Who has decided to take a summer staycation cruise?

[zap99]

17 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Thanks Wowzz.

Unfortunately people like to brag probably because they feel inferior and need to try to impress which is sad but I find that type of person boring and try to quickly make our excuses and leave.

I would never brag. In all of our 732 cruises have I never bragged.😂

[mrsgoggins]

29 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Graham, I wish there were people like you. 

Why do some people take the first opportunity they can to tell you how many cruises they have been on, and then expect you to be impressed?

Now you see, I would be the person interested in that information and would want to ask you about what you liked about one cruise over another, the destinations etc. I’m a curious person about such things, but I don’t care what sort of cabin you are in because that is unlikely to sway my future choices (must have a balcony, mid ship or mid aft 😉) I’m not going to volunteer my cruise history but if someone asks, I’ll tell them.

 

However, I do think it’s easier to sort the boasters out from those who are happy to share information....... I hope 😄

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

Now you see, I would be the person interested in that information and would want to ask you about what you liked about one cruise over another, the destinations etc. I’m a curious person about such things, but I don’t care what sort of cabin you are in because that is unlikely to sway my future choices (must have a balcony, mid ship or mid aft 😉) I’m not going to volunteer my cruise history but if someone asks, I’ll tell them.

 

However, I do think it’s easier to sort the boasters out from those who are happy to share information....... I hope 😄

I see nothing wrong in asking questions,  sharing information about different ships etc.

It's those people that start the conversation by asking how many cruises you have been on, (very few in our case) so that they can immediately tell you in great detail their cruise history!

[mrsgoggins]

6 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I see nothing wrong in asking questions,  sharing information about different ships etc.

It's those people that start the conversation by asking how many cruises you have been on, (very few in our case) so that they can immediately tell you in great detail their cruise history!

Yes agreed, but I’d rather someone talked to me about their cruising history than their medical history, which has happened to me a few times.  DH tells me it’s my own fault for looking so interested 😄

[yorkshirephil]

1 minute ago, mrsgoggins said:

Yes agreed, but I’d rather someone talked to me about their cruising history than their medical history, which has happened to me a few times.  DH tells me it’s my own fault for looking so interested 😄

I don't mind what anyone talks about if I am interested as long as I am talked to rather than at. Some people are interesting and have a wealth of knowledge and experience, sometimes you have to persevere a little, We once sat with 4 Canadians on a dinner table for 6, 2 from the east coast and 2 from the west, each couple were trumpeting the virtues of their coast, in a nice way as we had never been to Canada and were interested in where was the best places to go. The following year we went to Vancouver and Alaska and then the year after down the St Lawrence to Quebec and Montreal and it was everything we were told it would be. We may not have done those 2 cruises if it were not for meeting the Canadians. 

[SarahHben]

As a newbie I’d be really interested to hear people talk about how many cruises people had done, how often, where to etc. I must remember not to ask though 😂

[Adawn47]

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Unfortunately it is UK passengers not RCG to blame.

I have seen that type on RC and P&O from Southampton but rarely on Royal from Barcelona,Civitavecchia,Venice,Port Canaveral,New York or Malaga.

I have to say that you're right about that Graham. A woman on Indy, who worked at Southampton at the time, said that they have a nickname for Indy. The DHS Express.

In  over 30 years of travelling abroad, coming through customs from that cruise was the first and only time we were stopped and our cases opened and searched. I was mortified. In fact, it's the first time I've ever seen any customs officers in there, and every table was manned. Just goes to show!!!

Avril

[grapau27]

3 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

I have to say that you're right about that Graham. A woman on Indy, who worked at Southampton at the time, said that they have a nickname for Indy. The DHS Express.

In  over 30 years of travelling abroad, coming through customs from that cruise was the first and only time we were stopped and our cases opened and searched. I was mortified. In fact, it's the first time I've ever seen any customs officers in there, and every table was manned. Just goes to show!!!

Avril

The Canary Islands cruises are ones where I have seen Southampton customs at work.

Someone had a suitcase full of cigarettes.

Fortunately we have never had a suitcase search but we don't bring back spirits and neither of us smoke.

Edited May 9, 2021 by grapau27

[Adawn47]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

Thanks Wowzz.

Unfortunately people like to brag probably because they feel inferior and need to try to impress which is sad but I find that type of person boring and try to quickly make our excuses and leave.

Now you know why we won't share a table. People can get rather annoyed when you politely tell to mind their own business and it's spoils my appetite😉

Avril

[Adawn47]

12 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

The Canary Islands cruises are ones where I have seen Southampton customs at work.

Someone had a suitcase full of cigarettes.

Fortunately we have never had a suitcase search but we don't bring back spirits and neither of us smoke.

We never bring back more than our allowance, never cigarettes, and carry it in our hand luggage. The rudeness, and I mean rude, not efficient,  of the customs officer was astounding, I felt like a criminal. He even have the temerity to slap my hand away when I went to rescue a pair of trousers that he carelessly threw over the side of my case. I've never been treated like that in my entire life. I know it wasn't anything to do with RCI, but it was the final straw.

Avril

[grapau27]

8 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

We never bring back more than our allowance, never cigarettes, and carry it in our hand luggage. The rudeness, and I mean rude, not efficient,  of the customs officer was astounding, I felt like a criminal. He even have the temerity to slap my hand away when I went to rescue a pair of trousers that he carelessly threw over the side of my case. I've never been treated like that in my entire life. I know it wasn't anything to do with RCI, but it was the final straw.

Avril

That was disgusting Avril the customs officer doing that and being so rude to nice law abiding people.

Slapping your hand was assault.

Graham.

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by grapau27

[grapau27]

30 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

Now you know why we won't share a table. People can get rather annoyed when you politely tell to mind their own business and it's spoils my appetite😉

Avril

We always get a table for 2 Avril.

Graham.

[zap99]

31 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

We always get a table for 2 Avril.

Graham.

I always get to the MDR check in before DW. She always ask for 2 tables for one, or can she sit with those nice single young men🤔

[grapau27]

52 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I always get to the MDR check in before DW. She always ask for 2 tables for one, or can she sit with those nice single young men🤔

On all our previous cruises the only time Pauline and I are apart outside our cabin is when I was in the gym on the weight machines.

[Beckett]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

We always get a table for 2 Avril.

Graham.

Me too Graham and Avril. If travelling with family obviously not, but when travelling alone, I prefer to sit alone. I have shared on tables of 6 or 8 in the past but found it a bit of an ordeal. One of the shared tables of 8 was made up of singles and it was like a Grab a Granny ( or grandad) Convention. I only stuck it out for 3 nights (of 14) then ate in the buffet the rest of the time.

 

So if you come across a slightly battered, bleached blonde old girl in the MDR, sitting alone and happy with it, don't be scared - it's me!

 

Jane.x

[P&O SUE]

5 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

 Maybe I should have said more 'normal', as in a cruise liner, not a huge floating city, with all the noisy crowds that entails. I would have been more comfortable on the S.S Happy Wanderer than Indy any day.

Avril

I have liked this post for your mention of HMS Happy Wanderer! 😊

[P&O SUE]

2 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

We never bring back more than our allowance, never cigarettes, and carry it in our hand luggage. The rudeness, and I mean rude, not efficient,  of the customs officer was astounding, I felt like a criminal. He even have the temerity to slap my hand away when I went to rescue a pair of trousers that he carelessly threw over the side of my case. I've never been treated like that in my entire life. I know it wasn't anything to do with RCI, but it was the final straw.

Avril

That’s awful Avril, I’m shocked at that behaviour!

[P&O SUE]

On our first cruise on our first night we were on those tables for two that aren’t very far from the next one. The couple next to us asked how many cruises we’d done - when I said it was our first he just said ‘oh’ and looked a bit disgusted 😆 

 

Funnily enough I don’t think anyone has asked us since!

 

[Josy1953]

We are an anti-social couple and always ask for a table for 2.  Last year on Oceana we were a little later than usual when we got to the MDR and there were no tables for 2 so we ended up on a table for 6 and I have to say that we had a brilliant evening everyone was happy to be talking to everyone else.  We ended up being asked to leave because they wanted to set the table up for breakfast the next morning so we all went together to the bar and carried on the conversation there.

There was no talk about how many or few cruises anyone had done other than one lady asked if everyone had cruised before and we all just said yes.

Maybe we have been lucky because even in the days when everyone had set dining times we never had bad table companions and are still in contact with 5 couples from our earlier cruises.

[Josy1953]

3 hours ago, grapau27 said:

The Canary Islands cruises are ones where I have seen Southampton customs at work.

Someone had a suitcase full of cigarettes.

Fortunately we have never had a suitcase search but we don't bring back spirits and neither of us smoke.

I have also noticed that the Canaries cruises seem to bring out the customs officers.  We have never had our cases searched but we have seen people being pulled over.  When I worked I was a frequent traveller to various parts of the world doing anything up to 30 return trips abroad in a year and was never stopped.  I used to wonder whether I look so boring that they thought that there was no way that I would be smuggling, if so they were definitely right.  I would be terrified to be caught doing something illegal.

[Cathygh]

When we were new to cruising we always asked people how many they had done as we wanted to hear their stories and what their advice was. My DH still asks the question as he struggles with small talk and he finds it a good ice breaker. We are not boasting when we say how nay we've done and have only once met someone who dismissively said 'too many to say.'

Please be aware that when pax are asking the question it could be the only way they know of starting a conversation they feel comfortable with

Cathy

[alpha whiskey]

6 hours ago, grapau27 said:

As someone who suffered from motion sickness unless I was driving I was not interested in cruising until I was persuaded to go on the DFDS cruiseferry from Newcastle to Gothenburg in 2000.

We did a few to Norway Sweden and Amsterdam and I was only seasick a couple of times so we started proper cruising in 2003 on Aurora and cruised 3 times a year ever since.

If only they could bring back those DFDS ferries across the North Sea again from Harwich . So lovely just to drive your car across to Denmark! 

[grapau27]

5 hours ago, wowzz said:

I see nothing wrong in asking questions,  sharing information about different ships etc.

It's those people that start the conversation by asking how many cruises you have been on, (very few in our case) so that they can immediately tell you in great detail their cruise history!

That's my take on it too.

Usually Pauline does most of our talking in company and is pretty clueless on what ships, loyalty etc we are so she doesn't talk cruising.

I prefer to talk about most sport's and rarely talk about cruising except on here.

Graham.

[grapau27]

5 hours ago, SarahHben said:

As a newbie I’d be really interested to hear people talk about how many cruises people had done, how often, where to etc. I must remember not to ask though 😂

If you saw us on a ship you and Pauline would be best friends straight away but you wouldn't be talking cruising.

I think you would get most of the information you need on here so you could avoid boring braggers on board.

I have lost count how many  people have asked us How much we paid for our cruise then happily say they got theirs for £×××

[zap99]

2 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

If you saw us on a ship you and Pauline would be best friends straight away but you wouldn't be talking cruising.

I think you would get most of the information you need on here so you could avoid boring braggers on board.

I have lost count how many  people have asked us How much we paid for our cruise then happily say they got theirs for £×××

We like to talk to our fellow cruisers about their experiences. Most of the American guests and many from the UK don't know where Woking is, so we say we come from just south of London. We were chatting to a gent from the US, he was about 90. Where do you guys come from?. Just south of London..... where abouts?......Woking.....that's not just south of London is it, it's about 30 miles South. It transpired that in the 50's he was stationed about half a mile from our house. Every day's a school day on cruises😂