Table Mates: The Good, The Bad and the Meh..

[rpb718]

On our honeymmoon cruise on Commadore in 1994 we were assigned to a 4-top (This was a small ship with only assigned dining with one dining room). On the first night the 2nd couple did not show up. The second night was the first formal night and I was wearing my US Air Force Mess Dress (tuxedo equivalent) with all medals and decoration worn as required. The 2nd couple showed up and and while we were perusing the menu the wife said to me "So, how many people did you have to kill to get those medals?" My new wife just pulled her napkin from her lap, stood up, and said "We'll be dining elsewhere tonight".

 

There's only one response to this, a smiling "You're welcome." Works for that question and pretty much whatever they attempt to follow it up with. After that, I can't imagine they would have stuck around. If anything, it would have saved you from moving which to me is wrong - they are the ones who needed to move, not you or your wife.

[OzKiwiJJ]

[i'm not replying to this post specifically, or to this poster, but to the various replies which I don't know how to embed.]

 

Other people have commented about this being creepy, or stalking, etc. But I don't see it, myself. Young man is attracted to young woman, follows her around, is told she isn't interested, goes away. Sounds more like "courting" than "stalking" to me.

 

Why would anyone suggest calling security, when telling him you have a boyfriend is just as effective? As a rule, I think it's appropriate to let someone know he isn't welcome before you call the cops.

 

I think it would depend on how he acted and the "vibes" that she got when he was around. If he made her feel uncomfortable, perhaps by lurking near her, watching her, but not engaging her in conversation, then that could possibly be stalking.

 

It's impossible to judge a situation like that without being there.

[OzKiwiJJ]

On our honeymmoon cruise on Commadore in 1994 we were assigned to a 4-top (This was a small ship with only assigned dining with one dining room). On the first night the 2nd couple did not show up. The second night was the first formal night and I was wearing my US Air Force Mess Dress (tuxedo equivalent) with all medals and decoration worn as required. The 2nd couple showed up and and while we were perusing the menu the wife said to me "So, how many people did you have to kill to get those medals?" My new wife just pulled her napkin from her lap, stood up, and said "We'll be dining elsewhere tonight".

 

We explained our situation to the Maitre D and we were placed at a 2-top for the rest of our cruise. And it's been a 2-top for cruising ever since

 

I would have been tempted to smile evilly saying "if I told you that I'd have to kill you" :D

[capncarp]

I would have been tempted to smile evilly saying "if I told you that I'd have to kill you" :D

 

How about <best Hannibal Lecter voice and quirky smile accompanying> "The medals were just a side benefit. It will be lovely having you for dinner."

[john watson]

On our honeymmoon cruise on Commadore in 1994 we were assigned to a 4-top (This was a small ship with only assigned dining with one dining room). On the first night the 2nd couple did not show up. The second night was the first formal night and I was wearing my US Air Force Mess Dress (tuxedo equivalent) with all medals and decoration worn as required. The 2nd couple showed up and and while we were perusing the menu the wife said to me "So, how many people did you have to kill to get those medals?" My new wife just pulled her napkin from her lap, stood up, and said "We'll be dining elsewhere tonight".

 

We explained our situation to the Maitre D and we were placed at a 2-top for the rest of our cruise. And it's been a 2-top for cruising ever since

 

Or you could have said "Have you any idea why everybody in the United States does not speak Japanese?"

 

There have been generations of military service personnel serving your country for hundreds of years.

 

Regards John

[legaljen1969]

If you had thought quickly enough, you might have responded "several and you are next". DON

 

:):):)

[legaljen1969]

On our honeymmoon cruise on Commadore in 1994 we were assigned to a 4-top (This was a small ship with only assigned dining with one dining room). On the first night the 2nd couple did not show up. The second night was the first formal night and I was wearing my US Air Force Mess Dress (tuxedo equivalent) with all medals and decoration worn as required. The 2nd couple showed up and and while we were perusing the menu the wife said to me "So, how many people did you have to kill to get those medals?" My new wife just pulled her napkin from her lap, stood up, and said "We'll be dining elsewhere tonight".

 

We explained our situation to the Maitre D and we were placed at a 2-top for the rest of our cruise. And it's been a 2-top for cruising ever since

 

It always interests me why people assume you have to kill someone to get a medal. There are many reasons why someone might get a medal, several of them for humanitarian reasons.

 

I don't know why or how your earned your medals. The point is, you did earn them. For all this crazy chick new, they were only marksmanship medals for qualifying on the rifle range. (I am sure they were for something more interesting. Not trying to disparage you.) I imagine you could have told her anything and she never would have known the difference. If she was that ignorant, then nothing could help her. What an idiot.

 

By the way, thank you for your service.

[AmazedByCruising]

Then one " gentleman " tells me he never eats all the food on his plate.., It was lobster night and he was trying to send me a message. I did not have seconds so how rude and he was portraying himself as a southern Christian " gentleman " .

 

Sorry but I don't understand. What was the message? You had to order seconds and give it to him? :confused:

[Tenderpaw]

We've had good and bad. And in between too.

 

 

Great: On the Mercury, we went to our 8 top the first night and no one was there. So we ate by ourselves thinking the next 14 days would be boring at dinner. Then the second night, head waiter asked f we would mind if others joined. We end up with some 3 retried couples that were so much fun, even though we were much younger.

 

Bad: at a 8 top on the Radiance, there was a couple where she was a doctor and he was someone "very important" at Microsoft. They spent the entire lunch slamming the U.S. While bragging on how great Canada is. And they lived in the U.S.! Just rude.

 

Weird: on Disney, we were seated with another family of 3. They kept to themselves and didn't talk to us hardly at all. As we were leaving, the head waiter asked if we'd like to change. We said yes but we really liked our waiter. Well we got moved and kept our waiter. That meant the other family could see we changed to a table by ourselves and they were obviously offended! Lots of dirty looks! Oh well!

[jeenie]

I believe I win the prize. It was a few years ago. My husband and I were seating with an older dirty homeless guy. He had a very nice young man that was his chaperon. The chaperon proceeded to tell us the state of California grants one homeless person a cruise every year. Nothing against the homeless. But this guy was horrible. He would hoard food. At one point he put the salt and pepper shaker in his pocket. Needless to say I couldn't deal with this for 7 days. Our seats were changed. We would see them around the ship. The chaperon said he didn't know why they changed their seats. Really? we did notice one night they we at a table for 2.

 

Looking for to Grand daughter Halloween cruise, Im sure ill know who my table mates are.

[PoppyandNana]

I believe I win the prize. It was a few years ago. My husband and I were seating with an older dirty homeless guy. He had a very nice young man that was his chaperon. The chaperon proceeded to tell us the state of California grants one homeless person a cruise every year. Nothing against the homeless. But this guy was horrible. He would hoard food. At one point he put the salt and pepper shaker in his pocket. Needless to say I couldn't deal with this for 7 days. Our seats were changed. We would see them around the ship. The chaperon said he didn't know why they changed their seats. Really? we did notice one night they we at a table for 2.

 

Looking for to Grand daughter Halloween cruise, Im sure ill know who my table mates are.

 

California grants every homeless person a cruise every year??? Please tell me you didn't really believe this? If you did I have a great deal on a bridge in NYC. If you move fast you can get an insiders price. Just send a certified check for $1,000,000 as as a good faith deposit. Balance due at closing.

[Mary Ellen]

California grants every homeless person a cruise every year??? Please tell me you didn't really believe this? If you did I have a great deal on a bridge in NYC. If you move fast you can get an insiders price. Just send a certified check for $1,000,000 as as a good faith deposit. Balance due at closing.

You may want to re-read the comment you quoted. I have NO idea if this is true, but I would suspect the government of California has better uses for their money.

The chaperon proceeded to tell us the state of California grants one homeless person a cruise every year.

[notentirelynormal]

You may want to re-read the comment you quoted. I have NO idea if this is true, but I would suspect the government of California has better uses for their money.

 

Whether it is one or a thousand it is total Bull. Obviously the chaperone was either traveling with a relative or was a caregiver for a rich eccentric guy. Or they wanted to get reactions. If the state of California can send a guy on a cruise they can afford to get him a change of clothes. I am also pretty darn sure that each and every cabin on the ship has a shower. Laundry rooms are also available.

[Mary Ellen]

Whether it is one or a thousand it is total Bull. Obviously the chaperone was either traveling with a relative or was a caregiver for a rich eccentric guy. Or they wanted to get reactions. If the state of California can send a guy on a cruise they can afford to get him a change of clothes. I am also pretty darn sure that each and every cabin on the ship has a shower. Laundry rooms are also available.

My point wasn't whether or not the tale is true (and I don't believe that it is) but rather that one does NOT mean the same thing as every. Questioning the validity of what was written is one thing. Questioning the validity of something that wasn't written is another. ;)

[PoppyandNana]

You may want to re-read the comment you quoted. I have NO idea if this is true, but I would suspect the government of California has better uses for their money.

 

You're right. ONE homeless person a year gets a cruise. At first blush sounds so ludicrous can't possibly be true. But then again we are talking about CA.

 

How is this administered? Lottery, degree of uncleanness? Sorry, the more I think about it the more I think this is a fallacy.

 

Can you just imagine the public outcry for the working poor of CA who can't afford a cruise to know that some homeless guy is enjoying a piña Coloda while sitting on his balcony enroute to Barbados?

[julie3fan]

Can you just imagine the public outcry for the working poor of CA who can't afford a cruise to know that some homeless guy is enjoying a piña Coloda while sitting on his balcony enroute to Barbados?

 

Better to send them on a California Coastal or Mexican Riviera cruise...no money spent on airfare! ;-)

[BillOh]

Hi,

 

I would love to hear your stories about different people you have met through your dining assignments, please share, I know there are some great stories out there!

 

The vast majority of the time it has been a great experience. To the person who said always get a private table, if that is your way so be it. Maybe you are the person in my next story :p

 

This is by far the worst experience I have had with a table mate. On Allure in 2011 we had a table for 8. The third couple only said once sentence the entire first night, "We asked for a table for two". That was all they said, even to each other. They didn't come back.

 

The worst people I have seen weren't our table mates, they were at a table next to us and it served to be a source of amusement. It was our 2nd cruise (3 day cruise) and we found ourselves alone at a table for 10. Our wait team had the table next to us who had 2 parents, 2 kids (aprox 6 and 8 years old) and all 4 grand parents. The two grandmothers, one resembling Jabba the hut with yellow straw hair whined continuously and complained about everything. The kids by the way were charmingly well behaved. The waiters hated going over to that table and as a result we got great service.

[PoppyandNana]

Better to send them on a California Coastal or Mexican Riviera cruise...no money spent on airfare! ;-)

 

 

Have we sink so far down that as dedicated cruisers, posting on a cruise board, we are wasting time talking about a homeless guy on a cruise?

 

Let's talk about some more important issues like tipping and dress codes in the MDR. What do you think, should nice shorts be allowed in the MDR? Should Aussies and Brits be permitted to not pre pay gratuities?

 

I know, should suite passengers be escorted into the MDR with an entourage of ship's staff accompanied by a trailing quartet playing hail to the Chiefs while the Hotel Director announces: Gang way, step aside VIPs coming through.

 

Or we can get down to the nitty gritty of cruising: is Celebrity better than Royal Caribbean?

 

Of course there is the age old cliche: is cruising truly for the newly wed and nearly dead?

Edited July 14, 2015 by PoppyandNana

[julie3fan]

Have we sink so far down that as dedicated cruisers, posting on a cruise board, we are wasting time talking about a homeless guy on a cruise?

 

I'll reply to this as you quoted me. I wasn't really wasting any time - I was waiting in line at the grocery store, so I was multi-tasking.

 

Plus, I used a winky face..... :-) All in good fun. Or so I thought.....

[NHProud]

If you Google free cruises for the homeless , you'll see your posts there . The internet is not private !

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[slidergirl]

I'll wager that the "homeless man" and his "chaperone" were friends who wanted to see how many people were gullible enough to swallow their story ;)

I wish I had thought of it when I was still in college, working towards my Sociology degree! It would have made for an interesting thesis project.

Usually states will pay homeless to leave the state, not take a pleasure cruise :roll eyes:

 

Or, it could have been a very eccentric man and his handler, a la Howard Hughes (just not as rich). If the man was so filthy and uncouth, I'm sure he would have come to the attention of the crew and have been given the choice of cleaning up or leaving the ship.

[sapper1]

On our honeymmoon cruise on Commadore in 1994 we were assigned to a 4-top (This was a small ship with only assigned dining with one dining room). On the first night the 2nd couple did not show up. The second night was the first formal night and I was wearing my US Air Force Mess Dress (tuxedo equivalent) with all medals and decoration worn as required. The 2nd couple showed up and and while we were perusing the menu the wife said to me "So, how many people did you have to kill to get those medals?" My new wife just pulled her napkin from her lap, stood up, and said "We'll be dining elsewhere tonight".

 

We explained our situation to the Maitre D and we were placed at a 2-top for the rest of our cruise. And it's been a 2-top for cruising ever since

As the daughter of an army officer who served his country for 24 years, I feel your wife's pain at that callous and thoughtless remark. It was just wrong on so many levels.

[LMW1330]

That is positively awful. So sorry for that experience. Thank you for your service.

Edited July 15, 2015 by LMW1330

[lunula]

This is a very interesting thread - entertaining stories and some notably cringe-worthy, as well! :)

 

When we did our Caribbean cruise, we requested a table for 8. The first night, we met two other lovely couples (one from Wales, one from northern England) but the other two seats were empty for a few minutes. We did our introductions and about 10 minutes later, another couple showed up. The woman sat away from us (facing the dining room) rather than facing the table, and the man was whispering in her ear. This went on for about a minute until he turned around and introduced himself. We chatted for a minute or so, and then the woman made this growling noise (still facing away) - he quickly whispered to her again as the rest of us gave each other puzzled looks. He then turns around and introduces his wife to us, yet she never turned around or acknowledged any of us. I think he saw the confusion in our faces and he then explained that Celebrity had made a mistake, their family (two sons and their wives) were on board together, and they were not seated with their kids.

 

She then, angrily, turned to her husband and started speaking, in a foreign language (turns out she was Dutch). She then starts yelling at him (again, never acknowledging any of us) and he is trying to sooth her. In the middle of her yelling, in Dutch, someone from Celebrity comes over and tells them they have a new table for their family and she just stands up and walks away. The man apologized for leaving us and was very nice - even saying hello to us later in the cruise whenever he'd see us.

 

I was just amazed this woman was so rude to all of us, like it was our fault they didn't get a table together. And like she actually thought that Celebrity wouldn't fix the issue? We laughed about it for the rest of the cruise. We really liked our other table-mates!

[kelkel2]

My worst experience was on our princess cruise. We had any time dining but the dining room was very busy that night and they asked us if would be willing to share a table. So we reluctantly said sure. So my husband and I were put at an 8 top. The other 6 were a family. The father, very loud, very drunk, very obnoxious. He seemed very put off that we were sitting with him from the very start, made us feel very unwelcome and that was just the beginning.

He barked orders at the waiters, once his appetizer came out wrong, actually it was just switched with someone and he stood up and yelled at the waiter and told him to fix it immediately. When he sat down, he then spilled his glass of water, all over the table and all over me, I was lucky enough to be sitting by him.

I was so embarrassed to be associated with him. The spectacle he was causing in the dining room and the scene he was causing I was hoping to god people didn't think we were "with" him. I've never seen anyone treat the waiters or any staff on a cruise so poorly.

After my dress got spilled on, my husband and I left. We didn't wait for the rest of dinner. We had all we could take. On the way out I apologized to the waiter that endured the shouting...