The table from Hell!

[lougee1043]

im thinking that there should be a charter cruise for dining pax from hell as well as others in the hell catagory ----then they will finally realize what kind of impression they make on others

[mtnmommy]

My mother and I had the best table ever on our Panama Canal cruise-a couple from Canada and a couple from Australia. We keep in touch and are hoping to cruise together again, with my family along because these couples feel like dear aunts and uncles to me. But the husbands (all in their late 60s) are both hard of hearing. After a few days, my Mom and the other ladies sat on one side of the six-top and put me (the "youngster") in between the two men. Since they couldn't hear well, they talked to me loudly from both sides at the same time, and I "translated" the conversation for them ("What are they talking about now?") while their wives giggled at my plight!

 

My Mom and I did have trouble on our South American cruise from the table next to us. Our table was wonderful--a couple, a solo lady, and an empty seat that we filled by inviting friends and some of the guest entertainers to dinner (usually they were my age and happy to join a group--cruising can get lonely for them.) We had a great time, lots of stories and laughter. We had fun but, honestly, we didn't exactly raise the roof. This was late seating, and we were surrounded by relaxed groups--except for the six-top next to us. Apparently, at their table, dinner was to be treated with quiet reverence, much like a funeral service, and we were defiling the solemnity of the experience. They sat in silence, breaking their meditation only to shoot us evil looks and send an occasional loud "harrumph!" in our direction.

 

By week two, I suggested that we break the tension of this dining Cold War by lobbing dinner rolls at them when they weren't looking. Unfortunately, since I was traveling with my mother, she reminded me that she had raised me to be a lady (albeit an apparently boisterous one.)

[HeatherInFlorida]

We've been so lucky. We have always had fantastic tables. We've never had less than 6, usually 8 and once 10. A couple of times there might be one person who was a little quiet or seemed disinterested, but other than that we've had the best times.

 

I think it has everything to do with how good a cruise it is. For us, the people we meet and talk to everynight at dinner are the high point of the cruise. It's one reason we stick with traditional dining rather than the lines that offer "freestyle".

[RevNeal]

I think it has everything to do with how good a cruise it is. For us, the people we meet and talk to everynight at dinner are the high point of the cruise. It's one reason we stick with traditional dining rather than the lines that offer "freestyle".

 

Agreed, Heather. The importance of developing those table groups and relationships are among the reasons why I prefer traditional dining as well. I've made friends around those dinner tables that have continued to this day. Even the lady who was upset that Christopher sat in her chair one night was, otherwise, quite a nice person and a pleasure to be around. She just had some strange hang-ups. But ... then ... don't we all? :eek: ;)

[babyher]

Never had tablemates from hell per se, but did have one funny albeit tense experience.

 

First cruise ever...on my honeymoon with my 1st wife.

Had a table for eight with 4 girls about our age (early 20s at the time) and another couple. We all got along great, lots of pleasent conversation and fun.

 

After dinner the first night, my wife tells me that one of the 4 girls is obviously smitten with me and she can tell was flirting with me. She wasn't angry or anything just laughed about it. Well yes she was very bubbly and chatty with me, but i am the same way with people and I am not that much of an egotist to think every girl who smiles at me and says hi is after me. *LOL* I just laughed it off. But my wife with her "A woman knows these things" rationale said she saw it *LOL*

 

4th day of the cruise is a sea day. I am laying by the pool , my wife was out and about with girl she met onboard and they either went to a show or Bingo or whatever .

 

This girl from our table walks by and stops to chat for a bit and eventually asks where my wife is. I tell her she is playing Bingo. She tells me that if she was on her honeymoon with me she wouldn't be playing bingo. She then procedes to tell me IN GRAPHIC DETAIL what "WE" would be doing if she was on her honeymoon with me. A few minutes later the rest of her friends come by and as she leaves with them, she tells me to "Think about it"

 

Needless to say dinner the rest of the cruise was interesting to say the least *LOL*. She was just as bubbley and chatty as usual. My wife was just as amused by it as usual , and I was stuck between avoiding eye contact with her and trying not to stare at her and think "Oh my God " *LOL*

[tomc]

babyher...

 

Is that what they call "freestyle" cruising??

[babyher]

babyher...

 

Is that what they call "freestyle" cruising??

 

 

I am not sure what you would call it. *LOL*

 

But you would be surprised how many times in all these years that I do "Think about it" *LOL*

[HeatherInFlorida]

babyher, that is funny!!! And I's venture to say just a bit brazen!!!:D Your first wife was right, women do know about these things. We can always tell. My DH would be completely oblivious even when a woman is falling all over him.

 

But I have to admit I'm a flirt, always have been. When I stop flirting, I think I'll probably be dead. And I read somewhere the other day flirting is a good thing. But there's flirting and then there's "flirting". I think your little friend fit my second definition;) .

 

And I'll just bet you've been thinking about it a bit ever since! LOL!:D

[shuttle-c]

When we first started cruising, we were placed at a table for 8 on a Disney cruise. It was a two couples, each with a little girl, plus by DH an myself.

The couples were from China and Japan. They refused to talk to each other. They were polite to us, but wouldn't look at each other or talk at all.

After the first night, we figured it out that it must have been a cultural issue.

 

If we had to do it again, we would have went and asked for another table.

It was really awkward and made our meals very difficult. Other than that once incident, we have tried to make the best our our table companions no matter what the again or cultural background.

[babyher]

babyher, that is funny!!! And I's venture to say just a bit brazen!!!:D Your first wife was right, women do know about these things. We can always tell. My DH would be completely oblivious even when a woman is falling all over him.

 

But I have to admit I'm a flirt, always have been. When I stop flirting, I think I'll probably be dead. And I read somewhere the other day flirting is a good thing. But there's flirting and then there's "flirting". I think your little friend fit my second definition;) .

 

And I'll just bet you've been thinking about it a bit ever since! LOL!:D

 

 

Heather

 

I am the exact same way. I am a very big flirt in teh good way like you desribe so, so being chatty and funny and just friendly is second nature to me, and if i see it in someone else I just think they are the same as me, so I don't really read anything into it.

 

Don't ever stop being a flirt, it keeps you young:)

 

thats my story and i am sticking to it *LOL*

[berniemom]

As weird as this might sound, my fiance and I are hoping to be placed at a large table with others when we are on our honeymoon cruise! We want to meet new people, and I'm hoping we don't get sat alone...everyone thinks we're weird (at least here at home) when we mention this, but we'll spend all day together, and as much as we love one another, we are the type of people who like to surround ourselves with people who laugh and chat.

 

hi,

i don't think your weird @ all.

my hubby and I r going 2B on the veendam in dec, and @ the time it was just the 2 of us, i requested a table of 8-10, as we love meeting new people.:D

[grannynurse]

On our 2nd cruise (RCI Nordic Prince) we were seated with a mother-daughter team, husbands and 2 other couples all from Boca Raton. They played the one-upmanship game so well it looked like an art, even bringing their purchases to the dinner table to show them off and tell everyone how much they had spent. They teated us like we were peasants and we were too young and stupid to know we could request a table change. It almost soured us on cruising. We waited 4 years to try another. Things have been better than great in the dining room ever since, mainly due to the great people we've met, and friends we've made on HAL who we still cruise with. In 2004 the group was so large we needed 2 tables after 3 more folks got on in Amsterdam.

GN

[frbob]

OK, you don't like your table mates but you like your table location? As soon as possible, apologize and say you have the plague or bird flu or some such and that you hope it doesn't bother anyone. You'll have new "friends" at your table the next evening. Works like a charm!

[TriGirl]

We've been fairly lucky over the years, but we've had some bad tables.

 

When we went to Alaska on the Rydnam we were seated at a table for 6, it was a couple and their two friends and then us. All they talked about were people they all knew and what they were going to do when they all got home. It seemed like they went out of their way to exclude us. We didn't even think to move.

 

We were on the Galaxy for 14 days for a Panama Canal cruise. The first table wasn't bad, but we had NOTHING in common with the people at the table. One woman was married and travelling with her mother, they were both very sweet but very uptight. The rest of the group already knew each other and they seemed to keep to themselves, so we requested to be moved. We ended up at a great table for 4, we sat with a couple from England. We still keep in touch with them, they were so much fun. However, our waiter was the worst I've ever experienced. He didn't always give me a menu, he wouldn't take my order, he'd forget to give us some of the items we ordered, sometimes things would arrive cold. He would serve the men first and I always got served last. It was weird, he was rude and uptight. We spoke to the Maitre D but nothing changed, in fact I think it got worse. We didn't tip him the full amount and he actually came up to us in the Lido on disembarkation day to tell us we didn't tip him enough and asked for the rest!! I wrote a letter to Celebrity about him and the useless Maitre D.

 

Many years ago I went on the old Westerdam with my mom. We sat at a table for 6, one of the women was a real sour apple. We started calling her the Wicked Witch of the West. She complained about everything, she'd snap at anything we said, yelled at the staff...she also stretched her legs out so she was in your space and if you didn't move your feet she'd KICK THEM. I finally got irritated one night and I kicked back, she KICKED ME EVEN HARDER!!! She was a piece of work, we still talk about her. I felt bad for the husband, he never said a word because if he did she'd snap at him and tell him he was an idiot.

 

DH is pretty shy around new people and finds making conversation painful, so we usually request a table for 2. Otherwise he finds the whole dining experience stressful. He doesn't like going to the lunch during open seating either, he does ok in lounges, etc. He just doesn't do well in large groups, I'm sure if we ever got put at a large table people would think HE is a sour apple.

[Host Walt]

Our very first cruise we had a couple from a rural part of eastern Washington, the ship's chaplain and a rich single guy who booked an A class room (on the old Nieuw Amsterdam).

 

The other couple were also on a first cruise given to them as an anniversary gift by their kids and were very nervous.

 

The Chaplain was fun, on the first night. But he did have a thing for the "sauce." (His cruise and on board charges - except shorexs - were comped by HAL as compensation for his services) and the single guy showed up maybe 2 or 3 nights.

 

The other couple and us became rather close friends throughout the cruise and when the Chaplain was able to talk coherently, he added a lot to the fun.

 

Since that trip, we have had a wide variety of people but never felt the need to change table assignments.

 

One trick I use is to get down early on the first 2 or 3 nights and take a different seat to force a bit of rotation. It seems to work rather well, especially at a table for 8 or 10.

[calteacher]

We have only been on five cruises; our experiences with dining?

 

1. We were with my parents, (in their 80s) and were seated at a table for seven. One couple (again in their 70s-80s)--he had evidently had some sort of a job in the government to which his wife frequently referred. She obviously was not happy with the table assignment as she would often point out to her husband, there's so and so, I wonder how they got a table by the window, etc. (We gathered that we weren't important enough for her) The other passenger was a delightful lady (again, 70-80) from Scotland who had traveled extensively and was a delight to be with. By the end of the cruise we just sort of ignored the wife who didn't appear to want to be with us. We even had lunch with the lady from Scotland when we visited there the next year.

 

2. We had our DD's (in their early 30's) with us and were seated at a table with two couples who were friends. We had a delightful time and always looked forward to comparing notes about our day's activities.

 

3. Our third Alaskan cruise was very short notice. The first night we were at a large table, but only one other couple appeared. The second night we were given a different assignment at a very large (14-18 persons?) table with the ship's dentist, his wife, two grandchildren, their daughter, husband and their daughter. We had an enjoyable time, usually shifting our seats nightly so that everyone had the "ocean" view sometime. Amusing incident, one night we weren't paying attention when entering the dining room. Went to the largest table and noticed that different people were there, but since there were a number of emply seats, simply assumed that again there were assignments being changed and that the dentist/family were eating elsewhere. Near the end of the meal, we realized we were on the wrong level. Everyone got a big laugh out of that and when we would see the passengers the rest of the cruise, they would ask us if we found our table; if not, we were free to join them.

 

4. Montreal-Boston cruise. We were at a table for 8, but the fourth couple never showed up. It was apparent that the six of us had very little in common, but we still had enjoyable conversations during dinner.

 

5. Vancouver/San Diego. We requested a large table, and were given a table for four. The first night we were planning to eat in the Pinnacle Grill so went to meet our tablemates. Because we really wanted a larger table, we requested a change. We were seated at a table for 8. Nearby were two additional tables for 8. The three tables, excepting DH and me, were all ladies traveling without spouses. Every night the ladies switched tables. My DH is a great dear and got lots of teasing about being the only man with so many women, but it was great. The ladies ranged in age from 40-80 or so and from being first time cruisers to a few with many, many cruises.

 

We have reservations on the Maasdam March 15 for a 10-day Caribbean cruise to celebrate our 40th anniversary and have again requested a table for 8. We prefer the table for 8 as it is a round table. The tables for six mean that one couple (if it is three couples) doesn't get to sit together.

[NorthernNeighbour]

Never, ever hesitate to ask for a table reassignment on a cruise. Life is much too short and cruising is too much great fun to be stuck with people you cannot stand.

 

I usually find that a larger table tends to work out -- chances are not all the people at the table will be bad dining companions. The worst is being a couple at a table for 4 stuck with someone you would never consider dining with ashore, let alone at sea. This happened to us one time on a small German ship since there were only two couples on board who spoke no German and we were stuck with each other.

 

One trick is -- if you find someone to your liking at an open-seating lunch, ask them if they have any empty chairs at their dinner table and whether you could join them.

 

I just sailed on the QM2 and CUNARD assigned us to a table for 4 people. I did NOT even wait to meet the people (even if they had been great, I would not want to dine with the same couple for six nights in succession) -- went immediately to see the Maitre d'Hotel and told him we wanted to be at a large table. We got one with two other couples and some ship's officers joined us. One couple we loved, the other couple we could tolerate and the officers were adept at conversation and buying us wine -- so we had a good cruise (not the best, but far from the worst).

[u4ea]

Wow, I'm glad I started such an interesting topic for discussion. As you may know, I just got back from the Amsterdam transatlantic, and had a great table (for 6). It was two ladies and a man, around 70, a grandmother around 60 and her granddaughter around 17, and me, 39. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hung up on age, and wouldn't change a thing about last cruise. However, I do agree with Northernneighbor's advice. I think I would prefer at least one or two people about my age in the mix, but I'm not to picky, :)

Best Regards,

Mark....

[SF49erfan]

My DH and I have been very lucky with dinner seating. We always request a large table. One Alaskan cruise we were about the only ones to show up each night. But all the other cruises we have had great tablemates. I'm not sure how we would react if we got a lemon:eek:

[newcruiserx2]

On our first cruise we had very nice table mates. However, I did notice one thing... everyone we met on the cruise (during any and all meals, or any other time) right away people would ask my husband where he works, then what his job position is (the tone was not always a "just curious" one) My husband and I are very hard working middle class Americans with kids. My husband is the hardest working person I know, in fact. But we are not wealthy....we're not poor either (and we were dressed very appropriately the entire cruise, and followed every rule.) I was telling my parents this and they said that people were trying to see what "social class" we belonged in. Deep down that bothered me. And nobody asked me what I did for a living the entire cruise (I do have a long time career). My husband and I are very nice, friendly, church going, sociable people, so we get along with most people, and enjoy people's company, no matter who they are, where they are from, what they do for a living, etc... I just like people for who they are. I enjoy hearing how the "rich" live and travel, and what they do with thier lives. I also enjoy hearing about how other people have to scrape and save to go on a nice trip, and how they got a good deal, etc.... I am a city girl but I enjoy hearing about the lives of country folk, as well as, city folk. I love meeting people from all walks of life, different countries, etc... the stories I hear really fascinate me. We had a nice cruise, but I felt as if we were being judged part of the time. Maybe it wasn't intentional, but it did hurt my feelings a little. I was almost ashamed to say we were staying in an inside cabin (gasp...).

I enjoyed listening to all my table mates from every meal, but I feel that most of them did not care what I had to say at all. I mostly just listened. I was okay with that, but disappointed a little. Maybe the age difference had something to do with it? It didn't bother me in the least....

[sailorbill]

Have been mostly fortunate with my dinner table assignments and companions.

 

The only time things started out very wrong was on X brand. I was part of a very large CC group that had carefully made arrangements prior to departure to sit together in groupings at various sized tables. A single traveler, I was to sit at a table for eight with three other couples. And I knew their names and cabin numbers. Well, the X staff decided they knew much better than the CC group how to assign tables. When I entered the dining room the first night for my assigned second seating, I was courteously guided to my table for eight to find it was already full and drinks were being served. So back to the Maitre'd stand. Another gentleman was standing there with the same table assignment and the same problem. After a ten minute wait while they sorted out other problems, an assistant Maitre'd looked into our problem and found out that a family of 4 who had been assigned to my table for first seating had decided they preferred second seating and just showed up at second seating as soon as the doors opened, sat down and immediately ordered. The family was warned that if they repeated this trick again they would be bodily removed and refused entry to the dining room for the rest of the cruise. So for the first night the two of us without a seat were guided to another table, a full table. Back to the Maitre'd stand again. After another ten minute wait we were sent to another table, also full. And then the drill was repeated for a third time. By now most tables had been served appetizers. I had passed the point of doing a slow burn and was about to erupt and plant my foot in the nether regions of the dining room manager. Then the Maitre'd found us a table for four that only had a young couple sitting alone. After explanations for the intrusion and a couple of complimentry drinks we ended up having quite a nice time swapping sea stories about cruises. The next night I showed up at my assigned table to find none of my CC companions. It turned out to be a singles table with two very elderly women who were not very communicative, three retirement age men and two girls in their early twenties that were not too pleased to be sitting with people their grandparents age. (No shipboard romance possible with this group.) At the CC group meeting the next day I found the CC people I was supposed to be dining with and managed to move to their table. The rest of the cruise was fine and we had a good time at dinner. All except the night that a woman two tables over had a massive stroke and died on the spot in the dining room. Sort of spoils one's appetite to see the medical emergency crew rush in and a short time later carry a shrouded stretcher out past your table. Makes one question the purity of the ingredients in the caramel apple tart.

 

Had an amusing experience on a Westerdam transatlantic big band cruise. I did a back to back Med cruise and then the transatlantic. At my table two sisters from Minnesota and I were doing the B2B, and on the transatlantic portion we were joined by four gentlemen from Texas traveling together; a father and son and two of their lifelong friends. All of us but the son were past retirement age. We kept changing seats so everyone had a chance to talk with everyone else. And twice we dined together at the Pinnacle Grill. At our dining room location the ceiling was slightly convex and hard surfaced so that sound bounced at an angle and not straight down. It was easier to hear conversation of the next table than at our own table. This meant that one had to talk very loudly to carry on conversation. Apparently, at the next table the folks enjoyed our conversation and paid some attention to us. Late in the cruise one of the women at the neighboring table stopped me as I was the last to leave and begged to ask a question. She said thay had been watching us since we were always having such a good time, but they were a bit confused because they couldn't figure out who was married to who in our group. It completely cracked me up and it took a while to answer because I was laughing so hard. I told her nobody was married to anybody at the table and further explained the relationships or, rather, lack of relationship. I then thanked her because I found their confusion a kind of compliment of how compatible a group of strangers could quickly become.

 

Bill

[grannynurse]

Dear newcruisersx2,

I've discovered that many people are uncomfortable with small talk and use common ice-breakers to start conversations. I hope this was the case with the people you met on board. We're alot like the the description you gave of yourselves. We've been on several HAL ships with people much more affluent than we are and never had a problem or had our feelings hurt. We've made many friends in all walks of life and arrange to sail with about 4 of the couples, and several singles about once a year. We are hardly in the same category as most of them but were never treated differently.

Oh it's true, we've met some snobs and people who play the one-up game but we don't associate with them, there are too many other nice friendly caring people, probabley like yourselves.

Please give us another chance, we'd like to get to know you.

GN

[Tricia724]

It's important to us to have a nice table at dinner, and for the most part, we have been quite fortunate. A couple of times on the first night I wondered whether it was going to work out (people who spoke little English) but it did. Sometimes you have to work at it a little harder!

 

Probably our worst experience was a table for 8 with one man who completely monopolized the conversation and was an absolute expert on everything. It was the Purser's table, and she joined us on the first formal night....on the second and third formal nights, she was "called to duty." Big surprise. The man bombarded her with questions from the time she sat down until she walked out of the dining room. The rest of us barely got a word in. After almost a week of him (it was a 10-day cruise) one of the other two couples quit coming to dinner. I think we could have had an interesting table had it been a table for six and excluded "Mr. Mouth" and spouse (she wasn't any prize either.) But....while we have to stop and think about who was at our table on some of the other cruises.....we always remember him!

 

We've noticed lately that more and more people are opting out of the dining room. On one Celebrity cruise, we were seated at a table for 6 and had only one couple join us for 2 out of 7 nights. The cruise was in Alaska, and the dining room was usually about half full most nights.....lots of people missing from many tables. The waiter told us that is the norm for them in Alaska at late seating. On our last Caribbean cruise, at a table for six there were only four of us. The third couple came one evening when we were in the specialty restaurant, so we never even met them.

 

We can deal with just about anything for 7 days, but our next cruise is a longer one, and I'm hoping we'll have a good table. It adds so much to the cruise.

[Host Walt]

About "small talk," a cruise is a big opportunity.

 

Weddings, for example, are really tough because the only subject you know you have in common with a stranger tablemate is the couple being married...and discussions about them can be minefields.

 

But a cruise. Wow. Noncontroversial (usually) topics abound; ports, the CD, the shows, the alternative dining, the trip to the ship, etc.

 

It's my experience that, if a stranger can't get engaged in a small talk chat with such a plethora of opportunities, the stranger is just not into small talk and probably prefers to be left alone.

 

But that seldom happens.

[newcruiserx2]

Dear newcruisersx2,

I've discovered that many people are uncomfortable with small talk and use common ice-breakers to start conversations. I hope this was the case with the people you met on board. We're alot like the the description you gave of yourselves. We've been on several HAL ships with people much more affluent than we are and never had a problem or had our feelings hurt. We've made many friends in all walks of life and arrange to sail with about 4 of the couples, and several singles about once a year. We are hardly in the same category as most of them but were never treated differently.

 

Oh it's true, we've met some snobs and people who play the one-up game but we don't associate with them, there are too many other nice friendly caring people, probabley like yourselves.

Please give us another chance, we'd like to get to know you.

GN

 

Thank you grannynurse. I will try and try again! I am usually a good conversationalist, but I felt like a fish out of water on this cruise! Everyone I talked to had been on many cruises, but this was our frist. We are well traveled, but not by boat (or ship!) I did have some nice small talk with some of the people I did activities with, and that was nice. But, then I'd never see the people again. Big ship! Only a 3 day cruise, too. I know each cruise is different and brings new opportunities, so I look forward to any I take in the future. That's really nice that you keep in touch with your table mates. No one at our table asked for anyones info.