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A Carnival cruise--structured security or aspie nightmare?

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lady_katie
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19 Jul 2012, 10:50 am

My husband and I went on a cruise for our honeymoon (I'm almost certain at this point that we're both Aspies) and we loved it! There were some things that we found pretty unbearable though, like dinner in the dining room, we were forced to sit with these two loud mouth women who were drunk and obnoxious. I think that they were making fun of us too. But...we dealt with that by just eating in a more comfortable place for the rest of the trip, so that was fine. The crowds were uncomfortable for us, but it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be - just at certain times of the day and in certain locations (like the pool in the middle of the day was really crowded and annoying, so we just went to the piano bar or something more enjoyable for us at that time). There really was something for everyone there, and for us the positives far outweighed any negatives. At one point, a couple invited themselves to sit down and socialize with us in the piano bar. This was really difficult for me to get through, but once they left I was glad that the interaction had occurred. They were nice and pleasant, and even though it made me sweat bullets at the time, I was glad that it happened. I was surprised at how much we were able to keep to ourselves in the midst of all of the activities, and find quiet and relaxing things to do. We actually liked it so much that we're looking into moving to a place that is closer to a cruise port...we would love to make cruising one of our obsessions ;)



1000Knives
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19 Jul 2012, 10:55 am

Charges wrote:
Well, I went ahead and took the cruise. It wasn't too bad, although I'm relieved to be back with my familiar home routines. There was a LOT more space than I thought, and I really enjoyed seeing the same 5-10 people at the little trivia/puzzle game activities they had that hardly anyone came to.

But the dinners really struck a nerve. I decided to forgo my stash of routine favorites, suck it up, and eat with everyone else, and I will say that the food was pretty good. The waitstaff's actions, however, created the perfect storm of vexation. Maybe it was just me, but I was EXTREMELY irritated and insulted by the pushiness and 'generosity' of the servers. We were at the late dinner, and it seemed like they saw us as simply stupid, hungry cattle whom they could push all the extra food on. I didn't want any appetizers, but they asked me at least 5 TIMES per night and usually ended up plopping a plate of fruit or something in front of me anyway, which I of course didn't touch because I did not ask for it. Simple as that (well, I'm a bit stubborn, but still). Furthermore, I'm allergic to wheat, and yet they still dumped as many of their excess bread rolls on my plate as they could after I politely and repeatedly turned them down. When our orders came to the table, they were usually accompanied by extra plates of stuff that we did not ask for. Sure, it's 'free food,' but it made me want to throw bricks at them (Waiters: stop asking me questions and hovering around, NO MEANS FREAKING NO!)

To make matters worse, my mom vehemently insisted that I should be glad; that the waiters are just trying to make sure I am happy, etc., etc. If you ask me, the only thing on their agenda was to shove all the leftovers on the late diners, many of whom, indeed, mindlessly plowed through the extra food. Would this be annoying to most people, or am I overreacting?


Dude I love free food.