Eating with strangers

[Go-Bucks!]

I've lucked out every time with traditional dining and had great dinner companions. But I like anytime dining better because of the flexibility. So far all our dinner mates with anytime have been great except one elderly couple. They complained about everything under the sun, but when they started complaining about the "bad weather" we were having (sunny and 75 degrees everyday in Alaska), I had enough! I asked them what could possibly have been wrong with the gorgeous days we had and the wife said, "It should have been much warmer, like down in the Caribbean." :eek::rolleyes: I was so exasperated that I told my friend that we needed to leave before dessert because I was on the verge of telling this old biddy how sick I was of her whining. :o

[Go-Bucks!]

The worst, however, was the man who belittled me for working at a Japanese auto maker here in the US, my wife for working in a school cafeteria and us for booking an inside cabin on the Riviera deck (while he was staying in the owner's suite, complete with a baby grand piano!) What a jerk!

 

:cool:Bill

 

 

One time I was sitting with a woman who had to tell everyone at the table that she was "very special and very rich" (whatever! She was also very fat, but she failed to mention that! :p). She told us that she cruised constantly, stayed in owner's suites, and the kitchen always made her special order food. She proceeded to order her "special" food and, to be nice to the rest of us little folk, said she would share her vegetable dish with the rest of us. I ate as quickly as possible that night and made sure I never sat at that table again (she said it was her "special table" and she always got to sit there).

[nxtdoor]

We are a family of 4. Would they sit us together with another family of 4. How big would the table have to be? just seems like they would be big tables everywhere. I've never been on a cruise as you can tell. What if we just want to sit with our family?

[Go-Bucks!]

We are a family of 4. Would they sit us together with another family of 4. How big would the table have to be? just seems like they would be big tables everywhere. I've never been on a cruise as you can tell. What if we just want to sit with our family?

 

 

Most ships have tables for 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. I prefer 6 or 8 when sitting with strangers; enough people for lots of conversation, but the 10 top tables are so big that you have to yell to be heard on the other side so you mainly just talk to those next to you.

 

Ask the maitre'd for whatever size table you want.

[glrounds]

We are a family of 4. Would they sit us together with another family of 4. How big would the table have to be? just seems like they would be big tables everywhere. I've never been on a cruise as you can tell. What if we just want to sit with our family?

 

I'm reasonably sure all ships have tables for 4 (probably a booth). They are very comfy and roomy. I think you'll enjoy them

[MsSoCalCruiser]

I'm reasonably sure all ships have tables for 4 (probably a booth). They are very comfy and roomy. I think you'll enjoy them

 

 

On my solo cruise I was assigned a booth. I thought it was for four people. Carnival assigned SEVEN people to our booth! There were six of us stuffed into the booth and one person sat at the end of the table. I was assigned this booth with 2 solo men and a family of four. One man was a no-show, the other man left mid meal because he was seasick (Hurricane Norbert). This left me with the family of four who did NOT speak english. I'm sure they were very nice people but we were unable to talk to each other.

[itzkaren]

OMG....we are sailing Carnival Splendor in August...the 3 of us...and I am hoping for a booth...for JUST the 3 of us! Can't imagine how uncomfortable a booth w/7 would be...esp if u didn't know the others!

Due to back/leg problems, I need to sit in a 'booth-type' seating, rather than a chair. I am planning to talk with the Maitre D as soon as we board to request this.....PLEASE tell me that there's a 'good probability' that request will be granted!!! And...please let me know...is it 'appropriate' to offer a tip to the Maitre D for this request? I would be happy to do that, however don't want to 'offend' or do something not acceptable.

Thanks for any input on this~

1) Booth for 3 request...esp due to medical need

2) Tip for Maitre D as part of the request

[flyingb]

What are your best and/or worst experience dining at a table full of strangers?

 

Nothing on our cruises so far. After all a stranger is simply is someone I haven't met yet. :) In fact we have 4 DEAR friend's that we met on different cruises at our table. Now we cruise with them. Love meeting new people. :D

Luv's Crusin'

[gone_cruisin]

Strangers are just people you haven't met yet, could be your future best friends!

 

Very well put!

The only bad dining experience I had was on Celebrity. Carnival does a great job when they pair up tablemates!

[gone_cruisin]

OMG....we are sailing Carnival Splendor in August...the 3 of us...and I am hoping for a booth...for JUST the 3 of us! Can't imagine how uncomfortable a booth w/7 would be...esp if u didn't know the others!

Due to back/leg problems, I need to sit in a 'booth-type' seating, rather than a chair. I am planning to talk with the Maitre D as soon as we board to request this.....PLEASE tell me that there's a 'good probability' that request will be granted!!! And...please let me know...is it 'appropriate' to offer a tip to the Maitre D for this request? I would be happy to do that, however don't want to 'offend' or do something not acceptable.

Thanks for any input on this~

1) Booth for 3 request...esp due to medical need

2) Tip for Maitre D as part of the request

 

 

It's not that bad. I took my daughter (then 12) on a cruise. I was seated at booth for 6 with 2 other single mothers taking their children. All the mothers sat on one side of the booth and the kids on the other. It worked out great.

[bplazo]

All the others I understand, this one I do not. What's it to you? As long as they're not being jerks about it, seems the polite thing to do is just go with the flow.

 

It slows down the service at the table and since it will probably take awhile to get the food. I have had to dealt with people like this and it is a big hassle and you are finally glad when they pick something. I am picky eather but I always can find something.

 

I always feel sad for the waitstaff.

[Aknot]

We had a Chinese couple that didn't speak any English, together with three other persons: a blind, a deaf a mute and a sightseeing dog...interesting times!

 

What no Priest?

 

;)

[grest]

Best experience, twice: tables for 10...I don't know how they put people together who had so much in common and able to have so much fun together, but those cruising weeks were made so much better because of the people we dined with.

Worse experience: table for 10. One couple was unbearable...taled non-stop

about how wonderful they were, how much money they had yada yada....the funny thing is that the next evening, they were alone at that table, since every other couple had asked to be moved!

[LemurCat]

I'll not tell the whole story again, but I had one of my tablemates ask my parents why they supported my evident alcoholism. My father, a 30-year-plus Friend of Bill informed her if anyone was going to label me a drunk, it was him. My mother blasted her off the table in one comment. She later apologized.

[TEXASMUNK]

. tablemates...

 

2 couples, husbands were involved in the emergency creation of the "oxygen scrubber" taht saved the lives of the Apollo 13 astronauts

 

A great author, known for his books about the great transatlantic ships

 

A Royal navy ship's doctor who talked the 'great imposter' though an appendectomy during WWII.

 

A former major league pitcher and his wife...turns out I was a major fan of his during his playing days.

 

Our entire table of 8, total strangers, all invited to Captain's table for formal Night...we "prowled" the ships bar together every night of that cruise!

 

They started as strangers, but, boy, were they some of the most interesting folks we have ever met!!!!!

 

Funniest? On NCL, wife and I ordered wine first three evenings, offered to share with two other couples. Fourth night, we did nto order wine, one of the other couples inquired...."what, no wine for us tonight?"

[amysb]

We've been very fortunate on most cruises to have pleasant people at our table! My one bad experience was a sort of "nouveau riche" woman in her thirties, who (thankfully!) was unable to come to dinner a couple of times, as she was full of whiny complaints. Every night she WAS there, however, she complained to the waiter that crème brulee was not on the dessert menu. The last night of the cruise, our waiter proudly announced that he had arranged for crème brulee for our table, even though it wasn't on the menu. Everyone was so tickled.... then the dessert appeared, and Ms. NR stared at it and said incredulously "No fresh berries??!! It's not crème brulee without fresh berries!" The waiter explained that, being the last night of the cruise, they were out of berries. Ms. NR demanded that she speak with the maitre de and berated him as well.... At the time we felt pretty uncomfortable, but over the years it has become a great joke to say "No fresh berries??!!"

[SB2788]

On my first cruise, we had two tables with our family and friends. We would all eat breakfast at different times. I would always ask to sit with others. I met some pretty interesting people that cruise. Every time we saw each other in passing, we would say hi..

 

On my second cruise, I sat with a really nice family from NC for dinner. We hit it off so well. We keep in touch till this day!

 

You meet some interesting people on cruises! It's awkward at first but it usually works out in the end. If for some reason you get a quack, humor them! It'll add to your enjoyment when you look back on it..

 

If they're super rich and important, you tell 'em you're descendants of British monarchy!

[bigteddybear]

First cruise on the Legend wer had a great table of 8 in the very back of the ship. Second on the Mircale we aked for a table for two. Last year we had great tablemates,even turned out that one lady knew two of or very close friends.

We requested a table for 2 this time but if it doesn't happen we hope to be pleasantly surprised once again

[vfb2girls]

We also have been very lucky on our table mates, our first cruise we sat with a couple that was just a blast and we even hung out with the throughout the cruise. This was an Alaskan cruise and had some of the nicest people on board. Our last cruise we were with a table with two other couples and they were really nice but one of the ladies had a thing for wearing very low cut blouses with no bra and it was always a gamble if she was going to stay in her shirt or not! My husband of course loved it and couldn't wait until meal time to see what she was wearing. Other then that we have loved being seated with different couples.

[HeidiHo]

Have sat with strangers twice and had great experiences both times. First time was my 1st cruise. We were 4 single 20 something girls and we were seated with 4 - 40 something ladies. At first we were a bit disappointed that we weren't seated with some single guys or at least single ladies closer to our own age but we ended up having a blast with those ladies. It couldn't have worked out better. Second time was my husband and I on our honeymoon. We were in out late 20's and seated with a wonderful couple probably in their 50's. We hung out with them some outside the dining room and kept in touch for many years after. All the rest of our cruises we have been seating only with our family of 4 or other traveling companions.

[chickie_mite]

We have always been really fortunate with our dining experiences! It's fun for us to meet different people, from different backgrounds, experiences, travel experiences, etc, so we like having Carnival assign our table.

 

This last time, we were with a table of 10, but because I wasn't feeling well and because of my dad's recent passing, my husband talked to the Maitre 'D the very first night of the cruise---we believe we got the "best seat in the house!" We were moved to the early dining and had a table for 2 in the very center of the back....saw gorgeous sunsets! It was wonderful, and wouldn't have been possible were it not for the Maitre 'D....he really provided us a fantastic service, and it totally helped make the cruise a great experience.

[SemperFi_Cruiser]

I recently took my first solo cruise on the Carnival Liberty in April. I asked the Maitre'd if he could seat me at a table with other "solo" cruisers. They were all just great table mates and it turned out to be a very enjoyable experience.

 

I'll let the photo speak for itself...:D

[augie]

We had hoped for a table for two on our first cruise, but were assigned a table of eight, and we really enjoyed it.

 

By about our 5th or 6th cruise we considered meeting and getting to know our tablemates one of our favorite things about cruising - and they gave us a table for two! But we ended up getting to know the folks that sat near us almost as well as if they had been tablemates.

 

Occasionally we'd have a tablemate that was less than ideal, but we considered that entertainment (although if we'd have had some of the ones mentioned in this thread we'd have had to ask for a new table).

 

Once we were seated at a table for six with two elderly couples. At first we thought that it might not work out, but they were some of the sweetest people we'd ever met, and we were thrilled to be able to dine with them for the week.

 

We met friends on our third cruise that we have cruised with several times since - we've met a lot of their friends, and introduced them to a lot of ours.

 

I'd have to say that our lives have been enriched by not having that table for two on our first cruise.

[bratgrr1]

We've only been at a table with other people once and it was a great experience. It was a couple, a little bit older than us. They didn't come to dinner every night, but the nights they did, they were interesting to talk to. The gentleman even let my son try his escargot. My son's birthday was toward the end of the cruise (his 15th birthday) and they showed up with a bag full of gifts for him from the gift shop on the ship. magnets, candy, key chains, etc. Plus, our waitstaff remembered that they had shared the escargot with my son, so they drew snails on his birthday cake in frosting! It was a great experience.

[Littlegoo75]

The two times I cruised with my ex-husband, we were paired with couples that were really cool, the same age range as us, and we had things in common and they were very pleasant to dine with. Even kept in touch with the first couple for awhile.

 

The one time I cruised with my now husband, he was wierded out by the idea of eating with "strangers", so we got a table for two. I did catch a glimpse of the table that we would have been assigned to, and it was a long table with 4-5 different couples. Most of them looked like nice people, but one couple consisted of a woman with huge hair that seemed to do 85% of the talking for the table. I am kind of glad that we opted for our own table.

 

The last cruise, it was my husband, his parents and my 11 month old son. We had our own table.

 

On my first cruise ever, in 1982 on Sitmar, my parents, sister and I were paired with a family of 4 that were about the same ages as all of us, and they were very nice people. I can still remember all of their names.

 

I have been impressed with how cruiselines are able to match people up.

 

Now that we will probably be sailing with kids on all of our future cruises, I am going to try to get our own table to assure that my kid/kids don't annoy other people, and we are definitely the type of people that remove our kid from the dining room if they misbehave. ALthough, it always seems like it's me that has to take the kid and leave!