Ever see anything totally shocking and unexpected on a cruise?

[Steve Dexter]

A couple of years ago we were on the westbound Panama Canal cruise. They have an expert, Captain Puckett on the cruise, he has a lot of sailing experience, some might say he is a sea dog. Anyone who has been on a DCL Panama cruise has probably heard him speak, it's very educational and he seems like a good guy. One day he was walking though that main area outside the restaurant on deck 3 and he slipped and fell down. Nothing serious, he just got back up straight away, but the string of profanity that came out of his mouth was something to behold. I think it was enough to make a sailor blush, I felt like time stopped. I'm no stranger to profanity, but this was some next level stuff. Still makes me smile to think about it. Again, very educational.

 

[mmouse37]

A couple of years ago we were on the westbound Panama Canal cruise. They have an expert, Captain Puckett on the cruise, he has a lot of sailing experience, some might say he is a sea dog. Anyone who has been on a DCL Panama cruise has probably heard him speak, it's very educational and he seems like a good guy. One day he was walking though that main area outside the restaurant on deck 3 and he slipped and fell down. Nothing serious, he just got back up straight away, but the string of profanity that came out of his mouth was something to behold. I think it was enough to make a sailor blush, I felt like time stopped. I'm no stranger to profanity, but this was some next level stuff. Still makes me smile to think about it. Again, very educational.

He is such a character....with his one red sock and one green sock!!! Loved his presentations. We were chatting with him in the dining room one night and he didn't hold back on his language then either!!!

MJ

 

[Rabb it]

A couple of years ago we were on the westbound Panama Canal cruise. They have an expert, Captain Puckett on the cruise, he has a lot of sailing experience, some might say he is a sea dog. Anyone who has been on a DCL Panama cruise has probably heard him speak, it's very educational and he seems like a good guy. One day he was walking though that main area outside the restaurant on deck 3 and he slipped and fell down. Nothing serious, he just got back up straight away, but the string of profanity that came out of his mouth was something to behold. I think it was enough to make a sailor blush, I felt like time stopped. I'm no stranger to profanity, but this was some next level stuff. Still makes me smile to think about it. Again, very educational.

Classic! I would have had a hard time holding back my laughter, not at his falling of course, but his choice words

 

[timrousbeastie]

On our last trip on the FOS we were on our way back to our room with my wife in the lead and as we turned to go up the single lane portion of the staircase an older man dressed in only a towel wrapped diaper style was coming down the middle of the staircase. He started to give us a crazy story about how he parked at his brothers and made a wrong turn trying to find or coming from the bathroom, the details are hazy. As my wife was trying to help him figure out what was what, I left, started looking down hallways hoping to find anyone to help this gentleman out. If he had an ID on him we didn't want to know, and the whole time we were praying the towel would stay put.[...]

It makes me feel good whenever I see an elderly grandparent on a cruise with their family. Regardless of the circumstances, I always think "that person must have raised a really good kid" in admiration of both them and their children. In your case, I just hope he wasn't a solo cruiser .

 

[cgolf]

It makes me feel good whenever I see an elderly grandparent on a cruise with their family. Regardless of the circumstances, I always think "that person must have raised a really good kid" in admiration of both them and their children. In your case, I just hope he wasn't a solo cruiser .

I hope not either, we felt bad leaving him to the next people, but at least we tried to find staff to help him out. Did feel bad for the guy, it was just such a strange interaction.

 

[Belle-adonna]

on st thomas we took an open van tour that stopped at a beach for awhile. Now we were told it was clothing optional but we weren't prepared to see a mother stripping what appeared to be her 5 and 7 year old sons. That was enough for us, we turned tail and headed back to the van.

 

[ChicosWife]

on st thomas we took an open van tour that stopped at a beach for awhile. Now we were told it was clothing optional but we weren't prepared to see a mother stripping what appeared to be her 5 and 7 year old sons. That was enough for us, we turned tail and headed back to the van.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

On my recent Panama Canal cruise, I was at the Abba Fab show. They told us "Feel free to take pictures and video" so I did. During the Mamma Mia medley (Gimme Gimme Gimme and Money Money Money), one of the ladies sings into the gentleman next to me's camcorder. In the same song, she got in the row behind me (I was in the very front row). At the same show, the keyboard/pianist came out of no where, and I had it on record. Well, he came up, grabbed my phone (which was on record) and did a panorama while singing. For those of you where at the 8:30 show that day, I was the lucky young woman who's phone was taken by Nick (the pianist/keyboardist)

 

[ScooterPie]

On the recent PC cruise, there was a lady and her 2 sons on board that had the same dining rotation that our group did. Having sailed with her before, we knew her to be rude and extremely demanding to the crew. Every night, she would order what she wanted to eat the NEXT night so it was at their table waiting on them. Her boys would fling food on the table, throw rolls at each other, etc. She demanded so much fresh pepper that the poor waiter's arm would just about fall off. Her demands got so bad that an officer ended up having to take care of her during dinner so that other people in her dining area got service.

One night, her boys, one teen and one preteen, left the table early. She ate from their plates, the platter of chicken tenders brought each night to their table, 3 entre's she ordered AND topped it all off with 2 lobster tails and butter sauce plus multiple glasses of wine.

She demanded, AT CLOSING TIME, that the crew member in Preludes pop her sons fresh popcorn as they could tell if it wasn't fresh. At this officer pin trading event she cut lines.

I witnessed all of this and more, it is not gossip.

 

[FigmentSpark]

How did you get so (un)lucky to be travelling with her a second time and in the same dining rotation, too. That would have been the time to try changing to the other dining rotation.

 

[ScooterPie]

I know, right?! I feel so sorry for anyone who was assigned to them.

 

[CM Dad]

On the recent PC cruise, there was a lady and her 2 sons on board that had the same dining rotation that our group did. Having sailed with her before, we knew her to be rude and extremely demanding to the crew. Every night, she would order what she wanted to eat the NEXT night so it was at their table waiting on them. Her boys would fling food on the table, throw rolls at each other, etc. She demanded so much fresh pepper that the poor waiter's arm would just about fall off. Her demands got so bad that an officer ended up having to take care of her during dinner so that other people in her dining area got service.

I don't know the situation that you are talking about, but you should be aware that some people that order food for the next night are NOT being demanding. My wife's doctor had her on a gluten and dairy free diet for a while. On the cruises we took during that time, she was given the menu for the next nights meal, and the head server would discuss what her options were, and how they could possibly modify some of the options to meet her dietary restrictions. They would also ask where we planned to have breakfast and lunch the next day so that those meals could be ordered in advance as well. Disney is great for people with food allergies. And yes I do know that there are some people that are just rude and demanding :-(

 

[Dug720]

I don't know the situation that you are talking about, but you should be aware that some people that order food for the next night are NOT being demanding. My wife's doctor had her on a gluten and dairy free diet for a while. On the cruises we took during that time, she was given the menu for the next nights meal, and the head server would discuss what her options were, and how they could possibly modify some of the options to meet her dietary restrictions. They would also ask where we planned to have breakfast and lunch the next day so that those meals could be ordered in advance as well. Disney is great for people with food allergies. And yes I do know that there are some people that are just rude and demanding :-(

I was going to say the same thing, but given that she was eating whatever the kids left on their plates that would mean that the whole family had the same food issues. (Plus apparently it was waiting on the table when they got there - that doesn't happen with special food needs.)

 

[ScooterPie]

While this is very true, one member of our party asked her why she did this, was there a special reason, etc. Remember, she was on another cruise as we were. She said no, that she was just a food snob. In other words, just because she could.

She literally ordered from the next night's menu so they would not have to wait for food to arrive.

 

[Dug720]

While this is very true, one member of our party asked her why she did this, was there a special reason, etc. Remember, she was on another cruise as we were. She said no, that she was just a food snob. In other words, just because she could.

She literally ordered from the next night's menu so they would not have to wait for food to arrive.

Like I said, I figured that there was no legit food-related reason since she didn't seem picky about WHAT she ate. (I would have laughed in her face when she said she was a "food snob" and I saw her eating chicken fingers and fries. That were left over from her kids no less.

 

[ScooterPie]

True but sadly, the way they were treating the assistant waiter, waiter and head waiter as their personal, private concierge was a shame. Had I been in their table rotation I would have moved. Things happened last cruise in 2015 that made us surprised to see them onboard this time.

Keep in mind, we witnessed everything I speak of firsthand.

 

[Dug720]

True but sadly, the way they were treating the assistant waiter, waiter and head waiter as their personal, private concierge was a shame. Had I been in their table rotation I would have moved. Things happened last cruise in 2015 that made us surprised to see them onboard this time.

Keep in mind, we witnessed everything I speak of firsthand.

Oh I believe you. We unfortunately were in a section with a large group who was extremely demanding - I got to witness them in action the last night as I was facing that direction. They would literally order one drink at a time - as in one person would order a drink, and the moment Tiago got there with it, someone else would order another drink. And they would grab Tiago or our substitute primary server (Aditya was sick) for the tiniest little thing, even if they had plates for another table in their hands. And sadly, the head server did little to stop it. I didn't say anything on the comment card because I didn't want Aditya being sick reflecting on them - but I did email them and got a nice response when I was back. I made it clear that I did not blame Tiago, Aditya, or our substitute server as it is the responsibility of the head server to handle that kind of issue. (I also mentioned that I did not even know who he was until the second night which surprised me as I'm gluten-free and my reservation was noted as such - it is SOP for the head server to touch base with any food issues in his/her section. Aditya did fine and I had no qualms about his knowledge, and I made that clear. The woman who responded to my email seemed as shocked as I was and said that would definitely be addressed with the head server.)

It makes me sad when people treat crew members like their own personal servants. If they want someone at their beck and call, I believe there are lines that have stateroom classes that have personal butlers. Perhaps they should try those.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Our last night in the MDR we noticed out server wasn't around much. It was the Asst server, and given that they'd both been so attentive and friendly, we thought that was odd. It turned out that another table in his section was in concierge and decided to dine in the room, so he had to serve them there. That surprised me, because I thought they would have had concierge people to do that, but he was running back and forth to/from the kitchens with their order, so he wasn't present in the dining room for he rest of his guests. It's a nice perk for the concierge people, but that was hard on the rest of the wait staff. Anyway, we still got great service, but I hope they tipped him very well for that hard work.

 

[ScooterPie]

I hope so. There are good people in the world.

 

[lorenni]

on st thomas we took an open van tour that stopped at a beach for awhile. Now we were told it was clothing optional but we weren't prepared to see a mother stripping what appeared to be her 5 and 7 year old sons. That was enough for us, we turned tail and headed back to the van.

Have to say here, the problem was yours. Nudity at a nude beach is only weird if you make it weird. In fact, my personal experience is that folks at nude beaches are way less creepy than some you find at regular beaches.

And what exactly was offensive about little kids swimming in the buff? I can't imagine anything "shocking" about a nude kid at a beach I KNEW was clothing optional.