Surprise unwelcome encounter on cruise

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LorraineJ

Meow!!
Joined
Jun 24, 2008
Messages
155
Location
Leeds
I came back yesterday from a fantastic cruise (I would definitely do it again) but one of the other passengers was one of the hatchet faced crowd that lurk in Warrington. It had to have been her as she held forth loudly and at great length that she lived in Warrington, went to an outlet shop rather a lot (at least twice a week). This woman carried on like she owned the ship, braying at a lot of people and saying loudly that she had cruised in the Caribean and other destinations. There was really no need for the way this woman was carrying on, she was positively rude to the crew, did not believe in saying please or thank you, true she had been on a lot of cruises but she had lost her manners somewhere along the line.
 
I`ve never done a cruise but when my first husband died I did quite a few solo holidays with specialist travel agents who organised holidays for lone travellers. The thing with those type of holidays is because everyody is alone and of varied ages they travel together, eat together and go on trips together.
On one holiday to Turkey we had a similar sounding woman in our group and she got on everybody`s wick. At dinner she would brag constantly about her big house, her huge widow`s pension her late husband had left her and her jewellery amongst other things. Now believe me or believe me not, one particular night she was bragging about the " diamond " bracelet she was wearing, how it was such a such carats in diamonds and how it had been a gift from her late husband and had been specially made for her and to her own design etc. I don`t profess to being a diamond expert by no means but I kept looking at the bracelet and thought Ummmmm something isn`t right here. Then it twigged, it was in my hayday of watching and buying quite a bit off QVC and then the penny dropped, I`d seen the ****** thing on Q, it was Eek !
If I`d wanted to be cruel I could have challenged her bragging but I thought what`s the point, the woman is obviously lonely, wants attention and needs to live her fantasies. In reality I bet her huge pension didn`t exist nor her huge house either but I couldn`t help having a chuckle when I sussed the bracelet.
 
Good to hear you had a lovely time Lorraine. Hopefully the ship was big enough to be able to avoid the Warrington woman.
 
So pleased you had a great time, Lorraine.

These irritating people are everywhere, they buzz round like midges annoying the heck out of everyone. I've just learned to laugh at 'em. We encountered one on holiday, too.
She was fabulously wealthy, enjoyed the high life, mixed with celebs, blah blah, until her husband accidentally let slip that ... they ran a burger van.

Smirk. :giggle:
 
I was only on a small ship but gave the Warrington brag a wide berth. There was another passenger that made a bitchy remark about my disability being all in my mind (I did not refer to it at all, as I thought the stick was a sufficient give away) I snapped and said to this woman "you should try going to bed one night, waking up the next morning and see how you get on and then I said it might be an idea if she kept her mouth shut until she knew what she was talking about, she looked at me as if I'd slapped her and opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish, she was horrible to a lot of people not just me.

There were a lot of lovely people aboard the ship, worth spending time of day with, all sorts of ages and experiences. Somehow or other though, one or two talked about previous trips they had been on, but did not hold forth endlessly regardless of whether or not you wanted to listen. The thing is, it was a floating hotel and you are bound to take a liking to some fellow holidaymakers and dislike others, but there is never a need for bitchiness or being personal. Hell would freeze over first before I'd allow them to ruin a lovely holiday.

One of the trips we took was to Algeria, which is a beautiful country but the political situation is a bit volatile. Consequently two coaches went out flanked by three cars in the front, full of armed police or soldiers and another vehicle behind again full of armed police. We were going to a Roman ruin, part of which I couldn't manage to explore with the party so I waited with another lady by the sea (the dig was on the coast), with an armed soldier and a policeman. Their English was worse than my French but we managed to have a little conversation despite the language barrier. Afterwards we went round Algiers in the coach, a city that must have been beautiful in colonial times but sadly showed how the buildings had been effected in the recent turbulent past. A culture shock but a great experience.
 
Warrington the mecca of taste. Sorry to anyone else from there.

That is why I would hate to go on a cruise, I have the idea I would be stuck with someone I hated. They might never find the body at the end of it too.:angel:
 
My daughter's taking me on a cruise to celebrate my 60th birthday next year. I'd be grateful for any tips you could give me Lorraine, as I have difficulty in walking too and wonder how I'll manage the excursions etc. She suggested a cruise as she thought I'd be able to see more this way than if we just went on a one resort holiday so to speak.

Glad you had a lovely time in spite of the Warrington motor mouth:)
 
Mam you will get horrid people from all walks of life and you will learn to give them a wide berth and not let them spoil your holiday. What a thoughtful present and I am sure you will enjoy the experience. Without wishing to pry with your difficulties, I would suggest that you don't drink the water, as it is full of salt and caused my legs to come up like footballs (I couldn't wear the pretty new shoes I took to go with the evening outfits, getting any shoe on at all was a feat in itself). I wish I knew beforehand the water would have that effect and I would then have drunk soft drinks, creamed my legs and taken antihistamines (cheap from Home Bargains) to avoid the itching and the air conditioning can be very drying. Also while the food was brilliant, five star cuisine every night, they did enjoy adding too much salt. I wore long dresses or trousers to cover up my legs and still managed to enjoy myself and was delighted that my ankles returned to normal yesterday.

We were very lucky that our dinner companions were great fun and I think we will stay on friendly terms with them but not all cruise lines seem to do that, dinner was the one meal we did not have open sitting.

When it comes to the trips, it greatly depends on where you are calling at as to whether you will be able to manage the trip. The Black Watch is a small ship that was able to get into the ports so we could walk straight off and on to a coach, or stagger on your best stick to see the sights lol. The big ships have tenders to get you ashore and can be a bit problematical if you have walking difficulties. The ships have lifts so getting round on board is not a problem though you may have to wait to use it. I knew in advance that some places to visit would be out of the question so did not book them. We got a really detailed book which included the trips from the cruise company about 6 weeks before we sailed, though in hindsight I don't think we would have gone to Algers as the trip was more arduous than we anticipated. Give yourself plenty of time, take little sit downs before you carry on and I have to say that there were a lot of passengers that could not manage any trips at all because they were so infirm but the staff were lovely regardless of your mobility or otherwise. I told the cruise company before we cruised what my disability is and they fitted a hand rail and a raised toilet seat to my cabin to make things easier, in case I had a bad day. Also, I was pleased to find that Sturgeon worked like a dream to combat sea sickness off the Portguese coast (rougher than the Bay of Biscay). Wherever you cruise, I hope you have a fabulous time.
 

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