Your Cruise Traditions... The ones you wouldnt do without...

[CarnivalPlatCruiser]

I remember my first cruise, in Miami, years ago.. My son and I got up at 3am, drove over to the causeway, say on the grass and watched the ship pull into port. (Wife and daighter couldn't care less and stayed in bed... lol)

 

Since then, we have done this for every sailing we have been on, and after about the 10th, my wife and daughter finally started joining us.

 

This next cruise (in 9 days), we booked our airfare for the first time with Carnival, only to find out a fe days ago, they wont allow us to fly in the day before (hotel at our expense of course).... So, we canceled our non-refundable airfare with them and just got our own tickets...

 

Spending the few hours with my son (this cruise will e just me and him, our first father / son only adventure), and watching the ship come in... well worth the extra cost of the airfare...

 

How about you? Any traditions that you wouldnt live without?

[bills blasters]

We always pick one night of our cruise, and DH and I order room service, and get a bucket of beer, and sit out on our balcony and watch the sunset. We try to plan it so we are headed in the right directions so it is visible from the aft of the ship.

We have seen some beautiful sunsets.

Plan on doing it again in Jan.

Claudia

[INCHARGE]

I do not have a tradition, but just had to tell you that I love this story. Also, the fact that he knows nothing about it is so cute. Now you will still be able to see the ship come in one again. He will always remember the wonderful times he had with his dad. :)You will love the Dream, we had a ball.

[KirkNC]

Ours is a nice meal out the night before the cruise to get us in the mood for our upcoming trip.

[footballbabe3]

Every cruise my husband and I go out on our balcony and take a nap. I know that might seem silly but we usually get to see some dolphins upon waking. We usually wake at the same time the sun is starting to set. That seems to be when we see the dolphins playing in the wake of the ship. We love our aft balcony.

[ccruisequeen]

Get our neck wallets out the night before, with passports, boarding passes, IDs and $1 bills for tipping. Pack that night. Get the water bottles packed.

 

Get to port for early sign in and pre boarding. Head to lido deck for a snack, grabbing a few Funtimes on the way. Grab a dish of frozen yogurt.

 

Play and win first game of trivia.

[askimdog]

Not sure if they are traditions, but we have done the following on all 3 cruises, ( Me 49, Wife 36, Daughter 7):

 

 

Leave from a port where we know someone, so we can play a day or 2 before and after the cruise ( and a place to stay).

 

Eat a real nice brunch the day of embarkation...this way we avoid the over crowded Lido lunch.

 

Once on board I sit with my carry-on wine opened, a book with the luggage, while wife and daughter explore the ship till our room is ready.

 

We cruise with my sisters and brothers family, they MDR, we buffet, they do late shows, we are in bed by 9. BUT...2-3 times a cruise we all get together for drinks and hours of board games in the library or somewhere. Always a highlight.

[docs wife]

We like to get to the port early...Grandson likes to be the first in the pizza line, then move to the pool and finally first down the slide (followed by his sister...although she prefers to be first in the Mongolian stir fry line instead of pizza).

As for Hubby and I, just get the DOD and kick back and watch the kids have fun!

[BigDfromTN]

For me...

 

The Water Slide. Once I did it on our 4-5th cruise. It is a "Cant Miss it" for me. Even won the speed slide contest once.:)

[BLGBEACHGAL]

I get to the port very early and would rather wait in the lounge area than wait in the hotel being one of the first ones to board. Now that I can go straight to my cabin, I will drop off my carry-on then head up to lido for a reuben and my first drink of the day. Vacation has begun!

[MichelleChell]

Since we live close to the port the day before I try to start vacation. We are packed and ready to go and go out for a nice dinner. The next morning tradition is to get up early and have breakfast with my parents who live close but not going. Then its to the port no later then 10am. Where we walk on the ship right behind the VIP and weddings. Thats why I don't need FTTF.

[mr green]

Years ago, when we started to travel, my wife gave me a St. Christophers medal. I always wear it when we leave home for a cruise, and when we board the ship.

 

john

[terrific_surprise]

I remember my first cruise, in Miami, years ago.. My son and I got up at 3am, drove over to the causeway, say on the grass and watched the ship pull into port. (Wife and daighter couldn't care less and stayed in bed... lol)

 

Since then, we have done this for every sailing we have been on, and after about the 10th, my wife and daughter finally started joining us.

 

...

 

Watching the ship pull into port is a new tradition I am planning to start soon for my wife and myself. I plan to do this both for the BVE in February (when we visit the Sapphire Princess for a few hours) and for the actual cruise in March. I'm hoping that my wife will not want to just stay in bed. :(

 

I'm also hoping that I can time things right so that we actually see the ship come in without having to sit too long looking at the empty ocean. :confused:

 

We didn't do anything like this for our previous cruises. In fact, in both cases we were one of the last ones on the ship! Somehow I didn't realize how early we could have boarded, so we missed out on much of the sailaway fun!

[CanWeGoYet?]

If I have a balcony, which is what I book mainly now, I bring a bottle of bubbles for sail away. If you dip the wand and hold it into the breeze, as the ship starts to move & pick up speed it's perfect for making long streams of bubbles. A little festive. Long ago there were streamers & crowds to see people off when the ship set sail. It only works though until the ship hits a certain speed, after that it's going too fast & the bubbles break before they form.

 

I usually leave the bubbles out on the balcony so they are handy for each time we set sail from another port. Plus I am out there (at least when the balcony faces the pier) watching for pier runners. That's another one of my traditions, sort of a guilty pleasure.

[Athankfulheart]

If I have a balcony, which is what I book mainly now, I bring a bottle of bubbles for sail away. If you dip the wand and hold it into the breeze, as the ship starts to move & pick up speed it's perfect for making long streams of bubbles. A little festive. Long ago there were streamers & crowds to see people off when the ship set sail. It only works though until the ship hits a certain speed, after that it's going too fast & the bubbles break before they form.

 

I usually leave the bubbles out on the balcony so they are handy for each time we set sail from another port. Plus I am out there (at least when the balcony faces the pier) watching for pier runners. That's another one of my traditions, sort of a guilty pleasure.

 

 

We love to bring bubbles. On our next cruise, our balcony is just a few from the bow and it should be even more fun :). My husband and I have a tradition of skipping out on the crowd during late seating on formal night. While half the ship is at dinner and the other half is at the show, we grab the extra blanket from the cabin and go snuggle in the hammock (or some other private, outdoor sweet spot) . We will have our kids with us on our next cruise and plan to do one formal night with them and skip out on the other. They can decide if they want to do MDR or Gathering. They are a tight group of sibs with nice manners so no worries for mom and dad.

[danaps]

My hubby and I love to take one night off from dinner and have a nice in-room evening with dinner on the balcony. We have now done this on every cruise and plan to do it again this time.

 

It's an "our" time dining...

[nyfarmgirl]

Always, always fly in 2 days early so we have a chance to unwind and decompress from real life. I always do the research and planning so I get quite a bit of pleasure from this but my DH actually starts the anticipation glow the morning we leave home. The hotel time gives him a chance to explore the port city and begin the cruise anticipation.

 

Once onboard, my favorite ritual is having room service in the morning. It is soooo nice to have my coffee brought to me and my DH actually discovered that he DOES like bagels (when they come with smoked salmon & cream cheese).

[penguinscott]

On cruises, I go to the late show every night, followed by some dancing in the disco. I like to head to my room after the show and change and refresh. On the way to the disco, I like to grab a scoop of chocolate ice cream.

[olemissreb]

We just discovered the joy of getting to our embarkation port a day early on our last cruise and leaving a day after debarkation! That will now be our new tradition. We had so much fun with the kids exploring San Juan. It was their first time outside the continental US and to see the joy on their faces exploring new things was just priceless! We'll be exploring Alaska for a week before boarding this summer and Vancouver and Seattle for 2 days afterwards.

 

DH and I also always get a balcony cabin and have breakfast in the room every morning. We usually end up drinking our coffee on the balcony.

 

On our 3rd cruise, we discovered the joy of being on deck for sailaway. Our first 2 cruises, we were at dinner for sailaway so we missed all the fun. Not anymore! We don't sail until 8pm, but we will be on deck to watch and have a DOD. With Select Dining, we can go eat early and still make it up for sailaway - LOVE THAT! And the kids love getting their non-alcoholic DOD's!

 

The last "tradition" is me, standing on our balcony on the last night, crying :o because I know that in the morning we will have to get off the ship and end that part of our vacation. I love having my family around me for a week with nothing to distract us like at home and I so hate seeing that end.:(

[FlaGrl4Evr]

On debarkation morning, we order room service coffee, juice and bagels and forgo the over crowded Lido buffet or even the dining room. We place our order for 6am which gives us plenty of time to enjoy our breakfast on the balcony and pack-up any last minute items. We then vacate the cabin by 7:30 and head to the area near the Coffee-Cafe. This area usually has comfy sofas, chairs and tables. We enjoy our last minutes enjoying another cup of coffee, reading and people watching. In addition, vacating our cabin a little early gives our steward a head-start for the next set of guests.

 

 

We also have a vacation tradition of picking up take-out Chinese on our way home from the airport. We keep the menu in the glove box of the car and the ph# pre-set on our cell phone. This makes for an quick and easy dinner the first night back and makes for nice ending to our trip.

 

 

:)

 

 

.

[zoncom]

I have a condo on the Bay overlooking Miami cruise port.Whenever cruising out of Miami I always get up early to see the ship going thru Government cut, sometimes as early as 2:30 AM. Always gives me a little thrill.Sold condo recently but my BF has one down the block, same view.

[welshrich]

Our tradition as we've always cruised on Royal Caribbean is to get to the port as early as possible to be one of the first onboard and then get some 'honey stung chicken' in the buffet, this varies in quality from ship to ship and has been a subject of hot discussion, As soon as we taste it then we know that we're on a cruise.

[Gunner22aa]

Soon as we hit the ship we go to our aft suite, drop the bags on the bed and hit our balcony with a good bottle of red wine, has been known to become two depending on how early we board, and enjoy the sail away in just each others company. After that we unpack, have a good chat with our cabin steward just to get to know him/her and grab a bite to eat. It's the same every cruise. Thankfully on Princess your room is ready when you board.

[Scrapnana]

I have to be out on deck for the first sailaway. I like to be there for all sailaways but that does not always work.

[Viv0828]

We have to find at least one geocache in every port that has caches!