Not so great table mates

[danfromca]

Reading this thread it's interesting to note that it's always the other people who were the bad tablemates.

Well, last cruise our group were the "bad" tablemates and it was the other family that quietly vanished (presumably after being reseated by the head waiter).

Now to be fair, it really was a mismatch. I was traveling with three teenagers, they were a couple with two younger children. Our teens really were quite well behaved and well mannered, but teens nonetheless - and I think all of us tended to be a bit louder and more talkative then the other family, who seemed quite reserved and who probably saw us as a bad influence on their kids.

Anyway, we ended up with a table of our own and didn't miss them at all. I'm sure the feeling was mutual.

 

[JKSWonder]

Reading this thread it's interesting to note that it's always the other people who were the bad tablemates.

Well, last cruise our group were the "bad" tablemates and it was the other family that quietly vanished (presumably after being reseated by the head waiter).

Now to be fair, it really was a mismatch. I was traveling with three teenagers, they were a couple with two younger children. Our teens really were quite well behaved and well mannered, but teens nonetheless - and I think all of us tended to be a bit louder and more talkative then the other family, who seemed quite reserved and who probably saw us as a bad influence on their kids.

Anyway, we ended up with a table of our own and didn't miss them at all. I'm sure the feeling was mutual.

Funny, I was worried that we will be those bad tablemates, so we requested a Table for 4. It's not that we are awful or anything, but my son is 4, has a mild autism spectrum disorder and sometimes has "issues", particularly in restaurants. I would love to meet new people and have some grown-ups to chat with, but I didn't want to inflict ourselves on some poor, unsuspecting travelers!

 

[MouseinMelbourne]

Me too. I requested a table of our own because we are not-so-great tablemates. For one, we are pretty reserved and quiet. I would be the one frowning at teens having inappropriate conversations in front of my kid. But mainly we'd be not-so-great because DD has a peanut allergy and each and every meal you would have to listen to me discuss it with the server, head server, chef, and Mickey himself. Then, if it wasn't enough to be reminded of a potential death sitting next to you, I would have to ask you not to order peanuts or peanut butter so my kid wouldn't croak.

Not here to starting an argument. When I say "I would have to ask...." I don't mean I would. I wouldn't - because I am making sure we are not sitting with you. I don't want to impinge on anyone else's vacation!

 

[tonypitt]

I had to bump this thread after just returning from a cruise on the Wonder. My wife a I were seated at a 6 top with another couple. We tried but never really hit it off. What made it especially hard was that 1 night we were at Palo and another night they were.

My wife and I both think it would have been much better if we had 6 or even 8 people at our table. A four top makes it harder. I can't figure out why we were seated that way, but I guess it must be SOP.

We were a bit bummed about this and decided that in the future we'd really like to cruise with friends. Dinner could have been a lot of fun. (I'm not blaming the other couple we just never clicked.)

 

[danfromca]

I had to bump this thread after just returning from a cruise on the Wonder. My wife a I were seated at a 6 top with another couple. We tried but never really hit it off. What made it especially hard was that 1 night we were at Palo and another night they were.

My wife and I both think it would have been much better if we had 6 or even 8 people at our table. A four top makes it harder. I can't figure out why we were seated that way, but I guess it must be SOP.

We were a bit bummed about this and decided that in the future we'd really like to cruise with friends. Dinner could have been a lot of fun. (I'm not blaming the other couple we just never clicked.)

One cruise we (party of 3) were seated at a very large table - 8 or 12, I'm not sure. The other people never showed up - so it was 3 of us at a large table all week.

It turned out to be great fun - our wait staff was excellent, and we decided to make every night a mad-hatter type tea-party, where we kept rotating seats not only between meals, but during the meals.

 

[Alexander]

We didn't have bad tablemates, just clueless about the entire cruising process! Family was Mom, Dad and 2 kids (one boy, one girl--pretty young 5 & 8 or so).

Night One: Family arrives 40 minutes into the dinner wearing jean shorts, t-shirts and baseball caps! They didn't know they had to be at dinner at a certain time (and I guessing they didn't know to dress a little better). They order smoothies for their kids and then faint when they are presented a bill to pay for them!

Night Two: Dad doesn't like anything on the menu. He wants a plain steak and a some mashed potatoes. Dad doesn't understand why the menu has so many lists (appetizers, soups, salads, entree, desserts, etc.) Server explains most people order one from each list. Dad comments on how that is an awful lot of food--I quietly push my plate away!

Night Three: Family shows up sunburned like lobsters (Dad has a hugely white forhead where he obviously had his baseball hat on all day!). They don't know they are supposed to pay tips for their servers. They were told that everything was included in their cruise fare.

Night Four: Mom asks me how I know so much about the cruiseline and how things work.

WOW! It amazes me that a family would plunk down that kind of cash and not have a clue what is going on!

 

[hopelea]

My DH would say that he always has bad tablemates...they are his INLAWS

 

[disneycruisegal]

I guess we've been really lucky, although my husband always says I could start a conversation with anyone anywhere. It's usually just me and my DH. Once we sat with a young couple on their honeymoon, they were great. Another time we sat with two other couples, one of the gals was a bit odd, but the others were great and we just ignored her. Our last cruise, an 11 night Med cruise in May, we say a a table for four and it was just the two of us. After the first few nights the staff set the table for only the two of us. While I enjoy my husbands company, it would have been nice to share stories of days adventures in Europe with others. Although, it was very romantic and I think we received extra attention from our servers because it was only the two of us, many times at the end of dinner they would stop and share their own stories.

 

[abouttime]

Funny, I was worried that we will be those bad tablemates, so we requested a Table for 4. It's not that we are awful or anything, but my son is 4, has a mild autism spectrum disorder and sometimes has "issues", particularly in restaurants. I would love to meet new people and have some grown-ups to chat with, but I didn't want to inflict ourselves on some poor, unsuspecting travelers!

We love meeting new people as well and have found some 4year olds have "issues" whether there is a professional diagnosis or not. I am a mom, so i get that..... .... But you should always do what is comfortable for your family (son) and if that is a table for 4 then go 4 it! I bet you are very good tablemates since you are so considerate of others..... just sayin'.

 

[CADisneyMom]

Only once out of 4 times have we had a bad experience. When my daughter was turning 13 on the cruise we were put with a table, in the corner, with a bunch of adults over the age of 50-no kids, and it was just unbearable since there was nothing to talk about to them. Our 3rd cruise we had a table with a mother and her son, same age as my daughter, and we had a good time and it turned out they only lived an hour away from us. It was so cute the boy had a crush on my daughter (who was almost 16) and he got really nervous around her and would drop silverware and stuff. On our last cruise we once again had good table mates, there was a total of I think 8, and there was one other teenager/college girl at our table (my daughter turned 18) and was a designer and made clothes for renessance (?sp) so her and my daughter got along great since my daughter is interested in designing and kinda hung out together. Can't wait to see what we get on our next cruise in April.

 

[tinker1bell]

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!

Are you going on the September 18 one??? Why not come over to our thread. A lot of us are going to link our dining reservations. Since most of have been chatting for a while, some as long as 2 years now, it will be nice to sit together or at least in the same general area.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2515426

 

[doombuqqy]

We have been on 3 cruises only one just the DH and I. We are a family of 5 and were seated at a table for 5. On our adult only cruise DH and I were seated with 2 other couples.One couple was very chatty and the other not so much. They ate with us on the first night and then again the last night. She said she had very bad motion sickness but you could tell the whole situation made them uncomfortable. Both couples were significanty older than us but that didn't matter. The couple we ate with every night were great, she worked at WDW and loved to joke around,so does my husband. We are doing the adult only thing again and I am nervous and excited only because I am a tad shy but I will adjust. As for the families with children with special needs autism etc. I would share a table with you anyday.

 

[idreamaway]

It wasn't that we had a BAD experience... but we had a slightly awkward experience this past March on the Magic. It was just me and DH and we were at a four top with two girls in their mid twenties... both graduate students (and young enough to be our daughters!). Very nice, very mature, very interesting girls... but one just so happened to be dating our head server. She was visiting him on her spring break and her friend had come along with her for the visit. Of course, our table was doted on more than others (head server was over every night making sure we had everything we wanted, and we got seated with his rotation's best servers... they brought us all extra goodies, etc...) because of the connection, and it seemed every CM on the ship knew our head server's GF and everyone came over to talk to her over the course of the cruise, but it also seemed like they had to hold back on a lot of conversation because DH and I were there. The couple couldn't really be themselves because he had to maintain professionalism while visiting/waiting on the table. So it kind of felt like we were a bother. It didn't help that we overheard the girlfriend's friend remarking to her that she thought it was weird that they had tablemates because they never did when they came to visit, and she wondered why the head server couldn't arrange it. Still, they were very sweet to our faces. Another interesting tidbit...it also seemed like the girlfriend and the head server initially started dating while she was a guest on the ship and he was a CM (She was American, he was European... she had been on A LOT of cruises... and other things that we caught during the course of 7 nights of conversation)... but I could never figure out the whole story. If so... that would've been even more note worthy.

Anyway, they were probably the best table mates we've had as far as interesting speculation, juicy gossip, and seeing the "other side" of the way the ship/CM's work ... but an awkward situation, nonetheless.

 

[Lil' Grumpy]

, eastd. fan . we too were on the the 2008 pc cruise.

, glad we missed that, how horrible!

[ we were on second seating & away from the main group. as
it turn out, we had great table~mates special memories & a
magical cruise.]

must have ran into some of them on night. came upon
the little platform area & was surprised it was not crowded.
[first clue]. so i was quietly taping the characters' show but shortly
after the show, "the lady-beast" spotted me. she wasn't too happy,
that someone dare take a spot even though it was a "common/ground"
area. [ it wasn't like i was trying to sneak on her room balcony.] &
she thinks she famous, but nothing but a class A, personality
disorder.
[ i work mental health.] after she tried to bump me off, by
ramming me, sicking her husband [ way too old for her, "think gold-
digger"], she made up a bull story, that she was attacked (wishful
thinking) to the disney security. this is where mental health is a
great benefit. let's see your marks? & let's go to the video. they came
back & asked if i wanted to press charges. that when miss-up personality,
started balling. since then, it what she been posting here that really
demonstrated of her issues.[ c/o mothers changing babies, _ who would go
out of their way to watch that except a sick, attention seeker? or
threatening to grab a guest camera & tossing it on a ride ? * if we ever meet
again & she does any destroying on my property , she will face charges. the
video camera don't tell lies. ]

of ocurse, she like changing the facts to protect her self. however, she
will remember what was told to her that night, " you really don't like the
reflection, in the mirror, do you?" [ that quieter her down ]. she really
don't understand there's a difference between being famous versus
being notorious. and there's isn't enough money to make up her
differences...old girl, sure glad i don't work for disney, seeing what
they have to put up with. [ makes you wonder in close quarters-uck!
something that could ruin one's appetite. ]

hey susan, , did you read where we are blt's owners? we
, & brought a double contact! we are going over christmas x
2 weeks. are you & scott doing the dvc cruise by chance? or
christmas...maybe you & family could visit us @ the totw lounge?

 

[stevenpensacola]

Anybody else scared that they are going to read about themselves in one of these posts?

 

[acourtwdw]

Yup! I'm waiting for the story that starts "there were 2 sisters..."

 

[stevenpensacola]

Yup! I'm waiting for the story that starts "there were 2 sisters..."

 

[wcw57]

Steven...

if you read back aways you'll see where I KNOW...I just KNOW that the one horror story is about a relative of mine and her other family....

the nicest people in the world but you wouldn't want to be trapped on a ship or, worse yet, a ship's dining room with them.........

we are STILL laughing about this.....

and, thankfully, she doesn't read these posts

 

[twindaddy]

Ok, I may be bad for bumping such an old thread, but I have had a sick enjoyment reading this thread for the last hour or so. Anyone have a good updated stories?

 

[lostinyonkers]

Ok, I may be bad for bumping such an old thread, but I have had a sick enjoyment reading this thread for the last hour or so. Anyone have a good updated stories?

Yeah thanks for bumping this thread. Now I just spent the last hour reading through all these and remembering some of my own awkward cruise dinner moments. Now I'm stressed out thinking about our upcoming cruise!!