What size table do you choose: 2? 10?

[Lois R]

Heather:) you are sweet!!!

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"[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#000080]LOL. I love it, think it's great fun and it saves all that money I'd be spending if I were out shopping:) .[/color][/size][/font]
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[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#000080]Ummmm............I still go shopping.....got a few new things for next month's cruise:D [/color][/size][/font]

[HeatherInFlorida]

[font=Comic Sans MS]Hey Lois! Off topic, but we're headed up your way tomorrow:D . We're going to be staying on Amelia Island for 3 nights and then going to Disney World to meet up with our grandchildren who we didn't get to see up North (we were supposed to drive up when the hurricane came across so we cancelled).[/font]

[Lois R]

Off topic back at you:D Have a wonderful time with the grandkids!

[Sierrachik]

[quote name='Druke I']My wife and I prefer a table for 6, round if possible. We find a round table for six is great for conversations.

Bigger than that, and it is sometimes difficult to converse with everyone.

On rare occasion, a table for four is good - but should you be stuck with the wrong couple, not so hot. (Of course, they might feel the same way about us)

Michael[/QUOTE]
Michael, almost exactly word for word it was what I told the TA when I booked the cruise for myself and my husband. :)

[CDRMark]

We are taking our first cruise in November and discussed this when booking.. went with six; four too small, eight too big. Wanted to meet some new people, but didn't want to be "stuck" at too intimate a table if the vibes weren't right.
Would be happy with any of the great people we've "met" here.
Cheers
MarkB

[jazzsea]

Unless we are cruising with friends, we choose a table for two when we are on vacation. When we are escorting groups we entertain every night at our table or sit with some of our group if they have space at their table.

When we are with our groups, it is "showtime" from the minute we leave our cabin until the minute we return.

[sail7seas]

[b]IMO....the only bad thing about a table for six is if there are two couples traveling together and you are the third couple. That happened to us once and we felt very unwelcome. They were fast friends from home and resented we were "invading their private party". [/b]


[b]We could have asked for a table change but decided not to bother. We were content enough with each other that we didn't much care about the others. I think they expected (wanted?) us to leave and then they would have this nice spacious table all to themselves. We liked the location of the table and the stewards.....so we chose to stay.[/b]

[Tatka]

[quote name='sail7seas'][b] They were fast friends from home and resented we were "invading their private party". [/b][/QUOTE]
Did they say it to you..or you just felt it?:eek:

[sail7seas]

[b]They did not directly say it but they kept their conversation to be things about which we would have no knowledge. They made no effort to include us...to be welcoming at all. [/b]


[b]We didn't really care very much. If we had, we would have moved.[/b]

[DFD1]

In the old days, twenty or twenty-five years ago, on some of the smaller ships, there was no alternative dining and often few, if any, tables for two. So, one ate pretty much where one was told to eat. I have had some table mates from hell over the years. One was a "lady of the night'....except she wanted to be the "lady of the ship" and ran a good advertising campaign in the dining room. Another was scared to death that she was going to "go down with the ship". I could go on and on, but suffice it to say it's now a table for two with pleasantries with the surrounding tables wherever possible.
We're friendly enough and there's lots of opportunities over drinks or in the lounges or on deck.....without being afraid of who you'll find at your dinner table. LOL

[glrounds]

[quote name='HeatherInFlorida'][font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=indigo]Hmmmmmmm ....now this calls for yet another poll. How many cruise with their wife [b][i][u]and[/u][/i][/b] lover ... or are they one in the same? KIDDING!!!![/color][/size][/font][/QUOTE][i][font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=navy]Heather,[/color][/size][/font][/i]

[i][font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#000080]Please forgive my "Freudian" slip. :D [/color][/size][/font][/i]

[i][font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#000080]This may sound really crazy, but I have a good friend, a well known and respected contractor in the LA area, who years ago used to rent a huge houseboat on Lake Powell for two weeks every summer and would take his [b]current wife[/b] and 2 kids and his [b]ex-wife[/b] and 2 kids. [/color][/size][/font][/i]

[i][font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#000080]Both wives were named Jo Anne and he got along swimmingly with both of them (obviously). :D [/color][/size][/font][/i]

[i][font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=#000080]Ideally, of course, they [u]would[/u] be one in the same. :) A very rare occurence, it seems to me. :( [/color][/size][/font][/i]

[sail7seas]

Gary.....

:) Which is the rare occurence?

That a man vacations with his first and second wives and their respective children?

Or....

that a man's wife may also be his lover?

[Peggy Sue]

table for 2 for us please and thank you. We have had nightmare experiences, and we haven't taken that many cruises!

Love to be able to spend quality time with my DH.. Enjoy meeting folks at the tables around us. And agree with others that we meet lots fellow cruisers in the bars, lido, cocktail parties. Like the best of both worlds!

We had a horrible experience on the Disney cruise line last December. At a table for 8. 3 couples ... all newly weds. One couple, from somewhere in Florida was really lacking table manners. Dinner started out with "where's the cheeseburgers on this here menu"...from there, the wife asking the husband for a dinner roll. The husband touched every roll asking "this one" until the wife finally said "OK"...no one else ate the rolls.... Husband would cross his arms, lean into his wife and allow his fingers to do the walking while he was talking .. simply amazing.... She ate with her fingers, he ate with his mouth open.... The other two couples were quite nice...but we just couldn't bear to spend another dinner with our stomachs doing flip flops...so we asked to be moved. Disney does not offer tables for 2. We ended up alone at a table for 8 and loved every minute. the wait staff were so accomodating and we had so much fun chatting with them..and spending time together. Our first waiter and assist came to see us the second night and we assured them our move had nothing to do with them. They said they fully understood why we had to move. We did make sure to pass along a gratuity to the first crew on the last night too..

We've also been at a table with another couple that it was like pulling teeth to 2-3 words at a time out of them...so we've decided we love our company the best!

We also like tables for 2 because we can control the pace of our meal and not have to wait for others to finish courses we did not order, or skip dessert (did I really say that?) etc.

That said, I'd love the opportunity to dine at our CC dinner table..I think we would all have a fantastic, delightful time together! We certainly would have a lot to talk about!

Peggy Sue

[Vicar]

S7S


That table arrangement must have been very uncomfortable for you and DH , but it was very rude of those other couples.

My very close circle of friends all go back over twenty years and through the years more have been added through marriage and dating and new jobs. We have all been through hell and back together and we have more inside jokes with eachother and cases where one word will have us all is hysterics.

I know when you are with your little click it is easy to forget maybe one person at the table wasn't at a particular party 5 years ago, so someone mentioning "Brownies" is not going to evoke the same hysterical laughter as everyone else at the table.


however with our group, we always make it a point to make a new comer feel welcome and even tell the same old stories all over again just so they know what the heck we are all laughing about. :) or we can include the new comer in a conversation or talk about something they are interested in.

[sail7seas]

Vicar....that is because you are nice, courteous people. :) We also have friends of 25+ years and I know what you mean. We treasure them as among the most important facet of our lives. They are very precious to us.

These tablemates were rude and selfish but it really didn't matter that much to us. We are most definitely not shy (I guess you have figured that out from my participation on this Board :) ) and if we were that unhappy or uncomfortable, we would have spoken up and moved.

We remained civil to them and would greet them if we passed them on the ship or ashore but we had a very low opinion of them.

We had plenty of other folks aboard to "play with" when we wanted to socialize.

I will say it did irritate them a bit when we explained to our dining steward we would be away from the table the next night as we had been invited to dine at the Captain's Table. (What is that expression about he who laughs last.......? :p )

[Vicar]

S7S,

revenge is sweet *LOL*

Its funny I guess it is just us , but when this particular group of us are together we just draw people into the group.

They see and hear this bunch of crazies and we see someone at another table laughing at something we just said and the next thing you know they are sitting with us and joining in the fun.

Granted not every one is out going like that or a cut up or the life of the party, but everyone can join in on a nice conversation if people are courteous enough to let them join in.

[sail7seas]

Don't you find that laughter is contagious? Who doesn't want to laugh .....especially when on vacation on a cruise ship? If there is someone who would respond negatively, I feel for them.

I have an expression that goes along the lines of 'all of us will have grief and pain during our lives and it will find us all; but we go looking for the party, for the laugh, for the happiness'. If there is an innocent good time to be had.....point me in that direction. :)

[Vicar]

Exactly!!

Life is too short not to laugh and enjoy while you can .

And you klnow its funny , on a cruise or anywhere , once the initial ice is broken most people like to open up and have fun. Like I said not everyone is the life of the party, but even to listen to a good joke and share a laugh or have a nice conversation.

I am not a shrinking violet either *LOL* (Gee could you tell :))
I can have a conversation with an empty chair, and I find if you start a pleasent exchange especially on vacation people will respond in kind.

[Slinkiecat]

Big tables are such fun, no matter what kind of variety you find among your tablemates.

slinkie

[Lois R]

Vicar:) You know after you posted your initial reply, I had the EXACT same thoughts as 7....(great minds think alike:D )....
Quote by Vicar
" we always make it a point to make newcomers feel welcome"

Quote by &
" Vicar....that is because you are nice, courteous people."

Sadly, there are those folks who are not courteous......but THANKFULLY there are the Vicars of the world who make up for them:D.

I would love to sit with you!

[sail7seas]

I'm with you, Lois. :) I'd love to cruise and dine with Vicar, as well.
.

[Vicar]

Lois and S7S

I would be honored to cruise and be tablemates with both of you. :)

I think we would have a lot of fun :)

[sail7seas]

We sure would have a blast....that I am sure of. :) Who knows? Maybe some day; some 'dam' ship!! One can only hope.

[Vicar]

I wonder if we planned it well in advance if we could get all the folks here on the same cruise

Give everyone enough time to save money, get time off, etc
It could be done if we all put our heads together:)

[sail7seas]

That would be such a good time. I doubt we could ever get everyone but surely we could get many to 'look ahead' and plan for us all to meet aboard.