by Sentinel 25 Replies latest jw friends
Been on probably 10 cruises.
My tip is this. Chose one night like in the middle of the cruise where you purposely DON'T go to the formal dinner.
Instead, just go to the informal part and get a burger or something. It's will help you to relax.
Cruising is great, but dressing up every night and talking to strangers is... well... much like being at the Kingdom Hall :-)
We cruised from Alaska to Vancouver on Princess last summer. It was great! My wife wants to go back again this summer. They took really good care of us. We were on Carnival to Cozumel the summer before. It was o.k., but not up to the standard of Princess. We enjoyed the two dress up nights on the 7 day cruise and the one dress-up night on the 5 day Carnival Cruise. Some of the excursions are cheaper when purchased off the boat. It can be a bit riskier, however. I highly recommend the Alaska cruise on Princess. Holland America, now owned by Princess, was having a lot of trouble with Norwalk virus last summer. That can really spoil a trip. I would stay away from the Casinos. They don't have any competition, so don't have to give very good odds on anything. We like the early seating because it allowed us to get to the shows.
I recommended seeing the recent movie "Ghost Ship" before you leave. Or even the original "Death Ship"
Bon Voyage!
I am so elated with all the replies I've been getting. Keep them coming, as I will be on my home PC until Saturday, the 17th.
Lady Lee, we have gotten our requested assignment for the early dinner schedule, and we are so happy. I don't fare well when I eat late at night, after seven-thirty. (I'm taking my Pepsid Complete with me. ) After spending the entire day in and out of airports--with only tid-bits to tide us over, we will no doubt be starved come dinner time that first evening. Thanks for the tip about bringing our own candy snacks. I had really thought that one would be able to go to a little "ship store" and purchase such things.
Jaded: Everyone tells us that once we cruise, we won't want to go back to regular vacations anymore; you know, the kind where you get through the airports, only to find yourself in the car rental line, and trying to get directions to your accommodations; then shopping for groceries for a week! The closest thing we've ever done to this, is our All-Inclusive trip to Nassau, Cable Beach, Bahamas with "Breezes". Everything was included, and tipping was NOT allowed. Children were not allowed either, which was fine with us, as we are past the child rearing age, and prefer quiet and relaxed times.
Leddfootdja: Are you by any chance trying to scare me, you dickens you? Well, you can't. I've seen both of those movies. I'm a great scary movie fan. Bring um on. I taped "The Diary of Ellen Reimwald" last night and will watch it tonight. It was done after "Rose Red", but is actually going back "before" to tell what happened. I can't wait.
Navigator: Thanks for clueing me in on your Alaskan voyage. We really do want to take that one someday as well. I want to see the icebergs and the whales, etc. I will save the information you gave me for later review. Hubby and I aren't gamblers, so the casinos aren't going to pull us in. We have early seating for dinner, so that we can catch the shows afterwards. I'm certain we will enjoy the live entertainment.
Confuzcious: Ten cruises, is that all Wow, you are very fortunate to be able to do that. Vacations for us don't usually include dressing up in any way, shape or form. I mean, basically we are beach bums by nature. Hubby has agreed to wear his suit jacket on the one formal night, bless his heart. He will probably want to take advantage of the elegant dinner meals, so guess shorts and pullovers are a no-no there for sure. We asked for the smallest group setting for our meals. I absolutely love people, and can have conversations with just about anyone. My husband tends to be very reserved and shys away from making small talk with strangers. We'll just have to feel our way around situations.
Thanks again, you are such a swell group of friends!
Royal Carribean Rocks!!!!! Love cruises! Just don't do too many excursions....many of them are way overpriced. Pace yourself and just relax. Have fun!
ash
Royal's meal policies are Breakfast and luch are open seating. If you go to the dining room you will sit at a table for I think it was 10 or 12 people. It is very informal. You can talk or not. And when you are done feel free to get up say goodbye and leave. Absolutely no need to attend to formalities. You can go to the buffets for both breakfast and lunch and choose to sit on your own.
Dinner is the reserved seating. We were on our honeymoon so we really wanted to sit alone sometimes. When we got on board they told us we were at a table for 8. We talked to the person in charge (do this right away if you want things changed) and he immediatley arranged for a table for two. This does not change all week. Once you have your seating you will be stuck with it for the duration. We found the open seating during the day a nice chance to meet people. And then of course we had the evening to ourselves.
As for the dinner meals. If you wanted to you could dress up for the dining room every night (a jacket is always required for men and not casual wear for women although they do accept nice pant outfits for the ladies so you don't have to wear a dress if you prefer pant suits or dressy pants and a blouse)
Don't feel that the only fabulous meal you will get is on the fancy night. The food in the dining room is special every night.
Every day you will get a flyer telling you what the meal choices are for the next day (also posted outside the dining room and buffet room) and any special activities that might be planned. The only thing that is required is the lifeboat drill. Other than that go only if you want to and never any obligation to stay. We would check out the menus and if nothing appealed to us in the dining room we went buffet but that only happened once. There was always something fabulous to eat somewhere.
Oh and if there are dietary issues make sure to inform someone. I forget who. But I think that has to be done ahead of time so they can order the food.
People everywhere are pretty relaxed so you should find a lot of people to chat with and hubby can join in or not.
Can you tell I loved this
