Welcome back JBHapgood:

Thank you for sharing yur experience with us.

I guess it is pretty difficult to cancel a "tip" once you have had it debited to your on ship account . Hmmm!!!

The Maitre' D is on a salary so I always wondering why he shares in the tipping process.

That is a problem when you have to join strangers at the dinning table...you never know.

Glad you look at it as an experience.

Take Care
Percy

Thanks for the report. Its unfortunate that you had tablemates like that. They can help a cruise experience or detract from it depending on the type of persons you get. Its the luck of the draw I suppose. On our last cruise we had 3 couples who turned out to be great tablemates. Better luck next time. :-)

From what I read before I decided to try a cruise, tablemates at dinner perhaps unduly influence one's enjoyment of a cruise. My experience confirmed that, although one data point is never enough to allow the drawing of any useful conclusion.

I'll defer "next time" until I can bring along at least one tablemate. Or perhaps until I find a cruise that's a little friendlier to people who aren't couples or groups.

Very good idea! Again good luck and happy cruising. :-) Larry

"she scowled at me when I replied that I'd like to meet him too" LOL

I saw something on CruiseCritic or Cruise.com there is forum where you can "meet" people from your cruise.

Or wait till I get on the same cruise - I love to talk :))

Faina, I've seen the "roll call" forum on cruise critic, but there was nothing from my cruise. Absent making contact with someone before the cruise (or going with a group), I suspect luck has a lot to do with whether a cruise is truly enjoyable or merely a welcome break from work. If I remember right, you were lucky enough to have "bonded" with another single woman at the very beginning of your cruise. I wasn't so fortunate.

I did spend a little time on &quot;post-mortem&quot; contemplation on what I could have done differently to improve the social opportunities. There doesn't seem to be much. Maybe wear a T-shirt from a local public radio station as a conversation-starter (one of Sally Maisel's suggestions)? I think I just ended up on a cruise with few if any singles of either sex. In my years of solo travel I've nearly always found that couples and families aren't interested in conversation with a solo man (a woman may or may not have an easier time). Those women in the buffet or the showroom who were waiting for their husbands or boyfriends probably assumed I was looking for something more than pleasant conversation. Regardless, the only way I can look at it is that it's <i>their</i> loss more than mine!

Meanwhile, my parents have started nagging me to take a singles cruise....