Your pre-cruise traditions...

[CCLCruiser4321]

Always go to and from airport in stretch limo and on the way home we always stop for our favorite pizza.

[panoramaofthepast]

The ritual stop at Buckees' on the way to Galveston!

[DaKa2002]

The ritual stop at Buckees' on the way to Galveston!

 

Absolutely a great stop!

 

A new one going up on 114/I-35W at the speedway and one just recently opened up on I-20 near Terrell. Great sandwiches and cinnamon rolls! Yes, they sell gas too....

[Getaway Girl 73]

I make sure my fridge is empty which means eating some type of take out the night before.

I clean my house top to bottom and put new sheets on the bed. Nothing better than coming home to a clean house and fresh bed after a long flight then bus ride home. :D

 

Amen to that!!!

[kusuriurikun]

The night before we leave (which is usually about 3 days before the cruise starts :D) have dinner with our friends, do last minute packing, make sure the house-sitting/kitty-sitting arrangements are still good.

 

The day we leave (keep in mind that I am in Flyover Country and anything that is not a river cruise on a major river system is going to involve at least SOME flight time) I usually hit the restaurant in the local airport for breakfast and bourbon. If there's a layover and if time permits sometimes we'll do some shopping.

 

We usually get to our port a day to a day and a half early, spend a day exploring the port area, and THEN we get on the ship. We have also been known to pick departure ports based on their Niftiness Factor (for instance, we did Enchantment OTS out of Port Canaveral explicitly because I wanted to explore Kennedy Space Center the day before).

 

Of course a lot of the "pre-cruise rituals" I tend to do are more of "start of vacation rituals" and as I cruise more these may evolve.

[lucy467]

There's some great ideas here! I just scheduled The Love Boat to record so my better half can get into the spirit. It's his first cruise and only my second (and our first together). I'd love to create some fun traditions for vacations in the future.

[ProfessorandtheGeek]

I am cracking up at all the food and eating traditions the morning of the cruise. We are the opposite. Only coffee and try to board first so we can eat until we are sick on the ship. :p One thing we do is try to get to the place we are cruising from 1-2 nights in advance, if possible we book a room high enough so we can watch the ships come in and out, especially they one we are leaving on the morning it comes in all light up. Not only does this build up the excitement, but we can relax and know that we are already where we need to be. We have heard so many stories from friends who fly to their destination day of and almost missed the ship. That just starts your trip off with fighting and panic.

 

 

SO glad to hear we are not alone. We have only one pre-trip (not just pre-cruise) tradition. We do not eat the day we travel until we have reached our destination. Drinks are fine, just no food.

[mr green]

The hotel that we use offers free parking AND free breakfast at a reasonable nightly rate, so, why should we starve ourselves?

 

john

[Heidster]

I watch the Love Boat for a week or so before I go. It gets me in the mood to cruise. I make my hubby watch it too, and we figure out issues to go on the ship with that hopefully will be resolved like they were on the Love Boat!

:)

[bitsey66]

Any vacation involves cleaning the house, doing the laundry, paying the bills, getting hair cut & color, get nails done, and grocery shop for the house/pet sitter.

This will be the 3rd year cruising for us & we cruise in November (around 11/10 to celebrate the Marine Corps Birthday. We're the Marines & Friends cruise Group some of you might see) so I've started getting my suitcases out after Labor Day!!! It started as a joke because I get so excited & have to start early. It's now become the tradition

[ChemoGrlRN]

Drive in the day before our cruises. (since we live about 12 hrs from port). Breakfast at Cracker Barrel with the same cruise buddies every time!!

#traditions

# I [emoji173]️cruising

[LandlockedCruiser01]

I always cruised solo so far, so my pre-cruise traditions were pretty mundane. When a land, some quick calls to family to tell them I arrived safely. Later, putz around the neighborhood, looking for a restaurant that doesn't exist in my hometown Chicago. Something like good Cuban food or a Waffle House. Before going to bed, I call my friends back home to brag "hey, it's 84 degrees where I am!" (and it's 40 in Chicago)

 

I try to get ahead on sleep, only to fail big time: I wake up far too early, and can't fall asleep again. So I get dressed for the day, and wander around the peaceful, empty streets, enjoying the balmy early morning weather. Then breakfast at the hotel. Finally, I catch my shuttle to the cruise port, effectively ending the "pre-cruise" part.

[SuperdudeAbides]

You're right...terrible movie. Maybe we should watch Poseidon Adventure instead? Lol

 

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Forums mobile app

 

It's funny you mention that...

 

I had sent my DW a couple articles of some "mishaps" that have occurred recently on cruises (excursion issues, injuries, even a death or 2) and she yelled at me to stop. So I did.

 

Saturday afternoon we were looking for something to watch and guess what came on TBS or something... The Poseidon Adventure. Before she saw it I flipped right on past.

:D

 

Not pushing MY luck, that's fo sho, not on my first cruise.

:rolleyes:

[holomuku]

We tend to book late on cruises- as being both retired we can wait for the "after final payment" prices which are usually a good deal. And after we book, every $1 bill we get goes into the "cruise tip fund." That way when we travel we have lots of $1's for porters, shuttle drivers, room service tips, etc. Makes it easier than going to the bank and getting $1's for travel!

[CaribbeanCrush]

All those who watch Titantic before a cruise have me worried! LOL Is this a preparedness ritual, sort of like the muster drill??? :-)

I have this thing about having to pack the night before we travel to the port city. Which often ends up looking like the Titanic... We've always flown in at least a day before the cruise, which leads to another pre-cruise ritual of shopping for the items that I forgot to pack.

On our last cruise my wife turned on her playlist of cruise tunes while we packed, I read that mentioned in this thread and it sounds like something we'll continue doing. At some point during the packing process we have a quiet dinner usually consisting of some leftovers so that we can clean out the fridge. We try to get to bed early because we always schedule the earliest flight possible, but we never get much sleep that night.

[chrissyprincess]

On our last cruise my wife turned on her playlist of cruise tunes while we packed, I read that mentioned in this thread and it sounds like something we'll continue doing.

 

What a good idea! What are some of the sangs she plays?

[CaribbeanCrush]

What a good idea! What are some of the sangs she plays?

 

She has a lot of Zac Brown band songs on her list; Where the boat leaves from, Jump right in, Island Song, Knee Deep.

Some Bob Marley; One Love, etc.

Of course several Jimmy Buffet songs

[Cruisin'Christine]

Depending where we are leaving from, our tradition is either Longhorn's steakhouse or Texas Roadhouse.