Taking games along

[alwysonvctn]

Do you pack games (board, card) and if you do which games do you take? Do they have ones to check out in the library?

[cruisinqt]

A few months before our cruise I start buying small toys on clearance at Wal-Mart and other discount stores. I get my kids backpacks and start putting the toys and games in there so they can carry it on board and have something to play with. The "Dollar Tree" and other dollar stores are an excellent source of cheap little "new" toys for the kids to play with while on the cruise.:)

 

For a long road trip before the cruise, I pack a small bag with cheap little toys and let them take one or two out of the bag each hour. It gives them something to look forward to and keeps their minds off of the long drive.;)

 

Some of the inexpensive toys my kids got lots of use out of was: $1 chalk board with chalk; $1 coloring book; $1 paints; $1 (barbie look alike ) doll; $1 journal to write in; $1 foam purse making kit. All of these were found at Dollar Tree.

 

One of the more expensive items that I would highly recommend was the new paint set you can find at Wal-Mart. It only shows up on the special paper that comes with it. The kids can rub paint all over the seats, their clothing, and anything else they want to, but it won't show up.;) It's called Color Wonder and is under $8 for a set of paints with a book to paint in.

[Happy ks]

Yes, the library or game/card roomwill have board games you can play in their game room. I'm not sure whether you can check them out, but the card rooms are rarely crowded. I believe you can get cards from the customer service desk. No need to drag along games.

[kitty9]

With most people finding it tough to pack within the airline regulations for size and weight, why would you want to pack bulky board games? I just cannot see packing something like Monopoly, Scrabble or anything like that. Cards are fine, but with so much to do on a cruise ship, it's really just a waste of space.

[springtxbill]

The games available in some of the game rooms is lacking. :)

[JUST ADD WATER]

We pack at least 3 games to play on the balcony late in the evening (over drinks and snacks from the buffet or room service!). We have found playing cards, Rook or Uno, and a nice travel Yatzee set works best. They don't take up much room and they are great to play at the airport during those LONG waits for flights.

 

The library (RCL/Celebrity/Princess) does have games you can play and take to your room. You may have to go through a few boxes to find all the pieces to the board games. We have played Clue, Monoploy, Life, Aggrivation, and Scrabble. It sounds weird, but we never have time to play games at home. To sit on the balcony, eat, play a game, and just be together is a little bit of heaven.

 

Have fun!

[Marlissa]

While there are some people that take the house (blender, power strips, battery chargers, etc), we choose to leave all that at home and to take games. :p

 

We take mostly card games (uno, rook, phase 10, etc. Though our favorite card game takes 7 decks of playing cards and we take at least that many). We usually do take Sequence (pretty easy to pack - just leave the box at home and take the board and playing pieces). We also have taken Worst Case Scenario (left the board at home and decided to give each person 1 pt for correct answer and first person to 20 pts wins). It would be easy to use the cards only (which are a lot easier to pack than the board is) from games like Trival Pursuit, Worst Case Scenario, etc. You just need to be creative and have everyone agree to the game's "cruise rules".

 

So, let the Games Begin. Just be creative how you pack - no boxes, pieces and cards in labeled baggies, etc.

 

Marlissa

[alwysonvctn]

Thank you all for your answers. I was thinking of card type games. Maybe even the cards to trivial pursuit.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Some ships have a lot of games. Others - poor. And some of the games on some of the ship have pieces missing.

You are wise to take some card games along for the children.

[ute_fan]

We took several card games, etc. along on our cruise in January. Part of our family tradition includes playing games. We spent lots of time on the NCL Sea in the library, which doubles as the "game room" playing different games. They had few available in the library -- scrabble, extra sets of cards, etc., but not much selection.

 

We took Uno, Rook, 2 decks of playing cards, canasta, pinochle, a game called Rage (which is unfortunately out of print, but a wonderful card game), an electronic Catch Phrase (that keep beeping in my sister's luggage -- she was a little worried in the airport), and the board & markers for Sequence. Our friends also took Skip Bo. Recently we've been playing a new game called 5 Crowns -- it will definitely go on the next cruise. The cards don't take that much luggage room, and for us, they beat spending money in the casino.

[Bequia]

Take the game Battleship with you. Something ironic about sinking ships while on a cruise. ;)

[alwysonvctn]

Very funny Bequia! Thank you all for your thoughts.

[HockeyMom44]

We always take our backgammon game. It's small enough to pack in our carry on. Just in case we have to sit at the port for a few hours before we board. We'll take it to the bar on the ship thats playing jazz music,we'll play.( and drink) LOL :D Try not to travel without it. A deck of cards fits inside it nicely. ;)

Trudy

[4merlurker]

Crayola model magic is the BEST! It's clay but not gooey or messy in AT ALL (non-toxic in case little ones put some in their mouths!) Very light weight, comes in little bags, different colors. Great for waiting around in the airport, on the plane, in the car etc. Keeps my kids busy for hours! DH usually grabs a chunk to play with too...can't help himself LOL.:o You can find it almost anywhere - target walmart walgreens TRU. Just bring a few small ziplock bags to store it in once they open the packages because it will get "hard" if left out too long.

 

HTH

~Lurker

[LittleBit]

my tc & I usualy only see each other on vacation and we both a scrabble fans. I usually pack along my travel set in my carryon - we've used it while waiting at airports, waiting for our tags to be called at the end of the cruise (we're happy when we are the last people off!), games on deck are always fun....

 

card games pack easily; packing the trivia cards is always a great way to create new variations on the games