What MUST you do before leaving for your cruise?

I feel that I must CLEAN the entire house, make sure there is no laundry waiting for me when I get home, pay the bills that will be due while cruising, etc. Anyone else have to do things like this before you leave?

1. Have your mail and papers picked up.

2. If you do have a person checking inside the house, have them turn on and off lights, draw drapes,and check the water heater, freezer , and fridge, put out garbage.

3. If a person does not check inside, put lights, radio, and TV on timers. Leave bedroom hall light, or a bathroom light on at all times.

Inform alarm company that you are out of town.

4. Inform Credit Card Co/s of you movements.

5. Cut grass.

6 Turn off water, unless you have water heat, or need it for a person to water lawn.

7. In summer leave windows open a wee bit, if practical and safe, also leave drapes closed most of the way.

8. Remove all foodstuffs that might spoil from fridge.

9. Have a good cruise.

john

I missed a couple of things.

Turn water heater OFF.

Adjust furnice/AC to the most economical spot.

john

Don't forget to throw out the coffee grinds and rinse the pot.

I always clean the house before we leave and change the linens -- it makes me feel good on return knowing I don't have to rush into doing anything.

Make sure you go for a pedicure! And if you are like me, blinding white... please go tanning. Speaking from experience, the pictures on your first day of you on the cruise will look much better. :D

Clean up enough so it will look clean and welcoming when I return. Pay the bills. Stop the mail and the paper. Turn on some timers for the lights. Let the neighbors know I will be away. Try to relax.

Clean out the fridge of left overs and milk. Also, take out the garbage...forgot it once and boy was it stinky when we got home!

Decide who gets to house sit! I have this amazing house which is just off the intracoastal waterway in Ft. Lauderdale, 15 mins by boat to Port Everglades/Atlantic Ocean, a great cruiser which is docked out back upon which to get there, huge swimming pool/spa, home theatre, walk to the beach and the funky shops, etc of Las Olas Blvd, and my awesome Lexus convertible. Yeah, you bet I have people lined up to hang out anytime I go away!

I love my new house :)

Hey Dagny, could I house sit for you sometime?

Hey Dagny, could I house sit for you sometime?

I know right!

The very last thing I do, as I step on board, is to leave my cares, worries and hang-ups on shore.

I feel that I must CLEAN the entire house, make sure there is no laundry waiting for me when I get home, pay the bills that will be due while cruising, etc. Anyone else have to do things like this before you leave?

OMG.. I do the same thing. Everything has to be spotless, the laundry all done, clean sheets on the bed. I even sometimes have a prepared meal in the freezer because I know how tired we will be when we get home.

I am such a clean freak, that I know my mind will rest knowing that everything is all done before we leave.. plus the clean sheets on the bed will help me with my POST CRUISE BLUES.... WAAAAAAAAAAAAA WAAAAAA

Is everyone depressed when they get back like we are???

the saturday before we leave, my dh and I go to this mexican resturant with views of the water. we watch the cruise ships go by and begin the count down till the following week when we board for our vacation.

I feel that I must CLEAN the entire house, make sure there is no laundry waiting for me when I get home, pay the bills that will be due while cruising, etc. Anyone else have to do things like this before you leave?

Oh my gosh! You must be a long lost relative of my DH! He does this exactly! We can't leave the house without everything being in order. He doesn't start to relax till we actually walk onto the ship!

Don't forget to make sure everything is locked up...TWICE!! ;)

Take one day off work before leaving

Clean the house

Laundry (up until the day before we leave)

Pamper day - manicure, pedicure, hair salon

Stop the mail

Safety check around the house

Adjust the thermostat

Make arrangements for someone to come in and feed my cats. :D

I tap all ships and planes three times with my wedding ring, prior to boarding. Sounds strange, I know, but the two times I didn't do it, I had:

1. An airline, "incident"

2. The Crown Princess Tipped.

I'm uptight about it now.

No, of course my not doing it did not cause these things, but I don't care.

I will admit, I tend to be lazy when it comes to housework, However, when we are going on a Cruise, I jump into scrub mode. My DH wishes I would stay in Scrub Mode LOL. I prefer to come back to a clean house.

Make sure you go for a pedicure! And if you are like me, blinding white... please go tanning. Speaking from experience, the pictures on your first day of you on the cruise will look much better. :D

I have to half agree and half disagree on the tanning....on one hand, yes i would have looked better in the first round of pictures with a tan, but on the other hand..it is kind of fun to compare my first day pictures with my disembark pics..i look like a different person (helps that my hair is currently in braids as well!) :)

Before we cruise, I like to make sure I update our personal information for our adult children in case of the unthinkable. It's kind of morbid, but listing where to find insurance papers, investment papers, savings account passbooks, the safe deposit box key, etc. will make it easier for our family if our plane goes down or something. It was not that long ago that my own parents died, and trying to locate all the necessary papers for everything was not easy! I don't want to burden my children anymore than necessary. Call me strange, but it eases my mind knowing they can find everything. I hope they won't need the information for a VERY long time!!!

Ask neighbors to keep an eye on the house. Make sure my 21 year old doesn't have wild parties and his friends trash the house.

Change the litter box and give my kitty lots of love (cuz she feels neglected when I leave).

And, clean the house. I hate coming home to a dirty house.

:eek:

Start training my liver for a week long drunk. And start working out so I'm not too embarrassed to take my shirt off in front of people! Oh yes, and tan, because tan fat looks better than white fat!

Last cruise I nearly went nuts getting everything done at home before leaving....cleaning, washing, stopping mail, dealing with pets, giving friends instructions and keys, etc.

My next cruise is with a group of girlfriends....husband and daughter will be at home, so I can just pack and leave!!!!

Inspect the bags. Make sure my wife hasnt packed anything that she wouldnt need (IE: 10 pairs of shoes if shes only gonna use half) Now I start putting pad locks on the bags.