Most awkard moments during dinner

[luddite]

Yes actually he did.

 

Kirk

 

:) Then.... why'da let'im?

[Quincella]

My very first cruise was supposed to be my honeymoon, but I'd called off the wedding about 6 weeks prior.

 

Being young and stubborn, neither my former fiancee nor I would give up our already paid for vacation, so off we went anyway. Of course we were seated with a table full of other honeymooners. Everyone was telling stories of their respective wedding days, and while we tried to just avoid it, by the end of the cruise we 'fessed up that we had not actually gotten married. These people were SHOCKED and had no idea what to say, considering we'd spent the week dining with them. It wasn't awkward for me, but it clear was for others at the table.

[RetireeWannabee]

my very first cruise was supposed to be my honeymoon, but i'd called off the wedding about 6 weeks prior.

 

Being young and stubborn, neither my former fiancee nor i would give up our already paid for vacation, so off we went anyway. Of course we were seated with a table full of other honeymooners. Everyone was telling stories of their respective wedding days, and while we tried to just avoid it, by the end of the cruise we 'fessed up that we had not actually gotten married. These people were shocked and had no idea what to say, considering we'd spent the week dining with them. It wasn't awkward for me, but it clear was for others at the table.

 

hilarious!!

[BandK10]

These are great stories! I'm needing a good chuckle about now! :) We've only been on five cruises, but the only one we had

"issues" with, were the Carnival to Mexico a few years back. We were celebrating DH's Birthday that week. While I really don't recall the details (which I apologize for, as that what makes this thread interersting) but we were seated at a table for 10 I believe...we were "two" of the other eight traveling together. Anywhosit....I think it was the second night on the ship and we just knew we weren't going to "fit" with these folks. We're hardly "high brow" but the back slapplin', t-shirt thumpin, baseball cap slappin" just didn't quite "do it" for us. I'm pretty sure they were autographing eachother's "wife beater" t-shirts at the table. We saw them throughout the cruise and just smiled and nodded.

 

We met some nice folks later and a VERY nice couple in Puerto Vallarta that we've since remained in contact with.

 

Cheers.

[NewCruiser11]

My one and only awkward moment was on a HAL cruise with my sister and brother in law. We had a couple sit with us, who for whatever reason thought we were beneath them socially. They would not talk to us at all, even though we tried several times.

 

I'm thinking it was because my BIL looks like a mountain man, only his beard is gray. Half way through the meal they called the maitre'd over and said (in front of us). This arrangement will never work, we want another table now. It was quite amusing really.

 

Long story short, maitre'd apoligized. Another couple invited themselves to sit with us, and wine steward brought us over a complimentary bottle of wine to share with our new tablemates.

 

Rest of the cruise was awesome.

 

 

HOW RUDE!!! I cannot stand that type of person! Glad your new table mates were good

[bermuda8553]

This is very funny now, but when it happened I wanted to die. We usually go with a group so we know everyone we sit with. However we ate in the dining room for breakfast one morning and my husband and I were sat with a couple with a teen age son, and another couple with their teenage daughter. The couple with the daughter seemed to be very refined, but seemed to be nice enough. I, who never talks first as I am not comfortable with conversations with strangers(why oh why did I choose now to break tradition) The table was so quiet that it was uncomfortable. So I decided to intriduce myself and say I took had 3 teenages who we left at home with parents for a birthday cruise which was a present to my husband. The couple with thedaughter introduced themselves, and then Why oh why did I ask the other couple so is this your only child. OK get ready noone was ever ready for this! The mom says NO! we also have a daughter, but on our last cruise she slept with almost the whole crew so we left her home this time!. I tought the couple with the daughter was going to pass out right there. I pratically swallowed my breakfast whole and got out of there as fast as possible. Can you imagine saying that to strangers even if it were true, which I don't know if they were trying to shock us or what, but I think I would have just said she was home sick or something. Nothing has ever and hopefully will never top that one. Honest this really did happen.

[sjclynn]

We were on a New England/Canada cruise last year and were seated at an 8 top. The first night when we arrived there was a delightful older couple at the window seats. Another couple arrived a little later and the 4th was a no show that night. The couple that arrived after we did expressed their regrets that they were part of a larger group and were trying to be reseated. They were so, the second night when we arrived, the same couple was by the window as the previous evening joined the couple that was missing. They were just a few years younger than we are.

 

We progressed thru dinner just fine but I got the feeling that there was something that we didn't know. Nothing outward or rude by any means but we clearly didn't have the secret hand shake. Just before dessert, the wife of the younger couple started to laugh and "fessed up" if you would. It turns out that by chance, the husbands were both funeral directors and they didn't know how we would react. The awkwardness was on their part and and it kind of rubbed off onto us. Once we could breath again from laughing so hard at the situation we had the best dinning companions that we have ever had.

 

So to Jack, happy 81st birthday (soon). Your gentle sense of humor was a highlight of the trip.

[GrannyJ]

Several years ago my husband and I took a spur-of-the-moment cruise on a 3-nighter out of Miami on a lower-market cruise line. We were seated at a 10 seater with a couple from a midwest state and their young daughters and two other couples on the youngish side. The second night was "formal" night (now remember this was what some people call a "booze cruise" so the average passenger couture was somewhat less than Bal Rouge) and I was dressed in a black cocktail dress and my husband was in a navy blazer, grey pants, shirt and tie and I'd say we were in the top 10% of the "dressy" category. Here come our midwest tablemates: mother and daughters dressed in matching black-and-white festooned satin ballgowns with huge hoop skirts, long white gloves, jeweled tiaras and wrist crosages; dad was in formal attire (tails, no less) with a top hat, spats and a black cane. The other two couples were dressed in: a terry-cloth strapless beach dress, a t-shirt dress, a t-shirt printed to look like a tuxedo and a Hawaiian shirt. The third night, NOBODY but us showed up for dinner.

[KirkNC]

:) Then.... why'da let'im?

 

What would you suggest I do, ask him to leave? It is up to the dining room management to enforce the dress code not me. I am not going to create a huge scene at my dinner table that will ruin dinner for everyone at our table probably for the rest of the cruise. No we choose to just ignore it as best we could.

 

Kirk

[crisrn2003]

I've had wonderful tablemates in the past, often really enjoying their company. Other times, it's only been family. Our cruise in April on the Carnival Dream was the exception. My mother was seated next to a large 14 yr old girl. The girl immediately began swinging her arms side to side, elbowing my mom several times, complaining about her claustrophobia. My mom tried to move as far away as possible, but she kept hitting my mom all thru the meal. She spent the better part of dinner criticizing my 10 yr old daughter and making up ridiculous excuses for anything---the boat rocking, noises we heard, the weather. Everyone had to know she was making it all up! That was uncomfortable. Then her family just talked and talked and wouldn't stop---about why they were named one thing but called something else, how they were related but weren't really blood related, how fun they were, blah,blah, blah. We finished our meal but stopped immediately at the maitre' d's stand on the way out. It was a bit awkward to see them around the ship, concerned we might have hurt their feelings, but it was not going to be an enjoyable experience.

[afto]

My most awkward moment was a few years ago, at an 8 top table. There were three couples and a single dentist who was attending a conference on board. On the second or third night, he indicated that he was diabetic, and would anyone mind if he injected himself with medication at the table (prior to this point, he had excused himself and left the dining room during the meal to do this - not sure why it could not be done in his cabin prior to dinner). Whatever we all were thinking, none of us managed to voice an objection, so this became part of our evening routine. It was a bit strange.

[Canary50]

This post is a lot of fun to read - some of the experiences are just so funny!

 

This next cruise my DH and I will be going just us 2, for the first time, and we've requested a table of 6 or 8. I just can't wait to meet our seatmates!

but.....my greatest hope is that I won't be coming back to post on this thread!

[g8rfan94]

My wife and I spent a reasonable amount of time trying to decide whether we wanted to have Select Dining or Late Seating for our upcoming cruise. We finally decided on Late Seating. After reading all of these, as amusing as they are, and they are funny, I hope we made the right choice :eek:.

 

I'll let you know upon our return mid-November.

 

Neil

[GORDONCHICK]

not sure why it could not be done in his cabin prior to dinner

 

I know when I was on injectible insulin, the shots had to be so many minutes before eating. The whole process of getting seated, then chit chat and looking over menus and by the time the appetizers or soups are served, it very well could have been too much time passing.

[afto]

I know when I was on injectible insulin, the shots had to be so many minutes before eating. The whole process of getting seated, then chit chat and looking over menus and by the time the appetizers or soups are served, it very well could have been too much time passing.

 

Thanks for explaining that, Gordonchick. I didn't know that, and it just didn't make sense to us at the time.

[geoherb]

On the first night of a Celebrity cruise, we were seated at a table for eight with a British couple and a Spanish-speaking couple. The husband spoke a little bit of English, but the wife did not speak any. And then four more people came to join us. I was ready to give up our seats to them, but it turned out the Spanish-speaking couple were at the wrong table and left. We had a great time after the initial mix-up.

[tartanexile81]

I think the main thing about awkward moments on a cruise is to know you have the option of moving and that's what we had to do last year. We were on Celebrity Equinox and as usual had requested a table for 8, which has always worked well for us in the past. There were certainly 8 places set at the table, but unfortunately only one other couple showed up on the first night. We didn't find them very easy to talk to and their English wasn't great (they were Europeans but living overseas). Still, we lived in hope that on the second night, our other table companions would arrive. Unfortunately they didn't so we ended up again just the four of us. This time the man showe his true colours sharing his openly extreme political and racist views which didn't just make us feel awkward but actually shocked us. We missed out dessert, changed table and did all we could to avoid them for the rest of the cruise. Apart from that, we've met interesting people, had lots of fun..... and still choose fixed dining.

[tigercat]

I have had a couple of cruises that dinner mates were great however there have been 2 that were not as good. One time my sister and I went on a cruise and ended up at a 4 top. The other "couple" were 2 priests that apparently cruised at least once a year together.

The other time it was an 8 topper and there were 7 people seated. The other 5 people were relatives from the Bronz. They told us right at the begining that they had a strong accent and we would probably regret sitting with them. Since we all had booked the cruise (along with 3 other tables that were with ours) with another internet cruise site we didn't leave. The next time I told my husband that I wouldn't care. We would request a move.

tigercat

[Georgia Peach 4]

Carnival Glory, formal night?

[Dr.Cindy]

On a European NCL cruise last November, we were seated with a very refined older British couple, and an older couple from the deep South. I think the Southern gentleman was wearing suspenders and his companion was extremely quiet. We were introducing ourselves, and you could tell conversation was going to be strained due to lack of commonalities. The Southern guy then motioned to his companion and blurted out, "She's not my wife, she's my sister." :eek: I guess he'd been on several cruises and this was the first one he convinced her to share with him. But when he blurted that out, it really just stopped the rest of us in our tracks! We couldn't find a lot more to say after that...

[geoherb]

On our most recent cruise, we had another table for eight. This time we shared it with a very nice Canadian couple and a family from Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the family included a third grader and an eighth grader. The third grader was way too squirmy. Fortunately, the kids never came back after the first night. Their parents made it back once. They were much more pleasant without the kids. And we had a great time with the Canadian couple the other nights.

[tnincy]

on one cruise we had a an older couple who showed up at our table on the 2nd night. they indicated they didn't like the first table they sat at. well halfway through dinner, i guess they weren't pleased with our company either, and told us if they would be changing tables again, but not to be offended. we just weren't the type of company they were used too. i thought it amusing.

[Bonnie J.]

Best dining room memory was when our FANTASTIC waitress, Zoricha, dropped a lobster shell down the back of my dress! This was on NCL and there was a hallway through the dining room to get to our cabin. Our table was against the wall so she had to squeeze against it to serve those of us sitting against the wall.

All we could do was laugh like crazy while she was just horrified. The was freestyle dining but we were at her table everynight. The hostess would tell us just go. We could walk by her table and she would tell us to come back in 10 minutes or "they're slow tonight".

Learned on later cruise she and her boyfriend assistant Maitre'd were off the ship living in Peru!

[NorthCarolinaBelle]

Carnival Glory, formal night?

 

 

Oh my GOODNESS!

[pinkie1]

We went on our Alaska cruise with a bunch of couples. There were 8 of us sitting at our table. Our waiter the whole time hardly cracked a smile, didn't talk much, rarely made eye contact. When he took our order, if we didn't say what we wanted right when he got to us, he'd look up around the dining room and give a heavy sigh, he seemed very impatient and that we were bothering him.

 

That's not the worst of it. On one of the last nights the asst. waiter placed coffee cups/coaster and spoon at our setting to prepare for dessert. Well I guess asst waiter placed the spoon on the wrong side of the cup because the waiter came back around to every setting and picked up the spoon and practically threw it to the other side of the cup! It was so loud, and with 8 people, the others around the dining room were looking over at us! The 8 of us just looked at each other with embarrassment for him!

 

I've had waiters that were ok, but this guy was by far the worst!

 

Then on the night when we received the questionare and tip info, he did a 180! He was talkative, smiled, made small talk... None of us could believe it!!!:confused:

 

I wrote to Princess because he alone made the whole dining experience unpleasureable night after night! We kept telling each other perhaps he's having a bad day, but when it was happening night after night... I guess we should have told the head waiter for a different waiter. But then it would have been awkward for him to see us with a different person. I guess lesson learned.

 

Now when I think about our Alaska cruise the very first thing that comes to mind is not the beautiful scenery, or the wildlife we saw but of our horrible waiter! How sad is that?!