On the Mariner Of The Seas a few years ago we were at a table for 10. One man at the table made some small comment about the war on terrorism - he supported it like me - and this other guy blew a gasket and started ranting and raving like a idiot. It was an awkward moment for the whole table. The ranters wife tried to smooth it over, but it was pins and needles for the rest of the meal.

I think it showed a lack of class. If you don't agree with something someone says in that social setting, the polite thing is to shut-up and ignore it. However, I knew where the first guy stood on things and we hit it off great for the rest of the cruise.

Ironically, the ranter was a physician who had been in the Air Force and they trained him - sent him to medical school and everything.

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I'll want to hear about the things we don't get much chance to chat about here.

Those are certainly safe topics when you know the other guy! As noted in my other post - one needs to tread carefully when you don't know the views of your table mates.

I remember now how the whole thing came up. There was a Naval officer seated near us and he wore his uniform on the formal nights. He was a pilot and the guy at our table made a remark about how "that officer has probably spent some time in Iraq". Oh man! You'd think he had stood up and slapped the doctor in the face! It wasn't as if the first guy had made some hard political statement.

Anyway, I never discuss politics, religion, etc., unless I know the audience!

I don't know why but I'm usually able to have a civil discussion even with those who are 180 degrees the other direction. Of course that's not always the case as there are always some who can't discuss anything including the weather in a civil tone.

My wifes boss is a hard left guy. We agree on virtually nothing. But he's a great guy and I genuinely like him. We go out to dinner together a couple of times a year and you'd think we'd steer clear of politics but we don't. We actually enjoy a little friendly banter. He cuts out articles and jokes and sends them home with Linda for me and I try to find him birthday cards with GW's pic on the front wishing him a mis-spelled happy birthday or something. The guy, despite his political bent has a great sense of humor about it. My wifes dad was a union steel worker all his life in Ohio. They obviously have a different political perspective than I because of his ties to the union. We don't discuss politics at all, ever. I love the guy and respect that he has different views and why he has them. At least he's a lifetime NRA member so I know on at least a few things we agree. He's my elder and wifes father, I feel it would be disrespectful to him for me to push my views on him so I keep it zipped in his presence. I can like you without agreeing with you, I don't understand those that can't accept that others have a different view and have to rant and try to force thier view down your throat.

Cheers, Neil

Having spent 20 years in the Air Force this guy sounds to me like one of those that only comes in for the benefit of what the Air Force can do for them; not what they can do for the Air Force. It is obvious he only came in to have his degree paid for. Nine of my twenty years was spent in Recruiting and I know how badly the military needs Physicians and what they will do to get them. This guy sounds like he would be the first to cry "But I didn't sign up to go to war and fight for my country." Guess he forgot about that Oath he took.

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This guy sounds like he would be the first to cry "But I didn't sign up to go to war and fight for my country." Guess he forgot about that Oath he took.

As I recall, he said he did the minimum time required to fulfill his commitment in exchange for the education. He was living the good life as a doctor in Fort Lauderdale. Personally, if the Air Force had sent me through medical school I would have made it a career as a military doctor.

The Air Force was better off with this goob gone though.

Oops! Here I am a dining room fan, giving examples of why one should avoid it. The dreaded table-mates you don't like!

Well, it happens now and then. You probably had more good experiences than bad though.

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You probably had more good experiences than bad though.

Absolutely! In fact, last year's cruise on the Liberty Of The Seas found us seated with a charming woman and her granddaughter. In fact she posted here after the cruise, and we helped her get the proper Crown & Anchor recognition she had already earned. I really liked Mary Lou and we had a great time at dinner with her and her granddaughter (whom my son had a crush on!)

My wife did not think she would like the assigned seating but it was not as bad as she thought and now we eat all our dinners there. We have not tried it for lunch or breakfast yet. Maybe we will do that the next time we go. Like Dave siad if you don't agree with topic just don't get in the conversation.

Hello gang,

Wow, I always find it fascinating how the simplest question can turn into such an interesting thread!

To Dave, Neil and any other "Right wingers" on here...I too am a physician who got paid during some of my training in the Air Force and now I am returning to active duty next month to pay back the five years that I owe them. I was actually an enlisted man for over nine years (an aircraft and weapons mechanic) and used every penny of my G.I. Bill to help pay for my undergraduate school. Then I left the service during medical school, only to re-join during my residency training. I did a civilian residency here in Tucson, but at the same time collected a handsome paycheck from the Air Force in exchange for my first-born and five more years on active duty as a doctor. Unlike Dave's table mate, I am truly grateful for what the Air Force has done for me in my life and I plan on retiring from there as a physician. Many years ago, I was in the Iowa Air National Guard and knew many people who joined for the college money and then were upset when they had to pay the fiddler and get deployed somewhere nasty. It used to really turn my stomach, but now I just laugh at them and wish them well. It always amazes me when people who have never served are all critical of our military. Sometimes I think our country should be like Israel and require everyone to serve at least two years. If we did, we would have fewer unemployed young people sponging off of their parents and probably a better society overall.

On a more relevant note...I really do prefer to eat every meal in the dining room and only went to the buffet twice on my last cruise on the Adventure.

Take care,

Brad

Brad,

Godspeed, my friend. Your message made my day.

By the way - during my Marine Corps life I was an aircraft weapons technician (we called it Aviation Ordnance). Great job. I think I loved it more than anything I've ever done for a job.

Wheels, I was on that Adventure cruise with you in September. I wish we'd have met. I loved your post as well. By the way thanks for your service!

Cheers, Neil

Hi Brad, I wish you best during your active duty as a doctor. I'm sure it will be very different from the nine years you spent as an enlisted man in the Air Force. I, for one, would appreciate hearing from you once in awhile…so please stay in touch.



Sonny

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I, for one, would appreciate hearing from you once in awhile…so please stay in touch.

Absolutely! We'll leave the light on.

Thanks to all of you for helping me be able to live in a great country. Even though I gripe about inflation, etc., I don't know where else I'd rather be. Back to the first post. We always leave the auto-tips on our statement and tip extra for those we wish to thank. Since they do rotate duties, they all deserve the small amounts they are given from the passengers. On Princess we do the Anytime Dining, but on all other lines, we do traditional. I'm sure more and more lines will be doing some type of Personal Choice dining in the near future. Even so, we tip anyone extra that gives us great service. I'm glad you did tip them at the end of your cruise, but I really agree with the others, that I would have left the auto-tips on my bill. I totally understand wanting to eat elsewhere because of the children, but like Dave said, there are some waiters that really try their best to make the children happy and look forward to coming into the dining room. We usually only eat in the dining room in the evenings. The buffets are always great and I love to graze as well. I really am glad that you didn't stiff the staff all together, there are way too many who do. Maybe by your next cruise, RCI will have established a more flexible dining room schedule. Best wishes and please let us know what you select for your next cruise!

Back to the original thread......
I don't think that I have ever been on a ship that had any other food available during the main and late seating. All that I have seen so far was all the buffet lines closing down about one hour prior to main seating and remaining closed until midnight buffet. So needless to say, we have always done main dining room dinner. My question is, just what kind of food is in the buffet during dinner and is this something I should be feasting on (Of course after I have had my first dinner in the main dining room)?

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I don't think that I have ever been on a ship that had any other food available during the main and late seating.

What cruise line are you using and when was the last time you cruised? The mainstream lines have had buffet dinner options for many years now.

Wow, but we digress.

We love assigned dining. We have met great people from other countries who gave us a window into their lives for a week. They also happened to be serving us food and cleaning up our crumbs! We try to get a table for four and just be our family, but that doesn't always happen. One year we got another family of four. They had a son my daughter's age who never missed a meal once he got a look at her--even formal night!--and another younger daughter as we also have. The husband worked in commercial sheet metal and we work in heating/air conditioning/sheet metal so he and my husband almost had their own language. Wife was lovely though quiet. Our vacation was richer for sharing a few hours with them over good food.

THis past year our first day at lunch in the dining room we met a couple from Argentina (who did want to talk politics and were very knowlegable about the primaries going on here) and a very young darling couple (ironically on leave from the military--see above post) from Israel. We had great conversation and ran into both couples many times over the week and shared a few experiences. If everyone was like them I would take my chances with seating more often.

This past year our waiter's other two tables decided them wanted to join each other so he lost 12 diners to a large table on another level. He had only us for the week. We felt bad at his lost revenue, and he also confided if y ou have fewer patrons you can be recruited to do more than your share of clean up in common areas and heavy tasks like food delivery. He tried to look busy with the four of us all the time!

Our last was NCL. It was a smaller ship to Bermuda. That was three years ago. Before that was Carnival Sensation and Pride about 6 and 12 years ago. On those cruises we always had first seating. Going to Canada in July on Carnival Victory. We currently have the 8:00 seating for dinner. The problem that we have is that we normally eat at around 5:00 at home and waiting till 8:00 for dinner without anything to eat during the earlier seatings would be really hard for us. So if there are buffet lines open during the main dining hours we will be able to sneek in a pre dinner snack and I was wondering what kind of buffet items there are. If so we will come home 10 or 20 pounds heavier, but heck, what are vacations for after all?

Be prepared for a lot of things. They'll have some items from the main dining room menu too, especially if it is prime rib night. They always will have a carving station with some type of roasted meat, fried chicken, some sort of fish, a couple soups, salad bar, all the usual vegetables, often a pasta of some sort, etc. A nice dessert bar too. On the Carnival ships I've been on lately, the buffet dinner is from 6pm to 9:30pm. We usually try it once - primarily on a port day. They do a great job with it.

The pizza stand is open 24/7 if you prefer that (Carnival makes great pizza).