Cuervosar

You toast Andy and I will toast Monty Python. But I won't burst out my rendition of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." until the table has all had a few drinks.:D

Exactly.

Here's my deal. I'm not religious at all. If somebody wants to pray at my table, bust it out. I want to hear the best your religion has to offer. Should be interesting, won't bother me in the least.

That's why I'm confused by home-style and his generic prayer.

Mr. Religious Person; "Mind if we pray?"

Home-style "Not all all but how about we substitute my interdenominational non offensive PC homily instead, I don't think your prayer will be as appropriate. "

Weak sauce. Just let the first group do their thing. Then do yours. Then I'll toast Andy Kaufman.

So many people so easily offended.

I miss that thread.......😢

Me too.

For what it's worth I thought the generic prayer thingy was weak sauce but ima keep it to myself.

That's nice. The problem is that that wasn't what we were talking about.

 

Here's a hint: Most Americans - whether they're Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Bahá'í, Buddhists, Unitarians, atheists, agnostics, or whatever - have been exposed to the Christian ritual of saying a blessing before a meal. There is nothing left to explore there. As a matter of fact, what is missing is an interest in learning and exploring the culture of Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Bahá'í, Buddhists, Unitarians, etc. with regard to such rituals. I will admit that as a worship leader I am prepared to do my part in that regard. If someone at the table asks about saying grace, I am ready to say, "That's a great idea; would you mind if I did it?" Then I would proceed to offer an interfaith blessing that would resonate with all religious perspectives, and even with those who hold no religious perspective.

If someone offered to say grace at my table I would say "no worries." Why do you feel the need to offer your interfaith blessing? Is it better than theirs?

That cuts both ways: Get comfortable with being deferential to other guests' lack of interest in participating in someone else's religious ritual.

 

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I'm pretty comfortable with the general populations lack of interest in learning about people and exploring other cultures.

We tend to talk a good game, but when placed in the crucible of having to maybe hold hands, touch another human, and partake in a 20 second "ritual" that while meaningless to some, is profound to others, we run like frightned little children.

Best to observe other cultures through the tour bus window or by viewing some rehearsed show that has been put on for us to keep us safe.

It another opportunity lost to learn and appreciate.

Humans are tribal people and they walk around in their personal hallucianations about what great people they are. But when put to the test.....

Keep an eye out, there may be a BOGO HOHO. I've seen it in SOHO.

But the problem is, it makes a lot of us feel very awkward. When someone sits there and wants to hold hands and/or "bless the food" or whatever and we're sitting there like "uhhh", that's just not something that we do and honestly I feel very uncomfortable in those situations.

So get comfortable being uncomfortable. Where is the harm to you?

We like eating at traditional dining with others so that we have dinner conversation other than just between the two of us. And with traditional dining, we get past the first night's conversation (where people are from, what they do/did for an occupation, etc.) into deeper conversations. We've remained in touch with several previous tablemates.

Exactly.

I do not know the answer but I can tell the area is not that big - would guess in walking distance of each other.

If I remember right, it's about 1/2 mile between the two so probably out of reach for just walking.

Just off the lovely Conquest (my new favorite ship!), where we saw some of the most ridiculous behavior ever.

More than once we saw people snap their fingers or whistle to crew members. :( :o :mad:

 

First time was at the Pizza Pirate. A group of people, late twenties or early thirties, snapped their fingers at the men behind the counter, demanding whichever pizzas, wanting it right away, snickering and making racist comments amongst themselves. I thanked the pizza guys for my pizza, and said I was sorry for the rude behavior, they just smiled and said thanks, and went back to dealing with the jerks.

Second time, a 50ish couple were in the adult pool, and out of nowhere started doing a dog whistle to get the attention of a wandering bar server.

What gives, people?!?

The best thing about stupid people is they can't keep it to themselves.

Yup, dining with just us is a good way to ensure we won't be seated with any supporters of a certain North American country's despicable, low life, arguably racist & homophobic president.

 

 

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I'm on the other side of the world mate, but I thought Obama's terms were over?

Don't people know there are four topics not to bring up at the dinner table with relative strangers?

 

Religion

Abortion

Politics

Economics

 

Just don't bring it up!

Add:

Music

Proper MDR Dining Attire on Formal err Elegant Night

Are shorts in the MDR ever appropriate for dinner

Carvival v RCCL

What size magnetic hooks should I buy? They come in all different base diameter sizes.

12 Gauge. Cures just about every problem out there.

(((PLEASE do not get onto me about this and if you do not vape please do not tell me how bad it is to sneak and do it. I understand but dont care. Most who vape will get it. AND PLEASE DO NOT i repeat DO NOT tell us to go to where smoking is allowed because we do not like the smell of cigarette smoke. )))

 

My wife and I have vaped on a cruise that didn't allow smoking before. We were very discreet and very polite about it. We did not have a problem on Carnival Paradise in the hallways or in the bars at all. We never vape at dinner or in eating areas and in public areas we take small draws not to fill the place with vape. Will we be gotten onto or get into trouble if we are discreet in bars and such for vaping? We are going to be on Divina in October. We use the small cylinder vapes (vape pens) that doesn't fill a room with fog just a 2 second puff of vape that dissipates.

Imma respoinding just because you told me not to respond because I don't Vape. Also I like to write the word "Vape."

I Vape therefore I'm edgy. I ride a Harley therefore I'm a tough guy. Same circus different monkeys.

I have a custom designed app I use on my iPhone that precisely measures the floorplan of each deck.

I start on the top deck and walk the perimiter and then the interior corridors. As I pass each food station or bar, I take a photo of the available offerings, and the app cross references this to the location on the map.

Later in the cruise, say I want a hot dog and a budweiser, I tell the app "hotdog and budwieser." The app will search through the database I've created and steer me to the closest spot that will have a hot dog and a budweiser.

It takes about 10 hours to get the layout of the ship right once I get on board, but totally worth it later on.

If they counted my deleted posts I'd be huge. Lot's of alcohol in front of me tonight, so time to put some work in.

I hire mercenaries. You can find them if you know where to look. Expensive, but at the end of the day I know my stuff is safe.

18 & Over

No Smoking

No Fatties

Minimum IQ

Must be bilingual

I'm thinking strip club.

I'm sure some effort was made on our trips. We've always had an enjoyable expereince. My SO is an ex professional athlete, and we were once seated with an Olympian from Sweden. Great trip.

Reading some of these replies, I'm starting to wonder more and more how they do it. Seems like the obnoxious & socially awkward all end up at tables with each other.

It's disheartening how little tolerance we have. "I have to eat with other people. FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF!!!" As opposed to "What an amazing opportunity to get to know somebody over a relaxed meal."

There is always a common thread, everybody has a history, a story to tell. Nobody has lived your life or had your experiences.

So lighten the frack up, smile, shake hands, introduce yourself and maybe just maybe it won't be hell on Earth.

If cruise lines showed the people who actually show up on the boats in their ads, nobody would be on their ships.

The pool deck is a scary, scary place.

Maybe you've hit on the reason why so many are moving away from table sharing: Over time it seems as if some are finding it increasingly more difficult to wear civility in the context of people who are obviously different from they are, whether due to religion, national origin, sexual orientation, etc.

I'm actually disappointed by what seems to be a trend of folks moving away from traditional dining. It's always been a highlight of my trips, something that I consider an added value of a cruise over competing types of vacations. Over the course of time, you get to know your tablemates, and dinner becomes a time to share the days adventures. Doesn't happen when you book a week in a hotel.

I much prefer traditional dining. Table of 6 or 8 please.

BART is an option as well. Just Uber to the Embarcadero station, BART to airport.

Expecting people who don't know how to dress well to dress well is just putting lipstick on a pig.

If you force the men to put on a jacket, they find some god awful sports coat from 1960 and then complain about it all night.

Then you have the women in polyester pantaloons that their mother told them looks great. Or they're in heels that are three skill levels beyond them.

Dressing well is an art and trying to force the sartorially ignorant yields dubious results. Don't get me started on tie lengths.

A confident fit woman in a stunning dress is a treasure.

A well turned out male in a tailored suit commands respect.

Billy Joe in the too short tie, mismatched shoes and ill fitting jacket never gets comfortable. There are only so many sins a seamstress can hide in women's wear and off the rack doesn't have a chance.

Trying to cover the typical over 30 American figure is quite the challenge.

Best to leave everyone with what their comfortable in.

My partner and I are the well dressed ones getting better service because that's the secret isn't it? Who would you want to wait on, slobby Bobby or the cute couple?

Not yet. Have a yacht club cabin reserved on Divina. Normally we do Celebrity.

Seaside looks amazing, Maraviglia just launched. I think they're worth considering across the board.