Music and Other Cruise Countdown Excitement!

Hello good people of the cruise critic boards,

I have a question to pose.

Several of my girlfriends are all going on a cruise in April. I'm the only one who has ever been cruising before and have been dubbed the "cruise director". As the official cruise director I want to do all sorts of fun things in the next couple of months to help countdown and to keep us excited. Some examples of some ideas that I've thought of/am doing.

1. Paperchain (I know it's soooo 2nd grade,....but hey, most of us are elementary school teachers so its right up our ally....we tear off a link every day and inside I have put phrases, tasks, etc. that are cruise oriented. i.e. "do 100 sit ups" "try on your swimsuit" "start your packing list" "look up shore excursions for _______")

2. I plan on decorating our door with our cruise theme "Girlilicious"

3. We didn't give X-mas presents this year to each other and are planning on doing Cruisin' Christmas and exchanging presents the first day we get on the ship of things we can use on the cruise.

4. I'd like to make a mixed CD of "cruise music" that we can listen to while it snows outside.

This brings me to you lovely folks.....I need help thinking of some good cruise music ("Hot-Hot-Hot", "Margaritaville", anything Bob Marley). Also, does anyone else have any fun ideas for cruise prep?

Kinda goofy, but we all get together and go out to dinner to celebrate the countdown days. Ex.: 100 days until we cruise, 75 days until we cruise, etc. We wear something "cruisy" to dinner, and have a great time reminiscing about past cruises and making plans on what to do on the upcoming cruise. Helps us stay in the mood (like we need any help!). :)

I like your paperchain idea, btw.

Great idea!!! Thanks! Nothing better then food and discussing an upcoming cruise!

You could do a little monthly newsletter - put information on ports of call, some cruise drink recipes (we always like the frou frou drinks), count down to the cruise date etc.

You could do a little goodie bag for each person - lip balm, sample sized tanning lotion, tropical scented body wash/lotion, etc, anything that would be a reminder of the cruise.

Whatever you decide to do, have loads of fun! :)

Rhea

do you have DVR? Record all the cruise shows on the Travel Channel, and have everyone over to watch. Drink a ton of cruise drinks (does anyone drink Banana Daiquiris at home?) and get a bunch of Tortuga Rum cakes to snack on!

You've got to include some Kenny Chesney (his later stuff) in the cruise music. The version of "Old Blue Chair" with the waves crashing in the background makes you feel like you are setting by the ocean.

Also try going to iTunes and doing a search on "beach music". I've found a few cool songs there.

Jeff