An unexpected encounter

[sellwingri]

Several years ago, I was talking to my next door neighbor and bragged about our next cruise through the Panama Canal. She's never cruised but had a friend talk her into booking one and you guessed it.....it was the same cruise.

 

The morning of the cruise our cars to pick us up and take us to the airport arrived at the same time and we ended up on the same flight. (There were numerous flight options from Chicago to Ft Lauderdale.). They even sat right in front of us.

 

We didn't see a lot of each other on the cruise but were on the same flight home but this time we sat in front of them.

[JosieRhodes]

Sort of in reverse.... At the meet and mingle gift exchange a family from Pittsburgh (where I was grew up - but we didn't know them) got our gift which was a Syracuse University ornament... Well a year or two later they ended up moving to Syracuse and same school district as us.... We keep in contact....

 

My great aunt was on a Princess cruise tour, and the porter on the train turned out to be a student from her very first year teaching fourth grade in Pittsburgh, this was in 1957. He saw that she was from Pittsburgh, and somehow they got talking about school, and he said he couldn't remember any of his teachers names, but remembered one teacher who had taught him to say democracy correctly... And that was her:). He had gone on to be a lawyer and then he and his wife retired to AK and did porter work for fun in the summer.

[cujosmom]

I have two stories:

 

1. On a Caribbean cruise our assigned seating in the main dining room was with a woman I knew back in 7th grade Homeroom and all the way through high school. More than 40 years had passed since we had graduated. We both had moved to different states. What's the odds of that happening?

 

2. Went on the Royal Caribbean's Mariner last January, 2013 and had some table mates with whom we exchanged telephone numbers. Fast forward to the second week of January, 2014 and out of the blue I get a phone call from the woman who said she had just come across our phone # and wanted to say "Hi". She said she was booked on the Carnival Magic sailing January 26. I said "we are, too!" So weird. I called and got our booking numbers linked and we had another week dining with them.

[Desert Cruizers]

We have never run into anyone we know from home, but dining with the couple who came up on the bus with us to San Pedro, they told us of their surprise when her brother and wife surprised them the night before by knocking on their cabin door. Following the dinner we went to the show and a couple came up asking if the seats next to us were taken. Upon talking to the wife, we learned it was the brother and wife of the couple we were dining with earlier. We have since stayed in touch with and talked about our trips.

Edited February 7, 2014 by Desert Cruizers

[BrissyCruiser]

Not on RC but P & O Australia, we were sitting at a table at lunch time in open dining when the waiters directed a couple to our table.

 

It happened to be our next door neighbours, neither of us knew the other was cruising and a totally random table assignment for lunch...

[monn_a]

I did on three different occasions...two of those were the same couple on two different ships (Allure and Epic) different cruise lines (RCCL and NCL [of course]) and the other was and ex boyfriend with his new wife.

[nanwel]

1st cruise I was on 10 yrs ago. A young couple on their honeymoon

at our table told us the city they were from.

We had a business there, so I commented on some local restraunts etc - complete blanks

And everytime someone called them by name, they did not answer - turns out they were on vacation away from their real spouses, and were not actually a married couple. OOPS!

[babyher]

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:

 

 

 

 

 

*LOL*

 

 

Never on a cruise ship , but back in my wild and crazy youth I worked in some pretty unsavory places . THE premier pick up joint club, a couple strip clubs (JUST BAR TENDING AND BOUNCER *LOL*) and did maintainence in some properties that included an adult book and video store.

 

The people I have seen in and out of those places come in with who they shouldn't have been with, and/or leave with whoever they shouldn't have been with , or doing whatever with whoever. OY I could write a book *LOL*

 

 

 

Today everything is "See something , say something"......I come from the era of "Keep your eyes and ears open , and your big mouth shut, ...and "Snitches Get Stitches" ...plus having a big mouth isn't really good for business in those places *LOL*

[Jessejo]

DH and I were on Celebrity Century to Hawaii in March 2012 and DH asked if a woman sitting nearby was "Gloria". I said I didn't think so. He saw her again the next day and asked the same question. I finally said to go ask her. He said: "Are you Gloria from Tyler, TX?" She said that no she wasn't Gloria but she was from Tyler and her name was Carol. Fast forward to March 2013, same ship, same itinerary; DH saw a woman and said: "Is that Gloria?". I looked up and said, no, that's Carol! We got to meet her husband while waiting for disembarkation. We haven't kept in touch but maybe we'll meet on another cruise.

[orville99]

We've run into friends, coworkers, on almost every cruise we've done in the past six years. On one cruise we even ran into the real estate agent that sold us our house 15 years ago.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[riclop]

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:

More people more fun unless you did not like them.

[malacajo]

In Sep. we were on Oasis and found out 2 weeks prior to going that the parents of very good friends would be onboard. Met up with them several times.

 

Many years ago we were on a Princess cruise. While looking at photos of the 1st Formal night we saw a photo of a Coast Guard Captain and his wife in Mess Dress. I am former Coast Guard. He looked like an old friend but wasn't sure. Turned around and there they were. Hadn't seen him and his wife for 20 years. Spent the rest of the cruise catching up.

 

Best story: A friend and her family were on a Carnival cruise during Spring Break. Her 17 year old high school son went up onto the "topless deck" (go figure). Much to his surprise, he saw his English teacher topless sunbathing! Worst part...his mother was Chairwoman of the School Board. :) Don't think he ever told her (whew). Probably because he was more afraid she'd be mad he was on the topless deck (she would have honored the teachers right to privacy anyway). :)

 

My first response is.....There are "topless" decks on cruises??? Ha ha

[Iamthesea]

Well there are decks with tops, and decks without tops. :D

 

Carnival once had, and may still have a deck where women were allowed to sun without tops.

 

I am curious how the poster to this story knew about what the son saw, if he did not report to his mother. I also wonder if his teacher saw him? One thing is for sure, I highly doubt that he kept this a secret to his classmates. :rolleyes:

Edited February 7, 2014 by Iamthesea

[Nano]

We had just had major repair work done on our HVAC system when we left for a cruise on the Mariner of the Seas with our 2 DDs back in 2007. The repair bill was much larger than we expected and we were still in a bit of shock when we arrived at the port. Imagine our even greater shock when we walked onto the ship and saw the repairman and his wife sitting in lounge chairs by the pool! They said they had just booked the cruise as a last minute getaway....hmmmmmmmm

[Desertbelle]

we had just had major repair work done on our hvac system when we left for a cruise on the mariner of the seas with our 2 dds back in 2007. The repair bill was much larger than we expected and we were still in a bit of shock when we arrived at the port. Imagine our even greater shock when we walked onto the ship and saw the repairman and his wife sitting in lounge chairs by the pool! They said they had just booked the cruise as a last minute getaway....hmmmmmmmm

lol!

[cage keeper]

We can't go anywhere without someone knowing my DH. On ships, Vegas and even having lunch by the beach in St. Martin. While sipping our Margaritas we here there are the -------. Yeah, students.

[dodgersmom]

DH and I on the adventure out of San Juan. At the muster drill, someone calls out DH's name. It's 2 of his cousins and their wives.

 

No idea they were on the ship and the fact that we were all in the same muster station was just unbelievable.

[kruzerci]

It has happened to us several times when sailing from Port Canaveral. One time it was wonderful to see them, the other few times, I cringed :eek:.

 

My favorite thing about cruising is feeling totally disconnected. Seeing people from home takes away from that!

[randb67]

In August, 2012, we were in Barcelona for our first European cruise. We boarded the Liberty of the Seas and took the elevator to the Windjammer. When the doors opened, we were surprised to see a couple from our church standing there. They changed their dining table to ours, and we were able to share some of Europe's sites with them. We all had a great time.

[suekay]

We were on our first Caribbean cruise watching the champagne fountain when somebody called my name. It was the ship doctor. I didn't know that he'd gone to work for Princess when he left the ER in England where I'm a nurse. He arranged to show me round the medical centre where I was impressed and reassured by the facilities onboard

[Havin'fun]

On Explorer last October we ran in to a couple, we knew their names, they knew our names and we are all from Michigan. Strange thing is, over the course of the cruise we could never figure out how we knew each other!

[Renae329]

Several years ago, we were sitting around the piano, when the piano player started to play sweet home Chicago. Everyone yelled, cheered, etc. after the song the piano player asked us where we all were from, everyone around the piano, about 12 of us were all from the same town. A few traveling together, most of us not. Our kids went to the same school, such a small world.