'Base' tan prior to Caribbean cruise

[middlehaitch]

Hi Elle,

Your cruise prep is sounding like mine.....

The rarely used dresses always disappear just before the cruise starting a panic stricken hunt through the most unlikely places in the house. Oh and then the earrings - we won't even talk about them but I think they must run away with the lost socks from the laundry.

What a lovely daughter you have, a loan of a couple of dresses is great and I really doubt they are too young for you. I do know your age, but your outlook is so much younger, the dresses won't look inappropriate at all. You are now going to have to post pics when you get back, hahaha.

Glad you are happy with your base tan. I never realised this was your first cruise, I read it on annother thread, so double happy cruise to you!

Have a great time and a wonderful Christmas on board.

Cheers, h.

[Plantcrone]

Thanks gal..what a great pic you have posted for your profile on CC.

It's madness here! Between daughter and I we are running around going crazy, trying to work time for mani/pedi, haircut etc..arranging for dog sitters-shes much more excitable than I am but I can catch it from her.

 

We had grand daughters dance companies big Holiday show last night..I sure don't know where this child got her athletic talent from, but it isn't my side of the family..She takes 2 different gymnastics classes and 2 different dance classes and got invited to participate with the older girls..junior high school age-and she is in the 3rd grade!-to dance with them just a month before the recital so she had to work hard to learn the routine..it was so great though..and much of the family came to see it…she is such a flexible cutie!

 

Guess what-I found my dresses and the dry cleaners will have them friday for me-they were in the bottom of my recycle grocery bags..here in Portland, there is a new law that you have to have your own recycled grocery bags so everyone has bags of bags to take to the store. Apparently I had put them into a bag to take to the cleaners and then folded the rest of the bags on top. I went to the store Sunday and there they were, on the bottom of the grocery bags.

 

I don't worry about jewelry-I sell jewelry and make whatever I want out of my beads or turquoise and coral. I have much too much jewelry! I'm not going to take my diamond earrings because i tend to take earrings off in the middle of the night and set them on the nightstand-then they get lost..I have enough jewelry for every woman on the ship!

 

Be well and pics for sure when I get home..gotta remember to pack the camera-right!

[middlehaitch]

Oh Elle,

You do make me laugh.

Your life is always on the go, no wonder you are going on a cruise, you need a break. I do hope you like it.

I was in 2 minds whether or not to put that pic up -it makes me look 20 years younger than I am!

I was told by someone who was looking for me on a cruise that the pic I had up made me look like an 80 year old Chinese woman and it was only when someone said my name that they knew it was me.

Have a great cruise. I will email you back.

Cheers, h.

 

[Plantcrone]

My Christmas holiday Caribbean Cruise was full of pale skinned ladies who were determined to get a tan in a week. By Christmas day the red skin matched the plethora of red dresses. I simply put SPF 15 on and continued to get a tiny more bit of color. I only went out to "tan" by the pool from 9:00 to 11:00 and for no more than an hour in the morning. There is so much to do that I didn't want to spend my whole day by the pool.

 

We had some very choppy seas and I wasn't prepared for motion sicknrss..never had it before. The front desk carried a version of OTC motion sickness tablet tad I discovered I wasn't alone in my request for crackers and grapes and green apples to treat the whole thing. As much as I enjoyed the cruise I wouldn't want to go thru this again. I'll have to talk to my dic about getting a patch for next cruise. My daughter wants all of us to come for their 20 th anniversary cruise party in 6 years. We want to do the Panama Canal over 20 days..start in FLL and end in Seattle. We can take a train home from Seattle rather than do another 14 hour flight

 

I'd consider a Baja Mexico Sea of California cruise alone or a river boat cruise but I'm a bit insecure about a Mediterranian cruise by myself.

 

I did have a fall down the stairs one day when we were at sea and the waves were very choppy. And I ended up with awful inner ear motion sensing all day today..been down most if the day as I'm tending to fall down. Bummer.

 

I did have a lot of fun, had fun being social and discovered that cruise ships are full of friendly people who love to chat..no one is a stranger on a cruise ship. Sharing the stateroom with grand daughter was great..we all took turns keeping her at night so everyone got to see shows go to the spa or, like I did, hang out with the one man who showed up for single social hour. Of course he was 36 and as I commented, I have purses older than he is, or Greatful dead albums older than he is..but we both drank scotch and he and his sister were great fun. He was supposed to come with a girlfriend but she broke up with him so he brought his sister..she was a kick too.

 

Lots of great food, good tours though everything was closed Xmas Day. Really the only negative were the choppy seas which the cruise director said were unusual for that week. Next time I won't take a chance and will start prior to leaving on medication.

 

Full review later

 

Hugs

Elle

[houstoncruisers2001]

A few years ago while in Daytona Beach a guy riding in an elevator with me said I was the whitest guy he'd seen in Florida. I wanted to crawl in a hole.

 

THAT WAS IT!!!!! NEVER EVER AGAIN!!!!

 

Now, we base tan before every cruise or Mexico trip we take without fail. I'm 56 and she's 62, we see plenty of "older folks" at our tanning place.

[just4steven]

Hi! I found this thread on a search so don't mind me if others already posted all of this info :o

 

Just wanted to share my wonderful experience with getting a base tan first and one big time "opps" I made!

 

I am pretty fair skinned, but love being outdoors and the sun. Not really a lay down tanner so much, but will do it to relax for a little bit. Also, I like to vacation in the winter because I cannot stand the cold, so of course I am pretty much looking like Elmer's Glue from December until April.

 

I have had a couple of vacations ruined for a a few days because of becoming a "lobster" or "tomato", lol. About 5 years ago I was reading a lot online and then went into my large local tanning place and talked to them for a bit. They explained everything, the different types of "uab or uvb or uab" or something, but I went with the bed that gives off ultraviolet rays like the sun, of course.

 

Happy to say, went nice and slow, testing things out, might have had one "red day" at work, but lived and learned, and all went well! I live to jetski, snorkel, walk/hike wherever in the hot caribbean sun and the base tanning worked perfect! No loss of vacation days due to massive sunburn!

 

Now, the downside: The place I go is pretty large with a crazy variety of beds. Well, and this can happen to both men and women too, 2 years ago on vacation I had a little set back. Um, massive, and I mean massive burn on the top back of my scalp!!! I'm not really a hat person and already had a couple years of this base tanning working so I figured I was fine. Itching, burning, everything, it just hurt! It must have just been one of those years where I lost more hair than I would have liked! :D Additionally, the tops of my feet got like burnt pop tarts a day I was not wearing my water shoes!

 

So, back to winter of 2011/2012 I came up with a new base tanning plan after checking out all the beds. PLEASE rotate different beds as much as you can and save yourself from this, lol. I start with a "cheap" laydown that will of course just get general parts. Then move to a stand up where you can lean forward or backwards to get the UV rays on various spots of your scalp. Then a "super/mega bed" that can easily get the top of your feet and your shoulders.

 

Sorry to make this so long but just want to make it clear it works great, but also the mistakes that are possible. Additionally, some of the so called "mega beds" that get your shoulders and feet good, depending on where you live, I am not sure they made them yet that will get your scalp fully, so please rotate to a stand up booth at least part of the time and lean forward and backward for a few minutes each!

 

OH, and one very last ouchy I learned the hardway. Um, one of the first years I did not tan nude.......... did not realize I had my shorts up so high each time........... got out in the real Caribbean sun in my swim suit, that gets pulled down about a half inch with the water weight........... OUCH! Half inch mark on my lower back that hurt like crazy for a few days!!!!

 

Sorry for going on way to long, but for a fair skinned person that loves being out and doing things in the sun, the base tan can be a perfectly safe way to give you more time out in the sun doing whatever you want for a longer period of time! WHOOP WHOOP! Works great for me! Just wanted to give a couple non-obvious warnings I encountered.

 

Final notes: Yes, I still use heavy sunscreen and always have. I am pretty sure the spray tanners will make you look a golden brown quick, but I don't think they have any UV ray qualities...... someone can correct me on that if I'm wrong! If it is true, I would not use them for melatonin/uv buildup.

[worldspan]

I was a swimming instrctor when i was in my teens, 20s and 30s and have the skin and the skin cancers to prove it. I wish I had known then what i know now. STAY OUT OF THE SUN as much as you can.

 

Wise advice there! One of the by-products of my having sailed on 133 cruises since 1971 is skin cancer, 40 surgeries to boot. The last, just about a year ago was a spot underneath my eye. After 4 hours of Mose surgery in one morning with my regular dermatologist and then 4 hours of emergency surgery in the afternoon, I came out a lucky man. So much flesh had been removed from underneath my left eye they feared permanent impairment of that eye. I also look liked I'd been hit by a Mack truck! 12 months later you would never know all that occured and yes no problems with that eye.

 

Can you enjoy a cruise without the sun ? Absolutely as I learned after the 70th cruise when I finally gave the sun up for good. Can you feel good about yourself even without a tan ? Absolutely! as I learned too cirvumenting my efforts into looking well into my training in the gym!

 

Worldspan

133 cruises strong

[just4steven]

Wise advice there! One of the by-products of my having sailed on 133 cruises since 1971 is skin cancer, 40 surgeries to boot. The last, just about a year ago was a spot underneath my eye. After 4 hours of Mose surgery in one morning with my regular dermatologist and then 4 hours of emergency surgery in the afternoon, I came out a lucky man. So much flesh had been removed from underneath my left eye they feared permanent impairment of that eye. I also look liked I'd been hit by a Mack truck! 12 months later you would never know all that occured and yes no problems with that eye.

 

Can you enjoy a cruise without the sun ? Absolutely as I learned after the 70th cruise when I finally gave the sun up for good. Can you feel good about yourself even without a tan ? Absolutely! as I learned too cirvumenting my efforts into looking well into my training in the gym!

 

Worldspan

133 cruises strong

 

I had a huge hour long write up/debate about this, I deleted it, it's not worth it. This post is NOT about a debate or what can kill you. Heck, you never know, you might take a bite of sushi when no one is around and choke to death!

 

The facts are this: at least 2 posters are getting way off the topic telling people "negative" things or they are going to "die" if they do this or that.

 

I did not look at their profiles or anything, but I can already guess what they post to their friends on Facebook....... hmmmmmmmm (everything is most likely negative, in the hospital, drama, or more cat pictures than I post!)

 

Please stay on topic people! I do not care who you are, how many cruises you sailed, or how many hours you were a lifeguard. Do you REALLY want to know who I am? YOU ARE FEEDING THE GENERAL PUBLIC FALSE INFORMATION OR INFORMATION THAT IS SO OUT OF DATE IT IS NOT EVEN USEFUL. Plus your Dr. is probably 70+ or you are a Dr. 70+ and do not even research things.

 

Gosh, only thought this stuff happened on tripadvisor.

 

That being said, I live in the mid west, grew up in the mid west, same with all my family. Just recently, ONE TIME, a 86 year old farmer died of skin cancer. He grew up WAY before sunscreen, way before tanning beds, way before the knowledge we have now! Please google it, the safe way to do it.

 

And yes, my parents and brother both had a tiny chunk taken out of them. Light/very fair skin, always out in the sun. They are STILL ALIVE AND KICKING! Live and learn! Don't preach UNLESS you are an expert! You might be the cause of some fair skinned people getting sun cancer!

 

Read facts, DO RESEARCH, protect yourself, but most importantly, do NOT be negative with your research and postings and ruin it for everyone for one tiny thing that may have happened to you or your family. I really am truly sorry if that happened, but the fact is I can go on forever! I can tell you now if you bring up one single thing in your personal life I can tell you how it will kill you.

 

Please leave threads friendly with scientific facts and don't try to "scare people off"!

 

Do you have any scientific facts???? Am I going to die how many years earlier if I am in a tanning bed for 10 minutes versus no tannin bed and using SPF 80 while in Roatan and snorkeling for hours???? Facts please, or nothing else matters. I gave facts on my post.

 

Thanks a bunch for bringing back up the negative!

 

Can we get back to the positives and good experiences now?

[Plantcrone]

I can't tell you how much I appreciated yout attempt to pull this thread back on topic. As I posted in the very first post of the thread..I know the dangers if too much sun but I wasn't interested un taking a Caribbean cruise and never going in the sun..what a waste for me.

 

My base tan did exactly what I wanted. I never burned while snorkeling our swimming or walking around. I only laid out in the sun twice and then for just an hour in the AM. And I came home with somr color to my pale skin but NO BURN..which was the point. I used sunscreen but didn't freak out about it. Cautious tanning was a good decision and since this is mt first experience with a tanning bed, I hardly think I'll get skin cancer from it..actually it was agreed to by my doctor since he'd seen me burned after trips to central America when I got a terrible fever blister in my lip that needed medication.

 

I too have gotten burned in the scalp so I always wear a hat un the sun. This made a fun trip better for me and if I ever cruise to the sunny latitudes again I'll tan again.

 

Plantcrone