Ever have awful Table mates?

[VennDiagram]

1 hour ago, DarrenM said:

 

 

My wife and I prefer our own table, and the thought of sharing with folk like described above would be awful.

 

 

In my and my DH's humble opinions, we think it continues to be worth the gamble.  We've met some wonderful people at cruise dinner tables.   We've also met some not-wonderful people but the good have far outweighed the bad 🙂

[DarrenM]

I can see the benefit, and I am sure in time, we may do the same.

[ontheweb]

8 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

Included the crew by the way. Some lovely people.

Yes, hard working, lovely people.

[DarrenM]

incredibly hard working, and deserving of complete respect. We spoke to lots and the sacrifices they make are heart wrenching. Leaving their children for 7 months or so at a time, is something I could never have considered.

[DarrenM]

And still some folk were rude to them.

[MicCanberra]

2 hours ago, DarrenM said:

Included the crew by the way. Some lovely people.

Especially the crew IME.

[MicCanberra]

2 hours ago, DarrenM said:

And still some folk were rude to them.

They are the worst, the ones that talk down to them.

[pris993]

Two times.  First time was a couple of Travel Agents... who were cruising for free and decided my dh  should not ask for anything special, that did not cover well.  We changed tables the next day. .  Another time we shared a table with two other couples who were drinking more than we were comfortable with , we did not change tables ... but tried to politely not get involved with their heavy drinking.  

[zitsky]

I'm starting to understand why people want a table for two.

[Tonopah]

46 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I'm starting to understand why people want a table for two.

 

Perhaps there should be a thread entitled “tell me about your wonderful table mates” to (hopefully?) get a more balanced picture.

[clo]

3 minutes ago, Tonopah said:

 

Perhaps there should be a thread entitled “tell me about your wonderful table mates” to (hopefully?) get a more balanced picture.

Love that.  AND totally off-topic, love your screen name.  We live in Reno and my husband's stepfather was from Tonapah.

[zitsky]

9 hours ago, Tonopah said:

 

Perhaps there should be a thread entitled “tell me about your wonderful table mates” to (hopefully?) get a more balanced picture.

 

Please!  This is getting depressing.

[K32682]

10 hours ago, Tonopah said:

 

Perhaps there should be a thread entitled “tell me about your wonderful table mates” to (hopefully?) get a more balanced picture.

 

It would most likely be a much shorter thread. LOL. 

[kochleffel]

10 hours ago, Tonopah said:

 

Perhaps there should be a thread entitled “tell me about your wonderful table mates” to (hopefully?) get a more balanced picture.

 

Last fall I was on a ship where the setup of the MDR did not suit the demographics of the passengers: school was in session and there were no families with children, but the MDR had many, many tables for six and not enough for two. I usually ask to share a table at breakfast but in this case the hostesses were asking all parties of one, two, or three to share a table for six.

 

The last two at my table on the last morning were two elderly women, one with a very large tote bag from which she withdrew a number of different medicine bottles. My heart sank as I saw this, but she was by far the most entertaining person I have ever met on a cruise. She was 90 years old and it was her 56th cruise. I did some mental arithmetic: if I live to that age and cruise three times a year, I can catch up.

 

She was a lifelong resident of New York and loved the city (were were docking at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal that morning). She particularly loved the opera - so do I - and told me all about the past season's productions. It led me to check out the Met's schedule and go to NYC for my birthday.

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, K32682 said:

 

It would most likely be a much shorter thread. LOL. 

 

You'll never know until you/we try it.

[c-boy]

1 hour ago, kochleffel said:

 

Last fall I was on a ship where the setup of the MDR did not suit the demographics of the passengers: school was in session and there were no families with children, but the MDR had many, many tables for six and not enough for two. I usually ask to share a table at breakfast but in this case the hostesses were asking all parties of one, two, or three to share a table for six.

 

The last two at my table on the last morning were two elderly women, one with a very large tote bag from which she withdrew a number of different medicine bottles. My heart sank as I saw this, but she was by far the most entertaining person I have ever met on a cruise. She was 90 years old and it was her 56th cruise. I did some mental arithmetic: if I live to that age and cruise three times a year, I can catch up.

 

She was a lifelong resident of New York and loved the city (were were docking at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal that morning). She particularly loved the opera - so do I - and told me all about the past season's productions. It led me to check out the Met's schedule and go to NYC for my birthday.

and that's  why we cruise and love tables with strangers or new friends.  Life is like a box of chocolates .....

[AV8rix]

I’m solo and I always do fixed, late seating, request table for 6 or 8.  I find that it is just quieter on the upper level.

 

I’ve usually had very good luck with tablemates.  The DRMs (at least at fixed seating) generally try to seat the solos together.

 

But I had one WEIRD experience.  A couple was seated at our table.  Turns out that their tablemates never showed up or something, so the DRM seated them at our table later in the first week of the cruise.  Anyway, both husband and wife ordered from the “always available” choices each night.  I felt kind of sorry for them, eating only steak, chicken, or salmon exclusively.  But I never made a comment about their choices – I do not comment on other folks’ eating choices.

 

That couple, however, were not so polite.  As we all know, Chef Rudi is European.  So our menus have such a great variety of ways to present the protein.  And I always avail myself of those choices….liver, oxtails, carpaccio, sweetbreads, pork belly, escargot, etc.  Well, that couple badgered me every night about eating “offal” and “cat food”.  After about a week I had the DRM reassign me.  Which was too bad because the other tablemates were pleasant.

 

Ooops, forgot that this thread was on the "general" board, not the one for our line.  So I'll just add that I'm talking about my experiences on Holland America.

Edited June 26, 2019 by Av8rix

[clo]

3 hours ago, zitsky said:

 

Please!  This is getting depressing.

You don't have to read it,  ya know?  It can be therapeutic 🙂

[zitsky]

4 minutes ago, clo said:

You don't have to read it,  ya know?  It can be therapeutic 🙂

 

Do most cruise lines put you at the same table?  On Viking it seemed random until we got to know a few people.

[XBGuy]

1 hour ago, Av8rix said:

 

That couple, however, were not so polite.  As we all know, Chef Rudi is European.  So our menus have such a great variety of ways to present the protein.  And I always avail myself of those choices….liver, oxtails, carpaccio, sweetbreads, pork belly, escargot, etc.  Well, that couple badgered me every night about eating “offal” and “cat food”.  After about a week I had the DRM reassign me.  Which was too bad because the other tablemates were pleasant.

 

 

 

I always cringe when a poster or a commentator or, even, an acquaintance makes reference to "weird" food.

[Sancho_proudfoot]

1 hour ago, XBGuy said:

 

I always cringe when a poster or a commentator or, even, an acquaintance makes reference to "weird" food.

 

There used to be a commercial on British TV that went something like "I've never tried Guinness because l don't like it."

Probably much the same for fellow diners who turn their noses up on disgust at "weird" food (like escargot, which personally l love and will happily have at each and every dinner)

[zitsky]

2 hours ago, Av8rix said:

I’m solo and I always do fixed, late seating, request table for 6 or 8.  I find that it is just quieter on the upper level.

 

I’ve usually had very good luck with tablemates.  The DRMs (at least at fixed seating) generally try to seat the solos together.

 

But I had one WEIRD experience.  A couple was seated at our table.  Turns out that their tablemates never showed up or something, so the DRM seated them at our table later in the first week of the cruise.  Anyway, both husband and wife ordered from the “always available” choices each night.  I felt kind of sorry for them, eating only steak, chicken, or salmon exclusively.  But I never made a comment about their choices – I do not comment on other folks’ eating choices.

 

That couple, however, were not so polite.  As we all know, Chef Rudi is European.  So our menus have such a great variety of ways to present the protein.  And I always avail myself of those choices….liver, oxtails, carpaccio, sweetbreads, pork belly, escargot, etc.  Well, that couple badgered me every night about eating “offal” and “cat food”.  After about a week I had the DRM reassign me.  Which was too bad because the other tablemates were pleasant.

 

Ooops, forgot that this thread was on the "general" board, not the one for our line.  So I'll just add that I'm talking about my experiences on Holland America.

 

I didn't like escargot until I had it in a soup at a restaurant.

[Geezer Cruiser]

After three cruises now (two sea and one river), I can say that only a couple of times have I encountered table mates with whom it was fairly clear we weren't clicking. They weren't boorish or bad in any way, just not very interesting. 

 

The clear majority were quite interesting, people I would be happy to run across again. 

 

[navybankerteacher]

5 hours ago, K32682 said:

 

It would most likely be a much shorter thread. LOL. 

Probably so - there seems to be a greater tendency to complain, rather than applaud, on these threads.

[EatonDoolittle]

5 hours ago, K32682 said:

 

It would most likely be a much shorter thread. LOL. 

 

Boring, as well.

How many times can you read "we met the most wonderful people, have kept in touch, lifelong friends, cruise with them every year, blah, blah."

 

Where's the fun in reading that over and over? I see the poster has started such a thread.

I'll stick to reading this one about crazies, thanks.