An unexpected encounter

[Marie51]

Hasn't happened to me but did happen to a friend/coworker I was traveling with. She ran into her ex-fiance on a Princess cruise. She hadn't seen him in 15 years and he didn't recognize her because when they were engaged she weighed 95 lbs and she had ballooned up to 210. She had to tell him who she was and was very embarrassed by the whole thing. They ended up having dinner together at one of the specialty restaurants but afterwards she said she wished she'd never run into him.

A very awkward situation to say the least.

[BeagleOne]

I was on a trans-Atlantic crossing on the QE2 and ran into a couple I knew. They were from New Zealand. I'm American. We were all living on Guam at the time.

[Tucker in Texas]

We were seated at a large table at breakfast in the MDR on a TA from Barcelona to Galveston so it was loaded with Texans. We introduced ourselves and i said "Owen" (I'm female). The lady across from me asked if I had a son named Alex. Well, yes, what has he done? She laughed and said she has known him for years when computers were in their infancy because he hung around their house with their daughter "talking and learning computers."

 

He still goes to see them when home and she was at his wedding though my son did not introduce us.

 

She has a common name like "Mary Smith" so I didn't pick up on it when she introduced herself. Not only did I "know" her, I have their phone number on my Rolodex just in case I ever needed to chase my son down. She said she figured I might be his mother because she only "knew" of one female named Owen and it was Alex's mother.

 

Another time, at breakfast, we were seated with the parents of Alex's best friend. We didn't know they were on the cruise, too.

 

Tucker in Texas

[MaynrdG]

Yes; twice. Both on Princess.

 

I was a police officer at the time and bumped into someone I had arrested. I recognized her right away but everytime I saw her throughout the cruise she had that "Where do I know you from?" look on her face. I never spoke to her and she never figured it out as far as I know.

 

The second time we ran into some good friends of ours from Denver. We had moved away several years prior and hadn't seen them since then.

[DrD]

No, all my family, friends, and acquaintances know I'm going on a cruise for months ahead of time. Many of them could tell you exactly how many days until I go.

[sdear]

I have run into one of my staff ( same person ) on two separate cruises now !

 

We have decided in the future to talk about any cruise plans! :D

[Missus Makkem]

We were on the Indie a few years back and my husband was talking to Emma the LA and she asked where I was when this gentleman asked if they were talking about and he said my maiden name so my husband said well that was her name til she married me.

Turns out we were at school together many many years ago and he had been in Australia for 34 years.

When they come back to the NE of England to visit relatives they pop in to see us, small world or what.

[chadbeck]

How embarrassing for him/her.:eek: :o How long after the cruise was he/she still an employee? ;)

 

Gwen :)

 

It may have not been a big deal. Could have been from a injury or a major illness that caused them to not work but still live life.

 

Back on track I haven't ever run into anyone that I know personally but have many time talked with people from the same town. One person lived a street over from me. Even that makes you realize how small the world is at times.

[Carguylee]

On 2 of our 5 cruises we have run into people we know. First one was on day 4 of our 5 day cruise, so we didn't end up seeing them again.

 

The other time was on day 3 of our 7 day, so we ended up hanging out a little bit.

[AmyWrites]

I had my dissertation professor tell me he couldn't work with me from Jan 11-18 since he wouldn't be in the country.

 

Ran into him in the muster drill :D He also had the stateroom next to mine

[Static events]

Some real good stories

 

:D

[Jeannie333333]

Yes, DW and I were on RCCL cruise a couple of years ago and ran into one of my employees that was on sick leave.

 

 

whoops ...:eek:

[Iamthesea]

Hasn't happened to me but did happen to a friend/coworker I was traveling with. She ran into her ex-fiance on a Princess cruise. She hadn't seen him in 15 years and he didn't recognize her because when they were engaged she weighed 95 lbs and she had ballooned up to 210. She had to tell him who she was and was very embarrassed by the whole thing. They ended up having dinner together at one of the specialty restaurants but afterwards she said she wished she'd never run into him.

A very awkward situation to say the least.

 

I wouldn't have told him who I was and would have run the other way whenever I spotted him. :D

[Canadian Tyler]

Last January I mentioned to my next door neighbour that we were going n a cruise Jan 13. "So are we!". Royal Caribbean? Yes. From fort lauderdale? Yes. Ended up bring on Allure while we were on Independence. But turned out we were staying at the same Sleep Inn pre cruise. My daughter and thir granddaughter had a blast in the hotel pool together, but were both too young to realize how funny it is to see each other so far from home.

 

The year before we met a couple at that Sleep Inn from our hometown too.

 

That same year my mom was at the airport on the wa to her cruise and ran into another neighbour of mine also going to a cruise. Small world.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited February 6, 2014 by Canadian Tyler

[one9marine]

i belong to a military organization ( the unit i served with in Viet nam). while in san juan waiting for our cruise a fellow Marine from the unit recognized me. he was working in PR.

[mollyeilis]

We witnessed such a reunion last week in Sint Maarten. We were on one side of the street and heard a happy ruckus. Looked over, and realized it was two couples who didn't realize they would both be there. Not sure if they were on the same ship (we were there on a day with 5 ships) or not, but it was still really cool. I'm unashamedly curious about people, and had no problem going over and offering to take a picture for them! They seemed very happy to have that offer. :)

[cruise_control]

My son ran into a classmate on a cruise in 2008. Another funny story - back when we sailed the NCL SS Norway, I was able to meet a "celebrity" -- it was Gary Sandy, who played program director Andy Travis on WKRP in Cincinnati. I mentioned to him that I knew Frank Bonner (who played Herb Tarlek) because I went to HS with his daughter. He knew Frank's daughter as well, so we ended up talking quite a while. It made for an interesting connection.

[Let'sGo!]

Not exactly on the cruise ship... but our very first cruise 10+ years ago we stopped in Key West. My husband and I decided to go find Margaritaville and we started walking. It seemed like we had walked forever and we were just about to turn around and give up. For some reason my hubby convinced me to go one more block. As we were continuing on our way, we heard someone call out our names. We were stunned to see one of our good friends who had moved to Miami a year before!

 

Turns out her husband was working and the kids had a play date, so she decided to drive down to Key West and enjoy some chill time. She had just sat down at this little courtyard cafe when she saw us walk by. We spent most of the afternoon sitting with her -- AND never made it to Margaritaville!

 

Ann

[BND]

All out of Baltimore, which makes sense since we live about an hour away, all onboard Enchantment and on two separate cruises. A former shipmate of DH's from his active Navy time was on Enchantment with us. He actually saw us in the waiting area at the pier before we boarded and came over to talk to us. The second was at breakfast one morning we were talking with our table mates. One woman realized she knew DH. She had gone out with DH's brother a few times in HS and DH knew her brother. We ended up at breakfast completely randomly again a couple of days later with her and her DH. This last one, we knew that my mom's former neighbor was going to be on the same cruise as we were. They were in a group of 8 old friends. We ran into them every day which is pretty easy on EN. DH hadn't seen the former shipmate in about 30 years and his brother's ex in closer to 35. It's not likely we'd be surprised and run into current friends as they all know we cruise and usually know when. Most of our friends do not cruise.

Edited February 6, 2014 by BND

[Desertbelle]

Back in 1999 my daughter and son decided to get married just 6 weeks apart. My daughter's wedding was first and a lot of hard work, and as soon as it was over we jumped right into the planning of our sons wedding. And just to make matters even more tense, one of our other sons graduated high school the same week as my sons wedding. UGH!!

 

On the Wednesday before my son's wedding I arrived at work and thought I am about to have a serious melt down and need a vacation...maybe I should call a travel agent and see if we could book one of those 3 or 4 day cruises to Mexico from Los Angeles (just a 4 hour drive away). I call and she says she knew of a cruise for 7 days that was cheaper than a 4 day cruise leaving this Sunday!! This Sunday?? Holy cow, could I pull off a high school graduation, a graduation dinner, a rehearsal dinner and a wedding and still pack and be in LA on Sunday afternoon?

 

I call my husband and ask him if he could take the next week off, and he said no, there was too much he had to do that week at work. I call the TA and tell her no, but maybe she could find us something else in a few weeks.

 

The next morning while we are dressing for my sons graduation the phone rings and it's my husbands boss telling him that he would cover all his work for the week and we should take that cruise!!! WOW!! I call the TA and ask her if that deal was still available, she says to give her all my credit card and personal information and she will call and book it immediately, if it is still available. She calls back about 20 minutes later and says we are booked, no refunds, we are going on a cruise in 3 days!!

 

I say to her, how excited I am and how much I need this cruise, I hope I can pack in time, and isn't it funny, my son and his new bride will be going on a cruise Sunday also to Mexico. She pauses a moment and says, there is only ONE ship in Los Angeles going to Mexico on Sunday and it's the one I just booked you on!!! What the what?????? I was a new cruiser, I thought there were dozens of ships leaving ports every day, not just one!!!

 

Oh my Goodness, I just booked my sons Honeymoon!! Ooops!!

 

Later at the graduation my oldest son comes to sit with us, and everyone but him knows what we have done and are awaiting the telling, laughing and enjoying the possible fit about to take place. I say, Matt we need to talk. My husband says, do you need a ride to LA on Sunday?? My son immediately gets there is something up and says Why? What's going on? and I blurt out the news. He laughs and says it's great!! When his bride comes in a few minutes later and we tell her, she says that her whole family went on her brother's honeymoon to Hawaii and she thinks it will be fun to have us around! Whew!!

 

We ended up not seeing each other all that much on the cruise, spent two of the ports with them and had a wonderful time. Our first cruise on a cruise ship!! We've done 20 now, I guess we like cruising!

[LetsGetWet!]

Back in 1999 my daughter and son decided to get married just 6 weeks apart. My daughter's wedding was first and a lot of hard work, and as soon as it was over we jumped right into the planning of our sons wedding. And just to make matters even more tense, one of our other sons graduated high school the same week as my sons wedding. UGH!!

 

On the Wednesday before my son's wedding I arrived at work and thought I am about to have a serious melt down and need a vacation...maybe I should call a travel agent and see if we could book one of those 3 or 4 day cruises to Mexico from Los Angeles (just a 4 hour drive away). I call and she says she knew of a cruise for 7 days that was cheaper than a 4 day cruise leaving this Sunday!! This Sunday?? Holy cow, could I pull off a high school graduation, a graduation dinner, a rehearsal dinner and a wedding and still pack and be in LA on Sunday afternoon?

 

I call my husband and ask him if he could take the next week off, and he said no, there was too much he had to do that week at work. I call the TA and tell her no, but maybe she could find us something else in a few weeks.

 

The next morning while we are dressing for my sons graduation the phone rings and it's my husbands boss telling him that he would cover all his work for the week and we should take that cruise!!! WOW!! I call the TA and ask her if that deal was still available, she says to give her all my credit card and personal information and she will call and book it immediately, if it is still available. She calls back about 20 minutes later and says we are booked, no refunds, we are going on a cruise in 3 days!!

 

I say to her, how excited I am and how much I need this cruise, I hope I can pack in time, and isn't it funny, my son and his new bride will be going on a cruise Sunday also to Mexico. She pauses a moment and says, there is only ONE ship in Los Angeles going to Mexico on Sunday and it's the one I just booked you on!!! What the what?????? I was a new cruiser, I thought there were dozens of ships leaving ports every day, not just one!!!

 

Oh my Goodness, I just booked my sons Honeymoon!! Ooops!!

 

Later at the graduation my oldest son comes to sit with us, and everyone but him knows what we have done and are awaiting the telling, laughing and enjoying the possible fit about to take place. I say, Matt we need to talk. My husband says, do you need a ride to LA on Sunday?? My son immediately gets there is something up and says Why? What's going on? and I blurt out the news. He laughs and says it's great!! When his bride comes in a few minutes later and we tell her, she says that her whole family went on her brother's honeymoon to Hawaii and she thinks it will be fun to have us around! Whew!!

 

We ended up not seeing each other all that much on the cruise, spent two of the ports with them and had a wonderful time. Our first cruise on a cruise ship!! We've done 20 now, I guess we like cruising!

Great story! :)

[GTMoose]

Pretty good stories, but I'm still waiting to see a story of someone running into a married friend or family member that is on a cruise with someone that is not their spouse! :eek:

[shopping is fun]

We had 3 coincidences on one cruise: 1.) At the muster drill, we were next to a woman who was from our city (a large midwest metro area). We kept running into her and her soccer-playing son and continued to chat. Turned out she worked where I previously worked, and her son played soccer for a rival high school. In fact, at the very first soccer tournament our girls had when we returned home (at a huge soccer complex), we saw that boy leaving the same field right before one of our daughter’s next game. 2.) While sitting at the Battle of the Sexes game, one college-age contestant stated she was from our city. She then sat down next to us when her turn was over. We asked her parents where they lived and after a few minutes of “narrowing it down further”, we determined they live in our neighborhood, less than a mile from our house! We didn’t know them (obviously), but had many mutual friends. 3.)Then we ran into one of our daughter’s soccer teammates and family crossing a busy street in St. Thomas, heading into the same store as us. They were vacationing there, and they had picked that day to go into town for shopping, not realizing there were 6 cruise ships in port that day!

[negc]

An unexpected encounter:

 

Has anyone bumped into family or friends on a RCCL cruise without knowing they were going on the cruise?

 

We have met 3 different sets of friends/family whilst sailing with RCCL without knowing they were going on the cruise.

 

:cool:

 

We were on the 2002 Westbound TA from Harwich, UK to Boston - seven days all at sea (no ports in between) and it wasn't until the last night of the cruise that I encountered a fellow I had worked with for several years. Considering that the ship is relatively small and we were always around and about both day and night, it was amazing that we didn't run up against one another before then.

 

A few nights before a repositioning cruise, my wife and I were attending a relative's wake when a cousin I hadn't seen for some time mentioned that she and her husband, who now lived in Florida, were returning home by way of a cruise the following weekend - the very same cruise we were taking.

[Missus Makkem]

How refreshing to enjoy a thread as much as I have this one.

Not a single piece of nastiness but just interesting stories from a wide variety of posters.

Thanks to OP and all the posters who came after you and told us some great stories. :)