Has anyone had tablemates from H*E*L*L?

[VentureMan_2000]

I've only had one tablemate I didn't care much for. Nice enough guy and his wife was real nice... but a total downer guy. He could just slowly drain the energy from you... if you let him. I just kept enough energy going for the both of us.

 

He even came to dinner the 3rd night of the cruise and announced to everyone that he thinks cruising is no fun at all, and that he will never book a cruise again. This, coming from a guy who like to travel in a pull trailer, so it couldn't have been the size of the cabin.

 

 

And then at dinner one night while in port, it was kinds like open seating. There were three couples that were like 70 years of age that thought the wait staff were servants. Just rude. On the other hand, my wife and I gave the staff lots of please and thankyou's, and complement to the staff. It was extremely amusing how the wait staff waited on us with pleasure... truely great service... and just about ignored the other three rude couples... minimally did what they had to do for them.

 

One of the couples even tried to tell my wife and I how filthy the ship was. HELLO...! I'm on the same ship and don't see any felth at all. In fact all I see ic constant cleaning... of the floors, railings, etc. by the staff.

 

Gosh... some people seem to go out of their way to be unhappy. I think there are a lot of folks who are happiest when they are unhappy.

[VentureMan_2000]

Shortly after seating, she threw down her napkin and said "I'm not puting up with this" and stormed out. Her husband was very embarassed and he ate his meal.

 

Great story.

 

Good for the Husband not chasing after her. The wife must do this often.:)

[Corsair41]

My DW and I have been lucky so far. Both of our previous cruises have had wonderful tablemates.:D

[golf43]

I think of all the times we are cruised we only had one couple at our table who were always late for dinner. Our dining room waiter was not too happy about that. Otherwise than that we have had pretty good tablemates. One time on a hawaiin cruise I was sitting next to this older man. His wife was on the other side of him. I chatted with him each evening until one night the wife must have gotten jealous and as soon as we all got to the dining room she annouced to him that she was sitting next to me. Our last cruise we never met the people who sat with us. There were 3 of them. They just sat across from us. We would say hi and that was about it. I hope this cruise we meet new friends. ):

[golf43]

I think of all the times we are cruised we only had one couple at our table who were always late for dinner. Our dining room waiter was not too happy about that. Otherwise than that we have had pretty good tablemates. One time on a hawaiin cruise I was sitting next to this older man. His wife was on the other side of him. I chatted with him each evening until one night the wife must have gotten jealous and as soon as we all got to the dining room she annouced to him that she was sitting next to me. Our last cruise we never met the people who sat with us. There were 3 of them. They just sat across from us. We would say hi and that was about it. I hope this cruise we meet new friends. ):

[Longin2cruise]

I sometimes travel solo & in my experience Carnival trys to put the singles at 1 table. Some table mates have been great & others just so-so. However, the strangest thing happened on one of my Carnival Spirit cruises. There was this little old lady (she said she was 90) who was originally from Russia. By the way she acted I wonder if she wasn't a member of the exiled royal family. Our poor waiter came by to serve more bread & as he put it on her bread plate she said "Go to hell". He was a wonderful waiter & none of us could ever figure out what her problem was.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

On our first cruise it was DH, DD, and me. They put us with a family that had three young, very unruly children. It was a rectangular table and they sat at one end and put their children between us. They paid absolutely no attention to their children and the kids were loud and wild--our DD was only 21 months old and was a far better tablemate! :p That first night at dinner was miserable. We didn't know we could change tables so didn't return to the dining room after the first night.

 

On our second cruise (DD was six by then), we were seated with another couple with their DD. She was 13 though--nothing in common with a six year old--and she ate with her friends in the buffet most evenings. We had a great time with the couple--they were very personable.

 

Other than that we haven't had tablemates other than family.

 

Cheers!

Jayne

[Lewdog]

We were seated with a family who was quite offended that I ordered wine with dinner, "alcohol will never touch out lips". Apparently their oldest son didn't abide by that philosophy as we saw him several nights out at the pool bar drinking beer and smoking.

 

It seems mom didn't have any trouble with gambling as we saw her hitting the slots one night.

[dratomic]

On my first cruise on the Carnival Spirit out of Miami in December 2001 we had a wonderful table. 3 couples were from the group we were sailing with, I was single, and there was a beautiful single lady seated in the last space next to me. We have now been married for 4 years!

Only on one of our cruises were we seated with some stinkers. The worst were two guys that did very little except complain. Another couple never really spoke much, (hey, that's ok.) The last couple were, and I kid you not, VAMPIRES! Teeth and all. Weird as they were it made for an interesting table. We tend to make the best of what we're dealt. We would not hesitate to change tables if we got some REALLY bad tablemates though.

 

Patrick & Renata

[crusinmama06]

The ONLY time we've had tablemates was our first cruise...on our honeymoon almost 10 years ago. We were seated with 3 other honeymoon couples.

 

Since then, we've always traveled with friends/family. And on this last cruise, our tablemates didn't show up. :D

[VentureMan_2000]

One time on a hawaiin cruise I was sitting next to this older man. His wife was on the other side of him. I chatted with him each evening until one night the wife must have gotten jealous and as soon as we all got to the dining room she annouced to him that she was sitting next to me.

 

 

Just for fun, I like to move around the table in sit in different places each night. It's great the see the surprized looks on folks faces when they walk up to the table... and it's a good conversation starter... makes the table not so rigid... people then realize that, hey, it's ok to sit next to and chat with a different person each night.

[hdawson]

Venture Man. That is exactly what we do. that way you have different views of the dining room and yes different folks to interact with.

[David-n-Rita]

Hi,

We have had wonderful tablemates and real bad ones. Our last cruise we were seated with 3 other couples. They only spoke Spanish and we only spoke English. We ate at the buffet all week.:p

[bonniemari]

On my first cruise on the Carnival Spirit out of Miami in December 2001 we had a wonderful table. 3 couples were from the group we were sailing with, I was single, and there was a beautiful single lady seated in the last space next to me. We have now been married for 4 years!

 

What a neat story-bet she was the best tablemate you ever had!!!!! I'd agree you hit the jackpot without even going to the casino.

[LiLBxQt]

Just for fun, I like to move around the table in sit in different places each night. It's great the see the surprized looks on folks faces when they walk up to the table... and it's a good conversation starter... makes the table not so rigid... people then realize that, hey, it's ok to sit next to and chat with a different person each night.

 

I haven't done that on a cruise, but I have with family on a land vacay... The waiter would be completely thrown off at first, but we all got a good laugh at it... The waiter actually appeared to have so much fun with my table... It's not everyday you get to have fun at your job... It makes it memorable for everyone and it lightens up the tension quite a bit!!

[ginasj55]

who brings their parents along with them on what sounds like it could have been their honeymoon?!?!?!

 

I'm going on a cruise mid-April to celebrate my nephew's wedding. It's technically their honeymoon but they have lived together for a couple of years. Since they already have everything they need, they just want friends and family along to help them celebrate. I, for one, am ecstatic! (It'll be my second cruise in April :) )

Gina

[joepeka]

The two occasions we've had tablemates, we're batting .500 - one good, one bad. The bad one was on our HAL cruise. DW, DD and I were seated at a table with two other couples a bit older than us (late 50's vs our early 50's) from Texas. The first evening there was some talk but it was strained, the men didn't seem interested in conversation and the wives seemed intimidated by them. Wasn't much fun for us. The next night was the first formal night and just by coincidence, I and one of the men happened to be wearing nearly identical outfits: dark grey pin striped suits with light blue shirts and red patterned neckties. I made a joke to him saying "it looks like we're the only ones that got the memo about the uniform of the evening" and all I got in return was an angry glare. The remainder of that meal was worse than the first and we obviously asked for a different table for the rest of the cruise. I don't know what we did to these guys (maybe just being on the same boat??) but they were not interested in being our "buds". :mad:

[smoky624]

On the last 4 cruises our family has been on, I feel Carnival tries to group similar people and ages. I went with my son and daughter (16 and 14) on a 4 day cruise. We were seated with 4 other mothers and their daughters (of course my son was the only male). In October I went with my 2 friends (in their 40's) and we were seated with all women our age. Our son and his girlfriend went on a cruise (Fantasy) last week and they had 3 other couples in their 20's. I do think Carnival tries to match the age and gender appropriately.

[grandprincess2005]

Ive got 2 good tablemates 1 was on a 3 day cruise a 15 year old newlywed from west virginia had never been out side her small town. just to see her eat escargo,try and use more then 1 fork.even to see the ocean. then there was a week with the priest from @#$# he would send every thing back atleast 2are3 times. prey out loud look to see if eneyone was looking tell his wife that she was nogood.me and this man would go round and round the hole week

 

 

I don't think he was a priest. He wouldn't have a wife if he was. If that was his claim, that would have made for an interesting dinner conversation.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I don't think he was a priest. He wouldn't have a wife if he was. If that was his claim, that would have made for an interesting dinner conversation.

 

That would be if he were a Catholic priest, but there are religions that call their ministers priests but don't have a rule against their priests marrying. :)

[k.hill]

On our second cruise, I was extremely disappointed with where our table was and we were discussing asking for a different table. A few minutes later, the other couple at the table walk up - a newlywed couple from Switzerland that spoke only a little English. Well, we were a little concerned, but by the end of dinner we decided to keep our table and our new friends. There were some language barriers, but we found our ways around it and ended up spended several nights after dinner hanging out with them and they even came on our final days excursion with us. It was really sad to say goodbye when we disembarked. Now, we have some excellent friends who live in Switzerland. I can't wait for them to come to TX to stay with us, and REALLY can't wait till we can go and see them. I am very thankful for the cruise and the chance we had to meet and instantly become friends with such wonderful people. I never would have guessed that it would have turned out so great!!

 

Karla

[a4ofspades]

I really got spoiled on my first cruise. I went with 2 girlfriends and we were seated at a table for 8...all women! 3 separate groups and we got along great. My friends and I hadn't planned on eating in the dining room every night but changed our minds due to our tablemates and, coincidentally, 3 of the other girls said the same thing.

 

I did say spoiled, right? Second cruise, same friends...table for 10...we got seated with two older sisters; an older man with his sister and elderly mother; and two men who were obviously a couple. We went around the table introducing ourselves the first night...one of the sisters said, "people call me Love Doll." LOL, I still laugh when I remember everyone's gaping mouths!!! Unfortunately, she didn't explain till the last night that her husband was from Sweden and her married name was "Dahl" LOL!

 

Now that paled in comparison to the hideous brother/sister/mother team. Mom would say rude things to people at the table and sister would say, well, mom feels that she's old so she can say anything. Brother was a newcomer to AA and droned on and on about all the drinking on the ship...jealousy just oozed from him. Now, my friends were not heavy drinkers and I don't drink at all but one night I'd had it and I said, yes, in Cozumel we got wasted and danced naked on the tables, LOL!!! Oh the look on his face!

 

Well, the male couple never re-appeared at the table after the first night and they made an excellent choice. Naturally, brother made very snide gay bashing jokes about them. One of my friends and I ran into the guys coming back onto the ship from Cozumel and we stopped to talk and to beg them to come back and sit with us as they were the only "normal" ones. So one of them said, what did they say? Did they talk about us? Of course they knew and we had a good laugh together.

 

Why didn't we change tables? Why do we slow down when we see an accident? Why do we pay to see freakshows? That one was free!LOL

 

My last cruise was in January with my hubby and mother. We had great tablemates and thoroughly enjoyed our time with them. It's a roll of the dice but I would never retreat to the Lido. A cruise is the only time I don't have to cook, serve, and clean up! :D

[above sea level cruiser]

Ive got 2 good tablemates 1 was on a 3 day cruise a 15 year old newlywed from west virginia had never been out side her small town. just to see her eat escargo,try and use more then 1 fork.even to see the ocean. then there was a week with the priest from @#$# he would send every thing back atleast 2are3 times. prey out loud look to see if eneyone was looking tell his wife that she was nogood.me and this man would go round and round the hole week

 

 

Really? I've never heard of a 15 year old getting married. But then again, we are from way up north.:D

[newistcruiseaddict]

On the last 4 cruises our family has been on, I feel Carnival tries to group similar people and ages. I went with my son and daughter (16 and 14) on a 4 day cruise. We were seated with 4 other mothers and their daughters (of course my son was the only male). In October I went with my 2 friends (in their 40's) and we were seated with all women our age. Our son and his girlfriend went on a cruise (Fantasy) last week and they had 3 other couples in their 20's. I do think Carnival tries to match the age and gender appropriately.

 

Well, I was wondering about this. That was the impression I had when we cruised RCI last year. We were seated at a table for 6 with three couples, my DH and celebrating our 10yr anniversary, a couple from daytona with the same last name as us (SMALL WORLD) roughly the same age with children nearly the same age as us celebrating their anniversary, and a engaged couple from England close to our age. We were hesitant about being forced to sit and chat with strangers but it turned out to be one of the highlights of our cruise. It was wonderful, by the end of the cruise we were attending all the shows together!

 

I'm excited about going on the Carnival Liberty in May but I was wondering if the same would be true...will they put us with other couples? Here's hoping :D

 

a4ofspades: eating in the main dining room is major componant of the cruise "vacation." I can't imagine giving up the opportunity to have THREE menus brought to me each dinner. Even when we go out, we rarely get to order off the appetizer and dessert menus. I agree..nothing would make me retreat to the Lido..I'll come to dinner wearing a spiked helmet and raincoat. :eek:

[Carcarmat]

Really? I've never heard of a 15 year old getting married. But then again, we are from way up north.:D

were do you think west virginia is and yes 15 do get married . but then you are from up north