Tips for LOOOOONG cruises?

[walke2jd]

Me and my Fiance will be doing a B2B honeymoon cruise on the Glory this November. We have done some 7 and 10 day cruises, but this will be our longest cruise yet (14 days).

 

I already know we are going to have to pace ourselves as far as food goes. By the last night of a 7 day cruise, we are usually tired of eating so heavily, so I think we are going to share appetizers this time around instead of each getting our own. Also, I think we'll try to snack less in between meals (except maybe for the taste bar).

 

Does anyone with experience have any tips and tricks for long cruises?

[Ms Belvedere]

Alcohol is all empty calories, avoid it.

 

Then the obvious: use the stairs, walk everywhere, avoid desserts or eat sugar free, eat off the salad bar on Lido, work out in the gym, choose active excursions in port.

 

Congrats on your wedding.

[lsp]

Take a couple of good books. If you have a balcony you can enjoy the days in quiet out there. Camp out one night on the Serenity deck. I've done that on the Breeze & Magic. On a transatlantic, in the Med and out of Galveston. Enjoy!

[panoramaofthepast]

Me and my Fiance will be doing a B2B honeymoon cruise on the Glory this November. We have done some 7 and 10 day cruises, but this will be our longest cruise yet (14 days).

 

I already know we are going to have to pace ourselves as far as food goes. By the last night of a 7 day cruise, we are usually tired of eating so heavily, so I think we are going to share appetizers this time around instead of each getting our own. Also, I think we'll try to snack less in between meals (except maybe for the taste bar).

 

Does anyone with experience have any tips and tricks for long cruises?

I use the one up, two down theory on stairs - use the stairs if you are going up one deck or down one or two. If you are in good shape, do two up and three down. Get an aft cabin - boy, will you walk then!

[walke2jd]

Take a couple of good books. If you have a balcony you can enjoy the days in quiet out there. Camp out one night on the Serenity deck. I've done that on the Breeze & Magic. On a transatlantic, in the Med and out of Galveston. Enjoy!

 

 

That is a cool idea. I have never thought of camping out. Sounds like fun.

[kangaand2roos]

That is a cool idea. I have never thought of camping out. Sounds like fun.

 

If I weren't traveling with a 9YO and 11YO, I'd probably try that! I spent some time in Serenity in the evening, TOTALLY alone. It was fantastic! Not a soul anywhere!

[SadieN]

Pack for a week. Do Laundry.

[OCruisers]

On long port intensive cruises we pick one port stop where we don't make plans to do anything.

We also try to vary the type of shore excursions we take. We do very much enjoy catamaran snorkel trips ... but if doing a cat in one port, we'll just go to a beach at the next so every port stop isn't a cat.

We seldom book any excursion that begins too early in the morning. ;)

 

Look forward to having a wonderful time on your cruise! :D

 

LuLu

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[jsfromsc]

I eat light at breakfast and lunch. Then I can enjoy eating dinner. But remember, just because food is there doesn't mean you have to eat. My husband has always had a problem with excessive eating on cruises. He's lost 100 pounds over the last year and a half and was worried about our 12 day Baltic cruise. He was able to control himself this time and not, for instance, eat pizza every night just because it was available. It also helped that the cruise was port intensive and we walked our legs off. If you can manage to get in some activity every day that will help.

 

Congrats on your wedding and enjoy the honeymoon! :)

[jimbo5544]

When I saw your subject line, I totally thought it was going in a different direction..... You have some good advice here, both in terms of caloric intake and monitoring costs over a longer period of time.

[OCruisers]

Don't make our mistake!

 

We sometimes take 20/21 night cruises. Once we make the mistake of booking a specialty restaurant on the last night.

By then I didn't even want to look at food ... much less eat massive amounts of it. :eek:

 

We should have cancelled ... :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

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[pirate4me2]

I love the camping out idea! I am going to have to try that on our next cruise.

[walke2jd]

Don't make our mistake!

 

We sometimes take 20/21 night cruises. Once we make the mistake of booking a specialty restaurant on the last night.

By then I didn't even want to look at food ... much less eat massive amounts of it. :eek:

 

We should have cancelled ... :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

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Ha, good call. I think we might do the steakhouse the first night of the 2nd week. That way we score the free wine. I think we will skip breakfast and lunch that day so we are actually hungry before going....

[Jenny in TX]

Take the stairs everywhere! We don't ever step foot in the elevators. No matter what floor we are on we take the stairs. Helps burn the calories you are eating during the day.

 

I usually have a light breakfast and a salad at lunch and then eat a bigger dinner when we are cruising. I don't drink so that helps a lot and I don't eat in between meals.

 

Every cruise we have been on I have come home weighing the same thing I weighed before we left.

[cruzeluver]

Pace yourself! One of the joys of longer cruises is you have more time to do everything available on the ship, so don't try to fit everything in right at the beginning. We have done a couple of 14 day cruises and love them! In fact, we no longer look at anything shorter than 10 days. Enjoy!!

[SkyMaster]

I always go to the dining room, anytime it's open. Much easier to pace your eating, instead of "OH that looks good, I'll try a bit of that". :eek: I usually eat a light dining room breakfast, (oatmeal or cereal), and a light lunch, then enjoy dinner. As noted above, use the stairs a lot. I'm OLD, but still walk up, and down most of the time. ;) Very little, if any, alcohol. (Helps with the final bill a lot too!) :p

 

"SKY"