Not so great table mates

[bats]

We have requested a table for 12, could you tell me in the restaurants the table was located? thanks

We were a table of 13 (all my family) on the Wonder and we were down one side by the windows. During our first dinner, coming out of Port Canaveral, we had to close the blinds as the horizon was going up and down .. almost like our dinner if we hadn't have closed the blinds!

This cruise, we've asked for it to be just the 4 of us .. nobody else stands a chance of getting a word in edgeways, so it's best that we sit by ourselves!!

 

[heatherwillmom]

You are nicer than I would have been! If I had gotten food in my hair on more than one occasion, I would have been just as rude & childish as to take the food from my hair & place it in the hair of the parents of these unruly children. Yes, it would have been childish, but it would have made me happier. I have children & they have never throw their food into anyone's hair. It's it shame that you have to have a license to drive a car, but any idiot can be a parent. I feel sorry for those children because they will learn the hard way some day, that most people won't put up with their behavior.

 

[lilpooh108]

My parents and I booked our cabins separately, but I called to request that they link our ressies together so we can sit together. Is there anyway to email DCL? What is the email address (thought I saw someone else do an email)? TIA!

Oh yeah and on this topic, I don't think I would make a good tablemate. I don't really like to talk to ppl when I eat---I really like to enjoy my food! Plus I have to talk to random ppl all the time at my job and on vacation it would be nice just to relax

 

[Anal Annie]

On our first cruise we were seated at the large oval table in the center of the dining rooms - there were apparently 5 families of 3 each assigned to sit there but one family never showed up until our debarkation breakfast the last morning! All the kids were within a year or so of each other but all the other kids were girls...then that last morning we found the missing kid was a boy that DS could've hung out with! Kind of a shame. Oh well.

Out of the other families that did show up every evening, 1 was quite "normal", one was extremely disfunctional and one was consistently late and pretty rude (they returned EVERY meal they ever ordered after showing up 30 min. late every night).

The disfunctional family provided some interesting moments at dinner and around the ship and it took us until the last night to get the full story we'd all been trying to figure out. The "family" was 2 women and 1 girl. We knew which one of the women was the Mom (her name was Queenie) but whenever we saw them about the ship Queenie would be alone, hitting on whoever she could and the daughter would be with the other woman. We were puzzled all week about what was going on as the 2 women didn't seem to be "together". We never saw them all 3 hanging out together except at dinner. On the last night Queenie didn't come to dinner and the other one finally spilled the beans. Turns out her Dad had an affair several years before with Queenie and the daughter was a by-product of it!! The Dad had recently died and that's when she found out that she had this younger half-sister! SOO they all came on this cruise together as a way for the 2 sisters to get to know each other & bond...but so here she was, sharing a cabin with the 2 of them - the woman who her Dad had this affair with & the new sister and she was finding it quite awkward!!

On our last cruises we were linked to others from our meet thread so no worries there.

 

[TDC Nala]

From what I understand there are no 2 top tables but if the seating is not full, they may honor requests for couples to sit alone by putting them at a 4-top by themselves.

And "They're just children you know" is no excuse for allowing kids to throw food or spit chewed food onto the table or into their sibling's glasses or wherever.

 

[cwby22]

Here's my bad table mate experience from our first cruise. When we arrived at the table on the first night, it was a table for 8, and a family of 4 was already seated. (no, we weren't late). When we got to the table, I'm walking to the table ready to say Hi and introduce ourselves. The husband and wife didn't even acknowledge we had arrived. Not even a hi, hello ....Nothing! Totally ignored us. Didn't even look at our end of the table the whole night. Talk about uncomfortable. After dinner, on our way out, the head server stopped us and asked if we would like to switch to a another table for the last 3 nights. He must have sensed some tension there. We gladly accepted his offer. Our next cruise we requested a private table. (and got it). Much more enjoyable.

 

[clten]

We have never had a bad situation at our table.
Only 1 cruise we had a table next to ours that we worried about. 4 famlies and children were sitting very close to us, the adults at a big table and children at the other. Many nights I walked away with food in my hair from food fights. We did talk to all the parents, but I knew the out come before hand..."they are children you know."

In this situation, I would have spoken to the head server to see if it was possible to reposition the tables so that you were not in the line of fire. (We were once next to a table that was too close to ours in AP and the assistant server kept hitting me in the head with his serving tray. Our head server set up a table across the aisle in that restaurant so we could keep our servers but not incur a concussion at dinner. and no, the assistant server never apologized -- he just said it couldn't have hurt too much, it was just a tray.)

As far as tablemates, we've had the good, the bad and the ugly. The good have been very good and we still keep in contact with many of them. The bad have ranged from the couple that wouldn't introduce themselves but would interject in our conversation with the other couple or servers with "I'm better than you comments" to people with weird ideas of polite dinner conversations (all manatees should be killed and served for dinner).

The ugly just happened on the EBTA. We were at a 6 top with a couple and two women travelling together. Unfortunately on night one the two friends had had a little too much to drink during the afternoon/evening. They misunderstood a comment that the wife had made (we found this out later in the cruise) and got mad. At one point the insulted woman threw the bread bowl at us. Before any food was served, they stormed off. The head server came over to apologize -- which we said wasn't necessary because it wasn't anything they did. Later, while we were having the entree, the other lady came storming over, hit the wife in the shoulder, told her off, hit her again and then stormed off.

But even after this, we are looking forward to having tablemates on the WBTA. Even if they aren't great, they can be entertaining!

 

[SoCaOC-Mom]

I

The ugly just happened on the EBTA. We were at a 6 top with a couple and two women travelling together. Unfortunately on night one the two friends had had a little too much to drink during the afternoon/evening. They misunderstood a comment that the wife had made (we found this out later in the cruise) and got mad. At one point the insulted woman threw the bread bowl at us. Before any food was served, they stormed off. The head server came over to apologize -- which we said wasn't necessary because it wasn't anything they did. Later, while we were having the entree, the other lady came storming over, hit the wife in the shoulder, told her off, hit her again and then stormed off.

Oh My.
I am a bit surprised that no one called security, that's assault. I've heard about someone (on a DCL ship) being taking to the brig and taken off the boat in handcuffs, taken to the local sheriff where they were booked and processed on battery charges.

 

[dylan'smom]

I had our TA make a note on our reservation requesting a table for two. I also understand it is only a request.

As mentioned, there are NO two-tops in the regular restaurants. But DH & I were seated as the only 2 at a four-top on the EBTA last month. We did NOT request anything - I was disappointed, he was ecstatic!!! There were just so few kids on the sailing that many tables were not full - but the boat was full! So maybe if you cruise at time when kids are in school you'd have a shot??

...The ugly just happened on the EBTA. We were at a 6 top with a couple and two women travelling together. Unfortunately on night one the two friends had had a little too much to drink during the afternoon/evening. They misunderstood a comment that the wife had made (we found this out later in the cruise) and got mad. At one point the insulted woman threw the bread bowl at us. Before any food was served, they stormed off. The head server came over to apologize -- which we said wasn't necessary because it wasn't anything they did. Later, while we were having the entree, the other lady came storming over, hit the wife in the shoulder, told her off, hit her again and then stormed off. But even after this, we are looking forward to having tablemates on the WBTA. Even if they aren't great, they can be entertaining!

OMGosh!

Good for you to try again after that. LOL At least you are "pre-disastered."


bev

 

[ducky_love]

Wow- some of these stories make me thankful for my one "bad" experience out of 5 DCL cruises! Mostly I've made friends or sailed with friends!

Our "bad" experience was actually pretty funny. Myself and my DH were sat with 2 elderly couples. We are late 20's, no kids. One of the couples had been married 50 years and both were VERY hard of hearing. (think: "Pass me the bread", "WHAT?", "PASS ME THE BREAD!") The other couple had not been together very long and this was their first trip together. Lots of awkward "You like fish? I don't like fish!" So a couple that didn't know each other and a couple that couldn't hear each other! It was all we could do to not laugh out loud at the table!

The next night we had planned Palo and we just asked them to keep us for the third night of our trip. Problem solved. Thankfully it was only a 3 nighter. If it had been longer we would have just embraced the entertainment!

 

[bellaprincess98]

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.[/QUOTE]

How do I do that?

 

[clten]

Oh My.
I am a bit surprised that no one called security, that's assault. I've heard about someone (on a DCL ship) being taking to the brig and taken off the boat in handcuffs, taken to the local sheriff where they were booked and processed on battery charges.

Actually, the head server came back and asked her if she was okay (it was just a couple of slaps across her shoulder but yes it was assault). The wife said she'd just prefer if they didn't do anything about it. She was just shocked about the names she was called because none of us thought she said anything out of line. (We had been discussing it since they stormed off. It was a great ice breaker for us, the couple, our serving team and the tables around us!)

 

[BWV Dreamin]

On our first cruise we were seated at the large oval table in the center of the dining rooms - there were apparently 5 families of 3 each assigned to sit there but one family never showed up until our debarkation breakfast the last morning! All the kids were within a year or so of each other but all the other kids were girls...then that last morning we found the missing kid was a boy that DS could've hung out with! Kind of a shame. Oh well.

Out of the other families that did show up every evening, 1 was quite "normal", one was extremely disfunctional and one was consistently late and pretty rude (they returned EVERY meal they ever ordered after showing up 30 min. late every night).

The disfunctional family provided some interesting moments at dinner and around the ship and it took us until the last night to get the full story we'd all been trying to figure out. The "family" was 2 women and 1 girl. We knew which one of the women was the Mom (her name was Queenie) but whenever we saw them about the ship Queenie would be alone, hitting on whoever she could and the daughter would be with the other woman. We were puzzled all week about what was going on as the 2 women didn't seem to be "together". We never saw them all 3 hanging out together except at dinner. On the last night Queenie didn't come to dinner and the other one finally spilled the beans. Turns out her Dad had an affair several years before with Queenie and the daughter was a by-product of it!! The Dad had recently died and that's when she found out that she had this younger half-sister! SOO they all came on this cruise together as a way for the 2 sisters to get to know each other & bond...but so here she was, sharing a cabin with the 2 of them - the woman who her Dad had this affair with & the new sister and she was finding it quite awkward!!

On our last cruises we were linked to others from our meet thread so no worries there.

Any room at your table for next August?

 

[eva]

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.

How do I do that?

You join the discussion on the the cruise meets board. See the top of this board's page for a link. Then find your cruise date and start talking with people. Once you find people that you seem to click with you can either ask them right on the thread or pm them. You need their name and stateroom number. Then you call DCL or use your TA and have the reservations linked for dinner. Works great.

Note: You do need to make sure that you all have the same seating time.

 

[pooh fan 13]

On our first cruise, we had a completely awkward table - 5 couples and we all did not have much in common. My husband and I got looks from our tablemates every night when we ordered a drink! On our second cruise, we nervously went to dinner that first night and were relieved to meet 6 super cool people! Let's hope we're just as lucky on the next one!

 

[SoCaOC-Mom]

IMO, even if your wife said what they thought she said (although I certainly believe your account that they were mistaken) they were surely out of order.

I could also imagine as you mentioned how everyone else seemed to connect because they shared shock and disbelieve. It kind of reminds me of something I heard while watching The Real Housewife's of NYC- where Bethany who was stunned by a cast members antics looked around at her friends and said "Are we all watching the same movie?".

Actually, the head server came back and asked her if she was okay (it was just a couple of slaps across her shoulder but yes it was assault). The wife said she'd just prefer if they didn't do anything about it. She was just shocked about the names she was called because none of us thought she said anything out of line. (We had been discussing it since they stormed off. It was a great ice breaker for us, the couple, our serving team and the tables around us!)

 

[Scooby3x1y]

I had terrible table mates on my cruise.

Unfortunately they were my wife and two children.

 

[Scooby3x1y]

Ours didn't happen at our dinner table, but at breakfast in Lumiere's. This lady from NY (I'll leave your political imagination to yourself) was going off about what she thought of the current president at the time.

After trying to ignore her for 10 min, I started to call her on it (being from the opposite side of the country & differing political opinions). I couldn't help myself, she was so obnoxious! Anyway, everytime (inevitably often) we saw her she gave my family and I the biggest crusty looks. It made us laugh .

We just thought it was an inappropriate place to talk about those things. As they say, when making polite conversation, stay away from politics and religion.

 

[renegade7]

Love this thread. I only had 1.25 strange tablemates on my 4 cruises so far.

My first cruise was a 3 day Wonder with my father and I don't really recall my tablemates. I think I was just trying to take it all in and see if I would like cruising. Nothing stands out so I guess all was well.

The next cruise was the one of the Mexican Rivera’s in 2005. I had just found the DIS boards but really was not participating (my mistake). Again it was just my father and I. We were seated with a woman and her 2 boys. I think the table was an 8 top but no one else ever joined us. Well needless to say they did not join us for dinner often, but the few times they did she was looped by the time she got to dinner. Which made for very odd/uncomfortable conversations, especially the night her kids did not join her. Just a little TMI for my liking.

Our 3rd cruise (again my father and I) was the Med in 2007. After my last experience and getting familiar with the boards here I knew I could request things (i.e. being sat a large table). So we ended up at a 10 top. 1 of the couples was so annoying (very vocal on how many times they had cruised and their expectations - which were not being met and no one else could get a word in edge wise). I thought about changing but seemed the rest of our table was good, luckily that couple did not like us (the remaining 8 people) either as they requested to be moved. The rest of us had a blast and really enjoyed our meals after that first night. I did however start to notice for the first time that I needed to introduce my father as just that as people assumed we could be a couple, even though we are 30 years apart in age.

The last cruise I did was the EBPC and I went by myself. I left someone from our cruise thread match me up. 4 single women from 30-60 - it was awesome. It is just hard when someone doesn't do dinner when you are traveling alone as you can end up eating by yourself when you are at a small top.

Thanks to my last cruise I am traveling with one of my table mates again this Sept on the Med and TA and sharing a cabin (as it is more economical than having your own). Hopefully we will not kill each other, but will be linking up again with people on our cruise meet thread.

 

[DLW8]

Quite an entertaining thread! Our first cruise was with another family, so we had a table to ourselves (7 of us). This time, it's just our family. I am on the fence about requesting a table to ourselves (which my DS says he would rather have) or seeing what happens. After reading this thread, I am swaying more towards a table to ourselves so we can reconnect as a family....