Something new to think about?...

[shermar96]

DH and I are in our early to mid 30's and on our last cruise were seated with 3 other couples who were over the age of 60 and all retired! The first night they all said that they would understand if we wanted to ask for another table....which we did not. We enjoyed their company at dinner every night.

 

Just my two cents worth....:)

[cruisinbuddy]

Besides the fuel surcharge and smuggling booze topics...

The prior threads about segregating pax, garden villas etc got me thinking...

We've cruised fairly often in the last 5 years and have noticed that our tablemates usually have the same/similar cabin category...also similar ages occupations etc...wonder how much thought/time goes into putting people together on cruises. It seems to be consistent from line to line.

We've made some great friends..and actually NEVER had tabelmates that we didn't 'click' with.

Would like others feedback on their experiences with this..and do you think this is a form of 'class system' or segregation?

Well you're lucky, we've been sat with bigots, try that one on for size. We didn't know it til near the end, so switching tables wasn't really an option. Did you ever notice that when you book a cruise they ask your age? Hence people @ your age at your table. Well no that doesn't always work. DW & I were on the Golden P. in '05, we were 43 at the time and our table mates were 78 & 81.:eek:

[jku2]

Well you're lucky, we've been sat with bigots, try that one on for size.

 

Our first cruise when we were in our 40's we were sat at a table for 6 with two Japanese couples. The women didn't speak any English, the men a little, we asked to be switched the next night because we couldn't converse at all. It made me feel like a bigot, and wouldn't you know it, every excursion we were on, they were on as well. After that we've been generally seated with couples our age, but we've done free style on at least four cruises and that's where you are bound to run into people who differ with you philosophically, I remember one encounter with a person who was ademantly anti-public education, my wife was a teacher and my daughter is one, I had to keep changing the topic, quite obviously, to keep the peace.:(

 

OOPs, forgot this computer was logged into by my wife, JKU2. She'll beat me later:-)

[cruiselover49]

On my Elation cruise, our DD and SIL were with us. We were seated with 2 other couples who were traveling together. We're from MO and the others were from AR. So same geographical area of the country. What was amazing was we knew some people in common from MO! They didn't believe me that I knew these people but I started telling them about the family......they sat there with their mouths open! I don't know how Carnival knew that!

 

Last cruise a couple we were seated with were a lot of fun. Turned out, the wife had the same Bday as me. My DH works on planes, hers on ships. We really had a lot to talk about!

 

Can't be just luck of the draw.....can it?

Mona, what part of Mo are you from? We are in the southwest. Small town out of Springfield.

[PINEVIEW01]

We've cruised fairly often in the last 5 years and have noticed that our tablemates usually have the same/similar cabin category...also similar ages occupations etc...wonder how much thought/time goes into putting people together on cruises. It seems to be consistent from line to line.

We've made some great friends..and actually NEVER had tabelmates that we didn't 'click' with.

Would like others feedback on their experiences with this..and do you think this is a form of 'class system' or segregation?

I think Carnival must have a program they run the data thru as they do a great job of trying to seat people togeather that are "similar", families, couples and such.

[Chigirlcruzin]

I do think they try to match up based on ages, couples, families, singles, etc. I don't think geography, cabin category, or career play into it, and these similarities would just be coincidence. I've been seated with all varieties of cabins, from all over the country (and Canada) and I've never given them my career. They have no idea what my occupation is.

[reno3]

Our past cruise with Carnival had us at a table with one other couple from our same home town that we did not know. We had a great time at dinner talking about people that we knew or places that we went to and never seem to run into each other before. I am from RI so it is hard not to know someone that knows someone:p Are last cruise on RC. I don't think they put much thought into it. It was myself, DH and DS (age 10 at the time). They put us at a table with a woman, her mother and three girls ages 7-12, and one other couple about our age. I was hoping for kids at our table for our son but three girls:eek: Needless to say my son did not have much to say at dinner. I don't even think he looked up from his plate:o

[sharonh1885]

A few years ago, we flew to New Orleans to take a Carnival cruise and were seated with two newlywed couples who were from the Biloxi Mississippi area and actually had some common acquaintances and the third couple was, like us married for twenty years and from California. It made for some great conversations and whatever program Carnival uses, I hope they do it as well for my upcoming cruise out of Florida in two weeks. We have always had some great table mates, even when there is a real "winner" at the table, it generally adds to the experience.

[vuildog]

I have ALWAYS loved ALL of my tablemates. Ok, I am lying through my teeth. But it is what you make of it, and I always try to make it the best. I figure I am on vacation ,and lie is too short to BEEAATCH and moan about the the little things.

[KenMo]

Mona, what part of Mo are you from? We are in the southwest. Small town out of Springfield.

 

I'm in St Joe now. Just moved from the country.....the nearest town was Amity. Ever heard of it??? lol!

 

I have relatives in Republic, Mansfield and Marshfield. You must be near one of those!

[cruiselover49]

Yes, Willard is close. I used to live north in Columbia. I've never heard of Amity tho.

 

Virginia

[voyagerfl]

On our last cruise.......table for 10 (which is what we requested)

was us

• 1 gay couple ages 49 & 83
  
  
• 2 straight couples (late 20's)
  
  
• 4 female friends around 60

We had a great time..........you just have to be interested in your fellow man / er.....persons......

 

Where you from.......how you all know each other....what kind of work........

what you do today.....I have some ginger that might help with that.....Funny Stories.....Wow that's a bad sunburn......

Here......take of picture of us all with our camera too.....:)

[bigphilky]

My Last Cruise the first night, I was being shown to my table by someone. When we got to my table there were 8 beautiful women seated. I turned to the person leading the way & said "Are You Serious"? These 8 Pretty Gals and some poor (lucky) shlub :D :p I was 30 @ the time. 4 of the girls were in their 40's. 2 we're around my age. The other 2 were in college. We all had I great time! I looked forward to dinner everynight!

[sandi1967]

Hi,

We have only been on one cruise and we were the youngest couple at our table of 10. At the time we were 39 and 43.....we had wonderful table mates...I loved going to dinner each nite. I email one of the couples to get caught up on life.

 

THis summer we are taking our 5 kids on a cruise...ages 15, 13, 11, 6 and 3. We have the early seating.....I am not sure if we will have anyone else at our table. I am sure they would not be please to sit at a table full of kids....our kids are very friendly and normally well behaved. (well our 6 year old can have his moments)

 

ANyeay, I am very curious if we will have anyone else at our table.

 

Take care,

sandi

[Yvonne]

I wasn't happy with our seating arrangements on our very first Disney Magic cruise, but was too shy to do anything about it. DH and I were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary, and we went to dinner the first night and were very surprised to see a box of crayons at one of the 8 places. We were seated with a younger couple with three children. The two older children were all right, but the little 6 year old was a pain. I regret not asking for a table change after that first night. We had absolutely nothing in common with them. They bragged all the time about how much money they had, blah, blah, blah. The only night we truly enjoyed dinner was in a port when they didn't show up!

 

The other two cruises where we had to sit with strangers we were paired with another couple each time, and although they were nice enough we still would have preferred being "just us" at the table. We don't particularly enjoy making "small talk" with strangers. We go on cruises to be with each other, not make friends with strangers.

 

Our last cruise we went with two other couples (family) so had a table for 6 to ourselves and it was so much more relaxing and enjoyable than sitting with strangers.

 

Our upcoming cruise we are going with one couple (family) and I have requested a table for four. We will check right away to see if that request was granted, and if not we will try to get it changed.

[picabo972]

Our last cruise we (30's) were seated with two couples in their 60's and late 80's. We absolutely loved the 80yr old couple and keep in contact with them. We even invited them on one of our excursions and my husband wheelchaired him around. I would have never imagined that but I'm glad and I'm always happy to meet new friends no matter how old or young!

[NCTribeFan]

I'm going to request that DD & I be seated with a very wealthy, very handsome, single, middle-aged man who is cruising with his very wealthy, very handsome, single 20-something son.

 

:D

[Firsttimescaredcruiser!]

Our only experience was on the Elation. We were seated with three other couples. We were celebrating our 25th anniversary. The other three couples varied in ages. One (lovely) couple was french canadian. I fell in love with their accent! They were about 10 years older than us. Then the two other couples were around 10 and 20 years younger than us. We had a wonderful evening each night. Everyone was very nice. We all had diffferent areas and levels on the ship.

I don't know how they managed to "fit us" so well together!

[caribbean dreams]

We have always enjoyed all out tablemates, always people our age with kids the same age as ours, we have never been seated with people in the same cat cabin.

[Kurbanfan]

I'm going to request that DD & I be seated with a very wealthy, very handsome, single, middle-aged man who is cruising with his very wealthy, very handsome, single 20-something son.

 

:D

 

On Carnival:confused:

[NCTribeFan]

Well, dining assignments are just a request. It can't hurt to ask! :D

 

I've never known what category of cabin my tablemates were in or what deck they were on. Never thought to ask. Seems a bit like asking them how much they paid for their cruise. I don't want to know if someone is in a suite for less than I paid for my inside! :(

[elgato2]

We've made friends on just about every cruise and ended up seeing our tablemates at other times on sea days..shared drinks on our balconies or whatever. That's about the only way we've known about others' staterooms...sometimes it just comes up in conversation...or sometimes I do ask how they like their location on the ship...just for my own personal info for cabin selection on future sailings.

TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY WE"LL BE ON THE MIRACLE!!!!!:) :)