Who have you met on a cruise that has an interesting history or occupation?

[Islander500]

We met a couple from Wales who had us in stitches explaining what "gardening leave" meant in the UK.

 

We met a couple who own a bed & breakfast in Oregon, and she had been a professional musician who had accompanied various famous performers.

 

We met a California couple who travel extensively and the husband fell asleep on the return trips of every tour, and the rest of us had him convinced he'd missed the best part of the tour while napping.

 

We meet a couple from Britain who entertained us with their political perspectives-very different from ours, mind you. He was extremely funny, especially telling the story of having fallen asleep at the performance of the dancing dervishes in Istanbul.

 

We met a woman from Montreal who joined us in our first DIY in Santorini, and then changed dining tables to join us, and went on every tour we booked. She was no longer traveling alone and we enjoyed her company for the duration of the cruise.

 

One of the many reasons we so enjoy cruising!

[Big_G]

We met a retired debarkation coordinator for RCI in Miami while on Reflection. His gig allowed him to check for empty cabins for the next sailing. He stuck mostly to short cruises and had racked up 73 on Majesty alone. If he scored a cabin, he'd call the wife first to have her pack and his son second to give her a ride to the pier. Very nice couple.

[Jenna109]

We met a lady who had been one of the thousands of children evacuated during the second world war from London to Yorkshire. She was sent to a town a few mikes from where we live. She related how they were send on a train not even knowing where they were going and then standing in a church hall waiting to be selected by a host family. Such an interesting lady.

[Project_gal]

On our first cruise, we shared a table with a lovely couple who were so useful for explaining the mysteries of cruising to us. My husband always describes the husband as "the man in overall charge of blowing things up for the US army". He really must have enjoyed his job because one of his hobbies was pyrotechnics! Could not really share that with us on the cruise but we really enjoyed partaking of his other hobby - good wines.

[Spursgirl]

We met a jockey who had won the Grand National.

 

He was obviously a wonderful horseman but his communication skills were sadly lacking

[Embrace]

On our last cruise on Solstice (first cruise for us) we met a lovely couple from Scotland at Select Dining who's daughter was one of the dancers in the evening shows.

 

It was interesting hearing about her passion for dancing and what led her to be dancing on the Solstice and a little bit of what 'life on board' is like for staff. They were understandably very proud parents and were spoilt to be cruising on board with her and seeing her perform.

[Tiggertastic]

I feel very ordinary compared to some people I have met. We had a guy who engineered and wrote the process manuals for the space station. A guy who during the Cuba missile crisis sneaked lots of troops in and out on standby without anyone knowing they were there. A responder from the world trade centre who now has lifetime medical issues and Lost every single one of his first responder team but found every one of their names at the memorial. ( that was a tear jerker).

 

We're still in touch with all 3

[Caribbean Chris]

On our last Princess cruise we shared our dinner table with a man who worked for Princess, as a security guard in one of their Alaskan lodges. Same cruise, met a woman at our M&G who had worked for Princess in the office that arranged for the crews travel to and from their job assignments. I wondered what kind of discounts they got! :o

 

Back in the 1980s, I worked as a marketing representative for long-defunct Royal Viking Line, and my husband and I took advantage of the chance to cruise for $10 a day per person.

 

We were in our 30s and often the youngest passengers. I avoided mentioning what I did for a living on purpose because I was there to relax, but we were invited to some nice small functions in the Captains' quarters. Kept hoping we would meet (but never did) some of the line's famous passengers - like Cary Grant, Neil Sedaka, novelist John D. MacDonald - but I always suspected the low-key quiet ones we did meet at those parties had led fascinating lives. They probably kept quiet about it so they could relax, too.

[ladeeesquire]

on our very first cruise in 1989, dh and I were in our early 20s but had been married about 3 yrs. We sat at a table with an older couple (probably in their late 70s). One night, one of the other tablemates asked if we were newlyweds. When we said we weren't, the husband of the older couple piped up excitedly that he and his wife were!! They were actually on their honeymoon. He had been a professional pianist, played at Carnegie Hall. He and his current wife had been married to each other's best friends and several years after they'd both passed away they got married!

 

He WAS an amazing pianist! He sat at down at a grand in one of the lounges and had anyone and everyone call out songs and then he played them!! All of them!! There wasn't a single song asked for he didn't know. Then he played classical music for us... so beautiful.

 

They were a lovely, lovely couple. My very favorite of all the people we've every cruised with.