How do you avoid someone onboard

[maymlee]

I have been lurking on this board for a few years. Becasue of some late development that may affect our vacation plan and I need to findout if it is possible to avoid a family of 5 on board.

Background: My family sailed on the Magic Nov03 booked in a CAT11 (upgraded to a CAT7 by DCL). Prior to our cruise departure back in 03, my neighbor found out that we were going on a DCL cruise and told me they are interested in going on A DCL cruise also. But their youngest child has not been potty trained at that time they wanted to wait. However, when they found out that we are sailing in an inside cabin, my neighbor told me that she will never cruise unless she has a balcony and we will be in the "bildge" <sp?> of the ship with all the "rif rafs" (her exact words). Of course we went anyways and had a fabulous time (not to mention an upgraded room with DCL's pixie dusts). We rebooked onboard and will now be sailing again this year in the "bildge" of the Magic (CAT11).

Fast forward: Well this week, while dropping off my DD at school, my neighbor just mentioned that they are looking into crusing DCL the same week we will be going (school's out for two day that week). She has three kids, her DD is in the same grade/same school with my DD. My neighbor's kids are not the most well behave kids, my DD does not associate with her DD and not to mention we have nothing in common. My neighbors also has the reputation of "sticking" her kids to other parents so that they can get away by themselves. I know the Magic is a big ship, but there is only one Mickey's pool and slide or deck 4 shuffle board or arcade etc., I know if they see me at the pool or arcade or shuffle board with my DD they will say can you watch our children for a few minutes and we will be right back. This has happened before at our commmunity pool and they were gone for hours and I was stuck with her 3 unruly kids.

If they do decided to go on the same cruise - what can I do to avoid her without being rude? I did not mentioned to her that we have already booked onboard and will be staying in the "bildge" of the ship again! Help!

 

[jrabbit]

There's no way that you'll run into everyone on the ship, but since your kids are around the same age you increase the probability a LOT. There were people that we would encounter over and over again on all of our cruises. Those people obviously wanted to do the same things we did.

Your and their kids will probably run into each other in the kids clubs. The councilors try to keep all of the children under control and will expel real troublemakers. As far as at the pool, since that is a fairly compact area, if both families are there you will run into each other. Just tell them that you will be leaving shortly and that you WILL leave their child unsupervised if they leave. (easier said than done I know)
Good luck and don't let them get you down

 

[bratray]

well, i think the best approach is a direct approach...i really don't think there is any sure fire way to avoid anyone on board but if you run into them and they ask you to watch their kids, just say NO & let them know they can drop their kids off at the kids club for free

good luck

 

[my3princesses]

Tough one! We almost had the same situation as a member of my family is planning a trip and thought that it would be great to travel together (but my husband and I do not want to listen to their constant bickering) so I didn't respond to her comment and I think she got the idea.

The only way completely out of this for you is honesty. You need to tell your neighbour that this is YOUR family holiday, and YOUR family time together which you "really need right now". Also mentioning that the cruise is very expensive and you really want to get your money's worth by enjoying the ship with YOUR family alone.
If this doesn't work, a cheap comment such as "you really don't want to hang around with us "rif-raf" should do the trick and hopefully she clues in.

If anything that I have learned as a parent and socializing with other parents is that you unfortuntaely cannot choose your child's friends but you can choose your friends and naturally you want to be around peope who are a positive influence. I can't remember how many conversations I have had with my kids regarding other kids and their parents and what is appropriate and what isn't (my youngest could use the word "appropriate" correctly by the age of 2!

Good luck

 

[G00fyDad]

Jump off. j/k

 

[gottaluvdisney]

make sure your dining time is opposite than hers. If they dine at 6pm, then have your family dine at 8:30pm - at least you won't have to worry about evening time around them.

 

[littlemuffin]

Don't jump!!! Just push them overboard. Then you'll never have to deal with them again>>>

Sorry just kidding!

 

[Keggy]

If you run into your neighbor - I would say hello, politely, and then keep walking! Don't even give her an inch! If you are at the pull and she says can you watch my kids - SAY NO!!!!! You are on vacation - not babysitting.

Enjoy your vacation and JUST SAY NO!!!!


Kelly

 

[eye R.N.]

That way you are sure to miss them at shows. I would be evil if someone tried to have me "free babysit" through a show or movie so they could have alone time.

If your kids don't associate at school it is a safe bet they will avoid each other at the clubs, so hopefully no problems there. As for common area's and running into them, i find "sorry we were planning to leave soon" works real well when I don't want to be saddled with someone else's offspring. Just because you say that is what you were planning doesn't mean you have to leave. . .plans change all the time. If all else fails remind them there is a kids club.

I would be upfront and let them know before the cruise. Much less akward , you can even get in the rif raf shot then. Something like, Oh yes, we'll be on the same cruise but I don't expect we'll see much of you since we will be in a cat 11 with the rif raf."

Try to get together with other DIS'ers from the cruise, a DIS meet or some other gathering might be the perfect excuse. "Sorry, I'm meeting friends from the cruise board in a few minutes, maybe another time."

 

[cjsmith]

We had something very similar happen to us and it took away from our cruise. It sounds like you need to be very careful about your approach ahead of time as they are your neighbors and you will be seeing them for a long time to come unless you move! One thing you could say is that this is a FAMILY trip and you already turned down somebody to come with you and it's so very important that you spend time together. I agree with the other posters, stand firm, the answer needs to be a firm NO about watching their children. The ship is big and you may not seem them as much as you think you will. Don't tell them when your dining time is or discuss any of your plans with them. When you see them on board, say a quick hello and go about your business, you don't owe them an explanation of where you're going.

Who knows, maybe you'll be lucky and they won't end up going. Don't worry about it too much or it will take away from the excitment of counting down to cruise.

 

[Magic_Fan_Bruce]

Wow! That's a tough spot! All I could think of after reading your friends(?) description is when the passengers from deck 1 and 2 come up they are covered in oil and grease from sleeping in the bilges. Does she realize that Cat 5-10 cabin are all basically the same cabin? It’s just a difference of if they have any window or veranda. We've been on deck 1 or 2 on four sailing and we like it.

One thing you do need to watch out for is if your friend “links her reservation to yours. That would mean your cabins would be as close together as possible, and your dining would not only be the same time and rotation, but you would be at the same table! I think a link can be created just by the request of one party, without your approval or even knowledge. So, you may want to call DCL to see if it’s possible to block all request fro links.

However it turns out, I wish you the best of luck and happy sailing.

 

[DancingBear]

Chances are she won't really go through with it, anyway. "Looking into it" is a long way away from booking.

 

[3mickeys&me]

I agree with the others, don't let this ruin your trip or plans. Especially if she hasn't even booked it yet. Is she aware that you are already booked for this cruise?? I'd keep it to myself if she doesn't know. The entire neighborhood doesn't need to know your plans.

I say go, have a great time. If they do happen to be on the same cruise as you and you see them, just smile and say hello and be on your way to have a good time. If you are at the pool and she wants you to watch her kids, just say no. You can't do it!!

Have a great time!!

 

[Bethipooh4]

I am in the same situation, only we booked our cruise with our friends last summer. Well due to some turn of events, we are no longer"friendly" with them. I can be polite, but thats about it. Our reservations WERE linked together. I contacted DU(we booked with them) who were fantastic in helping me. We have the REAS package and they were even linked to our PALO ressies. All reservations are unlinked now (THANK YOU Sue Ellen and Merrie). We even changed our rooms, we upgraded to verandah room(WOOHOO)
I am dreading the pools and possibly running into them, but only 1 of my children are close in age to hers. So they will be in the lab together but different age groups.
It is a big ship, so hopefully we won't run into them very often.

 

[MrsMork]

Couple of things. We book in Cat 11 most of the time. We have cruised 6 times, once tried a Cat 10 "secret porthole" and upgraded at the port to a cat 8 porthole on the recent 10 day. The cat 8 was on deck 2, the secret porthole was on deck 5, the other 4 cruises were all Cat 11 and were either on deck 6 or 7. We have a 7 day booked for Dec 2005 and we are again in a Cat 11 on Deck 7. We are quite happy to be among the rif raf and right across the hall from the elite.

Second, I don't think anyone can link to your reservation without your res. #. The reason I say this is that we have "linked" with others 3 times and have always had to get the res. # before Disney would do that for us.

 

[Magic_Fan_Bruce]

Angie,
I bet your right on the Link requirements. My sister-in-law linked with our reservations on our first cruise (which is just what we wanted), we weren’t informed that she did it, but she did have our res#.

Thanks for clearing that up, I’ve always wondered how it worked.

 

[natsmom125]

Mork is correct. They would have to have the other party's reservation number to "link" anything together.

Phyllis

 

[jhorstma]

Ok, so we all know that she's way smarter than you all , what with you actually looking to stay with the riff raff in the bilge of the ship and all that.

So show them the cold hard facts that she can get a verandah room on RCCL or Carnival for the same itinerary on a bigger ship for the price of an inside cabin on Disney. In fact you might even fib a bit and say that you'll be sailing on one of those lines at some point. Whatever it takes to get her interested in something other than DCL. So why are you sailing DCL? Well, I guess you're just not as smart as she is.

My guess too is that she's yanking your chain a bit and will show an interest in whatever you're interested in. Or perhaps she's just clueless and genuinely thinks that it'd be fun to cruise with you guys. Or maybe a little of both. So do a little conversational smoke and mirrors to get her onto another cruise line.

 

[maymlee]

We are not friends just neighbors. Unfortunately we are planning to stay in the neighborhood for many years and if I am overly rude to them it may make situation awkward. In addition, their DD loves to taunt my child ... if they are really going (keeping my finger cross that they won't), I am sure somehow the reference to the bildge of ship may come up at school. A picture of the Titanic just came across my mind, but I know I will be in good company in my CAT11 room.

They do not know that we are already booked, that way they will not know to linked our reservationss. However, they will never request a room next to our since we are in a CAT11.

My DD will probably won't go to the kids club if their youngest child is in the club, she is afraid of him. That is OK with us, we love having our DD with us but I cannot assure her that when the other kids will be in the club. That means no Palo/spa reservations for us.

<<sigh>> Maybe I just worry too much. Maybe the other poster was right, I can always jump off.

Thanks for all your inputs, I will stay firm and just say no!

 

[thumpery]

Just think the longer she looks and thinks about going on the cruise, the more expensive it becomes. Hopefully, you are cruising soon and it will be too expensive for her to go or even sold out! Keep your chin up!