BiscottiQueen

I'm totally intrigued by the attention to the availability of Childrens' menus. Our kids rarely ordered from the kids' menus in restaurants at home, as the offerings were rather mundane mac & cheese, chicken fingers, chips & burgers.

On a cruise, wherein the dining is INCLUDED, I'd be so happy to let my kids order whatever they want from the menu. Including, just a plate of mashed potatoes and steamed veg. :)

At this point, kids are now fully self-sufficient adults. #noproblem

Clarification: The corkage-free bottles are limited to 1 per person. So if you cruise solo, you only get one bottle corkage-free to consume in your room, or if you bring it to a public area you will likly be charged corkage at that time. m--

So even if I take my corkage-free bottle into the MDR, I will be charged corkage?

You are lucky the sweater is still there when you return. :eek:

Seriously? I should now worry about people removing my sweater? It's not like it's a valuable item, i.e. mobile device

Nice to hear about others' experiences!

I must ask, though, how does one wash clothing in the shower? (i.e., do you wash whilst wearing, or squish around in your hands?) And then hang to dry without strangling one's partner?

This was a real problem for my GF, who wears dresses with no pockets. Her solution? Asking me to carry it. :D The things we do for love.... :cool:

Funny.

I would never ask my DH to carry my card. Too many occasions in which he has wandered off, or locked me out, and left me keyless! :confused:

One more tip: pack the stuff you think you need for your trip, and weigh it.

At this point, you could even pack your stuff, and then use only those items, for three weeks. Then you will know which items are not necessary to pack at all! :)

My experience, from non-cruise travel, is that my 3 oz containers are rarely empty after a 2 week vacation. If you are able to use the shampoo, lotion and bath gel provided by hotels, you can get away with packing even less.

Agreeing with the recommendation to do a "trial run": put your products into the small bottles, and see how long they last. I was completely surprised, during my test runs. Remember to label the bottle with the start date! You can do the same with wardrobe items.

50 lbs seems like a lot. I can't even lift that much, so would seriously reconsider packing a case (or cases) of that total weight. After all, I need to be able to get the stuff out of my home…

p.s., re: concerns about washing merino wool: I put mine in the washing machine. Cold water, delicate cycle. When purchasing, I usually "size up", for a slightly generous fit, to allow for shrinkage.

I suppose we could be a little more "programmed" than is typical for this bunch. i.e., plan ahead to have particular meals together. TBH, I wasn't expecting to have dinner (or other meal) as a group on a daily basis, partly because the young ones eat at 6, and DH and I typicaly at 8 or later. But a three-generation family vacay is an exercise in compromise, if not consensus. It's only a week.

It's my first major cruise, so I didn't realize there would be cabin-to-cabin telephones; part of me imagined the possibility of only to various customer services. (Yes, I've stayed in hotels, recently, without phones; especially in cities where people mostly use mobile)

Thanks all, for your interesting inputs.

That's why our group always has dinner together. To talk about our day and discuss our next day. In over 10 cruises with friends and family it has always worked great. And, like others have said, there is a thing called a telephone. I make up a list before we go with everyone's name. I give the cabin number and how you would dial it from the cabin. For example Baja deck might be 8 so Baja 508 would be 8508. I list everyone in the cabin just in case someone only knows someone else by the male person in the cabin.

My group is 16 ppl., in 7 cabins, on 3 decks. So, sure, I'd love to have a way to reach out to them all at once to say, "hey, how about lunch together today?" Running around w/ sticky notes is ok for one-way info, but seems inefficient for a group conversation…

Thanks, all, for responding to my incessant questions about the Seapass card. Does it look like a driver's license, with a photo & name on it? Or usually just a generic card w/ the info embedded in the electronic code?

Mostly, my skin is super sensitive to the lanyard materials (I have worn them for work, volunteering, etc), so I wonder what the fuss is all about, in wearing the card. Thanks to all the various responses, it seems that using a lanyard is not required, but some pax prefer.

For the most part, I don't even leave my apartment without carrying ID and essential meds, so imagine that I'd still carry those items whilst wandering the ship.

On the ship, you aren't going to need ID, credit cards, cash, etc. Your room key/Seapass card is all you need so having it on a lanyard means I don't have to worry about losing it. Convenience.

So the Seapass card has my id on it? I guess I'm super confused about what information the Seapass contains.

What us a cruise card?

As a complete Newbie, I am wondering why I need to have a lanyard? Typically, when leaving my personal space, I would carry a small purse. Contents: personal ID, room key, critical medications, mobile phone for taking photos.

Is there something I'm missing, re: the need to carry another item?