Cruising Experience - A social event or not?

[Mr. Luckytoo]

One thing that I find very interesting is the social interactions between people. Most people, when they go on vacation, usually do their planning with their small circle of friends/family. In fact there is not a lot of social interaction with strangers, except for the interaction with people in the services industry.

 

However, on a cruise I have noticed there are many more opportunities for social interaction with fellow passengers. This is due to the close quarters and activities such as trivia contests, classes, and dining times. Even with shore excursions there exists the opportunity for interaction.

One thing I have found interesting to read about is how these interactions between people can affect their choices pre- and post-cruise.

 

Take the main dining room (MDR) for example. There are certain people who like dining with strangers and others who detest doing that.

When it comes to a cruise what type of passenger interaction do you anticipate pre-cruise and how does that influence your cruising decision?

[bionicman97]

Cruising has helped me to come out of my shell in more ways than one. I am much more outgoing than I used to be. After doing a few of these cruises, I found this message board and I am active here. In an effort to post pictures here, I found flickr, where am I now very active and that in turn has got me very active in photography as a hobby. As I write this I am in a car headed to Cedar Key to go take pictures for a few hours.

 

But back to your question. I anticipate talking to anyone around me who seems halfway friendly. It doesn't influence my cruising decision too much, because all of the ships we have been on provide for ample opportunities for interaction.

[kyriecat]

You needed a 4th choice - it varies.

 

I'm not social first thing in the morning and want to be left alone. That's one reason that I rarely eat in the MDR for breakfast - never have luck getting a table for two. I can't stand to attempt idle conversation with strangers before I'm fully awake. If I'm reading in a lounge chair on deck, I also want to be left alone. I don't even like the bar servers to bother me.

 

On excursions or during games, it's nice to talk to people as long as the conversation stops when the guide is talking. I also love to have the fixed dinner seating and a large table so I can talk with tablemates over dinner.

 

The dining experince is important to my husband and I. We changed cruises once because we were bumped from late fixed seating.

[bilyclub]

There are times to be social and then there are times we want to be left alone. If dinner is taking a long time, there will be a lot of ackward silence, but that is better than the guy who never shuts up.

[jeast]

I voted for leave me alone, but that's not strictly true. I do enjoy the odd conversation here and there, and I also enjoy some of the group activities. But for me the cruise is about time spent with my family, not socialization with others.

[MelissaE1]

Another vote for "it varies." For one, it depends on who I am cruising with. If I am with my family (DH, kids) then we tend to do things as a group. DH is not interested in having tablemates that he does not know, and we did once and it was a disaster. We asked to be moved.

 

OTOH, if I am cruising with girls, or my BFF, I love talking to everyone, having a large group at our table and getting to know others, etc. Some great memories of a table of 16 that we did once, it was such fun. I also probably tend to interact more with the general cruising populace on the ship.

 

Either way, if I'm cruising, I'm happy!

[denamo]

The social interaction on board is one we enjoy. It allows us to meet people from all walks of life and areas of the world whose paths we would not encounter in our daily lives. We've done MTD, only to discover that we like the the MDR assigned dinner seatings and visiting with others during dinner.

 

As far as choosing a ship based on social interaction, we've not done that. The only aspect of that I can think of is how various cruiselines get tagged as catering to various demographics. We'venot chosen Royal Caribbean based on the demographic. We've chosen RCCL because we like the overall package and product. It is very consistent, and that is appealing to us.

[cruisinmon]

We (family of 4)ususally prefer to dine alone, however on last two cruises on Majesty it was just my wife and I and although walking up to a table with other people made me cringe I ended up really enjoying the other couples a lot (except one really annoying couple and they only came on the formal night) One couple was so witty and fun I actually looked forward to seeing them at dinner (very rare for me. Also we interacted a lot with the people in the shuttle from the hotel to the port and it was fun to see them throughout the cruise.

[ChipLondon]

I like to cruise and make new friends, it just surprises me that I have to go to the other side of the world just to get anyone to talk to me, Locally I have no friends, and people do whatever they can to avoid me. Luckily on a ship I have a captive audience, so far only 2 people have jumped over board when i have started talking to them.

[Ashland]

i voted for leave me alone, but that's not strictly true. I do enjoy the odd conversation here and there, and i also enjoy some of the group activities. But for me the cruise is about time spent with my family, not socialization with others.

"ditto"...;)

[klingoncruiser]

I like meeting new people and talking to them. One more fun part of cruising.

[Kellie Poodle]

We're retired and I find it a great treat to be able to have a dinner conversation with a table mate that does not revolve around my DH's favorite sports teams :)

[Sancho_proudfoot]

I voted for "love the social" as that sums us up. We're on the Mariner 7 weeks today, and we've asked for a large table in the MDR, as we love ebing able to chat to folk we've never met before, especially as we're Brits and (more than likely) our dinner companions won't be.

 

(Last cruise, on the Freedom, we were with 4 other Brits, one of whom I could cheerfully have strangled!!)

[Poorplaya]

I think the social interaction with other passengers is great, now ofcourse I am not a person that will try and talk to everyone I see, but especially at dinner, getting to meet people your sitting with, or in the casino meeting people your gambling with to me is fun. If I wanted to be alone on my vacation, I'd take the time off to watch TV at home, not take a cruise.

[sandinmypants]

I love meeting new people, I'll talk to anyone. It takes a really annoying person for me to get fed up. On the other hand, my husband is just slightly uncomfortable meeting new people (until he warms up to them), and it doesn't take much for someone to "rub him the wrong way" (and then tell me all about it later.....)

 

So of course I signed us up for the largest possible table on our upcoming cruise. :D Should be interesting. It'll be a crap-shoot what we end up with, who knows? That's what makes it fun, right? If hubby is extremely annoyed by our companions, we may end up eating in Chops & Portofinos every night after the first couple, LOL!

[Poorplaya]

So of course I signed us up for the largest possible table on our upcoming cruise. :D Should be interesting. It'll be a crap-shoot what we end up with, who knows? That's what makes it fun, right? If hubby is extremely annoyed by our companions, we may end up eating in Chops & Portofinos every night after the first couple, LOL!

 

Please let us know how that goes, hopefully like you saod he'll warm up to people and it won't be so bad, sorry if people start to rub him the wrong way though, if you booked the biggest table, he might be telling you all about it for a long long time.

[sandinmypants]

Please let us know how that goes, hopefully like you saod he'll warm up to people and it won't be so bad, sorry if people start to rub him the wrong way though, if you booked the biggest table, he might be telling you all about it for a long long time.

 

Oh, he knows that vacations are all about socializing for me. If it were up to him, he'd take all five weeks of his vacation time and just stay home, putter around the house. But he agrees to letting me have 2-3 weeks a year and GO SOMEWHERE, it keeps me happy. The other 2-3 weeks we stay home. It's a compromise. And if the dining companions are really annoying, he'll agree to the upcharge to dine in Chops or Portofinos at least a couple of nights, so it's a win-win for me.

 

Some people just aren't good at the small-talk thing, and he's one of those people. There are a few certain types of people that just annoy him (I totally agree, but I'm more tolerant ;)). But we've met some really nice people on our vacations that have continued to be great friends - let's hope that happens again!

[Mr. Luckytoo]

It appears that people who choose RCI tend to be very sociable!

[MikeNJ1109]

Interesting thread ...

 

My wife (Silke) and I by our nature are very social people, and we enjoy small get togethers with friends and family.

 

At the same time, because of my work schedule (out at 5:30 every morning, home by 7:30 pm every night), I do not get to spend nearly as much time with Silke and our daughter as I'd like. As such, when we cruise, that is OUR time to be together and catch up on life. We'll socialize with others on the cruise ... but on OUR terms, and admitedly sometimes in very small doses.

 

Michael

[Bound4Bermuda]

I voted the third option, although I have thought about it--I just fall somewhere in the middle. ;) When my hubby and I went on our first cruise, it was nice meeting other couples and chatting/socializing a bit...but I also liked our alone time. We really "clicked" with this one couple in particular, but, I have to admit, I wasn't so fond of the "social" aspect at all times. For example, one time we got stuck in lounge chairs next to a very chatty gentleman who really didn't get the hint when I was trying to read my magazine. He was going on for an hour or two before I finally had to just make up an excuse and leave because I couldn't take it anymore. And we all know how precious those lounge chairs are! :o I feel the same way about our upcoming cruise with the kids. The focus is our family vacation, although I hope the kids meet other children and have fun. I like that everyone is friendly, and I enjoy meeting new people, but I hope to spend most of my time with my own family.

[ccruisequeen]

I love Trivia & have always managed to meet new people & form teams for the contests. We don't hang out together, but its nice seeing a familiar face at shows or in the casino.

[Tony1865]

The nature of my work sort of requires that I be gregarious. I'm naturally a little introverted (an INFJ, if you're into that sort of thing), but have taught myself to be "out there" if need be.

 

Having said that, we enjoy the social aspect of the cruise. It seems very natural and unforced to strike up conversations ... we were at a large table on the FOS for dinner earlier this month. Out of the eight, I was the only guy, but still had a lot of fun. And we saw folks at trivia contests throughout the week, and people we'd met on shore excursions - it was pleasant to be able to nod and speak and recognize others.

 

I didn't meet anyone I felt compelled to keep up with after the cruise, but, yeah, we like the "hanging around" aspect of things.

 

Funny how on a ship with 4000 or so passengers how you keep seeing and recognizing the same folks over and over again.

[Northern Bear]

We love dining at a large table and meeting new people weather we are part of a group or just by ourselves.

 

That being said when we travel by ourselves (DW and I) we tend to do more social things such as playing trivia, participating in games and things.

 

When we travel with friends (6 of us this cruise) we tend to make our own fun.

[cruiselvr04]

One of the things we love about cruising (and there are many) is the social part. We have met wonderful people from all over the world. I find it fascinating! We travel as a couple and always request a large table just so we can meet others. We enjoy the Diamond lounge for that reason too. We don't really keep in touch with those we have met but I do remember some with fond memories of great trips.

 

That said I like our alone time on the balcony too! It's great with cruising that you can have both!

[DeepWaterMariner]

We have always liked the social aspect of cruising. We don't do much socializing at home but we have lots of practice at socializing at sea. When we have some bad luck, like table mates who aren't to our taste, we still seem to come out of the experience on the positive side. With the large modern ships there are so many options to take you or your table mates away for a meal or two that you aren't quite as stuck as in the old days. And most times we enjoy our table mates.