Mommyof3sweetboys

I paid for our cruise using gift cards. Here is the email you need to use. sharedservicesgiftcertificateredemption@rccl.com You will need to send a scanned image of the gift card, both front and back. Or if they are electronic gift cards, you need to use the snipping tool or print screen option to take a photo of it to send them. It takes several days even weeks to post, so don't wait until it's close to your "paid in full" deadline. Did that last time and had to get the manager on the phone because the customer service rep couldn't mark my account as paid.

If you're taking a 7 day cruise, you really can have a different outfit everyday without having to rewear too often if you buy the right materials. I think that people who are "overpackers" don't actually have a problem with quantity, it's usually a problem with the types of clothes they choose. Take jeans or shorts that are synthetic (stretchy) material and are light weight instead of the traditional bulky cotton ones. Buy thin black and tan slacks or skirts that can go with multiple tops for the evenings. You can choose to wear pants multiple times with different tops if you want, but if they are lightweight enough, you can easily fit 7 pairs of shorts and 7 tops in a carry on and still have room for formal wear. Same with dresses, find silky ones that can be wadded up into a tiny ball without wrinkling! Also look into vacuum bags (the kind you can suction without an actual vacuum cleaner!). You can double the amount of stuff you can fit into a bag with one of those! I like to pick my "outfit" for each day and roll the top, bottom, undergarments and socks into a little packet. I pack it according to day (later days go on the bottom and the first days go on top). That helps me not overpack and I can do my overthinking on what I want to wear at home instead of on vacation! I also always take a fleece pullover, packable rain jacket and lightweight cardigan because I'm cold-natured. I can fit 7 days of clean outfits, dressy clothes for evening, outwear and shoes in a carry-on and backpack. Only time I rewear is if I'm working out. I'll wear the clothes from the day before that are dirty for working out, then change into my clean outfit for the rest of the day.

We did it in Grand Cayman. It was fun and the facility was clean, but it seemed pretty expensive for the limited time you got to spend with the dolphins. You were probably interacting with them no more than 5 minutes because there was a large group of people and you each took a turn. You were in the water for about 30 minutes, but you had to wait for each person to be pushed, pulled and have their photo taken given the dolphin a kiss. And they won't let you take pictures. You have to purchase the photo package in addition to the excursion if you want photos. I also found out the hard way to print all excursions you purchase beforehand and take the documents with you. I had purchased a dolphin swim and then you could walk across the street for the turtle farm. When we tried to go, they told us we didn't have the right wristband. I know for 100% certain that I booked the combo excursion. But they wouldn't budge since we had the band for only the dolphin excursion. When I went to guest services to see about getting my money back since we didn't get the excursion we paid for, she told me I was wrong and that I had only purchased the dolphin swim. Of course by that time, my excursion wasn't in my cruise planner anymore and I had no proof of what I had purchased. I would say that I am glad I went because swimming with the dolphins is one of those memories that I'm glad I have, but don't get your hopes too high for it to be amazing because they are captive animals and the companies get the tourists through as fast as possible!

Feeling like the weight loss/gain scenario just isn't fair! How can I gain 2 lbs from one weekend of travelling, but not lose 2 lbs. in one weekend? 🙃 We took a trip to Memphis and thoroughly enjoyed Beale Street. Obviously, too much when I stepped on the scale Monday morning! Back on track and hoping those 2 lbs fall off as quickly as they went on. (but not holding my breath on that!)

Go through the reservation process completely for the first night and then go back in and start a brand new reservation. You have to complete the process for each night separately! SOOO annoying!

Our reservation was paid in full, but my parent's reservation still had an outstanding balance. I was unable to add them to my reservation, but when my dad logged in, he could add a reservation with us added to his. So I'm guessing that unless at least one party is paid in full, you can't link the reservations.

My youngest just came home from school with the stomach flu! I really hope that's not my weight loss strategy this week!!

When we traveled with our three sons (10, 12 and 14), we took a small, magnetic dry erase board (purchased at $ Tree) and put that on the back of the door so we knew where they were all the time. Then they could swing by the room and write "pool" or "rock climbing wall" etc. We were in international waters and they didn't have their own cell phones at the time so there was no way of knowing where they were otherwise. That gave them the freedom to do what they wanted and sure saved me a lot of steps trying to find them when it was time to do something together! Someone mentioned a sewing kit and that is a great idea. Just used it this last Monday on a trip when my son's button came off his sports coat. Mine is about the size of a matchbox and holds a needle, thread in a variety of colors, and a couple of buttons. I keep it in my purse all the time. I pack a folder with information about each port, our excursions, tickets, flight information, etc. I didn't see anyone mention lanyards. If you have kids, I'd highly recommend this or they will constantly be losing their sea pass or locking themselves out of the room. We took a magnetic hook and hung them by the door each night and made sure everyone had theirs on when we left in the morning. You can get a hole punched in your sea pass at guest services to attach them to the lanyard. Some cruise lines provide them for free, but others you have to bring your own. We like reusable water bottles for shore days. I don't want to pay extra for a bottle of water when I can take it for free from the ship. Things that I'd packed last trip that I didn't use - floppy sun hat (it was too windy on the ship to wear it by the pool), beach towel (there was no reason to have my own), dressy clothes for every night (we were too tired some nights to get dressed up for the Main Dining Room and just wore what we had on for the buffet line). There are a lot of really good ideas on here that may work for you. The beauty of packing is deciding what is important to you and how comfortable you are with making do vs. being prepared!

We loved them too and when we told our server that, she brought us an entire basket and said we could have as many as we wanted because no one else liked them!

I try to cut calories in ways that don't make much difference to me. Some examples are asking for the dressing on the side and only adding a very small amount and requesting that they leave off the high calorie items, start the buffet line with a salad and sit down to eat that before starting on the higher calorie items (you make much wiser choices going through the line with food in your stomach than you would starving), ordering a broth based soup as an appetizer instead of creamy, buttery or fried items, picking the entree that is the lowest calorie option, asking for a lower calorie side like green beans or broccoli instead of potatoes. Requesting that sauces be served on the side or scraping off most of the sauce. I would suggest figuring out what your "must have" items are and splurge on those and skip the things you can do without. For me, I wouldn't want to skip the bread (because I love bread!) but could skip the appetizer round easily. You may love desserts so you'd skip bread to be able to indulge in that. Try to set times for eating and avoid eating in between. I find it much easier to set a time on the clock and tell my self that I will not eat anything before that time. Stop eating before you're full and wait 5-10 minutes sipping your drink and see how you feel. If you're still hungry, order another course. If you're satisfied after soup, salad, and bread, stop eating. There is nothing that says you have to order all the courses. These are tips I use any time I eat out, not just cruises, but it works there, too! Great job and keep on working at it! It's hard to shift your mindset, but it's a great lifelong tool once you get it figured out. You'll find that you do it without even thinking about it eventually.

Checking in for my second week. Didn't lose, but didn't gain either. Which I consider a win since we chaperoned the school dance Saturday night (along with the huge table of goodies!) and traveled Sun-Mon! Hoping Valentine's Day chocolates don't cause too much of a temptation next week! And hoping I make it to Zumba since I missed this week. Do you all like to do exercise classes on the ship? I did Zumba last time and really liked it. Fun to dance on the pool deck looking at the ocean instead of inside a gym!

We're booked on the Radiance on the southbound from Seward to Vancouver. We decided on this the one-way option because we could rent a car and spend a few days in Denali before the trip. You do have to keep in mind that even though the cruise prices may be lower on one-way trips, there is the added cost of transportation either from (southbound) or to (northbound) Anchorage and you have to get one-way airline tickets into/out of Vancouver and Anchorage. So if you aren't planning to do Denali, I think a round-trip from Vancouver or Seattle would be the most cost effective.

Hello! Happy to find this post because I'm using our June 5th cruise as my motivation for losing some weight. I like My Fitness Pal to track my calories/fat/sugar, etc. It's a real eye opener sometimes when you find out the food you thought would be healthier end up being higher in calories/sugars/carbs etc. than some other choices you wouldn't have thought would be ok. It also lets you put in your current weight, your goal weight and how much you want to lose per week then it calculates the amounts you should eat. One of the best things is that it already has almost every food in their database, so there is no math!! As long as you can get in the habit of entering the data every day (and actually limiting yourself to the right amounts! HAHA), it works great! Down 2 lbs since the start of the year! Woohoo!

Awesome! Thanks. That helps a lot.

My happy note: We are cruising to Alaska with my mom and dad (celebrating their 50th anniversary), my husband and I (celebrating our 25th anniversary) and 2 of our sons (the older one celebrating his high school graduation)!! Lots to be thankful for including being able to enjoy a new state while being totally pampered on board. When I booked, I ordered special cakes for the second formal night! Trying to decide if it's worth getting the anniversary decor for my parent's room or just take my own.