Talk about your dinner tablemates

[Z'Loth]

I was reading another thread, and I thought I would use it to create this thread.

 

The only cruise that my mom and I were on was the Elation. For dinner, our tablemates were a young couple who were also college teachers in the San Diego area. Excellent dinner conversation, and top-notch dining companions.

[hstrybuf]

We've had a variety of tablemates on our cruises, some more memorable than others. On our last cruise we were seated at a table for 8 with two other couples and one of the ladies' mother. The mother was sick for most of the cruise so we only got to talk to her one night. Everyone was very friendly, talkative and interesting so we enjoyed their company.

 

On other cruises, we've been seated with friends we met online. Those were some of the more enjoyable and memorable dinners.

[serene56]

Last cruise it was just me and Joe cruising on the LEgend. We were early seating. Sat in a booth for 4 people. We arrived 5 minutes after the stated time. Our table mates were there. Him sitting on one side- her on the other. We stood there and made introductions. (how does onehandle that anyways.... so Joe sat with the lady and I sat with the man.

 

After that everything went sooo nice. they were a good couple and glad it worked out.. It was the first time for me sitting with strangers i never talked to from cruise critic.

[BrendaB1]

I just returned from Sensation group cruise and had the worst tablemates ever. I was cruising solo for first and should have been linked with my group but somehow that did not happen. I tried to stick it out but after two nights of sitting with totally unedicated people that didn't even have enough class to order dinner properly...I finally gave up. My waiter was very short on patience with these people & was in turn rude to everyone. Not very professional on his part but hopefully with time, he will learn to handle the situation better. I didn't let it ruin my cruise in the least. I just chose to eat at other places.

 

I must say we had 8 wonder tablemates on our Inspiration cruise and still stay in touch with several of them. We also had excellent wait staff and were very happy to see our favorite waiter again on Conquest. Hopefully our paths will cross again someday with that waiter named Mungi.

[hme455]

I found out that one of my tablemates works with my mother. I live in NC and Mom lives in NY. It was fun b/c I visited her the last time I went to visit my parents.

[sea_u_onboard]

Our last cruise was on the Rhapsody. We - myself, my 13 yo son and 17 yo son - were seated with a family of 7 - mother, father, their two kids, grandmother, grandfather and grandson (of son not on trip). Anyhow I'm sitting next to the gradfather and we're talking. He asks where we are from and I say Fort Worth. He asks where exactly as he grew up around there in a little town - which he tells me and I say - you're kidding my oldest son goes to the high school there. He laughes and tells me that he was in the first class to go all 4 years at the high school after it was built. They had just celebrated their 50th anniversary of when the school was built. It was kind of interesting for him to tell about it.

[Runner Girl]

On our last cruise, we had some great tablemates. There were 4 of us (2 couples) and we sat with 2 other couples. One couple were the parents of the other. The younger couple were very stuffy and worried about appearances. The parents were a riot! They got to being disappointed if we didn't make it to dinner. They said it was boring when we weren't there!

[derf5585]

This was at lunch.

Me and Derfette were led to a 8 seat table with 2 woman there. We started to sit down and the woman said these seats are reserved. Derfette asked how many in their party. They said 6. I was dying, but Derfette sat down anyway. And we were leared at. Well the lunch wasn't bad and yes we did meet and talk to the group.

[judyjbest]

Two interesting experiences. Two families and a newlywed couple sitting together at a 10-top on RCI, back in the day when they placed a bread basket on the table. The newlywed husband would grab the basket, handling every roll placing them on the table, until he found what he wanted to eat, then sat the basket back down without putting the rolls back in the basket. Drove our waiters crazy, and we all died laughing behind our napkins!!!

 

Ate at a four-top booth with a retired couple. My husband has prematurely gray hair at 45. This guy kept saying, are you retired yet? We all died laughing when he finally caught on that Roger was his son's age, and we're all still friends!

[sotadragon]

Every cruise has been just me and my Mom.

 

First cruise we were at a table for four with another mother-daughter team. They weren't at dinner every night and sometimes just the daughter showed up. I guess her mother had some memory problems like Alzheimers and she'd taken her mother on this cruise because she wanted to do this for her before she was gone. Kind of uncomfortable at dinner when they were there, just not much in common with them.

 

Second cruise we were at a table for six; another mother-daughter team and an older married couple. Well, the husband was one of these spotlight people who had to be the center of attention (loud and obnoxious) and he made several rude jokes at the expense of our waitstaff the first night and my mother and I and the other mother-daughter team (Cathy and Gloria) didn't find him funny, so we pretty much ignored him. The married couple didn't show up at our table rest of the cruise and we heard that they had switched seatings (we had early seating). I guess he thought we were party poopers or something. But after they were gone, Mom and I and Cathy and Gloria had a great time at dinner, very good conversation.

 

Last cruise we were at a table for eight. Mom and I, two sisters (20s), and four girlfriends, also in their 20s. After the first night the four girlfriends switched to late seating because it worked better with their schedules. The two sisters, Maria and Sarah, and my Mom and I had a good time at dinner the rest of the cruise. They were very nice and we went to see kareoke with them one night after dinner. Pretty interesting too, Maria is a principal dancer with Ballet San Jose. You can see her photo here: http://www.balletsanjose.org/dancers/mjacobs.htm

[travel girl23]

I think I posted this on the old boards a long time ago. We have had wonderful table mates except for one of our cruises. We were sailing with friends and were seated at a table for 8 by the window. The first night we got to the table first and sat down by the window. A little later the other couple and her parents (celebrating an anniversary) came and sat down and it was obvious the daughter was really upset. She talked to the maitr'd for a long time and was quite upset. It seems that she specifically asked for a window seat and we had already taken it. Well, the next night we saw the couple standing outside the door just before they opened it for dinner and as soon as it opened, the husband RAN (literally) to our table and grabbed the window seats. (So childish). So, from then on, we made a point to sit at the opposite end of the window especially if we got there first. It made dinner a little more pleasant and we really didn't care. You can't see anything out the window at night, anyway. We were not going to let anything spoil our cruise!

[sotadragon]

I know things like that happen, travel girl, but I still find it hard to believe that supposed adults can act like they're in the fourth grade! :eek: I hope I don't encounter something like that on my next cruise because I don't think I would be able to stop myself from saying something incredibly rude but true to the offending person.

 

Just my two cents. :o

[DreadPirateRobert]

All of our table mates have been pleasant but only one was truly memorable. No stories of rude or boorish behavior. One was very interesting though. She was single woman, traveling alone. The first night she is wearing a top that is cut so low it didn't leave too much to the imagination. In a converation about why we chose this cruise, she announces that along with her "new boobs" this was part of her "life makeover".

Every night she wore something equally revealing. The funny thing was watching the other women at the table try to arrange seating so that their husbands/boyfriends weren't directly across from her.

[staylor]

Our most memorable tablemate was a physician who was very prim and proper until the day he went on the Booze Cruise. And boy, oh boy, did he change. He would say the word "exactly" in reply to whatever you said to him. I'd say, the show was great last night" I'd get "exactly". "The water was so warm"...."exactly.... Everything that was said to him got the same reply. There were 10 of us at the table and it got to the point where we all realized what he was going to say and it got histerical! It was like the rest of us were drunk too. It was sooo funny. Then in other conversations with other tablemates we started replying "exactly" to each other. It may sound corny but it was SO funny! To this day, years later, sometimes my husband and I will say it to each other and laugh about the evening all over again.:D

[k9hndler]

Have you ever been on a cruise were you are sitting at a table with all nice folks who listen well but don't have much to say or an opinion about much? You are thankful that at least there isn’t some "know it all" at the table with you, but still, your dinner companions are uninteresting, and YOU seem to HAVE to work hard to start and end all the conversation so this “quiet” table will have something to talk about? Have you ever wondered LATER if maybe there WAS a loud mouth obnoxious person at the table after all!!!

 

My wife and I learned a valuable lesson on that our second cruise!!!

[cpayne]

My very first cruise I was traveling single and was assigned to a table of 10. I had chosen early dining and arrived a few moments before 6:00 p.m. and 4 of my table mates had already arrived (husband, wife, and 2 kids). They seated me next to the wife and we proceeded to talk. 5 min later a gentleman walked up to our table and was seated next to the husband. They talked for a few minutes and the husband then said to the newly seated gentleman, "Oh my gosh. You need to meet this young lady then". The gentleman looks at me and says, "are you traveling alone as well?". I answered yes and his response was, "then why I am seated clear over here across the table from you?!" He moved his seat to sit next to me and we have been together ever since!

 

We survived a long distance relationship with me living in Iowa and him in Dallas (had just relocated from NYC) and have now been married 7 yrs!

 

Ever since then we've had lousy table mates so we now request a table for 2. Guess we drew our lucky card with table mates our first time and no more luck for us in this category! No complaints here! Couldn't have asked for a better table mate and best friend!

[kathy7558]

On our first cruise (with mom and stepdad, sister and her DD, and DH) we were seated at a table with another family (mom, dad, 3 sons) and had a wonderful time. We all ate in the dining room every night, and while the younger kids were adventurous and tried lots of new food, the other family's oldest son (about 16 years old) would order steak and salad - plain, none of that "fancy stuff". We kind of made fun of him, but he took it good naturedly.

 

On our second cruise, 7 in our family group this time, we had a booth to ourselves.

 

On our third cruise (just DH and me) we were at a table with 2 other couples - one couple younger than us and honeymooners, the other couple older than us. We had so much fun together at dinner that we ended up spending the rest of the evenings together. As a matter of fact, the "older" couple is joining us pre-cruise in NOLA in less than 3 weeks - we've kept in touch these past 2 years and can't wait to see each other again.

 

On our last cruise (just DH and me again) we were seated at a table for 8, but we were the only ones who showed up for dinner every night. As much as I love DH's company, I sure missed the opportunity to meet new people.

 

Can't wait to see who we meet on the Sensation - we'll be on board in exactly 3 weeks!!! :D

[kingsleyjr]

I just returned from Sensation group cruise and had the worst tablemates ever. I was cruising solo for first and should have been linked with my group but somehow that did not happen. I tried to stick it out but after two nights of sitting with totally unedicated people that didn't even have enough class to order dinner properly...

 

 

I don't think one who cannot spell uneducated should throw stones.

[glrounds]

OOOOOOoooooooooooh......LOL

 

Here comes a train wreck . . . . . :D :D :D

 

Incidentally the "i" key is right next to the "u" key.

 

"If you can't be kind . . . at least have the decency to be vague" anonymous

[nmarsh]

Glrounds: Thanks for your reply.

[LMHSRN]

Amen!

[makeda]

our worst tablemates were a pair of SILs who had never wandered far from their midwestern home...when they did show up for dinner they questioned everthing on the menu...something that would have been okay and we are more than able to explain what things are and how they are generally prepared...but they made FUN of anything that they did not know about...we tolerated this for about three meals, then began to retaliate....and order and eat everything they could not understand...like escargot, smoked salmon, duckling, and LOBSTER!

[GoinCruisin]

I just returned from Sensation group cruise and had the worst tablemates ever. I was cruising solo for first and should have been linked with my group but somehow that did not happen. I tried to stick it out but after two nights of sitting with totally unedicated people that didn't even have enough class to order dinner properly...

 

 

I don't think one who cannot spell uneducated should throw stones.

You might want to review the Cruise Critic guidelines that ALL of us AGREED to when signing up for CC... And if you look at the keyboard, you will notice the U and I keys right beside each other. This type of error happens all the time... :rolleyes:

 

Spelling and Grammar Errors It is important to remember that everyone makes mistakes at one time or another, and that there are many users who use English as a second language, especially on our Cruise Boards. There are also a number of people who suffer from learning disabilities and who have difficulty noticing their spelling mistakes. Do not make comments on the spelling and grammar of other users. It is simply not a productive expenditure of energies.

[Tudor Rose74]

I think that the whole idea of having table mates while on a cruise is absurd. For instance, myself and my hubby expected to be seated alone when we went to our first night formal dinner seating..that is when we learned that we will be having table mates to dine with us. I then asked why can't we have a table for two? Hubby and wife would like to have some privacy here...while dining. Then the waitstaff stated that we cannot have our own private table. We knew right then that the tables are assigned to you with your table mates. To me...the idea of having table mates...people that you don't even know..is considered very bad table manners,esp. for a party of only two.

 

 

The whole idea of taking a romantic cruise is to be alone with your spouse and to enjoy the time alone while onboard and having fun while doing so.:) I hope that Carnival and all other cruise lines...will try to have better etiquette towards formal dinner arrangements as well as seating arrangements for the *right number of people.

[Runner Girl]

I don't think it is bad manners to sit with tablemates. I don't know that has to do with manners.

 

Eating in the formal dining room with tablemates is pretty standard for cruises. On some cruise lines, you can request a table for two, but you have to do that in advance of your sailing. Princess has the Personal Choice dining in which you can request that each night.

 

Thank you goingcruisin.