Do I need to bring sneakers?

[maddea20]

I'm currently packing for my upcoming cruise and are wondering if I need to bring sneakers for the rock climbing wall. Are sneakers needed to climb? I really don't want to bring my sneakers as I hardly wear them anyway.

 

Thanks!

[yogimax]

I doubt if they would let you do it in bare feet or sandals.

[bmazzo]

They have climbing shoes. Wearing socks is required.

[north29]

They supply you with climbing shoes, but you supply the socks, I think.

[*Sparkle*]

On a seperate note ~ you should bring a pair of pants if you want to go ice skating :)

[celebrity]

You definitely don't need sneakers. In fact, you must use their shoes. If you'll be using the gym then of course you'll need them for that. Bon Voyage!

[thomarvin]

There is alot of walking. I only wear sneakers.

[Star_Luna]

You may want to bring sneakers if your going do to an excursion that involves a lot of walking. Or you're planning on being active throughout the cruise.

[mrpayroll]

On a seperate note ~ you should bring a pair of pants if you want to go ice skating :)

 

Might be a good idea to bring pants even if you don't plan on rock climbing..:rolleyes:

[Sugar*Magnolia]

Pack a pair. I once forgot a pair, well i didn't forget them, i didnt think i would need them for anything then..., realized i did!

[Coralc]

According to columnist Dave Barry...all cruise ship passengers must have new sneakers. (i did find the collumn, couldn't find the link)

 

Cruising all the way to the buffet

 

DAVE BARRY

 

 

In my family, we are nautical people. We have the sea in our veins. I do not speak metaphorically: Sometimes we find actual eels in our underpants. That's how nautical we are.

 

And so a few weeks ago, we set out on a sea voyage from Fort Lauderdale, knowing that it would be five days, and roughly 153 meals (included), before we would reach our destination: Fort Lauderdale.

 

We sailed aboard a cruise ship, which had one of those cruise-ship names, like the Majestic Vagabond Restaurant of the Seas. She is a fine vessel, a tad larger than Connecticut, boasting (really) an onboard shopping mall. Leaving port, she weighed 75,000 tons, at least half of which was food. Here's a log of our voyage:

 

Day One: We arrive at the ship and meet our fellow voyagers, most of whom are wearing brand-new sneakers, as though they're about to compete in the decathlon, as opposed to spending the next five days chewing.

 

We begin our cruise with a lifeboat drill, lining up in neat rows, wearing our life jackets, calmly awaiting instructions. In a real emergency, of course, we'd fight for the lifeboats like wild dogs battling for meat. Our sneakers would squish with blood. We have all seen Titanic.

 

Speaking of meat: It's time for dinner! In the dining room, we engage in sparkling intellectual repartee with our fellow voyagers (''What are you having?'' ''I'm having the salmon.'' ''Really? That's what I'm having!'' ''Really?'' etc.).

 

After dinner, it's time to engage in the vast array of shipboard activities, by which I mean: drinking, gambling and shopping. By midnight, everybody is weary from a long partial day at sea, and it is time to: Eat more! There's a midnight buffet. Plus, if you pay a little extra, your cabin attendant will come around and stuff food into your mouth while you sleep.

 

Day Two: When we wake up, the Restaurant of the Seas has docked at the exotic island of Key West. This is four hours from our house by car. By ship, we made it in just 13 hours.

 

Before going ashore, we eat a buffet-style breakfast. We are issued enormous plates; they look like small wading pools. It is not easy to cover every square foot of plates this size with food. But we manage, because we know we must soon cross, on foot, several hundred feet of barren, commerce-free no-man's-land between the ship and the Key West shopping district.

 

While we're ashore, disaster strikes: The power goes out. For 45 agonizing minutes, the cash registers in the stores and restaurants do not work. Unable to buy or eat anything, some cruise passengers become disoriented and begin to have non-shopping-related conversations. Fortunately, it passes quickly.

 

Carrying our purchases, we return to the ship in time for more intellectual give-and-take (``Really? I'm having the prime rib, too!''). In our cabin, we find chocolates on our pillows. Clearly, they want us dead.

 

Day Three: We arrive in Cozumel, Mexico. After a hearty breakfast, we go ashore and experience Mexico, which consists of souvenir stores and restaurants where everybody speaks English and accepts dollars. Travel is a good way to learn about other cultures.

 

That night, back on the ship, we go to a piano bar, where the piano player gets everybody in a festive mood by playing -- I am not making this up -- The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a song about a ship that sank, killing all aboard. Party time!

 

Day Four: We spend this entire day at sea, eating and shopping. I think some passengers must be secretly throwing their new purchases overboard to make room in their luggage for even newer purchases.

 

The ocean is rough; some waves affect even the massive bulk of the Restaurant of the Seas. At breakfast, there's a moment when I'm watching maybe two dozen cruisers going through the buffet line, each holding a wading pool heaped with food, and the deck shifts, and the cruisers, in perfect unison, all lurch to the right, then back to the left. Nobody drops so much as a waffle. I am damned proud to be serving with this outfit.

 

Day Five: We arrive, at last, in Fort Lauderdale. We are tired, but we are also, because of this experience, something more: fat. We vow to go on the South Beach Diet, or even just the Beach Diet, where all you eat is sand.

 

But some day, we will return to the sea. Because we know that it's a big world, and there are many more adventures awaiting us, out there on the vastness of the ocean.

 

For example, we have yet to try the shrimp scampi.

 

And yes, they provide climbing shoes, bring socks. :)

[Ocean Boy]

Thanks for the laugh!:D:D:D:D

[waterbug123]

They supply you with climbing shoes, but you supply the socks, I think.

 

Correct. They supply the climbing shoes. You are required to wear your own socks with them.

[Ocean Boy]

Correct. They supply the climbing shoes. You are required to wear your own socks with them.

 

Or they will sell you a pair of socks for something like $3.95.

[griffy116]

I loved the post and I'm now beginning to think I was on that ship. About the shoes..I have stopped carrying/wearing sneakers. I don't hike (perish the thought) and walking around the shopping areas or the beach, I sure don't want a hot pair of sneakers on my feet. I prefer to let them "breathe" with a pair of flip flops. I would never visit the gym on vacation I know many who do, but trust me, I won't be taking up space in the gym. Sneakers look terrible with my cocktail dresses and I'm trying to pack light. I do pack socks but it's because I can't stand the idea of walking barefoot through the security line at the airport so I bring socks to put on before going through..then I toss them when I'm finished.

[maddea20]

Great thanks for the responses. I only asked because I wasn't sure if they supplied shoes for you or not for the rock climbing. Glad they do. I will indeed be bringing jeans for the ice skating. Thanks!

[maddea20]

I loved the post and I'm now beginning to think I was on that ship. About the shoes..I have stopped carrying/wearing sneakers. I don't hike (perish the thought) and walking around the shopping areas or the beach, I sure don't want a hot pair of sneakers on my feet. I prefer to let them "breathe" with a pair of flip flops. I would never visit the gym on vacation I know many who do, but trust me, I won't be taking up space in the gym. Sneakers look terrible with my cocktail dresses and I'm trying to pack light. I do pack socks but it's because I can't stand the idea of walking barefoot through the security line at the airport so I bring socks to put on before going through..then I toss them when I'm finished.

 

I agree with you. I will not be bringing my sneakers now. I don't use the gym on vacation neither.

[satxdiver]

Before you leave your athletic shoes at home consider this. Quite a few ports you visit may not have level walkways but rather irregular surfaces. If you go on any tours, the area you will be visiting on foot may not be a nice level walkway and not only uneven but slippery. I laughed as I watched several pax trying to wear shower shoes on the path in the Puerto Rico rain forest. Then there was the time we were touring an old Mayan ruins and saw several fall on their butt because they were not wearing sturdy shoes. A turned ankle can not only be painful but can seriously curtail your activities at following ports. Check the requirements for any tour you want to take as some require certain footwear or clothing.

[caa419]

Remember, too, if you do the zipline you have to have shoes on, not any kind of sandal or flip flops.

[Gottacruise3]

I always bring one pair of sneakers. They come in very handy especially on walking excursions. New Balance very light weight sneaker. My favorite.

[Ocean Boy]

I loved the post and I'm now beginning to think I was on that ship. About the shoes..I have stopped carrying/wearing sneakers. I don't hike (perish the thought) and walking around the shopping areas or the beach, I sure don't want a hot pair of sneakers on my feet. I prefer to let them "breathe" with a pair of flip flops. I would never visit the gym on vacation I know many who do, but trust me, I won't be taking up space in the gym. Sneakers look terrible with my cocktail dresses and I'm trying to pack light. I do pack socks but it's because I can't stand the idea of walking barefoot through the security line at the airport so I bring socks to put on before going through..then I toss them when I'm finished.

 

All things considered, I think a pair of sneakers serves far more of a purpose on a cruise than any article of dress-up clothing.

[Bookish Angel]

I use them for my power walking, for walking in port and if it is raining - slippery flip flops and sandals scare me.

[cruzincurt]

I agree with you. I will not be bringing my sneakers now. I don't use the gym on vacation neither.

They have a gym?:eek:

[maddea20]

Well I've been on 5 cruises and never brought any sneakers with me. This time I want to do the rock climbing wall so that's y I asked about bringing sneakers.

 

I've been on many tours in the Caribbean and have always wore flip flops or sandals, never sneakers. So I'll be good.

[dirtgirl]

I bring 2 pairs of sneakers! But then, I'm a gym nut! I'd die without them!