Not so great table mates

[stitch'sgirl]

I never gave too much thought about how your dinner table mates can make or break your dining experience until our last trip on the Wonder. We were supposed to be sitting with the group we were sailing with until the travel agent forgot to change their seating. So, the night we sailed, at Animator's Palate, we sat with a very, very nice couple...AND...the other people. They were a family of three - grandma and 2 grandsons. Grandma asked my dh how to get to the casino. The news didn't go over well, and we had to hear all about how her vacation was ruined without a casino. The boys never once looked up from their DS games, until one realized he didn't have ketchup for his fries and he went to the dining station and got a bottle himself. I thought the assistant server was going to faint. After that, she dropped not one, but two trays of dishes. Ketchup boy said he hated the meal, pushed his dishes out of the way and took a nap on the table. Might have been cute if he was two, but he was nine.

Anyone else have table mate stories? Just a side note, we still keep in touch with our last Magic table mates - they were such a wonderful family, I guess they just set the bar too high!!

 

[ImagineerM]

On our honeymoon cruise (Wonder May 2008) we had a table for 6. My wife and I got to know this other very nice couple (also on their honeymoon). However the other two tablemates were awful.

They were two Spanish women, didn't speak any English (although we were pretty sure based on the limited Spanish I understand, that they understood us). They showed up 10-15 min late for dinner every night, ordered and drank 1-2 bottles of wine each night, and had VERY loud and lengthy conversations at the table. Was hard for anyone else to talk.

Made for an awkward night when the other honeymooners skipped out for Palo.

 

[PizzieDuster]

On our honeymoon cruise (Wonder May 2008) we had a table for 6. My wife and I got to know this other very nice couple (also on their honeymoon). However the other two tablemates were awful.

They were two Spanish women, didn't speak any English (although we were pretty sure based on the limited Spanish I understand, that they understood us). They showed up 10-15 min late for dinner every night, ordered and drank 1-2 bottles of wine each night, and had VERY loud and lengthy conversations at the table. Was hard for anyone else to talk.

Made for an awkward night when the other honeymooners skipped out for Palo.

On our Explorer of the Seas cruise all I asked of our two teen boys were to eat dinner each night with us. We were seated with a family of 3 (young son was about 7) who spoke no English or chose to speak no english with us. My poor DS12 at the time - was sitting next to this man who couldn't even glance at him, say hello to him, acknowledge him - nothing!

We changed tables the next night to our own table. There was no way I was going to force my kids to sit at dinner each night and look at a vapid family across the way - not after all that money we spent We noticed they had their own table too! It all worked out

All other cruises we had wonderful cruise mates!

 

[karentan]

our first cruise we were at a table of 6, one couple was a honeymooning couple, very dull, very quiet, and the other were a father and daughter, he'd won the cruise through work, and we got the idea that he wasnt really enjoying himself. his daughter was in college and you could tell she'd be quite fun if her very conservative father wasnt there.
dinners were a very tedious affair, we were trying to make conversation but only really got short one word answers. on the last night the father did buy the table a bottle of bubbly which was a nice thing to do though.
our second cruise we linked with 3 similar aged couples from our meet thread and LOVED it.
this cruise i'm not taking the chance and have linked again with other meet thread families.

 

[scrapbookworm]

We cruised May 23-27. On Sunday night, our table mates didn't show up. We decided to switch to second seating for the remainder of the cruise (b/c the 1st seating was just too early for us- we had to stop the fun and start getting ready to eat so early), and had a table by ourselves. We aren't terribly sociable, and my DH was sick (kidney stone), so a table alone suited us.

 

[Melcatfish]

On our Wonder 3 night cruise we were a group of 6 and we were on a 12 top with a family of 4 and a couple. All were nice enough to chat to but not firm friends for life if you know what I mean. On our cruise last summer we requested a table for 4 so just us and our two daughters. Maybe when they are older we will go back to table sharing but although they are good kids they were only 4 and 19 months and we didn't want the stress of feeling like others were watching our children and our parenting if they weren't able to maintain suitable dinner time behaviour throughout the long meals! We have requested a table of 4 again for this summer, it was just so much less stressful than worrying about whether the kids would get tired and cranky and spoil dinner for our table mates!

Mel
x

 

[Rominet]

The one good time was on a longer cruise on the Magic when we sat with family members traveling with us. The two bad times were on shorter 3 night cruises on the Wonder where we purchased last minute tickets with discounted rates.

The first 3 nighter we were seated with a bunch of people who we had nothing in common with at all. It was our first cruise. One couple was a very young couple who had just been married and no kids. They were not old enough to drink, very quiet, very uncomfortable. Basically acted like two kids bummed that they had been sat at the old folks table. I felt bad for them. (We are in our 40s with three young children, but were traveling sans kids. We tend to talk about the kids a lot when away from them at this stage in our lives. It was our first time leaving them.) The other couple was older than us and were total Disney fanatics. It's all they wanted to talk about every meal. We were given the hard sell on Disney cruises. One of them worked for Disney. We were convinced that they had been planted at our table to sell longer cruises to us. You know, rope them in with shorter cruises and then convince them to spend money on the longer cruises. They were practically used car salesmen! Oh, and the whole time they demonstrated how to make the waiters hop. They constantly asked for special treatment for one reason or another... ordered two entrees just for the sake of doing it, asked for special foods not on the menu, basically made pains of themselves. It was weird and over the top. Very uncomfortable.

The second cruise it was my mom and I and we were sat with two other couples. In one couple the wife worked for Disney. She also did the Disney hard sell. I am convinced that they get some type of referral bonus if they talk someone into booking on board. LOL! This is the cruise where the waiter acted like he hated all cruisers and was beyond rude. You may remember me posting about it. The only thing that makes me forgive the waiter was that our tablemates were rude also. Constantly complaining about food, sending it back, etc. They came to every meal, even semi-formal night, in jean shorts and in ripped, stained t-shirts with cut off sleeves! No lie! I don't mind that they weren't dressed up, but at least be clean for the sake of your tablemates!

I am not a fancy person or uptight, I promise you, but I do expect people to have a certain amount of manners and class at the table. There's a lot more I could tell you, but as both sets of tablemates had Disney fanatic people in them I worry they are on these boards!

So now I have a fear of Wonder cruises, especially ones where we got the FL discount rates at the last minute. Going on a 3 night cruise is NOT the same as a 7 night, although a lot cheaper. It is a whole different atmosphere all together. We are going to try the Wonder once more in August for a 5 night cruise. If it is bad a third time, we will stick to the longer cruises after this.

Valerie

 

[Rogillio]

We are a family of 4 and have sailed 5 times and have never been seated with anyone. And this is fine with us. Dinner is our time to reconnect as a family.

For out upcoming cruise we specifically requested to be seated alone as we really enjoy the family time. Reading some of these stories confirms our decision. I realize these are more the exception than the rule, but again, dinner is our special family time.

~Mike

 

[kcashner]

We've had some GREAT table mates, and some only so-so....and one interesting disaster (sad, only the mother was a disaster, the grandparents and kids were lovely...but obviously the mother runs the show).

Bottom line, do not tolerate bad table mates. Talk to the head server after the first dinner and you WILL be moved. It's not a big deal. And, it's not awkward. With as many as 2700 cruisers and 6 dining possibilities, there's little chance you'll bump into them later....and if you do, just shrug and smile or make some excuse/comment.

 

[mmouse37]

The one good time was on a longer cruise on the Magic when we sat with family members traveling with us. The two bad times were on shorter 3 night cruises on the Wonder where we purchased last minute tickets with discounted rates.

The first 3 nighter we were seated with a bunch of people who we had nothing in common with at all. It was our first cruise. One couple was a very young couple who had just been married and no kids. They were not old enough to drink, very quiet, very uncomfortable. Basically acted like two kids bummed that they had been sat at the old folks table. I felt bad for them. (We are in our 40s with three young children, but were traveling sans kids. We tend to talk about the kids a lot when away from them at this stage in our lives. It was our first time leaving them.) The other couple was older than us and were total Disney fanatics. It's all they wanted to talk about every meal. We were given the hard sell on Disney cruises. One of them worked for Disney. We were convinced that they had been planted at our table to sell longer cruises to us. You know, rope them in with shorter cruises and then convince them to spend money on the longer cruises. They were practically used car salesmen! Oh, and the whole time they demonstrated how to make the waiters hop. They constantly asked for special treatment for one reason or another... ordered two entrees just for the sake of doing it, asked for special foods not on the menu, basically made pains of themselves. It was weird and over the top. Very uncomfortable.

The second cruise it was my mom and I and we were sat with two other couples. In one couple the wife worked for Disney. She also did the Disney hard sell. I am convinced that they get some type of referral bonus if they talk someone into booking on board. LOL! This is the cruise where the waiter acted like he hated all cruisers and was beyond rude. You may remember me posting about it. The only thing that makes me forgive the waiter was that our tablemates were rude also. Constantly complaining about food, sending it back, etc. They came to every meal, even formal night, in jean shorts and in ripped, stained t-shirts with cut off sleeves! No lie! I don't mind that they weren't dressed up, but at least be clean for the sake of your tablemates!

I am not a fancy person or uptight, I promise you, but I do expect people to have a certain amount of manners and class at the table. There's a lot more I could tell you, but as both sets of tablemates had Disney fanatic people in them I worry they are on these boards!

So now I have a fear of Wonder cruises, especially ones where we got the FL discount rates at the last minute. Going on a 3 night cruise is NOT the same as a 7 night, although a lot cheaper. It is a whole different atmosphere all together. We are going to try the Wonder once more in August for a 5 night cruise. If it is bad a third time, we will stick to the longer cruises after this.

Valerie

No excuses for bad table manners of your table mates but I can assure you Disney does not "plant" people to "sell" to other passengers!! LOL!! I think you just had over zealous Disney people.....but, anyone can order two entrees at dinner...it is not frowned upon and done very, very often. Our servers often insisted we order two or three different things if we were unsure of what we wanted to eat. Granted, if they were just trying to make pains of themselves that was wrong.

DCL offers last minute discounts to their employees if the ship needs to be filled so on any given cruise you may wind up with people working for Disney...though even on vacation, they should be holding up the Disney standards.

We have had some great tablemates and some not so great tablemates.

MJ

 

[Tinked]

We've had some GREAT table mates, and some only so-so....and one interesting disaster (sad, only the mother was a disaster, the grandparents and kids were lovely...but obviously the mother runs the show).

Bottom line, do not tolerate bad table mates. Talk to the head server after the first dinner and you WILL be moved. It's not a big deal. And, it's not awkward. With as many as 2700 cruisers and 6 dining possibilities, there's little chance you'll bump into them later....and if you do, just shrug and smile or make some excuse/comment.

Thanks for the advice! I was very disappointed to be seated at a table for 4 with just my cabinmate on my last cruise but I hated to ask for us to be moved because the servers were great! Fortunately the table of 6 next to us invited us to join them and we even invited them to join us for tea at Palo. I like meeting new people but fortunately have usually traveled with a larger group. I guess bad experiences is one reason to ask friends along when cruising.

 

[MarkRG]

The only time I've been on a cruise with bad tablemates wasn't at our table, it was the table next to ours.

It was a three generation table of 10 that by the second night it was obvious Grandma and Grandpa were footing the whole bill, and this was far from the first time. They were all very loud and way over the top in fawning over the grandparents.

Not just the youngsters but the adults(?) were very spoiled children too.
There were many little overly loud whining incidents, but the part that was most bizarre began with they all had to sit in the exact same seats around the table every night, my thinking is they do this at home too. Now what made it bizarre was one of the women who sat at the far end from Grandpa insisted every night that the servers rotate the table so she was sitting facing the bow of the ship.

And the capper was on the last night, again overly loud, one of them said to a kid "Thank grandpa for the cruise and tell him next year you want to go to Paris"

 

[eva]

Our first DCL cruise was on our 20th anniversary, just DH and me. They sat us with a mother, grandmother, and three children all under the age of 9 or 10. They didn't seemed to speak no English unless they were ordering. The children ran around the table and everyone were very demanding of the waitstaff. It didn't healp that our servers weren't too good on that cruise. Luckily it was only a 3-Night cruise and one night we ate at Palo.

This past cruise we were sat with 3 other couples that were very nice. But I thought that it was strange that they sat us with 2 couples on their honeymoon and another that had been married less than a year. Everyone was under the age of 26 or 27 with no kids. We are in our late 40's and have been married 29 years. It wasn't really bad, kind of cute. We sure had a good laugh each night listening to them talk about how marriage was going to be.

The best advice I can give to anyone is to find table mates over at the cruise meet board. We normally do this. On our last cruise the meet thread just didn't really exist. So we weren't able to hook up with anyone. But most times you can find really nice people with the same interest to dine with.

 

[LisaWalkerC21]

Oh boy, this is such a fear of mine for our upcoming 11 night Mediterranean cruise this summer. I have gone back and forth several times about whether or not to reserve just a table for our family of four. Deep down I think having some great table mates for our boys would be a blessing. However, I have decided that if for some reason we are selected to sit with other people that are not a "match" I am going to need to speak up - 11 nights is a looooong time.

When cruising "before children" my husband and I rarely had a good experience with table mates and never said anything because we felt awkward. Though, on one cruise with DCL we traveled with friends and their children and DCL sat a retired couple with us. I immediately thought the other couple must have been mortified to be sitting with 5 children under the age of 5, but when asked they said they preferred it! I thought it was odd that DCL would put them with us but it was a delight sitting with them each night.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Is it possible to request a table for 2?

 

[DCLMan]

I had terrible table mates on my cruise.

Unfortunately they were my wife and two children.

 

[grace&philipsmom]

On our Wonder 3 night cruise we were a group of 6 and we were on a 12 top with a family of 4 and a couple. All were nice enough to chat to but not firm friends for life if you know what I mean. On our cruise last summer we requested a table for 4 so just us and our two daughters. Maybe when they are older we will go back to table sharing but although they are good kids they were only 4 and 19 months and we didn't want the stress of feeling like others were watching our children and our parenting if they weren't able to maintain suitable dinner time behaviour throughout the long meals! We have requested a table of 4 again for this summer, it was just so much less stressful than worrying about whether the kids would get tired and cranky and spoil dinner for our table mates!

Mel
x

How do you go about requesting a table for 4? This is our first cruise and DH would prefer to dine as a family - I think he is just worried about making conversation with strangers, as he is pretty shy.

 

[abayaflowers]

Oh boy, this is such a fear of mine for our upcoming 11 night Mediterranean cruise this summer. I have gone back and forth several times about whether or not to reserve just a table for our family of four. Deep down I think having some great table mates for our boys would be a blessing. However, I have decided that if for some reason we are selected to sit with other people that are not a "match" I am going to need to speak up - 11 nights is a looooong time.

When cruising "before children" my husband and I rarely had a good experience with table mates and never said anything because we felt awkward. Though, on one cruise with DCL we traveled with friends and their children and DCL sat a retired couple with us. I immediately thought the other couple must have been mortified to be sitting with 5 children under the age of 5, but when asked they said they preferred it! I thought it was odd that DCL would put them with us but it was a delight sitting with them each night.

Why not request to be seated with the same family makeup. I would request it if I were you so that it would be a better experience. We are traveling with family friends (DH, DW, DD11, DD8, DD5). They are a lot of fun and very funny. We come from Northern CA so if want, you can sit with us. We will be probably talking about our adventures in Malta, Tunis? on the camel ride, and the other ports.

 

[golfnsuch]

Wow! I never thought of this dilemma. Our first cruise last year, we sat as a family at a 4 top. Our servers had two other very large tables to serve along with us (an 8 & a 10). They were very interactive with us and tried with the other tables, too, but didn't seem to have the same reception from their groups. Both families looked pained and sometimes would look over at us with strange looks. Now I realize it may be that they weren't families at all, but mismatched table mates!

And (hang my head) I admit that I was always 5 -10 minutes late to dinner (still racing to get ready). I will NOT do that next year, now that I know I may have tablemates who would not be amused.

 

[Marty Moose]

I had terrible table mates on my cruise.

Unfortunately they were my wife and two children.

I fear that will be my problem too!!