How may skip all or most of the organized activities

[golfb4cruzing]

We skip most, maybe one show, and focus on the stops. Wife likes the balcony, I the pools. She has a stressful job ( many folks do ), so the goal is to decompress.

[daka]

I wonder how many people skip the all or most of the organized activities in the daytime or the evening or both.

 

Nothing listed in the Patter would ever really be a strong selling point for us. We are happy enough just to enjoy being on the sea. Sometimes we do go to a show at night. Nothing in the daytime. If we happen to be at the IC when something is going on, we might stay.

 

For a while I've wondered if cruising would be even better if the organized activities/entertainment were different or somehow more appealing. On the other hand, I don't like having a schedule when on vacation, so maybe it is for the best that nothing is really a must-see or a must-do. I have read horror stories about people trying to schedule show tickets on Royal Caribbean months in advance.

 

You are not alone....we HATE the 'shuffle shuffle" for "organised activities...

Just enjoying the ship....we don't even wander far from the pier, if we get off the ship at all in ports.

[dtb55]

I skip everything, except MUTS. I tell myself I will play bingo, but never do.

 

 

Denise

[jertom]

The Patter is a useful list of activity times and places that might draw crowds, so we can go elsewhere

[Go-Bucks!]

On my first couple of cruises, I was so excited to go to lots of activities because it was all so new.

 

But now I look at the Patters each day, but usually spend much of the day relaxing on my balcony. Occasional movies (inside, in room or at MUTS) are nice. On my last cruise - on Celebrity - I did something new; cooked part of my own lunch (in a specialty restaurant galley) and learned how to perfectly cook a steak and dessert. Then all of us got to eat our lunch in a beautiful private dining room. Very fun, but only a one time experience. Definitely do not like the production shows, magicians, ventriloquists, hypnotists, and other circus side show type activities.

 

I think it's good for a cruiseline to provide activities so that there's something for everyone to do if they so choose. But I prefer to relax. :)

Edited September 8, 2016 by Go-Bucks!

[RocketMan275]

I wonder how many people skip the all or most of the organized activities in the daytime or the evening or both.

 

Nothing listed in the Patter would ever really be a strong selling point for us. We are happy enough just to enjoy being on the sea. Sometimes we do go to a show at night. Nothing in the daytime. If we happen to be at the IC when something is going on, we might stay.

 

For a while I've wondered if cruising would be even better if the organized activities/entertainment were different or somehow more appealing. On the other hand, I don't like having a schedule when on vacation, so maybe it is for the best that nothing is really a must-see or a must-do. I have read horror stories about people trying to schedule show tickets on Royal Caribbean months in advance.

 

One of the biggest mistakes that can be made while cruising is to believe that one has to do everything. We seldom do anything other than one or two bingo games. But, then, we seldom do any shore excursions either. We believe a cruise is a chance to chill out and relax. We're very good at 'chilling out'.

[acp1119]

I'm on the cruise to relax so I do whatever my wife tells me :D :D

Tony

 

You are a very smart man!!! Lol.

[acp1119]

Oh... So you know the "Yes, Dear" line well? :D

 

I used to work for a female supervisor. One time someone asked her, "Did he just say Yes Dear to you?" Yep. Worked for the boss as well.

 

I do whatever my wife wants me to... as long as it's not something I don't want to do. I find that most of the time what my wife wants works for me quite well. Married 44 years and counting so I must be doing something right - at least part of the time. :cool:

 

You are both smart men. Lol. My husband lets me do all the planning. Of course, I know what he likes and doesn't. We are pretty compatible. We both like the shows and some of the organized games. I like the line dancing. He just watches as long as he has his glass of wine with him. But mostly we hang at the bars or on our balcony with a drink and relax.

[MTJSR]

I am so glad that you responded to this post. I have been trying to remember that ventriloquist act. We caught the first act on a whim and ended up going to the second show. At any rate, I forget who was who but the little guy sitting on the bigger guy's lap was great.

 

:) The human is Willie Tyler and the dummy is Lester. If you "YouTube" Willie Tyler and Lester you will find they appeared on just about every talk show in those days.

Edited September 8, 2016 by MTJSR

[Thrak]

:) The human is Willie Tyler and the dummy is Lester. If you "YouTube" Willie Tyler and Lester you will find they appeared on just about every talk show in those days.

 

Haven't seen this act but hope we do in the future. I'm wondering what types of acts we will have on our upcoming 28 day cruise. There are a lot of sea days and a good act like this one would be great.

[Thrak]

The Patter is a useful list of activity times and places that might draw crowds, so we can go elsewhere

 

And now you can get most of it on your phone if you don't mind carrying it around. I keep a lot of books on my phone (smaller to deal with than my tablet) and now that Princess @ Sea is available most of the activities from the Patter are right there as well. If you are trying to avoid people at activities it's probably easier than trying to memorize the Patter each day.

[jertom]

And now you can get most of it on your phone if you don't mind carrying it around. I keep a lot of books on my phone (smaller to deal with than my tablet) and now that Princess @ Sea is available most of the activities from the Patter are right there as well. If you are trying to avoid people at activities it's probably easier than trying to memorize the Patter each day.

 

Thanks, good idea ! I usually carry my camera around but now that the phones have better cameras, I will probably just carry the phone around anyway.

[floridalover5623]

It's gotten that the activities listed in the Patter are mostly advertisements to spend money. There are so few things listed that interest us any longer it not worth carrying a phone to check. We check it out in the morning & make mental note of anything.

[MISTER 67]

In our younger days we would go from one morning and afternoon event to another. Trivia, Chess tournaments, Golf putting contests, you name it. We would come home with all kinds of prizes. About 15 years ago and being an avid reader I just hang out on the promenade deck and read all morning and afternoon taking a break for lunch, will read 3 or 4 books a week. Around 3pm I will head to the casino and play a little Blackjack until four and then head back to the cabin to shower and shave and get ready for a pre dinner cocktail, then dinner and we always make the show in the Princess theatre. We hardly get off the ship anymore since we've been to places like St. Thomas, St. Maarten and San Juan over 30 times. My wife is an avid needlepoint person and she usually meets others in the knitter get-together or just hangs out in Skywalker's and does her needlepoint up there.

[tailspintom]

Haven't seen this act but hope we do in the future. I'm wondering what types of acts we will have on our upcoming 28 day cruise. There are a lot of sea days and a good act like this one would be great.

 

28 days with lots of sea days, nice. There should be some interesting lectures. We seldom tire of the string quartet if they are on board.

[Times Prince]

. And never trivia. Those people are too intense!!

But sometimes it is fun to stand in the aisle near the lounge and fairly loudly tell the answer for a question to my wife. The looks I get from the intense people are priceless! :rolleyes:

[wishfulone]

But sometimes it is fun to stand in the aisle near the lounge and fairly loudly tell the answer for a question to my wife. The looks I get from the intense people are priceless! :rolleyes:

I'm guilty of doing that and I'm a player. Can never understand the looks I get from my teammates. The other players all want to thank me :rolleyes:

[OCruisers]

On Princess cruises we spend lots of time in bars/lounges chatting with past cruise pals and making new friends. :D

[MTJSR]

Haven't seen this act but hope we do in the future.

 

Quite funny and the Vista Lounge was packed. We had them on one of our Hawaii cruises.

[MTJSR]

The Patter is a useful list of activity times and places that might draw crowds, so we can go elsewhere

 

Love it!

 

It is also a long list of money milking sales pitches (disguised as information seminars) offered throughout the day:eek:

[WisCruiser2]

That's the beauty of cruising - you can do as much OR as little as you want to!

We do enjoy Trivia (never intense) & are suckers for the production shows if the timing is right. Still have not made it to MUTS even though we keep saying we will... In the evenings we prefer to listen to music in one of the lounges, especially if there's a good piano bar player.

During sea days we also like playing cribbage on our balcony or reading, will head to the hot tubs later in the afternoon when the pool decks aren't so crowded. And there's always people-watching!

[Chunder Worthy]

If it helps your informal survey, we do skip most (I dunno, 90%?) of the activities or maybe better put, are fairly judicious in our selections. It's a cruise; so we're there to relax and not be run ragged.

[floridalover5623]

Love it!

 

It is also a long list of money milking sales pitches (disguised as information seminars) offered throughout the day:eek:

 

They should re-introduce those $$ next to the events that cost money like they used to for the free exercise program. :rolleyes:

[CallistaSkye]

Forgot the Library. I always collect a novel on the first day and call in every day to collect the sudoku and crossword.

 

Ohh.. Do they send them to your room? That's really awesome and I totally want to do that.

On our first cruise, I somehow could never find the library! We looked all over the whole ship and even had the mini map thing, but never managed to get there.

This time I am determined to find it on Ruby haha.

 

The last time we also went to tons and tons of events and it was not very relaxing. So this time we plan on just reading a bunch and hanging out. We booked an excursion, but that's it.