Dining with strangers at the same table might seem odd or even awkward, but for cruise passengers who enjoy a traditional dining experience, it’s part of life at sea.
The thing is, you never know who will be sitting at the same table. People who regularly choose this traditional style of eating in the main dining room typically find it an enriching experience.
But for one particular pair of cruise passengers, the very vocation of their tablemates was grounds to request their removal.
Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald recently took to Facebook to share a message he received on the incident.
“One question I want to chat about is one from yesterday and a lady who wrote to me demanding that she and her friend have a guest and his wife removed from the table they were sharing at dinner,” Heald began.
He went on to ask his colleagues what this couple had done to warrant such a request.
“Perhaps they had said something, done something that was inappropriate or perhaps they were Cruise Critic members,” he joked.
It turns out, the two ladies sitting with the couple were both vegan and didn’t appreciate what the couple did for a living.
“On the first evening of the cruise they did the introductions as usual. The farmer told the table he and his with were farmers,” Heald said. “They raised cows and sheep and that is what upset this lady so much. And as a non-meat eater and animal lover she decided to tell him what she thought of him and then told the Senior Maître D that they needed to be removed from their table.”
The farmer and his wife did end up moving to another table, but Heald stated that they were not moved because of the “ladies insistence”.
They were moved to a table for two and given the steakhouse selection compliments of Carnival.
In the end of his post, Heald reaffirmed his appreciation for farmers while stating that not everyone on a cruise ship shares the same views about animals. Carnival has a broad selection of vegan choices on their menus which is expanding all the time.
“I think it is safe to say that many of the almost 600,000 page readers here will admit they like animals. We like looking at them. We like petting them. And some of us like eating them. It really is that simple,” Heald noted.
Of course, there are many other options for eating on a cruise ship, and some cruise lines don’t even have a traditional dining experience in which passengers eat with strangers.
A more variable Anytime Dining or My Time Dining experience has been implemented by Carnival and Royal Caribbean. The main difference is that the wait staff may be different each night for this more adaptable dining option.
Norwegian Cruise Line introduced “Freestyle Dining” to the world over 20 years ago which means “you can dine when and where you want, with no fixed dining times or pre-assigned seating”.
Anytime Dining may still involve eating with other cruise passengers unless a request can be met for just your party.
One reason some cruise passengers still prefer traditional dining at set times is that they can get to know the wait staff, and the crew can better serve any specific dietary needs.
Read more: 4 problems with anytime dining on a cruise and how to avoid them