Meeting people on cruises

[lenquixote66]

Have you ever gotten into a conversation on a cruise and found out that you shared something in common from your childhood ?

I met a couple who were retired Penn State Professors.He had a very distinctive southern accent and told me he grew up in Beaumont ,Texas.

His wife had a different accent and I jokingly said that she must have grown up in Brooklyn ,NY.She looked amazed and said that she did.After further conversation we determined that we went to the same high school at the same time.We did not know each other then but we had mutual friends.

Small world.

[cruiserking]

Not so much from childhood but, we've taken cruises in Europe and bumped into friends from the states. Or bumped into friends we had no idea were aboard. 

 

Jonathan

[ldubs]

We sat down next to a couple in the theater and discovered we lived within a few blocks of each other.   We frequently got together after the cruise until we finally moved away from the area.   Anyway, we thought it was incredible that out of a few thousand folks we would sit right next to someone who was practically a neighbor.   

[denmarks]

I usually meet others by attending trivia contests. So far there was nothing in common.

[ontheweb]

I don't know if this counts. We physically met a couple from our roll call prior to the cruise because they lived on Long Island one town away from DW"s family. And then in the muster drill we ended up standing directly behind them. This was in Copenhagen, and I said," You fly across the ocean and still can't avoid people from Long Island.".

[ontheweb]

1 minute ago, denmarks said:

I usually meet others by attending trivia contests. So far there was nothing in common.

I also meet the same people over and over at trivia. DW and I often meet the same people when we go dancing. There was one cruise (Eastern Mediterranean) on which we ran into the same couple from our roll call on all but one port. 

[NLH Arizona]

Ran into a couple during a Galapagos Island cruise who was on my Antarctica cruise.

[lenquixote66]

35 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

I don't know if this counts. We physically met a couple from our roll call prior to the cruise because they lived on Long Island one town away from DW"s family. And then in the muster drill we ended up standing directly behind them. This was in Copenhagen, and I said," You fly across the ocean and still can't avoid people from Long Island.".

Where in LI is your wife’s family from ?

[George C]

4 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Have you ever gotten into a conversation on a cruise and found out that you shared something in common from your childhood ?

I met a couple who were retired Penn State Professors.He had a very distinctive southern accent and told me he grew up in Beaumont ,Texas.

His wife had a different accent and I jokingly said that she must have grown up in Brooklyn ,NY.She looked amazed and said that she did.After further conversation we determined that we went to the same high school at the same time.We did not know each other then but we had mutual friends.

Small world.

Lenny, we were at a pool at a all inclusive in Mexico many years ago talking to a couple and discovered we all went to same high school In Brooklyn Bushwick . 

[Northumberland]

A few years ago we were sitting at breakfast with 2 other couples and struck up a conversation with them. We are from Canada and they lived in the South eastern US. 1 of the couples recognized our accents and asked if we were from Canada to which we responded yes and told them where we lived. To our surprise, we discovered that they came from a community about 5 miles from where we lived and had moved to the US about 20 years before.  We then discovered that the wife and a woman that my wife had worked with years before were best friends. As you said, small world.

[getting older slowly]

We regularly rent a holiday house in Tasmania, and know the people next door pretty well,

 

We haven't been there for a couple years and ran into them on a cruise......

 

the question why hadn't you been to the holiday house, answer to busy cruising.....

 

Then two cruises later.... chatting over dinner.... we met the people next door's brother....

 

It started we often holiday in Tasmania..... then it down to the street address.... so you know my brother....

 

It is a small world...

 

on our first  cruise  in the first port a lady took our photo standing on top of the bridge.... on our next cruise we ran into the same lady walking along the foreshore of on of the small ports..... and she took our photo again

 

Cheers Don

[wowzz]

Nothing to do with cruising, but we stayed in a villa in Spain,  and thought our neighbours looked familiar. Turned out we had spent a evening with them in Kenya whilst on safari, 5 years earlier.

[MicCanberra]

I was on a Celebrity cruise in the Mediterranean,  Italy and Greek Islands finishing in Venice. We decided to do the Chef's table and booked as soon as we boards as there was only the one happening on this cruise. We front up and meet the other 4 couples and start chatting, no one knew any of the other couples. It turns out that all 10 of us are Aussies and not only that but we were all from Canberra as well. We are still in contact with 2 of the couples.

[MicCanberra]

Another weird coincidence has occurred.

We did a 3 week land tour of the UK with Trafalgar in 2010, we met some nice people band stayed in contact with a few of the couples.

In 2014, we were doing a Globus tour of South America out of Rio de Janeiro and had checked into the hotel a few days before it was starting. The day before the tour starts, as we are about to do some exploring, we see a familiar pair of faces (but could not recall where from) in the lobby, so we go and say G'day. Turns out they were on the UK tour and are now on our Globus tour as well. They had arrived at the hotel but couldn't check in as yet as their room wasn't available, so we let them use our room until theirs was ready. We had a great tour together and now they are still friends we are in contact with. 

[Canuker]

First cruise we ever took, dinner on first night, all introducing ourselves.
Turns out the lady opposite me was the TA with whom we'd booked that cruise, over the phone.
She was even more charming in person than we'd founder her back home.

Flying back from a cruise to the UK, through Gatwick, we bumped into friends in our departure lounge that we know well at our local jazz club.

Edited January 23, 2020 by Canuker

[ontheweb]

12 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Where in LI is your wife’s family from ?

Massapequa, remember from a previous thread DW was in the same HS graduating class as Jerry Seinfeld.

[ontheweb]

We also once met someone from my home town on a cruise. I knew our parents and his parents knew each other. Also his father was DW's first school superintendent when she first got a job teaching in a public school.

[leaveitallbehind]

13 hours ago, denmarks said:

I usually meet others by attending trivia contests. So far there was nothing in common.

...other than an apparent mutual interest in trivia!  😉

[DarrenM]

I was wandering round the ship when I bumped into someone that looked just like my wife.

 

Turned out it WAS her.

[Cruiser_1977]

Happens to me a lot. On my most recent cruise I struck up a conversation with a couple at a bar. I lived in a college town from ages 7- HS graduation (then another college town for four years LOL). The wife had gone to school at that college...small world. On my RCCL trip I met a mother and son. Turns out he lives in the city where I currently work. I once went to a chiropractor. We got to talking about how he was from WV. Ended up his grandmother and my grandmother were good friends and had been in Garden Club together.

Edited January 23, 2020 by JennyB1977

[WisconsinFan]

We ran into old neighbors on one cruise but the most interesting one was on Harmony. March and the Wisconsin Badgers were in the March Madness. We got on an elevator with two ladies also wearing Badger gear. In our short ride we discovered that one woman was a good friend of my parents (who were also on this cruise!) they were headed off one way and us another and none of us had a pen to get room numbers! We exchanged contact info and arranged to meet them for drinks with my parents later. My parents were so surprised.

[dogs4fun]

We have never met anyone on a cruise that is from our area - seems strange after reading all the posts on this thread.

[pacruise804]

Our table mates on one cruise were from a town less than 30 minutes away.

[lenquixote66]

17 hours ago, George C said:

Lenny, we were at a pool at a all inclusive in Mexico many years ago talking to a couple and discovered we all went to same high school In Brooklyn Bushwick . 

I never met anyone anywhere who went to Bushwick.My late brother in law lived in Bushwick but went to Jefferson.

[lenquixote66]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Massapequa, remember from a previous thread DW was in the same HS graduating class as Jerry Seinfeld.

Aha,I am having memory lapses .If she still has family there I know a guy who is part owner of a great Italian restaurant there.My friend who played at the August 2019 Woodstock concert will be there with his band on May 9.The restaurant is Bacaro’s.