Your Pre-Cruise Beauty Rituals

[comfortcove]

Hi all! This is a fun board, I am new over here, but have enjoyed reading it today, so much so I haven't done much else. It IS an accomplishment to get my cruise wardrobe more or less figured out! Anyway, this may be an old topic here, but I am wondering.....Ladies, what are your pre-cruise beauty rituals? What do you do and have done prior to sailing? I'll tell if you do! Nancy

[MrsMoose2001]

I've only been on one cruise, only thing I did was get a mani-pedi, but I get those anyway, but I made sure to book before I left so it would be "fresh" for the cruise.

 

If I cruised a lot I still would not do anything different than for any other vacation, only thing I would do is get a mani-pedi so it's fresh, but anything else is routine and wouldn't feel the need to do anything special just before any trip.

[comfortcove]

I get a mani/pedi day before. Just booked mine for October 1 when I got one yesterday. I have my teeth cleaned, and then do 2 weeks of Crest Premium strips at home. I do a little salon tanning so I don't fry in the Caribbean. Get a trim and foil highlights about ten days before. Lastly, I get waxed, brows and bikini. I always try to lose a few so I can enjoy wining and dining without outgrowing my clothes!

[Happy ks]

Haircut and color a week or two before the cruise, mani/pedi/wax the brows the day before we leave.I like to cleanse the inside of me during the week before we leave, I can get clogged from the stress of travelling. Kind of gross to discuss, but if the inside isn't cleaned out, it's hard for the outside to look pretty. So, it's lots of extra water, fresh fruit, veggies and fiber the week before departing.

[Lola Wiz]

getting ready for a cruise can be just as fun as going on the cruise!

like the other ladies, i start tanning a few months before to build a base tan

i buy a few new make up products from Sephora and do not use them until we are on vacation.

I get my hair cut and highlighted

and i get my brazilian wax a few days before leaving.

The day before, i get my eye brows waxed, get my nails done and a pedicure as well.

 

I love getting ready for a cruise!

also, since we cruise in the winter, i start scouring the stores for great deals on summer clothes once fall starts and there are tons of sales everywhere!

[windermere]

Shop, Mani., Shop, Pedi., Shop,Foil,Shop.Haircut,Shop,Waxing & Shopping!

[Lois R]

Windereme, why do I get the feeling you like to shop before each

cruise?:D :) ;)

 

I buy new undergarments, 2 disposable cameras, new deodorant, and

always, always "Thank You Cards" for those folks who receive tips from me.

The envelopes provided by the ship are so impersonal (in my opinion).

I figure after all they do for me over the week I can put the $$$ inside

the card. It has always brought smiles and an extra hug or 2 as well:)

[B-Anne]

...that's why you're special, always thinking about the people who are taking care of us!! I try and do the same things!! ~B~

[comfortcove]

I use my personalized informal notecards from home if they are really good. I bring five or so. My name and address are pinted and then we can potentially correspond, but it has never happened. One cruise steward, from India, supporting his family of 11, I truly wanted to bring home. He was so smart, young, nice and responsible, and should have the opportunity to go to college.

[pcur]

Haircut a week before. That way it's either at that "good" length at the start of the cruise, or I can go back for a fix.

 

Same for hair color.

 

Mani-pedi the day before to help relax me, including eyebrows.

 

Shave all the shavable spots the night before (we leave from CA, so it's EARLY when we leave).

 

Sleep good the night before. That's a biggee for me. Even if I have to take something, because I get migraines if I've gone too long without food or I'm overly tired. Many a cruise has started with me in the cabin taking an Imetrex.

[ger_77]

I started a ritual just before our 2nd cruise - the evening before we leave, DH and I go to a salon with private rooms and have a "Couple's Pedicure". We bring along a bottle of wine and special glasses, and the salon provides cheese, crackers and fruit. We sit side by side and talk about our upcoming holiday, sipping on wine and being pampered by the technicians. It is a great way to de-stress in the last hours before leaving on a cruise, and a nice way to re-connect as a couple. DH won't admit it, but he actually looks forward to it - the last time we cruised, a couple of days before we were to leave, he asked me "Are we going to do that 'foot thing' again? If we are, I'd better get some nice wine.":)

 

Lois, like you, I always bring thank you cards along to use for tips, as well as using them to send thank you notes to crew members who have made our trip more special by little things they do for us over the length of the cruise. I once sent a thank you card to the captain, telling him how much DH and I were enjoying the cruise, and thanking him for dancing with me at the "Black and White Ball". The next evening at dinner we had a rather expensive bottle of wine delivered to our table, "Compliments of the Captain, madam".

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[Iggipolka]

Haircut and color week or two before.

 

Used to visit a tanning bed for a few sessions, but as I've gotten older and more wrinkled from the sun and my father has been diagnosed with skin cancer, I've stopped that. I'm now considering a sunless tanner put on at a spa, or Mystic-Tan.

 

Mani/pedi the day before

 

Massage the day before

 

Lots of exercise and healthy low fat eating months before the cruise so I feel great and hopefully have lost a few pounds!

[Happy ks]

Just a little addition, I didn't even think of it until Lois and ger_77 mentioned it. We went on a Christmas cruise a couple of years back and put the gratuities in Christmas cards (non-religious, don't want to assume anything of anyone). The staff absolutely loved them, we could not believe the response we got from them. It would work for any other holiday you might be cruising on, or near.

[Lois R]

Oh, I get a hair cut about a week before my cruises too:)

 

The only pedicures I have ever had in my life are when I am on a cruiseship!:D

My nails are in too bad of shape too worry about manicures:eek:

But that is just me. I know many of you have both on a regular basis.

[ryansmemom]

Let's see.

 

Before my last cruise I spent a total of 6 hours just in the salon. Hair, cut/color/foil. It was the first time I foiled. Wow, I felt as though I had joined some special club. I brought in FM and AM stations. I asked my stylist if we could attempt cable TV next time. She said we would try. That took 3 hours.

 

The next 3 hours were for mani/pedi/wax/eyelash dye. It was my first eyelash dye. I don't think I'll do that again. I still needed to use mascara because I like my eyelashes thicker and longer than they are naturally and the dye did not do the trick for me.

 

Then of course there is always, shop, shop and more shop. That is a continuous adventure for me. However, pre-cruise shopping is always more exciting and goal oriented. After all, I must flex my shopping muscles for shopping on the cruise. Everyone needs a warm up. I don't want my credit cards to go into spasm when I'm on vacation.

 

This time we had calling cards printed with our name and address and other pertinent info printed on them. We used them to give to people we met. Much easier than having to write that stuff out all the time.

 

I also got my husband to buy some stuff for himself. I am now shopping for two!

 

Linda :)

[GucciGal]

Hair cut a week before. Mani/Pedi,massage,hot salt scrub,self tanner applied by a "professional" otherwise,I would be a streaky mess,facial,and last year,I had the zoom whitening done two weeks before and my teeth are still nice and white,although I did give up my Shiraz to keep them that way.also,eyebrow,bikini and legs waxed.