Scrapbooking on AOS?

I have seen a few old Cruise Compasses and noticed that AOS offers 3 - 4 scrapbooking workshops per cruise.

Does anybody know if the Scrapbooking workships are 3 - 4 different workshops or if it is the same workshop repeated 3 -4 times?

Just got off AOS on 8-12. They had 4 or 5 scrapbook classes but we were only able to go to 2--the days at sea. They were different the two times we went and the cruise director staff member said they were all different. I asked why they have them on port days and she said not everyone goes off the ship. I thought that was a stupid answer and didn't feel you had to miss a port to do an hour of scrapbooking. I asked if we could get the stuff from the classes we missed and she said you have to come in and get it at the time of the class but don't have to stay. One of the classes was at 1 pm when we were at port and we had a tour. I put a comment on my end of cruise review that if they are going to have them on port days to have them later in the day like 3 pm. We were usually always back on the ship around that time. I was kind of mad that I missed the other days but the days I did go, I got some really nice embellishments to use. However, their supplies aren't very good. Their punches are not sharp at all and the scrap paper is very limited. I mostly took my stuff home so I could trace them and have more of them to use. Plus, I can't do a scrapbook page without a picture. Very hard to do since I start with the pic and work around that. Hope this helps.

Thanks MIDOSCAR, that does help!

Maybe I will be cheeky and ask them to go to the kitchen for some wax paper and aluminum foil to sharpen the punches ! :D

You have made my day, the classes were one of the things that I am really looking forward to, I am always looking for new ideas. There are very few people who scrap where I live and supplies are almost non exsistent, so I am happy to take whatever I can get.

Do they sell RCCL albums? Or kits?

Thanks!

They do have a RCCL scrap book at the photo gallery where they sell the pics they take of you while on the cruise. They also have a kit available I think. I think the book was around $24 and with the kit around $50. Not really sure of the prices. They also had embellishments stickers for sale behind the counter on the wall that I have seen at scrapbook stores but if supplies are limited in your area, you may want to take a look at them. The first scrapbook class we did was on Monday--1st sea day and it was a beach page. All types of stuff for the beach, like die cuts of waves, feet, shells, etc. and the second one we did--Thursday-2nd sea day was for vacation and they gave you a die cut of the crown and anchor and a small ship. I wish we could have gone to the others but maybe next time. Most of them are around 9 am. Have a great trip. You will love AOS. It is a beautiful ship.

PS-Take 2 12x12 pieces of cardboard and a large baggie along so you can put your stuff in between to bring home. That way they will lay flat and won't get bent.

I am now looking forward to the trip even more (if that was possible). Did you do the Barbados route or the Aruba one? We will be on the Aruba one.

My mum has said that she will come to the classes with me so that I can get her stuff too. :D

I hade already planned on taking a hard plastic paper portfolio to put the pages in. I always take one when travelling because I never know when I will come across 12x12 paper.

Thank you so much for the info!

We did the Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten and St. Thomas route. It was really great. Very busy though. My daughter went with me to the classes and she actually did more on her pages than I did. The only drawback is they only use the 8 1/2x11 sheets not the 12x12--that is another reason why I didn't really do the pages there--just kinda took the stuff. You will have a great time and if you don't have excursions planned for some of the ports and the class is at 9 am, go up and get your stuff and just say that you can't stay. I wish I would have known to do that but didn't find that out until Thursday and the class they had on Friday was at 1 pm and we were on St. Maarten. If you need to know anything else, just let me know.:rolleyes:

That is the same route that we are doing, any chance that you saved your compasses? I would love to get a sneak peak at some newer ones than the ones posted on cruisedailies!! On the latest ones for AOS (Jan 07) the scrapbooking was around 2pm.

Unfortunately I also use the 12x12 albums so I think I might take some paper with me, since I will be taking the portfolio anyway! Thanks for the heads up! Can you remember if the album and kit was 12x12? If so maybe I should buy that on the first day.

My DS13 asked today if he could come too, but I have a feeling that he will fall in love with Adventure Ocean and abandon me. I am going to TRY and get him to write a "diary" every day, even if it is one line, to include in the scrapbook. He doesn't scrap, but he does like to give his opinion when I am doing "his" pages!

We only have one excursion planned in Curacao and that is at 10:45am. The rest of the places we want to play by ear, maybe wander around the town by the port, except St. Thomas, been there done that. So maybe we will be able to make all the classes! :) But I will definately turn up and get the stuff no matter what!!

Were there a lot of people at the classes?

I have all the Compasses--in fact, I went the Guest Relations desk every day and got 3-4 extras to use for scrapbooking so that may be a good idea. I don't really know how to get them to you to look at. If you know, let me know and I will try it. I am looking at them now and here is when the classes were:

Monday--at sea--9am

Tuesday--Aruba--1pm

Wednesday--Curacao--2:45 pm

Thursday--at sea--10 am

Saturday--St. Thomas--2:45

All classes are held in the Blue Moon Lounge which is on deck 14 and overlooks the pool. The first time we went there was only about 10 people there. The second time we went there was about 15. They did seem to run out of packets though so get there right when it starts if you can. Your son can go--anyone can go. They call it Adult Scrapbook Class but I can't see them turning someone away if they want to scrapbook. My husband came up just to take pics of us. The album they sell is 12x12 and I am pretty sure the kit is also. You can check that out first thing on Sunday in the Photo Gallery.

About the islands, we thought Aruba was kinda dirty compared to the other islands. We did shopping in the morning and then an island excursions that included a stop at the beach for about and hour and a half. We loved Curacao the best. We did the Hato Caves in the morning and then went to Kontiki Beach and then shopping and then walked back to the ship. Very clean and beautiful island. St. Maarten was our least favorite but only because we did shopping first and felt hounded every time we walked down the street. There are people outside of all the shops trying to get you to go in and when you do go in, the people who work there kinda follow you around. Really felt creepy. We went right to the beach behind shopping. Was okay but that day it was really windy. All in all not that great of a day. St. Thomas was beautiful. We did island tour and Magens Bay and then shopping. You have been there already so no need for info on that. If you need to know anything else, let me know.

I see that you are from Barbados and we are going on a cruise in May on Carnival Destiny and one of our stops is Barbados. Do you have any suggestions for what to do there. We are going on this cruise as my niece is getting married on Magens Bay and we don't really plan to book any excursions so just wondering if you can suggest anything special to do in the little amount of time we have.

I know this got long but hope it will help. Let me know if you know how I can get a copy of these compasses to you.

Penny

Here is a pic of my daughter doing the scrapbooking. As you can see, the table they give you is really small--not even sure if your 12x12 paper will fit on it. Hope the image come through.

You have been an amazing help!!

Didn't think that they would provide such a teeny table for scrapbooking!!

Is there any chance that you would be willing to scan in the compasses and e-mail them to me at letsgosailingbarbados@yahoo.com? Even just the pages with the day’s schedule?? I know this is a lot to ask.... but, please.... I am unfortunately one of those people that will go crazy sitting still all day, so I will probably run from one activity to another!

I was planning on getting extra copies as well.

DS is swimming with the dolphins and mum and I are going to watch and take LOTS of pictures.:D That was they only thing that any of us REALLY wanted to do and maybe some sightseeing. I guess we are a bit spoilt because many of the excursions we can do at home for a lot cheaper, except sight seeing on a different island.

My tolerance for pushy vendors is incredibly low, but I do like to look around so I might take a chance, thanks for the warning. I like to buy a Christmas ornament from each place I visit or a frog (long story). And then there is always picture taking for scrapbooking!:)

Thanks for your help,

Karen

Yes I am from Barbados, so lying in the sun all day really doesn't appeal to me, I sail most weekends so I'd rather do something else on vacation.... like scrapbooking....Being fair and burning easily really doesn't help either.

There is so much to do here; it really depends on what you like. I love boats and being at sea, so that would be my choice. The catamaran cruises that are offered here are excellent. I have been on most of them and even they vary a lot depending on what you are looking for and who you are traveling with. There are also two 80' Maxis that do match racing, they are great fun, if you like large keelboats!!

If you like shopping most of the stores in Bridgetown sell duty free stuff at very good prices and they also have nice souvenir stuff. It is 15 min walk from the port or a reaaaaalllly short taxi ride. There are nice shops in the cruise terminal as well and handicraft shops in Pelican Village, a very short walk from the terminal, there you can see many of the artists at work, glass blowing, leather work etc.

Okay, I sent the compasses 2 ways--hopefully you will get them one or both of the ways and be able to enlarge them to read them--very tiny print. It is always nice to be able to see what is coming up before the day comes. Thanks for the info on Barbados but we are not a sailing group. It will only be my husband an I on this cruise in May so we will probably just do shopping and maybe go to the beaches. We like to lay in the sun. Can you recommend a nice beach to go to in Barbados? You are so lucky to be leaving in a week. I wish I was going sooner than May but that one really came up by accident so before that we really weren't planning another one for at least 2 years. But I got the itch again with all this talk about it. You will have a great time and hopefully the weather will hold out for you.

I got them and printed them out, played around a bit and managed to get them full page size!!! They are quite a bit different from the ones posted on cruisedailies. Thank you soooooooo much, you are a gem! Now I am really excited!!

What is the Adult Crayola Art Workshop? Never heard of that one before....

Sounds like to would like the port stores/Pelican Village/Bridgetown (ask to be shown to Broad Street).

Then walk over to the Boatyard (if you don't mind music playing in the background), they have everything you will need. It costs something to gain entry (part is redeemable at the bar) and includes the sun beds (umbrella optional), trampolines, iceberg, kayaks, rope swing, showers, etc. There is also a dive shop, internet cafe and small swimsuit store.

I love their chicken wings, but Waterfront Cafe in Bridgetown is also a really nice place to have lunch. The Boatyard is a popular place so you will probably see a lot of other people from the ship. It is on a very long beach so if you don't need all the amenities, take a towel (buy drinks and snacks from the drug store ‘Collins’ on Broad Street) walk past The Boatyard a few yards and you will see the beach and find somewhere to lie down. There are other vendors that rent out sun beds further up the beach.

I would walk there (but I like to walk and take pictures), but take a taxi back to the ship.

There are other amazing beaches here, but since time is limited the Boatyard is the closest that has everything you could possibly need. Locals like it there as well, but Destiny is usually here on a Wednesday, so it will be mostly tourists and locals at lunchtime. The only place I would NOT recommend is the Blue Monkey Bar; it is a 20 min taxi ride away from the port, the prices extravagant and the vendors incredibly annoying.

I hope you enjoy Barbados and if you have any other questions, you know where to find me!

Thanks so much!!

We never made it to the Crayola Art Workshops and coicidentally my husband works for Crayola. Just didn't work out for our time schedule so if you go let me know what it is all about. Also let me know what I missed on the port days in scrapbooking. Maybe you can scan and e-mail me th embellishments I missed in case I want to use any of them for scrapbooking. Glad you were able to get the compasses. If you need any other info, let me know. I posted about the soda cards as I was lurking but when we were on ship, we could get any an all juice we wanted with the soda card. Great for the booze we smuggled. Hope they didn't change this. Although one would probably be enough for you. We got three and probably should have only got 2. Just have your son get you juice if you want for mixers. Have fun.

I love Crayola stuff (I work with kids) and the workshop has me curious, so if we are on board I'll definately go and see what it it is about and pass on the details.

I'll scan in and e-mail whatever I get!:D I am hoping to attend as many classes as possible.... or at least get the stuff....

I saw a post about the soda card on another thread, so I checked the website. I am a diet coke addict so I'll get a card for myself anyway. We'll just wait and see what happens, it's not the end of the world.

I plan on having fun....if I ever get time to pack!!!

We packed the night before and didn't use half of the stuff we took. So take my advice and don't pack alot--you won't use it. We brought home so much clean clothes that we ended up washing anyway. Have a great time.