Other Peoples Vacation Manners: A complete lack of them.
As mentioned in a prior post, it just is not possible to accurately describe our October vacation without talking about the poor behavior we witnessed in our fellow Norwegian Star passengers and Disney park attendees. But before we do, we really have to say that we really really did have a good great time on our trip and don’t in anyway blame NCL or Disneyland for the nasty things we witnessed. That said…. bring on the dancing idiots!
Our cruise ship had over a thousand employees aboard. Most, getting paid in bird seed… well certainly less then the federal minimum wage. Most of them working very hard to ensure the passengers have a great trip. For example, it was not uncommon for our room to be made up twice in one day, once in the morning then again after our nap while we were at dinner. There were also times on board were the wait staff out numbered the diners. And even when the numbers were more balanced, most times we felt like kings being waited on. A ship employee’s normal shift is about 10 hours a day for 10 days straight. These guys and gals work hard for the money.
After experiencing how well we were taken care of and seeing the way some of the passengers treated the staff was just ghastly! We didn’t know if it was because most of the staff were foreigners (mostly Asian) and our fellow cruisers were prejudiced or if our fellow passengers had just checked their brains and manners at the dock and sailed on without them. It was seldom we would have a meal were we would not see some sort of bad behavior by a passenger or walk down a hallway and see some customer talking/yelling at a cabin steward in a unnecessary tone.
We started to notice that we were consciously making it a point to thank each server at every meal (as you are not allowed to tip, unless you cocktail or wine) and tried to beat the cabin stewards to the punch by saying good morning or good evening. Many times the staff seemed shocked and extremely grateful, which of course bothered us even more. Good manner are free and the staff on board (with a few exceptions) were outstanding!
We saw people complaining about the most petty things. Yelling at the top of their lungs to get the staff to correct something that a calm request would have accomplished quicker. And then there were the cutters and shovers.
Hummm how do we properly describe these people…… Have you ever been driving down the road, traveling at or above the speed limit and some jerk dangerously passes you and cuts you off so he can get to the stop sign 1.4 seconds before you do. Only to find out later as you pull into your destination that you arrived before them? This was the standard type of behavior we witnessed from our fellow cruise members. We had people dive and push past us to steal tables from us (when there were plenty of tables for all), shove us off the deck rails (so they can have the spot we were standing in). We saw people diving in front of little children, handicapped and elderly people to get thru doorways or to the buffet line 1.4 seconds faster.
After a week of witnessing some pretty awful behavior. So by the end of the cruise we got so tired of our fellow passengers we hung out mostly in our stateroom and were much happier for it!
We are both fairly passive aggressive people and have both been raised with a good set of manners and high level of expected public behavior. (To use kido language, we have learned to use our words.) So for the whole cruise it was rare for us to say a rude word when we were cut off or shoved or got short changed by the staff having to pander to the squeaky wheels first then assist the polite customers second. For the most part, we were on vacation and we turned the other cheek.
But we hit our limit in Disneyland. With everyone around us acting like jerks, we were starting to get very tired of getting the short end of the stick: Waiting in line, only for some jerk in front of us to let 7 or 8 of his friends to cut directly ahead of us and then get pissy with us for looking shocked and upset by their behavior. Being sat with a reservation at a smelly horrible table so the no reservation mega-complainer can have the better seat and shut up. Watching parents scream at their kids (who they had filled up with tons of sugar and let them skip their n.a.p.) to “Stop crying, have fun or else!“.
Both of us have a very high breaking point when in public, it takes a lot of direct abuse or mistreatment for us to snap. But on our second day in Disneyland, we had about all we were going to take. Our first night we watched the Halloween fireworks display from the backside of the castle. It was a mad house for a frontside view, wall to wall people standing room only from the front of the castle all the way to the Train archway on main street USA! So the second night we hit downtown Disney and walked in to Main street USA about 10 mins before the fireworks, walked up as far as we could and planned to watch from there. This worked out great, the crowd was much lighter and there was lots of room for everyone.
Midway thru the fireworks a lady walks up with a sugar intoxicated sleep deprived child on her shoulders and stops 4.25 inches in front of Joshua, resting her oversized backpack stuffed to the breaking point with cheap direct from china disney souvenirs onto Joshua’s chest. Mind you there was a good 10 foot empty radius round Joshua that she could have stood with a great view that would not have blocked anyone. But she choose poorly! Out of no where this loud stern voice rang out clearly and distinctly over the exploding fireworks “EXCUSE ME…YOUR BLOCKING OUR VIEW, MOVE!” Joshua had reached his breaking point, so much so you might have heard it up here in Portland.
But the hardest thing we had to deal with during our vacation was all the ungrateful and blind parents, both on the cruise ship and in the parks. Even with school in session there were a lot of kids around. Sometimes it was very hard for us to witness how clueless some of the parents were to the wonderful gift they have been given. To watch them squander the chance to be apart of their child’s lives, to be good role models, to be a family. At times it made us very angry, other times it would make us a little sad.
These negative aspects of our trip have really underscored for us the importance of teaching our kido manners and proper public behavior and reminded us how much we are committed to adopting.