Best and Worst Tablemate Stories..........

[micro yaya]

i don't know about you, but once we sit down, those chairs become our chairs for the rest of the cruise, on our much waited for cruise in europe, last year we were seated at a table for 10. one couple were loud and laughed like some monkey, and every night to be our turn, we ate at the buffet.

[bambidrummer]

We had great table mates. There was a boy and his mom, who was a ped's doctor and my son, husband and myself, I am a speech language pathologist and there was a mom and grandma with a special needs daughter with them. They three came to dinner one night heard what we both did for a living and never came back. It seemed so silly not to come to such a great dinning room.

[odblnt]

We're getting ready for our first cruise with "traditional" dining (our previous cruises have been on NCL and a riverboat). Somehow I'm not sure I want DW reading this thread. :rolleyes:

[sleepysnr]

I come from a family of 5 so we usually have our own table. one cruise we were sitting in the upper dining room when a roll was knocked off my plate by my elbow. unfortunatly it fell off the balcony and onto the table below. boy were they shocked! for the rest of the cruise i couldnt go near the balcony because i was afraid to see who was down there :eek:

[MedicKen]

My family and I just returned from a cruise on Freedom of the Seas. We had a 10 top with 8 from the family and a great couple I met here on Cruise Critic. We ahd the best time. Ages ranged from 60ish to 10. We were all sharing stories from the cruise and home. I think sharing and trying new things, especially in the dining room, is one of the very best parts of cruising.

[crusinpsychRN]

Once we (my fiance, son, daughter and I) were seated with a family who had an 8 year old daughter who practically sat in her mother's lab every dinner. She was very picky and would order something and not eat most of eat. She had no manners. It was awful! The parents were bores. We ended up talking to each other.

 

My son and I were seated at a table for 10. We were the only ones who showed the first night. It was uncomfortable. We did enjoy watching one 60'ish year old lady complain about EVERYthing. It was predictable. The poor waiter.

 

I was on a solo in December and had late seating with 5 other singles. We got along very well. The second to last night we were talking about OJ and I said how I didn't know how he'd fare in prison. The retired postal worker said "What, he'll be fine. It was a woman and a Jew." My jaw dropped as did everyone else's. We couldn't believe it. He didn't understand our reaction at all. One of the tablemates left every night just before dessert like clockwork.

[skippyy]

:( Darn, I fear ya'll are complaining about me ! The first evening of

each cruise I ask for beans and weenies at dinner and announce to

my tablemates how I dreamed about this cruise and how great it is

to finally be out of prison...seem to find myself dining alone alot.

 

Last night on cruise i felt someone rubbing my thigh under the table.

Didn't know what to do at first:eek: finally looked down and realized it

was me:D

[Caribbean Sunsets]

:( Darn, I fear ya'll are complaining about me ! The first evening of

each cruise I ask for beans and weenies at dinner and announce to

my tablemates how I dreamed about this cruise and how great it is

to finally be out of prison...seem to find myself dining alone alot.

 

Last night on cruise i felt someone rubbing my thigh under the table.

Didn't know what to do at first:eek: finally looked down and realized it

was me:D

 

Now that's funny!:)

[ShannLC16]

On our first cruise, my husband and I were seated at a table for 6, but one couple never showed up. The wife of the couple that did show up was on the Atkins diet and she ate three or more of her entrees every night. Seriously.

 

On "lobster night" she had...(are you ready for this?!?!)....13 lobster tails. 13!!!!!!!!!!! No exaggerations, no making this up - I am completely serious.

 

The husband was the type of person who does not make eye contact, so every night when he would talk to us, it felt like he was staring at my chest.

 

Even with all their weirdness, they were actually a nice enough couple. We love telling that store! :)

[Megdgr8]

I was on the Independence of the Seas, Feb 15-Feb 21, 2009.

We were 2 couples.....

 

We were assigned to a table to 8 in the Macbeth dining room.... only was the 4 of us the first night...... only the 4 of us the second night....

 

On the 3rd night our great Waiter Reggie came to us & said he had a met the people who were supposed to be our Tablemates, they came in prior to the 8:30 seating. They complained right away that they did not want to be sitting with Americans!! They demanded to see the Head Waiter. The head waiter spoke to them & they became rude towards him about how they are refusing to sit with any Americans on their cruise vacation!! The poor head waiter had to rearrange a table for them on the other side of the room. Keep in mind they had not showed up to the dining room until the 3rd night of a 6 night cruise.

 

After our waiter told us the story, the head waiter came over to us & apologized & gave us the whole story. He said we were better off without them beacuse they were very rude people!!!

 

We ended up having a blast with just the four of us for the cruise....

 

My only curiousity is how did they know we were Americans.. did they have spies around us in the dining room??

[Sea Hag]

[quote name=jandjfun;8519296So I said to them' date=' "well you never asked what our jobs are. I am a hooker, and my sister is my ****. This was not a vacation for us, we have been working this ship" :eek: :eek: Their mouths all dropped open, their eyes got as big as saucers, and they never said another word. We never told them any different either!

What a hoot, we just belly laugh about this story every time we tell it, or think of it. Our husbands got a big kick out of it too. As did my Dad. He said, that will teach them.:p[/quote]

 

Perfect! :D

[llamirand]

On our very first cruise together we were seated at a table for four with a couple from our own town. Guess we weren't quite good enough for them because they never came back. So we were enjoying our table for two and also the folks at tables nearby all week.

 

They were a large extended family: a table of eight adults and a table of eight teenagers. Good looking kids and very well behaved. We enjoyed them because they were all so entertainning and having such a great time. Thanksgiving was during the cruise. The evening of Thanksgiving Day they looked over at us and then invited us to join them. The waiter was a little befuddled, but they squeezed together and some sat on the window ledge but we were most warmly welcomed.

 

Escargot was on the menu along with venison and other foods new to me. So I ordered escargot and a plate of eight or ten came to the table. Everyone was looking on with a great deal of curiostiy, so I took one and passed the plate around the table, letting them know this was a family "tradition". They ended up sharing their food, too.

 

We learned that they were all brothers and sisters, inlaws and cousins, children of a man who had died recently and left each one a small inheritance. They hailed from California, Hawaii, the midwest and the South, and had mutually decided that this was what the money was for!

 

The worst case was the next cruise - table for six - one other couple so far. The man continually verbally abused his wife. It made me ill. Next night we decided to give them one more chance. Same behavior. That was all it took for us to go to the Lido.

 

After 2 or three nights up there the maitre d came up and asked us if everything was OK and why we had left the dining room. We explained and he left. Next night he came up and invited us back to our table because he had "fixed" the problem. I asked him what he had done and he said "I put them at a table for two" with a big smile.

 

Keep on cruisin, there are some really nice folks out there.

[mongo59r]

We were at a six top on our last cruise. One of the couples (newlyweds) showed up only once. The third couple was a real joy the entire cruise! We discovered that they lived about 20 miles away from us and were very close friends with one of DW's co-workers. It is indeed a small world!

[hmcare63]

November 2007 my sister in law and I were on Carnival Triumph at table for 10. There was a 60+ lady from Canada a 50ish lady from Australia, 2 young single girls, 2 sisters and Tom, a slightly developmentally delayed gentleman who loved having a tableful of women to himself. Within minutes the first night it was as if we had been friends for years. We had so much fun. We were the last ones out of the dining room every night. On the third night our tenth tablemate finally showed up. Paul was single and in his probably late 50's. Needless to say Tom was obviously disgruntled at having to "share" his women. On the formal night we all arrived at our table to find long stem pink roses on all the ladies plates. Paul had arranged to have them at our table prior to dinner. We even hung out on shore together. And Tom was a karoake freak. So, it was fun that he won a spot in the "celebrity" show. Our entire table went to the show and went to the "meet and greet" for the celebrities after the show. It was priceless to see how excited he was to be celebrity for a night and that he had a fan club and entourage there to root him on.

[timmy1958]

Thought this might be a fun-to-read thread........:D

 

 

Another 6 top with a nice couple and another couple who while the wife endlessly talked (or should I say bragged!) her husband "accidentally" groped me under the table. At this point my best friend and I decided we only had a couple nights and I could endure the groping. That was the tablemates from hell cruise for us. It gave us some good stories though. :p

 

If anyone "accidentally" gropes my wife or daughter I guess I'll spend the rest of the cruise in the brig! :eek:

[dragonswordkata]

If anyone "accidentally" gropes my wife or daughter I guess I'll spend the rest of the cruise in the brig! :eek:

 

Why would you be in the brig? Your on a cruise, the night is long and dark, plus the ocean is big and deep...no body...no crime ;)

[LiftLockCouple]

I have a question. My wife is alergic to perfumes etc. Just how bad can it get at the larger tables with overdone perfumes etc? Or even someone who has just completed that smelly cigar?

[Cruisin D]

My DH & I are a little bit shy and I always dread going to dinner for the first time as you never know who you will meet. Most of the time we have had great table mates.

 

The funniest table mate that we had was a couple on their honeymoon. She did not speak at all and seemed to be sea sick,(poor thing) she would order her meal and then the never eat it the poor waiters where always trying to bring her somethin to eat. Her husband was the funny one. He loved to talk about himself and wore a little to much bling, he loved himself just a bit to much.

On one of our shore stops in Fiji, the other couple at the table and us bought some fake tag watches, quite flashy. At dinner that night we had the bling bling guy convinced that these watches where real and that we had bought them duty free at some little store on shore. He was very worked up by the end of dinner thinking that he had missed some "real" cheap Tag watches. It all got to much for us and we had to put him out of his misery and tell him. We all rolled around laughing. He was such a good sport. We met up with our table mates for drinks and trivia nights and had the best time. I wonder if they ever cruised again.

My husband & I still laugh about him and the look on his face.

[olemissreb]

on our first cruise on Princess, we were originally at a 4 top near the wait station and seated with an elderly couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Their kids had given them the trip. Most of Princess's wait staff at that time were Italian. The first night at dinner, the waiter and his assistant were standing at the wait station keeping an eye on their tables and talking in Italian. The elderly gentleman was getting angry over something, but none of us (not even his wife) could figure out what. When the waiter came to get our dessert order, Angelo (the elderly gentleman) spoke to him in fluent Italian :eek: and the waiter (and his assistant) went ash white and his jaw hit the floor! :D Evidently they (the waiter and his assistant) were making disparaging remarks about the American passengers not thinking that anyone would understand. Turned out, Angelo was a first generation Italian American! The moment was PRICELESS!!! (never did find out exactly what they were saying - Angelo was too much of a gentleman to tell us).

[cognito20]

Worst Tablemates.........Well, we really haven't had any, at least in our opinion. On one cruise, there was a gentleman from NY and his English wife. She was VERY outspoken. Always had an opinion on everything. We had a table for eight, but by the third night, the other tablemates had left, leaving just my wife and I, and them. Her husband was pretty quiet and reserved, just the opposite of her. When he realized that the other tablemates weren't coming back, he bought us some NICE wine each evening at dinner for the rest of the cruise. I guess you could say he was 'doping us up' for the 2 hour ordeal each night. Actually(and maybe it was the wine), she didn't seem that bad. Yeah, she was outspoken on everything, but she still did it was class.

 

Wow, so how was it eating dinner every night with Hyacinth and Richard Bucket? ;)

[cognito20]

This is the opposite of a tablemates from hell kind of story. On our Celebrity cruise last year, I suddenly had the feeling that my good luck with tablemates had run out and I was going to be at a miserable table. I was looking around the foyer before the doors opened and just dreading meeting a bunch of horrid fellow diners. We got to our table (by the window) first and sat down nervously. The first couple walked up, and said, "Hello, we are Jose and Pakita from Peru, but we had to leave because of the revolution and now we live in Canada." They were very nice and I was mildly relieved. Then the second couple appeared and said, "Hello, we are Roger and Shirley and we are from Nicaragua, but we had to leave because of the revolution and now we live in Miami!" O.K.! Also extremely nice. Then the third couple arrived, and they lived just outside of London

 

I suppose you could've asked what revolution they had to leave because of, but they probably wouldn't have gotten it. ;)

[cognito20]

Imagine that couple leaving their kids unattended while they go off someplace else.:eek:

 

If they try to pull that little stunt on land, their kids will be in the custody of their local Social Services department quicker than you can say "irresponsible parenting". At least if I'm around. Hotlining someone is completely anonymous. My brother was a children's services caseworker for years and saw things you'd rather not have me tell you about.

[mstrc1]

If they try to pull that little stunt on land, their kids will be in the custody of their local Social Services department quicker than you can say "irresponsible parenting". At least if I'm around. Hotlining someone is completely anonymous. My brother was a children's services caseworker for years and saw things you'd rather not have me tell you about.

 

I agree with you on this and we are hearing more and more cases of what would be deemed as child neglect. Just when you think you have heard everything, then you see something as unbelievable as this.