cruising_family

I think it should be common for those to post with respect for others. Differing opinions are common and one of the best parts of the forums, to get the various viewpoints.. We should all be mature enough not to attack each other. I'm thinking those that don't want to agree might not care how their posts affect others. Just my viewpoint. This is not pointing to anyone in particular. Happy posting.

Your DH does WW with you? That's great. Mine doesn't (but I keep trying to get him to) but mostly he's pretty supportive on what we eat. If he wants something I don't want to use my points for, I just do my own thing. Like he made us spinach salad with apples, but added walnuts, feta cheese and razberry vinagrette to his. I had mine dry and added tomatoes. Weird, but no points. I tend to use the majority of my points to splurge for my favs like pasta, steak and such once in a while.

 

I don't do much exercise which will definitely slow my loss down, but wonderful for you to get your walking in at work. I have no legitimate excuses, though plenty of excuses. If you think you can do 50 in 8 months, you can! I'm worried I can get my 20ish in 7. We can try!

Did my meeting and weigh-in yesterday and was surprised with another 2.2 lb loss. Surprised it was that much. I know early in the program the loss is often higher than later so I'm expecting the small partial pounds to begin. It's always an up and down over time. I haven't mentioned it before but I'm trying to lose abt 20-25 lbs before our cruise at the end of Feb.

 

We all need to remember to be happy with whatever loss we have. We can do this. Previously I would lose for 2 or 3 weeks, then up for one week. I'm trying hard to break that cycle, 1 day at a time.

What a great idea abt the candles and table cloth. Fantastic. Gotta add that to my list for our next cruise.

Our 7 day had 2 formal nights. My DH wore a suit coat and tie both nights, no tux for him. I wore a dress pants and a dressy shirt, the other night was a black cocktail dress. Some wore tuxes, but few and women ranged from dress pants/tops to long gowns. Whatever you feel comfortable in that's dressy should work.

Just wanted to chime in. Love hearing the small successes everyone has and the support given when needed. These boards are wonderful. I find that tracking is crucial or me or I forget the little bits I have throughout the day. I haven't gotten back into exercising like I want but every time I plan it, something unforseen happens. I know, excuses, excuses.

 

Last week I had no loss, no gain at weigh-in. Frustrating a bit but appreciate no gain. I decided to go back to tracking points as I fail miserably at deciding when enough is enough. Right now it's best for me to have structure in my meals until I get back in the flow. Hoping my weigh-in tomorrow is better.

 

Keep up the good work all.

When researching to get ours a few years back we were told that the months leading up to spring and summer breaks from school are much busier and takes longer for passports to processed. Maybe it's true and you missed the rush. Wonderful, so now you're all set. :D I was worried until ours came in the mail.

I agree that I wouldn't have given up my chair if I was there first, I don't care what she said/yelled. When I was younger, maybe. Now way would I do it now. I have as much right as she does to claim an empty chair.

I just came across this thread and love so many of the ideas. Many aren't useful for me but can see them useful for others. The only caveat I have is buying OTC meds from a dollar store. Not to be a "Debby Downer," but on a segment on 20/20 or Dateline a few months ago they discussed counterfeit products at those types of stores and said that many items aren't actually the name brands but fakes and the chemical makeup isn't always comparable and can be dangerous. I would rather buy from reputable store and be safe. I agree the cost of OTC meds are crazy expensive on the ship. I too got sick but was lucky to find stuff at a known drug store in San Juan. Learned my lesson and in the future will take stuff just in case.

 

Happy cruising.

I'm so glad you enjoyed Alaska and the cruise. I'm right there with you. Loved our Alaska cruise a few years back and I do think cruising sure is addictive. I think these forums, though invaluable, feed into the addiction.;) I love hearing all the adventures and experiences everyone has so I can decide where to go and what to do for my bucket list.

I do the chewable candy from Trader Joes on the ship. I happen to wear the accupressure wrist bands most of the time so I think it may alleviate the motion sickness and I don't have to think abt it. If it gets to much, I grab the candy. I've never seen the ginger mints in a tin mentioned but would like to try that too.

 

Good luck!

Another shorty and new to WW here. I'm 4"11ish and have been doing WW (again) for just barely over 1 week. Lost 3.8 doing Simple Start (that's it right?) I too feel the SS program is restrictive as I'm married to a foodie and though he is extremely supportive and cooks to help me, it is more difficult. I don't use the extra pts yet except for today 2pts and yesterday 2pts. I try to stay at the 26 pts as best I can.

 

I had success with the Points program years ago and Points plus threw me off so I left WW. I'm going to try SS until next weigh-in on Mon and see how it works for me. When I followed the old Points program I almost always stayed within my range and not use the extra. I rarely used the activity points I earned. Figured it would help speed up my loss. If SS doesn't work, I'll switch to PPlus.

 

I love the advise of eating the salad first and then the entree (duh) but either it was mentioned here or I just thought of it--get my salad first, eat it and then go back for entree. I typically grab it all, then often eat the hot entree first. Fill up on salad first. What a concept!! Silly me.

 

Sorry for the long post. Great work on the losses and sticking with the program. Good for us!:D

Just wondering if the wine list is pretty much the same for all the HAL ships or if there are different lists for different ships for some reason.

 

Thanks for the info.

I have a similar question but would going through customs and getting luggage be problematic time wise. It took us a least 1/2 hour to get through before. Just wondering.

We didn't buy it for our 1st because we weren't "in the know" so to speak. I did for our 2nd because it was a longer and more expensive cruise with flights included and if something happened I didn't want to lose the cost.

I have for last and our next one and are now aware of the issue of med. evac costs too and want to avoid that expense. Like others, better safe than sorry. I typically use TravelGuard as well.

I'd never thought about that though I can understand why people do. Unless I'm mistaken the toilet lids in the cabins must be down to access the flush button. Not sure if that's on all ships though. I also try not to be overly cautious about germs as I also agree that exposure does help build immune system. After my first bout of illness because of this will probably change my view.:eek:

So many of the previous posts work for me too. But my happiness is when either my DH says go ahead and pick a cruise, or gives me a surprise one. I love planning and exploring the ports, ships and activities so that's my happiness. Then arriving at the city of our port and checking into the hotel and the sense of calm that overcomes me seals the deal, knowing in hours I will be cruising off and enjoying each and every experience of the cruise.

 

Lots of happiness moments!!:D

I've made homemade soap with Fels Naptha as one of the items and in doing so, I grate it with an old cheese grater using the small size grates. Dissolves better that way. Hadn't thought of using it for travel washing emergencies, but will now. Though Campsuds sounds like an option too. Thanks for the question and the answers.

Many, well most of the reasons already stated are why I enjoy cruising. Also we can be as busy or as lazy as we want with no one questioning our choice. I can do my thing, my DH does his if we want different things at the moment and then later do something together.

One of the huge advantages I see now is being able to disconnect from all the electronics. Phones, laptops, TV etc. We are hi-tech people so to give it up for a few days is glorious. Love being unplugged.:D

We did the Eurodam earlier this year and had an aft verandah on deck 5 and though not on 7 or 8, I can say we didn't really notice any vibration to speak of. We really enjoyed being in the back of the ship for our verandah. I planned the that cruise and booked our first aft cabin as a surprise to my DH and for our upcoming cruise, he also booked an aft as he really seemed to enjoy it.

 

I also thought it less windy than I experienced on other cruises. I get chilled very easily so would rather the warmth than any chance of chill due to the wind.

I like my JVC's that I've used going to Italy and England. Blocked out the airplane noise quite well. I had some Sharp that were fantastic but out of manufacturing and my son had destroyed them. Later he let me use his Bose and I didn't like them at all. I agree with the others, if possible make a trek to a larger city if possible or perhaps some friends might have a pair you can try. I tried mine on a Brandsmart where it was really loud between TVs, stereos and customers.

 

Good luck and don't forget extra batteries because inevitably the button gets left on. By me quite often.:o

I think a foodie of someone that enjoys learning about new foods and different techniques to prepare food. Trying to take a piece of meat, veggie or whatever and elevate the preparation into something unique. I don't think it's a snobbish gourmet at all. That's different type of person.

 

I also don't think all the chefs on TV are gourmet chefs, but I think they are foodies. Hubert Keller is one example. He is an award winning chef, cooked for presidents and was on Top Chef Masters. I wouldn't call him snobbish at all. If he were, would he use a shower in the preparation of his pasta. One of my all-time fav moments.

 

I consider my DH a foodie, but I just enjoy his creations.;)

I grew up in the era of Love Boat and got drawn in. Unfortunately we couldn't afford to do much traveling. My first "cruise," about 1989 or 1990, was called a cruise to nowhere out of Ft. Lauderdale which would go out 3 miles so guest could gamble. Smoking was allowed in the casino so it was way too smoky for me. My date was boring and after the ship turned around and anchored, the seasickness set in. All in all, not a fun time. It didn't deter me though and I still had a desire to cruise.

 

Years later after I married my husband, I would watch any show about cruising and bug my hubby about trying it. For Christmas he gave me card with a home-made gift certificate for a Carnival cruise, though it hadn't been booked. It was for whenever we were able to go. That next Jan I lost my mother and my world fell apart. So for Spring break 2005, we decided to take our first cruise on Carnival's Holiday ship out of Mobile, so I could regroup. I even got to do all the booking and excursions which was fun.

 

However, it never dawned on us about spring break being a big cruise time and we also didn't know Carnival is a party ship. Another thing was we didn't book a hotel and thought we would just find someplace closer to Mobile (we are in ATL). Big mistake, so we had to backtrack to Montgomery for a hotel room.

 

It all worked out in the end, had a great time and will be taking our 4th one in Jan. The last 2 were my hubby's idea so I think I got him hooked too. We would go more if time and money permitted but I still want to do a Mediterranean or transatlantic cruise one day.

It's not really about being seen as a noob on the ship, but when you get off the ship in ports. They're not looking to steal your key card, they'll be looking for the tourists, either for easy marks be it robbery, or trying selling you stuff. (they may only ask you to buy their souvineer once, but there will be 50 of them hounding you one after the other when you only wanted to spend a nice day.)

 

That said, I prefer to use the clip on kind with the retractable cord. It's never in my way, (or flying in my face as one poster said) can be stashed in my pocket in port, and it makes that awesome zippy sound when you fidget with it.

They do also make these in every color complete with rhinestones if you like.

 

Love the idea of a blinged out clip. :cool: I have a couple from my working days so I may have to jazz them up a bit for my cruise. Thanks for the inspiration!

The other is for the Roll Call for the cruise and this thread is just generic one. Not many people have joined the roll call, though I was hoping more would. I even posted on the JazzCruise's facebook page about the Roll Call but don't think it drew many in.

 

I don't have a preference really, but I guess it depends on if the two threads serve different purposes. How's that for being non-committal?;)