Stenya

Just found this thread and wanted to chime in - I reached Lifetime in 2009, and we've gone on 6 cruises since then and stayed on plan... it can be done! I'm at the top end of my goal range and would like to lose 10 before our fall cruise, but I know that WW always works for me if I actually do the work.

Someone asked for tips about doing WW while on the cruise, and here are the best things that have worked for me:

• Decide what kind of day you're going to have BEFORE you go to the dining room! For us, it's easy to have the same basic "yogurt + fruit" breakfast that we'd have at home for 6 of the 7 days at sea, and then have a "special" breakfast with an omelette or waffle one day. We do save up most of our Points for dinner, but you don't have to have three courses each night - every meal doesn't have to be treated like a special occasion.
  
• Most desserts on the buffet LOOK much better than they taste (especially the cookies). If you take a bite and it's not fantastic, just give yourself permission to leave the rest.
  
• Save your Points for what's really special or unusual, and skip the stuff that you can have anywhere. We "saved up" for gelato and crepes on our Mediterranean cruise, and it was totally worth skipping the fries and other fast-food-ish stuff on board. The kitchen staff has done all the work of cutting up fruits and veggies, so it's easy to have those as low-Point sides and snacks.
  
• If you're going to the buffet, walk around and look at everything BEFORE you pick up a plate. This gives you a chance to see what looks great to you, vs. what's tempting just because it's there.
  

Almost forgot my favorite strategy - walk as much as you can, and always take the stairs if you're able to! :D No endless waits for the elevator, and you'll get a ton of Activity Points. (on our last vacation, we were logging 30-40,000 steps a day on our Fitbits - it really adds up.)

Have a great night!

I thought I couldn't BE more excited about our upcoming POA cruise, and your posts have definitely given me some great ideas! We're going with my sister and BIL, and it'll be our 10th anniversary... absolutely once in a lifetime. Thanks so much for the reviews and suggestions!

Thanks, DalGirl - this was a really helpful overview of what we can expect in about 20 weeks from now... :-) Sounds like you didn't really have a lot of "ship time" because of the daily port calls, and that's good to know.