After staying on the Edge for nearly a month, we’ve come across a lot of fun and interesting people. And then from time to time we come across one or two that are a bit odd. Here are a few stories about the latter.

1.

The Friday after thanksgiving a couple were seated next to us and before they had sat down they had started complaining.

Terry: “We’ve really enjoyed the sea days on board”

Houston elderly man: “Not on this ship. Not. On. This. Ship. It’s boring!“

It continued with his wife throwing a little tantrum over that there was no turkey on the menu. She had checked and there would be turkey on FRIDAY! How she came to this conclusion when thanksgiving was Thursday, I don’t know. But the waiters got a lecture concluding with “you don’t want to feel the wrath of Susan!”. So that was an interesting dinner where Terry and I quickly switched over from English to Norwegian.

2

Between the cruise sections there are meetings for those of us staying on all the way to Sydney or further, a consecutive cruiser meeting. This was fun to participate in just for the entertainment value. There were some people really getting their panties in a knot. “I have to pack my suitcase and change rooms?? I’m an old lady! I demand an upgrade. Pack my suitcase? Ridiculous!”

3

People are individuals and there are idiots in every country. However… some nationalities seem to be overrepresented in the rude inconsiderate behavior category. As we got off the ship in port, there was a separate line for crew so they could get through immigration faster. A family of Russians that we’d previously noticed as loud and obnoxious on the ship, were a little behind us. When security asked if they were crew, they promptly answered: “crew? Yes!” And were swiftly sent through. There were Americans, but especially a few Brits, that swore under their breath and I could feel my blood pumping too. The nerve! While the rest of us spent a good half to and hour to get through.

3

To control the line to immigration, they’d let us off in groups at a time from the ship. We made it right to the front of the line and we’re just about to get off the ship but were then asked to wait. It is what it is. We waited. But the guy in the line next to us. Oh dear. Loud enough for security to hear him: “you know, they do anything on this ship to annoy you!” Yeah, hmm, that’s exactly their motivation. Didn’t feel very bad about rushing past him when we were let out in front of him.

4

And then a few stories from the theater. The shows are amazing and sometimes you’re just taken aback by how inconsiderate some cruisers can be. Even if we don’t have to buy tickets or have specific seating, these are great artists with live music.

In the middle of the final solo of a show a random man slowly wandered between the FIRST row and the stage scratching his head with his baseball cap holding his drink looking around for his family. So noticeable. It was absurd. The cruise director even made a joke about it afterward and asked people to be more observant of their surroundings.

Another time before a game show with the captain a woman interrupts the introduction on stage asking for a picture with the captain. They replied that they could do pictures afterwards. She kept badgering them and they explained “after the show or else we’d be here for 30 minutes if everyone wanted a picture with the captain”. In the end the captain obliged and she went back to her seat, completely oblivious that the entire theater was irritated. She did become a recurring joke during the game show though…

5

And then there’s the lady that ordered a steak at the buffet, but wasn’t happy with it. “Too small”. The chef held the meat and moved his knife further and further up the piece until she nodded. His eyes widened “are you sure?” “Yes”. And he cut her a good 2 inch thick slab of meat. About four times the thickness of a normal one.

6

Or the lady next to us at yoga class who asked if we were going to start sitting or standing up. Why? Because she was worried about having to get up one more time unnecessarily. Maybe a yoga or any class involving movement wasn’t quite what she was looking for? Not sure what she expected it to be. But I could guarantee her that she’d have to get up at some point at least…