joan

All right, fmpden, tell us more about the tablemates from Hell (you know there is a town, Hell, in Aruba! - so don't worry about 'dissing any state

Why didn't you move to a different table? Hee hee maybe you liked that free wine too much!?

fmpden

Only a little bit -- it was a 14 day cruise out of Harwich with Royal C. The dining room was two tiered with the narrow second tier along the outside of the ship with terrific, huge windows overlooking the front of the ship. There were only a half dozen tables with such a magnificant view. You could not have paid us enough to give up that table. The first three days were wonderful -- we were by ourselves. Seems our tablemates had missed a plane connection and were waiting for us at the next port. It was a grandmother, daughter, and grandson. The first night the daughter DEMANDED lemon pepper for her salad. Obviously the staff had never heard of lemon pepper. They finally brought fresh lemon and pepper and she exploded, "I can get this at any corner store in xxxx, why can't I have it here?" Another night the salad was advertized with "carrot curls." Now she is not eating salad because she cannot get lemon pepper but requests a plate of carrot curls because. " I love carrot curls." When the plate arrives it is actually carrot spears or slivers. she rudely and loudly pushes the plate into the center of the table, "I can't eat these things --- they're not curly." Then there was the semi-formal night when they rushed into the dining room wearing gym colthes and demanded to be immeidately served because they wanted to be back in their cabin within 20 minutes for the start of a movie. The amazing part -- the wait staff did it !!! I think just to get them out of there. I have a dozen more similar stories -- some not to printable.

We always came earlier so we made sure we got the seats facing the windows and would chat with the staff trying to guess what would be the crises of the day or what weird thing they would demand. It was so bad it was like having a private performance of the three stooges.

It was a bonding experience with the staff. This was the closest we ever got with all our waiters. In fact, my old son maintained a correspondence with the water boy and two years ago visited him at his home in Prague. The staff was pertified that they would get a negative evaluation for these people. I guess one negative evaluation would impact their table assignments, etc. Afterwards I sent a letter to nearly everyone at RC explaining what a terrific job the staff in trying to please these passenagers from Hell. It has been nearly five years and we still tell these stories. There are little words and action that will suddenly cause the family to bust into laughter. We will never look at lemon pepper in the same way. I sitting here laughing as I type this. Cruising is wonderful !!!!

Poconolady

For me the choice of an inside or outside cabin is dependant upon the itinerary. Long ago a travel agent told us to always book the cheapest cabin on the best ship that we could afford, so through the years we have mainly chosen inside cabins. However there are some destinations that beg for an outside cabin, preferably one with a balcony. Those are generally cruises with a lot of at sea time in scenic areas, namely Alaska. Hawaii and the Mediterranian seem like other likley places, however they are the last places that I would splurge on the balcony, save the money and put it on shore excursions, or the high priced airfares to those spots.
Outside cabins with portholes or small windows and obstructed views are also useless as far as I'm concerned. Take a small digital clock with lighted numbers and use the ships webcam as your window! Sleeping in an inside cabin with total darkness and the waves rocking you sleep is sheer bliss.

joan

Aaaahhh, the view. That does make sense. I bet your tablemates didn't even notice it!

And it was wonderful of you to write that letter complementing the staff. How neat that your son maintained that relationship. Good things sometime do come of bad, don't they?

fmpden

Joan, you are right. We made them sit with their backs to the window. Nasty, weren't we !!!! Normally in similar situations we would rotate the seats so everyone would have an equal opportunity for a good view. See me an e-mail address or contact off-line and I will send you a picture from that seat.

But they served a purpose for the education of our boys. We are both in education (univ & elementary) so we have been enormous emphasis on education beyond the classroom. The cruises have served us well for that purpose. The formal dinners, conversation with adults, using the correct fork, ordering, wines, etc. As they became older, the ability to plan their own sightseeing in ports by themselves was important part of their independence. The result is two young men that travel as comfortably in Europe as we do in the US. Every our bad manner table partners added to their education.