Cruising Experience - A social event or not?

[2tall]

I'm pretty outgoing but, of the two of us, I'm the "shy" one. That's because my husband is the human equivalent of a labarador retriever. He adores just about everybody he meets. In fact, it was that social aspect of cruising that helped me talk him into our first cruise together...and the friends we met on that first cruise that keep us cruising. In fact, we'll be meeting up with a few of them in Barcelona for a Med cruise in a little over two weeks and the whole "Gang" in April for the AOS out of San Juan.

[cheaptravel]

I'm with the folks that are in "the middle" but there was no choice for that in the poll. I don't mind socializing when I'm in the mood. I just don't care to converse while I eat, seems just when the fork is going in, someone needs to ask me a question. Needless to say, I don't go for the big table in the MDR !! At other times, I'm quite happy joining in on a conversation or even starting one up.

[cruising to paradise]

I like meeting other people and talking about other things besides cars, work and how bad everything is. Thats pretty much all my DH talks about.

[insulationbabe]

We always get a large table for our dinner seating and wouldn't have it any other way - we've met a lot of terrific people and have carried on friendships for a lot of years. We look forward to each and every cruise we have booked or will book:)

[tip]

Although I voted for "I want to be left alone", we are not anti-social, we just want to relax. We enjoy the team trivia and have attended the "Meet and Mingles". Other than that we enjoy a table for two and are content to keep to ourselves. We cruise to keep our marriage of 37 years strong!

[Sunkissed Mommy]

If you were to ask me and my husband you would get two different answers.

 

In our regular lives I am the shy one and he is the more outgoing/friendly one. But on a cruise he wants a table for two and doesn't exactly enjoy Meet & Mingles and Cabin Crawls.

 

I on the other hand would love to sit at a big table with others and think Meet & Mingles & Cabin Crawls are great! Maybe it just makes it easier for me to socialize?!?

[JCCRYPTO]

We enjoy the socializing. Always ask for a table for 6. Would like a bigger table, but DH has a hearing problem and larger than 6 makes it difficult for him.

[BillOh]

This could be an interesting topic. I'll give my 2 cents then go off to read replies. Our first cruise was our 25th anniversary and while we didn't know a lot about what to expect, it was our vacation and we spent it alone for the most part and had a wonderful memorable time. On our Freedom cruise, I started the thread in the meet and mingle section and it became active more than 500 days before the cruise and had thousands of posts and dozens of active posters. My wife wasn't keen on the idea, but at the M&M we met several nice people and it was kind of nice having a couple of friends along that you would socialize with, but go your own way at any time. Since then I'd save we successfully blend privacy and social situations with ease and it makes for great cruises.

 

I'll end with cruising is about having choices and on this topic, you can sometimes have it both ways. I'll see a person wearing a shirt that can start up a conversation such as somewhere Ive been, want to go, or something I know. Occasionally you can hear a conversation in a common area and join in. On the other hand, you can politely run away. While I'm only an average person IQ an education wise, I have a no tolerance for "know it alls" or people who will state things that as fact that are indeed pure BS. I'll also run away from any political, religious, or any discussion that relates to my work while on a cruise.

[BillOh]

We enjoy the socializing. Always ask for a table for 6. Would like a bigger table, but DH has a hearing problem and larger than 6 makes it difficult for him.

 

Double ditto on that one. My hearing problem has gotten worse since my 08 cruise with my left ear loss at 75%. We will probably rush to the dining room, scope out the location, then get their early so I can strategically sit in a location that will allow me to hear the best. I'll put my wife on my left as she is aware of the situation, not to muffle her out ;)

[maxxedout2]

Enjoy good food, fine wine and storytelling like most folks do.

Next round is on me.

 

Other times enjoy sitting on aft balcony on moonlit night

mesmerized by the wake...contemplating...say, gravity!

 

What?

 

Ya, gravity. It can't pull...no strings attached to each drop of

sea water. It must push...

 

(to be continued in a few months).

 

:cool:

[Mr. Luckytoo]

For those who voted that they liked to be left alone do you choose Anytime Dining? I was wondering would you also choose a cruiseline like NCL with 'Freestyle Dining'? :confused:

[tip]

For those who voted that they liked to be left alone do you choose Anytime Dining? I was wondering would you also choose a cruiseline like NCL with 'Freestyle Dining'? :confused:

 

I am not so sure why you are so confused here. Yes, we have chosen Anytime Dining. But dining is not the only reason we cruise. We cruise to relax and enjoy each other's company. This may be hard to believe, but after 37 years of marriage, we still very much enjoy each other!

 

As for your question about choosing NCL and "Freestyle Dining", what does that have to do with the price of eggs?:rolleyes:

 

And yes, we have done NCL and Freestyle Dining, but we prefer RCCL's overall product.

[Kim4]

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!

 

 

I'd love to know how your trip goes, as I'm in the exact same situation. I'm outgoing, DH is not, and I've signed us up for dining in the MDR. Each cruise that I've been on has been as a part of a group, so we always sat with our group at dinner.

 

It's just the two of us on the Serenade this June, and I'm hoping that our MDR experience will be a good one...it'll set the tone for future cruises!

[Fury1995]

I'd be surprised to see if the results are even close since the folks voting should be reflective of people who socialize everyday with strangers on here. ;)

[LT9712]

My husband and I have met great people on every one of our cruises, some that we have stayed in touch with, and even arranged to take another cruise together. I love meeting new people and learning about where they come from and what they do. My husband and still manage to find enough alone time to satisfy both of us.

[THEWIFE]

I love the socialization that goes on while on a cruise. Although my husband can easily live without it, I really, really enjoy speaking with people from all over the globe. We've had lots of positive experiences and even made permanent friendships with people we've met while afloat. We choose a large table in the MDR for this reason and only twice we were unhappy about it: one time, the people at our table were in a group and another time we sat with four drunks. We never made it to the end of the cruise at that table! :(

 

But I can handle it all: Politics, religion, you name it! You may not like my reply, but I can handle your table conversation . . .

[COMBOY]

I don't care what type of travel, plane, train or ship...it's not where you go and how you get there; it's the people that you meet along the way that makes travel so special to me. Sometime you want to be alone and sometime you want to socialize. There isn't a right or wrong answer, but the right mix between alone time and social time. I'm not a morning person and until I've had my first cup of coffee the last thing I want to do is socialize that's why I go to the WJ cafe and hide until I'm fully awake. After that all's fair in social interaction. Sometimes I've seen a couple sitting at a table of two and you'll never see them say a word to each other. Eat, see the show and go to bed. That would be boring for me, but if they're happy then what business is that of mine. Anyway....good topic and I'm sure you'll get a whole lot of opinions.

[beachchick]

Here's another vote for "some of both." Some of the time, we prefer to be on our own. Other times, we have a great time interacting with other passengers and with people we meet at various port stops. We are not gregarious or boisterous by nature; we are friendly, enjoy new experiences, and our friends and families seem to think we're fun and interesting (but they may be biased). We've met some really terrific people on cruises, generally in lounges, at shows, at activities, and sometimes just while strolling around the ship. On the whole, our vacation focus on our time together, but not to the exclusion of socializing some of the time.

 

beachchick

[printingchick]

Thanks for bringing up this topic. It's an aspect of cruising that is rarely addressed and one of the reasons I prefer cruise vacations to land based ones.

 

I think many of us have made wonderful friends while cruising and that those relationships have lasted long after the cruise ended. Many of the on-board activities encourage mingling with fellow passengers, which can sometimes make the experience feel more like a big party than a vacation.

 

On a cruise ship, everyone is on the same schedule. Friends you meet at the nightclub on day one will not be flying back home the following day. We all start and finish our vacations together. (Well, some people do back-to-back cruises, so maybe we don't all FINISH our vacations together.)

 

Many of my fond cruise memories involve the people I met - even if I never saw or heard from those people again.

 

As far as the new MyTime dining goes, you can still opt to sit with others. On the Serenade in March, my daughter and I sat at a table by ourselves the first night. It was a late-departing cruise (out of San Juan) and dinner had to be fit around the muster drill. We were seated at a table for two near-by another table for two where a couple was already dining. We talked with them all through our meal and ran into each other the next day. We made arrangements to eat together that night and did so for the rest of the cruise. Not only did we get to meet new people whom we enjoyed dining with nightly, but we got to essentially choose our tablemates. It was great!! Sometimes, with traditional dining, you either don't click with your assigned tablemates, or you are assigned to a table with people who don't intend to even eat at the MDR and therefore never show up!

 

On a cruise, you tend to run into the same people over and over again throughout the week, because they are people who enjoy the same activities you do. The piano bar group can often feel like the bar on cheers, where the regulars quickly learn each other's names. There are always characters on each cruise that stand out from the crowd and become unofficial entertainment for the rest of the passengers.

 

Cruise vacations offer a unique dynamic in terms of vacations and I LOVE it!

[QTBabyNurse]

I don't necessarily "search out" opportunities to chat with random passengers (especially in the morning when I'm not very social), but if I happen to be in the same place as others, or if others come up to me for conversation, I will gladly participate.

I do have to say that I really enjoy the MDR for dinner and we always request a large table. I would much rather keep the same tablemates throughout the cruise and get to know them well, than to have new ones every night at MTD.....we've tried that once and every night it was the same conversation over and over...."what are your names, what do you do, where are you from???" That gets old really quick! :p

[Mary1951]

I am one of these people that in the space of a day every one knows mine name . People just seem to be drawn to me , hubby on the other had as one of those faces that scare people and till you get to know him may think he is grumpy , not at all true . I take a bacloney so that I can have my reading time , and enjoy the social life when I want to . We are taking a table for 2 because we do not have much time together , as I work and he is retired , so the table for 2 is our way of having our time .

[jerin]

A mix. I'm very introverted, and a cruise is usually a time for me to recharge and get a lot of alone time. We don't usually do organized excursions in ports, but strike out on our own. But we do usually eat most meals in the MDR and I enjoy the company both of our dinner tablemates and of those we meet at breakfast and lunch. Being shy by nature, just being seated together at a meal is a great icebreaker for me. My husband loves more of the social things and does classes, games, etc. while I find a spot to sit and read -- something that makes cruising an ideal vacation for us.

[SeaTeach]

My vote would be the 4th choice...a mixture of both situations. For socialization - a large table in the MDR, interactive ship activities (belly flop contests, trivia, etc.), excursions, formal and informal get togethers. When I've had enough socialization - my balcony.

[Sherry84]

My DH and I have always cruised my ourselves and had a great time, but on our last cruise we went with friends and also made a ton of new friends (from our roll call her on CC) and we had the BEST time ever! So I have to say that socializing is way more fun, as least for us. Now we are trying to plan our next cruise with our new friends as I can't imagine going without them! :)