relief from the stare was when we ate at the Enchanted Garden and we sat in one of those big booths, with the high backs, so she wasn't in eyeshot of me.

They may have had kosher meals, which would explain the plastic plates, etc., which would be easier for DCL than trying to keep kosher dishes. It may depend on just how observant you are, but I think wineglasses would usually be fine, since they only get wine in them. I don't have an explanation for the staring.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

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.

I would love to cruise with you sweetpee! You are soooo my kind of person. You should join us on the 6/3/17 Carnival Vista southern Caribbean

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I would love to cruise with you sweetpee! You are soooo my kind of person. You should join us on the 6/3/17 Carnival Vista southern Caribbean

If I could get a Havana Cabana...... I'd love to! We'd get along famously!

 

[phinz]

If I could get a Havana Cabana...... I'd love to! We'd get along famously!

There are currently a couple of Havana suites available on that specific cruise. I was looking at it the other day and just checked it out again.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

There are currently a couple of Havana suites available on that specific cruise. I was looking at it the other day and just checked it out again.

Going to look. We have zero plans for 2017 which is pretty unusual for us. Our oldest son will be near ready to transfer up to Texas Tech. Youngest will be in college, too. All we've been thinking of is getting our boys through school. LOL! It's good dates for all of us to get away, for sure.

 

[RedSox68]

On one of our first couple of cruises, before we started requesting 4-toppers, we had a table for eight, with just the three of us and an older couple at the other end. We tried to introduce ourselves and make lite chat -- but they were having none of it. Completely anti-social. They never came back to dinner after that night -- so we had the whole table to ourselves. I think by the third night the staff separated the tables so it was just a table for four. That's when we decided to continue that tradition for future cruises

 

[MouseWivesSarah]

We have been fortunate to always have a table for two...but on our last cruise the table next to us would bring their children to the MDR, put their orders in for food, then the parents would leave the four girls alone in the dining room! (This happened every night...maybe they went to Palo/Remy every night??) The oldest girl couldn't have been more than 8 or 9 and there was a definite language barrier between them and the serving staff. I felt bad for the servers as they basically were babysitting these girls. Surprisingly though they were very quiet and well behaved. Sadly, it seemed that they were used to being alone I felt bad for them and wondered why the parents did send them to the kids clubs instead?

 

[RedSox68]

We have been fortunate to always have a table for two...but on our last cruise the table next to us would bring their children to the MDR, put their orders in for food, then the parents would leave the four girls alone in the dining room! (This happened every night...maybe they went to Palo/Remy every night??) The oldest girl couldn't have been more than 8 or 9 and there was a definite language barrier between them and the serving staff. I felt bad for the servers as they basically were babysitting these girls. Surprisingly though they were very quiet and well behaved. Sadly, it seemed that they were used to being alone I felt bad for them and wondered why the parents did send them to the kids clubs instead?

Honestly, I don't think parents should be allowed to leave any minors alone in any restaurant. It's one thing if they leave to use a restroom, etc., but to leave them alone every single night for the whole dinner service is inexcusable. Why even bring them on the trip! So sad for the children. Dinner hour has always been our time to catch up on family conversation and the day's activities.

 

[phinz]

Perhaps their day's activities consisted of spending all their time together, so they don't need to catch up on family conversations or the day's activities?

In some societies it's normal to leave your child sleeping in a stroller outside a restaurant while you go inside to eat. Perhaps in their society it's normal to do what they did. It seems that if they were quiet and well behaved that this wasn't unusual and that they know how to comport themselves in public. Not all children have to have a parent hovering over them like a whirlybird.

 

[RedSox68]

Perhaps their day's activities consisted of spending all their time together, so they don't need to catch up on family conversations or the day's activities?

In some societies it's normal to leave your child sleeping in a stroller outside a restaurant while you go inside to eat. Perhaps in their society it's normal to do what they did. It seems that if they were quiet and well behaved that this wasn't unusual and that they know how to comport themselves in public. Not all children have to have a parent hovering over them like a whirlybird.

Nope -- it's not whirlybird parenting when you spend time with and care about the safety of your minor children! Children ages 8 and 9 are too young to be teaching them how to survive in public on their own! Nowadays -- with all the dangers lurking -- it only takes an instant for a child to go missing. They could have easily gotten them room service each night. But dumping them on the serving staff to babysit while they go off and have their adult night is, IMO, just plain bad parenting. There are kids clubs where I am sure they would have had a MUCH better time.

And for the safety of the crew, after the first night they should have had the restaurant manager say something as leaving them in the care of restaurant staff could result in complaints being filed later by the parents should the slightest thing happen!

Heck, my 9 yo, the first time we cruised, was not allowed to leave the kids club without special signed permission and a beeper message to us that she was headed back to the stateroom.

 

[wcw57]

 

[phinz]

Nope<snip>

You weren't paying attention to what I said. Just because *you* think that the world is out to get everybody doesn't mean it is. In some societies leaving your child asleep in a stroller out on the sidewalk while you go into a restaurant is considered normal. The entire world isn't the scared-by-the-instant-media American world. These children have obviously been raised to be independent, think for themselves and to behave themselves in public, and their parents have trust in them to do so. Your assumption that they don't care about their children is unfair and very myopic.

My wife used to be allowed to go to the Magic Kingdom by herself at 8 years old. She would get on the Monorail, go to the park, do her thing all day and then get back to the hotel in time for dinner, and things were worse then, safety-wise, than they are now, regardless of what CNN and Fox News would have you think. It just wasn't talked about, and when something happened in Poughkeepsie people in Topeka didn't get blasted with it from every direction.

Your judgment of other parents and the way they raise their children is just that. *Your* judgment. Raise your children to be afraid of the world. That's fine. Some people don't and won't. I see no problem with well-behaved children being escorted by parents to the dining room, set up for dinner and then left to their own devices. Disney apparently doesn't either. Don't judge other parents on their child rearing lest you yourself be judged.

 

[TrySomethingNew]

We have been fortunate to always have a table for two...but on our last cruise the table next to us would bring their children to the MDR, put their orders in for food, then the parents would leave the four girls alone in the dining room! (This happened every night...maybe they went to Palo/Remy every night??) The oldest girl couldn't have been more than 8 or 9 and there was a definite language barrier between them and the serving staff. I felt bad for the servers as they basically were babysitting these girls. Surprisingly though they were very quiet and well behaved. Sadly, it seemed that they were used to being alone I felt bad for them and wondered why the parents did send them to the kids clubs instead?

Nice to hear that whatever circumstances led up to the kids being alone for dinner, they were able to have dinner and not disturb others. Actually, my siblings and I were left to fend for ourselves a bit now and again (not in a neglectful way) but I can assure you that it is unlikely we would have gotten along so well as to not disturb others at those ages given that one brother was a natural troublemaker extraordinaire.

 

[dcassetta]

Nice to hear that whatever circumstances led up to the kids being alone for dinner, they were able to have dinner and not disturb others. Actually, my siblings and I were left to fend for ourselves a bit now and again (not in a neglectful way) but I can assure you that it is unlikely we would have gotten along so well as to not disturb others at those ages given that one brother was a natural troublemaker extraordinaire.

Were you the one brother?