Not so great table mates

[abouttime]

FMIL? FSIL? FDH? What is the F for? I hope it's not what I think it is!

Sayhello

 

[K8T]

Mostly we have had good tablemates, but a few have been a bit 'difficult'.

One time we were sitted with a very elderly couple (we were in our late 20's at that time), one of which was constantly dribbling food out her mouth. I am not sure if they were ill, or just old, but it was very difficult not to notice and just carry on with conversation. We felt it was rude to ask to move, so stuck with it.

Second time, we had a man who constantly talked about money - how much his cruise cost, how much he had spent in the Casino. It drove us mad for two nights. We ended up asking to be moved and sitting with another lovely couple for the rest of the cruise. We did feel bad when we saw a couple of very pleasant ladies, who had also been sat at the same table and I know they knew exactly why we had moved, although we said we had met up with some people and decided we would like to sit with them!!

Finally, after a couple of bad experiences, we ask the Head Waiter if we could sit with a younger couple, we were, but they had a daughter who was severely disabled, couldn't speak, move or see, that was fine, she was in a special chair at the table and the couple were friendly. However, half way through the meal, the mother got out a pack of food supplement, took hold of a tube that went into her daughters tummy and proceeded to syringe the gloop into the tube at the table.

I wasn't expecting that!

I hasten to say, neither were DCL!!!! Last cruise, we met up with a lovely couple with two delighful girls and linked up with them, it was ideal.

 

[Aurora1959]

I'm so glad to see this thread! I had forgotten all about dining with others. I think for the kids first cruise I will have to see about getting a table alone. DS has high funct Autism and it might not go over well.

I have a 15 year that is also HFA. On our first cruise we sat alone. It was great. Of course, that's more because although he's high functioning, he's about 3 at the table and it's a constant - 'please stop doing that' or 'I don't want to see your food, can you please chew with your mouth shut?' or our favorite 'please take smaller bites and chew your food or you're going to .... choke.' which is usually followed by him turning bright red because he just had to swallow something and it hurt going down.

Now I think part of it is just being a lazy teenage boy. On our next cruise we have a suite and I think he can just eat in the room if he has a problem with table manners.

 

[Inkmahm]

FMIL? FSIL? FDH? What is the F for? I hope it's not what I think it is!

 

[noladave]

I just found out that since we have adjoining cabins with family, we will be seated together. Didn't know that.... well, sitting with family for a week ought to be interesting...

on a side note, we also crusied during our honeymoon (Carnival), and they sat us with other honeymooners.. Half the time the table was missing at least one couple!! Wonder why???

 

[lg3]

I just found out that since we have adjoining cabins with family, we will be seated together. Didn't know that.... well, sitting with family for a week ought to be interesting...

You could always secretly call and ask to be separated, and when you get onboard if anyone says anything, just act as if you know "nothing"

 

[mrskay9]

We didn't have very good table mates on our cruise.
They were late most nights, including the first night. When the daughter arrived she said, "What are THESE people doing here at OUR table?"

And then followed it up with, "Are they going to be here every night?"

Nice.

Then she would pick her nose, not just a pick, more what my dh calls digging for gold, and then touch every roll in the basket.

She would talk w/ her mouth full to the point where pizza was flying out.

She was rude to the waiters.

Could not believe this girl.

 

[johnkerryP]

Future...

My Future DH is a prince, i have no idea how he was the spawn of his parents.

Doesnt matter anyway, because we are NEVER vacationing with them Ever ever again!

 

[disneyfool_1202]

I have a 15 year that is also HFA. On our first cruise we sat alone. It was great. Of course, that's more because although he's high functioning, he's about 3 at the table and it's a constant - 'please stop doing that' or 'I don't want to see your food, can you please chew with your mouth shut?' ...

Our DS has HFA also and he's going tob e 7.5 on our next cruise. His table manners are average for a 7 year old BUT he has a LOT of trouble using utensils and prefers his hands. We had mashed potatos for dinner last night- drives me NUTS! For this reason alone we try and stay to ourselves- don't want him flinging food unintentionally on some unsuspecting person!

 

[DisneyMama27]

After reading a lot of these, I guess we really lucked out on our first cruise! We were seated with a very nice family of 3, who had a son same age as ours. Since he is always the "left out" one (we have 2 DD), it was nice for him to have a buddy. The two of them hit it off well, and entertained each other each night while the adults visited. I'm sorry we didn't get more info from them - I don't even remember their names anymore! Our girls were pretty wiped out since we had late seating - they usually spent dinner time playing the games on the kids' menus!

This next cruise, I wouldn't mind finding some people on our cruise meet (I confess, I have not spent enough time there yet to get to know people...will be doing that!) or taking our chances again. If we don't like our tablemates, we can change! We really enjoyed having people to talk to at dinner, exchange stories of our day and we got to know a really nice family!

 

[orlandothebeagle]

FMIL? FSIL? FDH? What is the F for? I hope it's not what I think it is!

Sayhello

F= Future

Future Mother In Law.

nae luck.

We didn't have very good table mates on our cruise.
They were late most nights, including the first night. When the daughter arrived she said, "What are THESE people doing here at OUR table?"

And then followed it up with, "Are they going to be here every night?"

Nice.

Then she would pick her nose, not just a pick, more what my dh calls digging for gold, and then touch every roll in the basket.

She would talk w/ her mouth full to the point where pizza was flying out.

She was rude to the waiters.

Could not believe this girl.

Not sure I would have stuck with that to be honest.

Future...

My Future DH is a prince, i have no idea how he was the spawn of his parents.

Doesnt matter anyway, because we are NEVER vacationing with them Ever ever again!

never ever ever

 

[lilys.mom]

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

I will too be worried about my 4 year old in March sitting with a bunch of strangers she doenst do new people well...although I have heard it is a 3 year old thing and hoping she grows out of it when she turns 4.....

Seriously if I have to sit with a bunch of strangers I do feel sorry for them with the way my DD is right now........and before anyone says anything we do punish her and correct her...but latley it does seem the more attention I draw to her behavior the more she enjoys doing it!!!!!

How can we request a 4top?

 

[orlandothebeagle]

I will too be worried about my 4 year old in March sitting with a bunch of strangers she doenst do new people well...although I have heard it is a 3 year old thing and hoping she grows out of it when she turns 4.....

Seriously if I have to sit with a bunch of strangers I do feel sorry for them with the way my DD is right now........and before anyone says anything we do punish her and correct her...but latley it does seem the more attention I draw to her behavior the more she enjoys doing it!!!!!

How can we request a 4top?

I think you can, we had a table for 4 our first cruise and never asked for it, and anyway bet she isnt that bad, bet she is funny really.

 

[lilys.mom]

I think you can, we had a table for 4 our first cruise and never asked for it, and anyway bet she isnt that bad, bet she is funny really.

Oh she can be entertaining that is for sure...

She recently has started telling to her face my grandmother...her great grandmother.........and I quote " I dont like you because you are old and have squishy arms..."

Sometimes in public I just want to tell people to not even speak to her but they see this cute lilttle girl and think they have to speak to her....her response is usually and I quote " Whatever you old women..." with her best mean face.......

and seriously in those moments the more I tell her to stop and make a big deal about it the more she does it........so I have recently just started telling the people sorry that she is going through her rude 3 year old behavior and just to ignore her......

Like I said praying for her to turn 4...not to wish her life away...but....

 

[Lorraine]

We have been on 6 or 7 cruises and never had a bad experience. However, on our last cruise we ended up sitting on our own - our son (12) was devastated! It turned out that the couple who were due to sit with us had asked to to sit alone as they had been on many cruises and were visited by crew members at dinner each evening. Tried explaining to DS that if they expressly didnt want to sit with us we were better on our own.

This thread has reminded me that i need to contact DCL and request sitting with others on our August 7th cruise. It is lovely speaking to people at the end of the day about our exploits.

 

[rileyspaw]

Dinner time is family time for us. We relax with small talk about the day's activities and what we have planned for the next day.

 

[smeecanada]

On our first cruise we had a table to ourselves (4). Meet a lovely family that was sitting next to us and we chatted a bit. The next was the infamous EBRepo and we sat with some fellow DISers. Last year, we requested DCL to sit us with another family (unknown - just a request - as we like to be able to discuss our day with another family). We were sat with a lovely family with a son our kids age. This time around it's just DH and I - have again asked DCL to sit us with some other unknown folks. Looking forward to seeing who our tablemates turn out to be.

 

[Ajojo]

After reading this thread, I am getting a bit worried about the seating arrangements. I just booked my first solo cruise and wonder if I will be placed at a table for other solo travellers, or will I be placed at a table where there is an opening???

 

[DaveH]

After reading this thread, I am getting a bit worried about the seating arrangements. I just booked my first solo cruise and wonder if I will be placed at a table for other solo travellers, or will I be placed at a table where there is an opening???

On our cruise in May, there was DW and I, and 2 single cruisers.

 

[Florida Princess]

On our Med cruise in May we sat with fellow Disboarders !!! Two tables were requested for all of us (prior to cruising) and it worked out perfectly !!!!
Our Dinners were always fun ,talkative and we loved exchanging our cruise stories