"Next Cruise I Will..."

[boltnut55]

I have realized that I did not fully explore the ship on every past cruise. Either I discovered some interesting part of the ship only near the end of the cruise and wished I had found it sooner, or after I got off the ship I found out via Cruise Critic or some other means that there were areas of the ship I missed entirely.

 

Yes, totally describes me!

[SeagoingMom]

I have just recently been re-reading my travel journals from previous cruises, so thinking about the same question.

 

I have realized that I did not fully explore the ship on every past cruise. Either I discovered some interesting part of the ship only near the end of the cruise and wished I had found it sooner, or after I got off the ship I found out via Cruise Critic or some other means that there were areas of the ship I missed entirely.

 

So that is my goal for my next cruise -- fully explore the ship early on. I know there's a "secret deck" to be found somewhere, all I have to do is look! :)

 

Yes, totally describes me!

Sad, maybe, but gives us a great reason to cruise again, right? :D

[boltnut55]

Dooon't do it. We tried it once 20 years ago and have book only aft balconies ever since.

 

Burt

 

Yes, it's hard to go back. Every so often, we will do an inside cabin - sometimes the price difference is pretty big for that porthole.

 

Sad, maybe, but gives us a great reason to cruise again, right? :D

 

Of course!

 

--------------------------------------

So... I'm going to do at least the following things:

- Use the Serenity pool area every day or as much as I can but not just the last day

- Explore the entire ship on the first day - I always think I will have time, but it never works out that way

- Read at the pool, in the library, at a public place, wherever

- Do the airbrush tattoo - I would never get a permanent tattoo, but I love body art

- I hate trying different foods, but I will aim to try 1 new thing a day on this trip :)

[CruiseLovah82]

I will not be in bed by 9PM. On my first/honeymoon cruise I was afraid of becoming seasick and took Dramamine (less drowsy) which resulted in me falling asleep by 9:00 for the first 4 nights. I finally stopped taking it and was able to enjoy more awake time without getting seasick. Next time ginger root capsules. Live and learn!

[4x4bob]

This may sound odd, but for all of the ships and cruises that I have been on, I have never had breakfast in the Main Dinning Room.

 

I get up before the Wife and roam around the ship taking photos as the Sun Comes up, stopping by the pools to watch the CHOGS making their reservations, and then getting cup of coffee.

 

This next cruise I will make an effort to have breakfast in the MDR. Will do it early in the cruise, so If I like it I can continue with same.

 

Bob

[SeagoingMom]

This may sound odd, but for all of the ships and cruises that I have been on, I have never had breakfast in the Main Dinning Room.

 

I get up before the Wife and roam around the ship taking photos as the Sun Comes up, stopping by the pools to watch the CHOGS making their reservations, and then getting cup of coffee.

 

This next cruise I will make an effort to have breakfast in the MDR. Will do it early in the cruise, so If I like it I can continue with same.

 

Bob

We did MDR breakfast once, and before we realized it, we were being seated with others to fill up a large table. Perhaps we should have expected that -- and we might have requested a two-top -- but we were newbies and didn't know. We did not enjoy feeling forced into being very sociable that early in the morning! :eek: I am not a morning person, and my husband is not very social, so it was a bad combination. It was back to room service "breakfast-in-bathrobes" for us!

[Sequim88]

New for next cruise (Alaska):

- Inside cabin - for darkness in the midnight sun

- Cruise without flying (drive to port) - hard to do when we lived in Minnesota :rolleyes:

- Get drink package (part of a promo)

- Try the spa/thermal suite

- Do kitchen tour (if available)

- Stay on ship at Sitka - already did what little there is to do there that is not strenuous

- Get made to order omelette in buffet - somehow never end up doing this

- Use fitness center - really!

 

Beyond the next one:

- Do a Transatlantic from East to West so we can have sea days AFTER port-port-port-port

- Stay up late and find a dark place to view stars and satellites.

[Morisnfan]

Use the fitness center, for sure!

Try new food, maybe have hubby order for me just for fun.

Stop worrying about missing an event, game, etc. Just enjoy time more

[tbmrt]

Our upcoming Oasis cruise is "all about the ship". Usually we cruise more for the ports.

 

Looking forward to taking it easy during the day and perhaps even taking a nap so we can do more night time events. When we snorkel and do other very energetic excursions at ports, we're usually too tired to enjoy the ship's night time festivities. Planning to see nighttime comedy show, Quest, dance alot, see all production shows, etc.

 

During the day I intend to read more, spend more time relaxing at pool, and not rushing around as much as we usually do, trying to cram everything in.

[s2kreno]

This cruise, I'm bringing a magnetic poetry kit because everything is magnetic on the ship. I'm going to stick poems everywhere!

[Senoj84]

Book an excursion, try a new food and go to the Dr. Seuss green eggs and ham breakfast.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Senoj84

[Dearabby_84]

I'm going to be more involved with the on-ship activities! I've never really took part in them and next cruise that will change.

I'm also going to go out of my way to talk to more people, I'm pretty reserved so its stepping out of my comfort zone :eek:

[SeagoingMom]

I'm going to be more involved with the on-ship activities! I've never really took part in them and next cruise that will change.

I'm also going to go out of my way to talk to more people, I'm pretty reserved so its stepping out of my comfort zone :eek:

We have puzzled over how to "make friends" on a cruise. The few times we have met people whose company we enjoyed -- usually at a CC Meet and Greet -- we have not taken steps to arrange to see them again: get their names, cabin #, or make a "date" to meet for drinks or dinner. This is something I want to concentrate on doing on our next cruise.

 

The few times we have socialized with someone we met at the Meet and Greet was only because we bumped into them again on board or on an excursion. Not very well-planned!

 

I would also like to remember to get contact info -- email or home address, phone number, CC "handle" -- of folks we meet with whom we seem to get along well. My husband and I often wish we could find "cruise buddies," but neglect to gather the necessary info to keep in contact with people to possibly plan to meet up with again on a future cruise. Of course, this is easy if the friends we make onboard are on CC!

 

 

[mossie]

I'm loving this thread, giving me some great things to think about when/if we go away later this year!

 

Hoping to go on a 24 nighter from UK to Caribbean and back, so lots of sea days with time to do a lot of "new" things.

 

Mossie

[Tiggertastic]

Next time, I'm going to put my phone away and not check work email

[crosby99]

Next time, I'm going to put my phone away and not check work email

 

Yes I could agree with that one :)

Edited August 10, 2016 by crosby99

[dd likes to cruise]

One thing for sure is I want to leave the cabin in the middle of the night and just see how many others are around. Maybe about 3am and again at 5am when the early birds get up.

 

To the person who did not like sitting with others in the MDR (lunch or breakfast), just ask for a table for 2 and they will do it.

[boltnut55]

Next time, I'm going to put my phone away and not check work email

 

That's the best thing about cruising... I can't! Otherwise, I am guilty of this all the time.

[boltnut55]

I thought I posted on what I was going to do... but I read through everything and didn't see it. My cruise is coming up on Monday, and I'm very excited. This is the first cruise we've gone without others while my child is not a pre-teen, so I feel like it's a different perspective. We're not putting her in the child program but interacting w/her as an adult (she's 19). It's our time to relax before she starts her sophomore year of college.

 

Here's what I want to do more of, and I'll try to report back on what I actually accomplished:

 

- Read more - maybe borrow a book from the library on the first day

- Lounge at the pool

- Explore the whole ship on Day 1, even if it's quickly so that I'm familiar with the existence of every room and not just a cursory look but take it all in (I've seen photos of rooms afterwards and feel like I didn't see any of that when I was in there!)

- Relax in the adult pool starting Day 1-2 assuming my ship has one

- Try a different food

- But eat less; I'm thinking of not ordering an entrée at dinner but just a bunch of appetizer types

 

I'd encourage people to continue posting because it'll be helpful for all of us in the future. I just want to say again that I really appreciate the positive tone of the replies :)

[preschool teacher]

I'm going to cruise with two of my sisters and BIL......can't wait ....ill have to show them the ropes!!!!

[First Aider]

Enjoy your trip tomorrow Boltnut55!!!!!Can't wait to hear about your cruise. We are going on the Anthem in January and I am also going to explore the ship the first day to find the little nooks and crannies ti sit and relax comfortably. This will be the biggest ship we have been on, so I hope we like it. ENJOY!!!!!!!!

[Californiacruizers]

Next Cruise:

 

Make use of the kids club for 4year old daughter so that I can see the evening shows.

 

Eat breakfast in the MDR

 

Try 3-4 specialty resturants

 

Participate in a few group activities

 

Try the waterslides with my 13 year old son

 

Enjoy the "Drink of the Day" each day

 

Take private excursions and explore the ports more

 

Triple check our packing list!!!!!

[maldenmusic]

Try YTD

[erinmarie424]

Order the dessert cheese plate as an appetizer.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[boltnut55]

Just realized that I never posted after I came back... and memory really is never as good as I think it's going to be. I'm going on the same cruise but on the Imagination on October 1st, this thread came back to me. Here's what I can remember:

- Read more - maybe borrow a book from the library on the first day I did this. Borrowed James Patterson's 15th Affair and read it till Chapter 32 if I remembered correctly.

- Lounge at the pool I did this several times and brought my book with me

- Explore the whole ship on Day 1, even if it's quickly so that I'm familiar with the existence of every room and not just a cursory look but take it all in (I've seen photos of rooms afterwards and feel like I didn't see any of that when I was in there!) We definitely did a version of this.

- Relax in the adult pool starting Day 1-2 assuming my ship has one I spent some time at the Serenity pool, probably wouldn't have done that if I didn't discover it initially. Had a great DJ so that was nice but not very relaxing. It's also hot tubs, so there were always people in it.

- Try a different food Well... I don't think I specifically tried anything different, but we were able to get Filipino food on the last night at the MDR, which was good because my husband didn't like his dinner at all.

- But eat less; I'm thinking of not ordering an entrée at dinner but just a bunch of appetizer types I'm pretty sure I ate less, but I didn't refrain from ordering the entre.

 

One thing I wished I did was to speak with the family who sat next to us at dinner earlier in the cruise. We did the cursory nod and "hi," but that was it. On the last night, something happened and we started talking to find that they have a son about the same age as our daughter going to college in the same general area, etc., and we had other things in common. They were also from our area.

Because the Imagination and the Inspiration (my last ship) are relatively the same, I'm not really sure if there's anything "new" I could try, although one big thing is that my husband and I will be going without my daughter but WITH 4 of my closest girlfriends and one of their husbands. I've never cruised with them, but it'll be very fun and definitely a different perspective.

I'd love to hear back from others who posted to see if they did what they hoped to do and also new posters' things they want to try as well. Happy Cruising!

Edited August 6, 2017 by boltnut55