AIBU to dread sharing my cruise with a clingy colleague?

[InkyOctopuswithLegs]

Just found out someone i work with is going on the same MSC cruise as me.I am polite and always say hello but this person is someone I wouldn't want to spend time with. They are clingy and talk non stop, if they see you in a communal area they will make a bee line for you and start telling you about what they are doing, boasting mostly.
They told me yesterday about the cruise and I was speechless🤣 in didn't let on i was on the same cruise but I'm gutted and don't want this person chasing me around the ship🤦‍♀️

It's simple. Get your hair cut and dyed, buy a load of new clothes and spend the cruise talking in a french accent with a new name.

(Adjust accent if you're already french)

I would likewise hate this. It’s good she doesn’t know you’re meant to be on the same cruise, that gives you more options without being rude/making work difficult!

Could you move to a different cruise? Can you call the cruise line and ask?

Otherwise yes some form of disguise is your best option.

Oh blimey, that's one risk with cruising I hadn't considered.

I would ask for a transfer to another holiday if possible.

You’ve just given me another thing to add to the list of “reasons I will never go on a cruise”. You’ll now spend the whole time looking over your shoulder for her, and then if she does spot you you’ll spend your whole time trying to avoid her. If it’s possible to switch boats I’d do that.

With mega sized dark sunnies and huge floppy hat over hair in a different colour from usual. Cruise ships are usually huge with thousands of passengers, unless you are going on a more boutique type of boat. As there may be sittings for dinner service? make sure with the staff that you are on a different one from her.🍀

Is she definitely going alone? If she's going with friends or family, she might not behave in the same way towards you as she would at work.

Ate you going alone? If you are with a partner, friends or family, she may be less inclined to approach.

We are both going with our husbands but that won't stop her!
Can't change the cruise as its in a few weeks time😆
There's almost 3 thousand passengers so just hope we dont even see her but im not convinced. Of all the holidays in all the world.......🤦‍♀️

Honestly I'd explore options to see if I could change the date or to a different cruise.

Disguising myself, organising my dining to avoid someone and looking over my shoulder all holiday would ruin it for me.

I suspect a cruise is not for me. My colleagues that go are fun, chatty types.

Update - just seen you can't change. Nightmare.

You can easily get lost among 3000. But, she might come looking for you! Is her husband ok?

Have a plan to just be totally indifferent and rude. Walk away if you see her. Tell her your dh “has plans” that don’t include her”no we can’t meet for drinks thos is a second honey moon for us.” Etc..etc…etc…

Is there a part of the ship you could upgrade to? Less likely to see them then?

Cruise ships are generally not tiny. Surely there's a strong chance that you won't even see her during the trip!

We booked a cruise with some friends and afterwards she found out loads of her extended family were going. We bumped into them once in the entire week and that was visiting some really small ports, there’s so many people on board and the ships are massive so you may be ok.

If you do bump into her be firm from the outset.

No thanks, I prefer not to
Off to do something, bye, enjoy your holiday
I don't want to spend holiday time with colleagues from work.
I'm going to be blunt since my polite No Thank You is being g disregarded - I don't enjoy your company at work never mind on holiday.
Go away you're really annoying.

She might not recognise you because you are in a different environment. Try to avoid looking at her if she sees you - she might think that you are a lookalike and not approach you.

Colleague? What colleague?!

Reminds me of the Keeping Up Appearances episode when Hyacinth found out Onslow was on the same cruise! No help, sorry, but hope you manage to avoid her.

I was overhearing a hairdresser chat to a client the other day and he was telling her how much he and his wife loved cruising. The lady said she'd always been wary because of the shared tables at dinner and the enforced company.

He said 'We've generally been quite lucky and mostly met really great people, but any cruise is only as good as the other passengers on it. It can be a bit of a lottery, it's true.'

Some of these cruise ships are huge. Its entirely possible you wont even bump into her

That’s what I was thinking. Especially as people do look a bit different on holiday and at work.

I think there are usually two sittings for dinner each night? Try and find out whether she prefers the early or late sitting, then you do the opposite.

Oh no I feel your pain! I'm going on an overseas week long trip for work later this year and I had to pick a colleague to come with me. I'll be totally honest that one of my main criteria was picking someone who wouldn't want to be by my side 24/7. I need my downtime! 😂

Oh god, this happened to me. It wasn’t a cruise but an island in the Maldives (a teeny tiny place with one dining room and a few hundred guests). As we walked up the dock after an 18 hour journey, gagging for a swim and a glass of wine and some peace and quiet, I heard a shriek of ‘oh my god!’.

It was someone from work - a really sweet girl, but not a close mate or anything. She was absolutely thrilled, bless her, and immediately launched into chattering about how she and her husband had been trying to make ‘holiday friends’ but obviously now we were here they wouldn’t need to bother … I imagine DH and I looked like Wallace & Gromit, blinking in shock, with rictus grins pasted on to hide our total horror 😂

We’re pretty sociable usually, but for us that trip was intended for much-needed decompression - reading, relaxing, sleeping, minimal chat - and we were definitely not in the market for holiday friends. We ended up having drinks with them one night, but otherwise just doing a kind of ‘smile and wave’ thing from a distance in order not to end up having to socialise with them every day. It was really stressful and I felt quite shitty and guilty at her crestfallen face every time we shuttled past, but I honestly couldn’t justify compromising our whole holiday just to be kind/polite to a work colleague. I’m sure she thought I was a complete cow after that, and it was slightly awkward at work, but hey ho.

It doesn't matter if there are 9,000 people on the ship, you will see her the first night because it's how these things work. When she approaches you, pretend you don't know her at all and you've no idea what she's talking about. Then deny it when you're back at work.

Ok - 3000 people is a lot and she won’t be expecting you so won’t be looking out for you. Can you change your hair at all so you look a bit different too.

If she still finds you then I wonder if the best thing you can do is be all embarrassed and act all worried that she will think you are a stalker. And so say “don’t worry Susie - we won’t make you hang out with us - I know this is your holiday. No - it isn’t fine. I feel so guilty that we ended up here. I am not going to cramp your style - we shall just wave from a distance. If that’s ok? Would you rather I didn’t wave? Stop saying it’s fine Susie - I know you - you are too kind for your own good.”