MDR Tablemates

[visagrunt]

My view is that if we are at a table for eight with other people who want to be at a table for eight at main dining then we have a very good change of getting along. The people who want to dine alone ask for tables for two; the people who want to see different people don't opt for main dining. The people we wind up have invariably been engaging, interesting people.

 

Except on family reunion cruises. In which case it's just the same stories over again! ;)

[wander]

After many days of cruising on HAL (5 Star now), we ask for a table of 6 or 8, almost always get that. I would say that over 95% of our stablemates have been most enjoyable, of course some more than others. In our experience, age has not made that much of a difference, but usually most of our table mates have been within 10 years plus or minus from us. Of the other 5% (eat), in one case it was a table for 4 and while they were most pleasant our conversation options ran out after the first 30 days. Mid cruise we switched to open seating which we also enjoyed, although I prefer fixed time dining. (We had a very good reason for the change that we could give them.) They were very nice and interesting, but 60+ days is a long time with only 4 folks unless they are real friends.

 

In case (not HAL) we had a table for 8 - great folks except that one had a serious personal problem which escalated during the cruise until she was sent home by the ship. IF we had been alone with her it would have been the dinners from He--. However, the other seven of us made it into a very interesting dining experience inspite of the unfortunate woman's problems. (We DID rightfully feel sorry for her, but as the cruise progressed her behavior became increasingly severely inappropriate.)

[freestyling]

Sapper1 and Lizzie 68 - We look forward to breaking bread and drinking wine with y'all any ole time!

[sapper1]

Sapper1 and Lizzie 68 - We look forward to breaking bread and drinking wine with y'all any ole time!

I'm sure I speak for Lizzie too when I say we like that drinking wine part eh?

[ithaca gal]

Okay, maybe I'm a little too sensitive. Then again, maybe not.

 

I find it interesting that it is okay to say that you are concerned about tablemates being old (therefore, sleepy, boring, repetitive, etc.). We have had great luck with tablemates and the few that weren't that great weren't old!

 

Hopefully this bias doesn't extend to those who are weight-challenged, lower social economic level, etc. (I won't add other obvious biases here).

 

It's a cruise! Yay! Don't sweat the small stuff before you even board the ship!

[Hflors]

On a cruise with my mom and sis we shared a table with a gentleman who swore he worked in films. Every night he wore a gold windbreaker. He told us a lot of stories (dirt) about Hollywood. About mid cruise he stopped coming to our table and we later saw him with a woman who people said was his girlfriend. Interesting was the word for him

 

ON the same cruise our other table mate was a retired woman and her niece. She eventually got a word in edgewise and told us about her husband (he was deceased) he was a professional gambler. She was a pretty smart cookie, as she told us he would win and give her the "winnings". She also told us how the hotels would fly both of them out to Las Vegas and comp their rooms.. She had some very interesting stories to share with us.

[Lovely other]

Our experiences have been both good, bad and even a little bit weird.

 

The good ones included our Norway tablemates which were a younger couple from Australia and an older couple from Greece and Cyprus. We became quite a team doing table tennis tournaments and trivia together. One half of the Australian couple was originally from the Phillipines and her and my husband who is Chinese shared many bizarre being confused for crew moments, to the amusement of us all. We are all still friends to this day and currently planning a trip to Alaska together ...

 

We once shared a table with a mother and daughter where the daughter in her 20's ordered just a plain hamburger (no bun) and ketchup every evening!

 

Our Koningsdam table mates were a mixed bag ... For the first week on the Premier cruise we had a wonderful pair of single travellers for company. A lady from Glasgow and a guy who was a cruise ship aficionado from Portsmouth. For the final 12 days we had a family of 4 women in their 40's (our age) from Canada and a couple in their late 80's from Maryland. The older couple were fantastic, fun people and we could talk for hours. They were well travelled and enjoyed discovering new places on their own ...the young women were frightened of everything !

 

Our second Koningsdam cruise took a turn for the worse table mate wise. We had a guy who came to dinner, sat down and read his book through the whole meal. And a couple in their 50's that were very openly racist, making remarks about immigrants constantly and even complaining about the fact that their sons had both married 'foreigners' :mad:...all the while sitting across from the daughter of a polish immigrant with her Chinese husband and his South African Chinese Parents :') ...

 

It's a mixed bag on any cruise ship and you never know who you'll get for table mates. After the last experience we've decided to go open dining for just us and only share with friends we make along the way ...we are the late night party crowd so we've never been short of new friends to dine with ...

[VennDiagram]

My view is that if we are at a table for eight with other people who want to be at a table for eight at main dining then we have a very good change of getting along. The people who want to dine alone ask for tables for two; the people who want to see different people don't opt for main dining. The people we wind up have invariably been engaging, interesting people.

.... ;)

 

I agree -- that by being in Fixed dining at a larger table, you meet people who want to socialize. We've had, overall, outstanding dinner table companions.

[Nang]

Isn't it great, conversationalists, introverts with the one great quip of the night, never happy types, up their own backsides so far they are almost inside out ones and the ones who end up being cruise and post cruise friends. Wouldn't have it any other way, its why we always go anytime dining on a large table, to meet different folks.

[janmcn]

We have usually been happy in the past with our table mates no matter what ages...as long as they can hear! (That was one fiasco.) However we have recently found we enjoy "As You Wish" dining because we often like to try to eat with others we have recently met on the ship! We also have the option of asking to be sat by ourselves or with a table of 6. (The 8's make it too difficult for conversation.) I like to have options.

 

 

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[BBsailor]

On a 2 week cruises at a table for eight we were starting dinner when 2 late women joined our table. They proceeded to bitch-moan complain about everything; service, the food, staff, the ship, the weather, you get the drift. The maitre'd and other dining room staff tried to calm them down. Nothing pleased these women and they were happy to let everyone know it. They absolutely killed the table and my husband gave me the get me out of here look, after all life's too short and the cruise was too long. Needless to say the maitre'd moved us without comment

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Let them know you want a table for 3.

I agree with you that is the best way.

[St. Louis Sal]

Like several others on this thread we have always requested late seating, table of 8 or more. We've been very lucky in meeting lots of interesting people and only having a few bad experiences. From our first cruise where we were seated with two couples from Florida who had cruised a lot and had fantastic tips for us newbies, to a Panama Canal cruise where we met wonderful people from New York who became friends that we cruise with a lot, to an Alaskan cruise where we represented the US from East Coast, West Coast, South, North and Midwest, we've had a great time.

 

Our few misses were sometimes funny. We were at a table with 4 other couples one night and went around the table introducing ourselves. We were all married except for one couple who never came back; I think they thought we were judging because they weren't married but traveling together. We had a gentleman who hated the dining room food and demanded a dish from Canaletto every night. We couldn't believe how nice our waiter was in handling him. He was the same gentleman who, when I mentioned I would never purchase anything from Diamonds International, told me the owner was a friend of his. Whoops, oh well. A few times we've had groups that only showed up to dinner some nights leaving us to sit four at a table for 8 or 10. One group was a big drinking group. Now I'm no slouch but for dinner I'm just a glass or two of wine drinker. Our wine steward literally ignored me every night apparently because I was not worth waiting on.

 

One of the best things about sharing a table is coming together after a great port day and hearing about everyone else's experiences. We've occasionally done a table for 2 for DH and me or a table for 4 for just our family but we think the opportunity to meet new people is worth the gamble.

 

St. Louis Sal

[DeeDee Groff]

ROFL! We hear ya. But our theory about HAL ( a line we still like and cruise) is that there are basically two types of cruisers. There are those that go to dinner at 5:30 (after waiting in line from 5pm) because they are afraid they will have to dine after dark :). Those folks rush through dinner, leave the MDR before 7, go to a show, and are in their cabins before 9! Some of those folks are our friends, but its just not our style. So we dine later (usually after 8). We are already ahead of the game because those who dine after 8....are going to generally be more of a lively later night crowd. We use Open Dining....but always ask to share a large table. Yes, we have had some boring tables (but its only for 1 night) but mostly we have met some fantastic folks. As a rule we have found HAL cruisers to be sophisticated travelers with lots of world/travel experience.

 

So now we have the BB King group (on many of the ships) which is really an interesting idea for HAL. Those that go to the BB King shows are generally happy (the one's that have issues quickly leave) and are more our type...in that they enjoy some lively music. It is hard to fall asleep at the BB King shows :). And on our upcoming VOV cruise we noticed that we also have "Barry from Boston" in the piano venue. It would be hard to fall asleep in Barry's venue :). So we expect that out of the 1200 on our upcoming cruise...perhaps half will be in bed by 9 (or falling asleep at their early dinner). But there should be hundreds of others who enjoy staying awake and socializing.

 

Hank

 

And I'm one of them!

[Boatdrill]

After taking three or four cruises, a distinguished gentleman friend of my family's commented that dining room table mates should be grouped according to IQ. :)