Are you a laid back cruiser, or constantly on the go?

Last week there were a couple of shows on the Travel Channel that featured Mariner of the Seas when she was sailing in the Mexican Riviera in 2009 (we did this itinerary), and also another featuring a 5-day Caribbean cruise on Voyager of the Seas. I tivo'd both of them and we watched the other night.

One thing my husband and I noticed is how both of the featured families were on the go constantly. Now, we understand that these Travel Channel specials are basically infomercials for the cruise line, so of course they're going to show all the great things available for people of all ages.

And then there are people like us. Our excursions consist of hiring a cab at the port and taking us into town, and that's if we decide to get off the ship. We haven't done a pre-planned, excursion heavy cruise since our first one. We have been to Nachi Cocum in Cozumel twice, and that was booked online in advance. We like to go to trivia. I like to sit by the pool with my kindle, have a few drinks and people watch. I played bingo for the very first time on our last cruise on Carnival, and that was because we were literally sailing in a hurricane and it was too windy to enjoyably sit by the pool.

And it's not like we don't do things; we're just not into planning, we just plan as we go. This also includes dinners in specialty restaurants where we've just wandered up on the afternoon of the day we want to eat there and ask if they have anything available for that evening. And they always have. Same goes for massages. I always get an in-port special and have never had to book in advance. I will admit I like to lay in bed at night with my highlighter and go over the activities for the next day, but we typically don't schedule things.

depends on the ports and such. Oasis last year we did Bahamas, St thomas, and St Marteen. If there are more ports there is more we would do. We did Kayaking and Hiking so we could see more of St Thomas, and in St Marteen we did zip lining, and then went over to the beach where the airplanes come in, and had lunch.

Bermuda - on Grandeur, will be very laid back. All I want to do is go to the beach and lay out, go to the frog and onion bar on the way back, and then go to St George, other than that, we will be sleeping and eating.

It depends on the cruise. I'm not really into ship activities. I'm more interested in the ports. I usually get a balcony because I like to lay around and read or nap on sea days. Those are my kid's favorite days. They've usually memorized the ship the first day. I have twin sons that are 16 and they've been cruising since they were 6.

I find myself planning less as I cruise more. When we were in the Mediterranean we hired drivers right at the port. We did that at two ports in Italy and I'm convinced it was the way to go. We had a great time on the Amalfi coast with a little Italian man named Sal that spoke fluent English. His cab was rather old and hot but we had a great day. We did the same thing in Freeport in the Bahamas. It's usually half the price of a ship excursion and never crowded. I've never once worried about missing the ship.

On out last cruise it was raining the day we were in Cozumel so we stayed on the ship. I've already been there at least 4 times. There are some very beautiful beaches in Cozumel but the ship was peaceful that day.

During our cruises, if I was any more laid back I'd be in the morgue. I do nothing!:D

Well...It's seems like your title and the body of your post are talking about different things. In general, we tend to be active, on-the-go type people. We're not big advance planners of what we'll be doing each day, though. If there's an excursion that we really want to do at a given port, we might book it in advance to be sure we don't miss out. But most times we sort of go with the flow.

DH likes to be "busy" and I like to be chilled out:o DH is happiest when we're touring and exploring. I'm happiest when I'm just chilling out on a beach:o Amazing that we've been very happily married for 43 years:D

We are fairly active, we generally book excursions prior to leaving and unless we have been somewhere many times (like Cozumel) we almost always plan ahead. We have excursions booked at every stop for our upcoming cruise with the exception of Cannes which will be a beach day (weather permitting).

Sea days we don't do much--eat, read, play trivia, sleep, eat and well eat some more.

So many different types of cruisers around, neither way is the wrong way to enjoy your vacation.

Love chilling x

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We'll usually book an excursion, as we're pretty avid snorkelers and love to see new fish and marine life....other than that, we're very laid-back. I love the newly wed shows and the comedy shows, but that's about it. I'm considering doing the art auction at some point, but we're mostly there to relax, have a few drinks, read a few great books and people watch. I have a friend who signs up for seemingly every activity/project/seminar, and she comes home absolutely exhausted. To me, that doesn't sound like a vacation....but to each their own, and that's why cruises are so great; they cater to everyone!

When I am on a cruise I am a laid back while on the go person. :D

In the Caribbean mostly go with the flow, depending on how we feel that day.

But in exotic cruises, port days are intensive, sea days we chill

We're pretty relaxed on a cruise, sea days will find us mostly reading, people-watching, & just laying around, although I do use the gym for a few hours each day. We hardly ever do excursions anymore, if we do, it is usually something active liking biking or snorkeling. Our favorite thing to do is just explore on our own. I am perfectly happy just having a beach day!:D

We do very little advance planning, prefer to see what we feel like doing each day. We wait until the day we want to go to book a specialty restaurant and have never had a problem getting a reservation.

Sherri

We are always in the go, we don't drink alcohol but we rarely sleep more than 6 hrs a day lol, crazy but we rather sleep in our houses

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We are in between. We will plan shore excursions either through the cruiseline or with a private company in advance as we are going on the cruise to see the ports we are stopping at. On sea days, we relax, sleep in and enjoy the ship.

Mary Anne

We like to book excursions pre-cruise and enjoy the ports. Sea days we just hang, I read, DH does cryptograms. And, somewhere in all of those days we nap, see shows, eat and play the slots.

Cruising is definitely our favorite way to vacation.

Hi all!

I like to go go go since my life is pretty relaxed. I do book shows & excursions ahead & try to make it to trivia, Bingo & shows for entertainment.

Great thing about cruising is you can do or spend as little or much as you want.:D

~ Jo ~ :)

I like to do whatever suits me at the particular time. Never pre-book excursions, guess I'm a wing-it type of person- :)

We might book an excursion or two (depending on the ports). Mostly we just wake up, check the weather and make a last minute decision how to spend the day. We will usually find something to do in the morning, relax all afternoon and half the evenings we will go to a show, the other half we just chill. Gosh that sounds like a great way to live all the time! :)

I generally plan all our excusions and DH, tags along. It wouldn't do me any good to ask him what he would like to do because he would say I don't know, so he relies on my excellant planning to plan our days in Port. We however do enjoy our do nothing days and relax, walking around in port or whatever comes to mind.

When we are in port, we always have an activity planned, usually a few;) When we are cruising, I always have ideas that I should go do a lot f ships activities, but somehow, we end up in the solarium or on the balcony:p

When we first started cruising I thought I had to be busy nearly every minute of every day either with a Ship Shape activity or the other options available. After about eight cruises I had a medical issue occur on Day 2 and was not allowed to exert myself for the rest of the seven day cruise.

I found out that the ship and everyone on her could get along just fine without my participation in the activities. I sat around the pool and read or took short walks, napped and thoroughly enjoyed myself. My husband was attending seminars on the sea days so I had a lot of time to myself. That was the first time I really went home rested after a vacation and I quite liked it.

So, now I do what I want when I want to do it. Since the Ship Shape program no longer exists that urgency to try to get enough Ship Shape Dollars for a t-shirt that I seldom wear is non-existent.

Julie,

We need to plan a cruise together. We must be related.

No, really.

I'm about as laid back as you can get. No plans, no agenda take each day as it goes! :D

Usually I hate the thought of wasting a second, get stressed out and am shattered by the end of it. So for this one, I Am so grateful for the days st sea so I can really chill and enjoy a good book'! And get my tan up for brazil!!!

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If its just the Caribbean, we'll have nothing planned.

If its Europe, we're on the go in every port.