Dining Companions

Probably miffed because they got a medical bill!

Shouldn't have thought it was a problem given how much he'd bigged up his business, big house, big car...

Next cruise (P&O) we were on a table for 8 with another family of four, with children somewhat younger than ours. One day mum had gone ashore and dad was supposed to be looking after the children. They were playing in the pool with my son when one of them had an accident and got a deep cut on the face. Dad was nowhere in sight (turned out he was in a bar), so I comforted the child and sibling, gave first aid, contacted P&O staff, got them to find dad and handed over to the medical staff. At dinner that night I was told I'd made a fuss about nothing (the cut required several stitches and according to the P&O doctor would have needed surgery/plastic surgery if it had been a millimetre or two to left or right), the child would have been all right and needed to learn to fend for itself and I should have minded my own business. They then barely spoke to us for the remainder of the cruise and ignored us if they saw us around the ship! There's nowt so queer as folk!

You did exactly the right thing and what (I would hope) would most people. I believe there are signs saying children must be accompanied at the pool at all times, so they probably got a ticking-off from P&O for leaving their child unaccompanied, but who does that.

We have never had a problem, regardless of whether we have a fixed table or anytime dining, some of our best friends are people we have met on cruises. One thing I have learned over the years is apply a little patience and give people a chance. I have met people on day 1 and thought that we wouldn't get on to find I had it totally wrong. On fixed dining we usually ask if people want to move around the table so that if you have a long table the people on the end don't get isolated. Plus the same people don't always have to sit next to me.:D

Profiling? We've sometimes felt that somebody has looked at our ages and put us together with similar.

We've not had any bad experiences but a few times when other diners are so far removed from us that it's been difficult to strike up a conversation.

Like the couple who hadn't seen a single show 'no interest', stayed on the ship at some of the best places despite it being their first cruise and first visit to that part of the world. Or the couple who ordered all 3 courses and barely ate a spoonful. I don't say a lot but can get past a mumble:p

I have been wondering whether anyone knows whether profile matching of any kind takes place when people are allocated a shared table for evening dining?

We have always had extremely positive experiences of our dining companions on tables of four or six, and wonder whether this is luck, or have we been matched in some way, however loosely, with people of a similar age or along some other criteria?

As a singleton I was a little anxious about the possibility of sitting with couples having their own private conversations but I found almost universally that people were welcoming. Yes, they talked with enthusiasm about their previous cruises but that was good for my consideration of future travel and in no way did it come across as point scoring. In the evening I chose club dining as I was told that a quiet word with the staff would ensure that I was placed with a mixed group. I found the group to be like minded in their interest in travel and the world in general and agree with a previous remark that it was like coming home each evening to talk to 'the family' about the day's activities. The age range was within 15 years of each other so we did have some common reference points.