SuperdudeAbides

The red dress was certainly a hit. DW tried it on and I knew it was "the one". She got it at Dillards, it was on close out.

She got about 10 compliments that night. It was the perfect new year's dress. She is so lovely it was so much fun to get dressed up and go out. I'm sad the cruise lines are relaxing the rules on formals because that was a lot of the fun, seeing the people that went all out. Though as has been said before many did not dress up at all.

HAL Westerdam was a mixed bag for us. Some of the buffet was good, some BAD and some meh. And the hours were not conducive to being on any schedule other than theirs - we are from the Midwest and they go on local time (2 hours ahead for us) so getting a meal in was kinda tough some days. Yea they close the buffet regularly several times a day, and after 10 on HAL cruises. STUPID. The main dining room was good, though limited on options most times, plus not always easy to find a table quickly. Room service was mostly meh. Best food I got on board (oddly enough) was the "Dive In" restaurant on the lido by the pool, they made burgers and hot dogs to order - by day 4 I was real happy to have something cooked for me - hot and fresh.

I'd never complain except that the ONLY and I do mean ONLY way to get a decent breakfast was to go to the main dining room. On the buffet the eggs were ... watery, mushy and cold, the meat undercooked (including the sausage - pink in the middle) the hasbrowns were hard flavorless pucks of what at some point was potato, their egg mcmuffin things were horrible. If you went to the omelet station you had a 50/50 shot of getting decent edible food. (I got a good one and one that was horribly burnt) It was sad cause dangit I LOVE BREAKFAST and I love breakfast buffets at least land based buffets.

We had the signature beverage package as part of our deal through our discount retail big box bulk purchase organization to which we have a membership.

:D

Sadly, we did not abuse said package as much as I had assumed we would, nor as much as I'd have liked to.

I'd say on average I had 2 non alcoholic drinks on average per day (diet cokes) and then maybe 3 beers and 3 drinks a day or some combination there of. SO I was drinking on average 8 drinks a day of my allowed 15.

The wife and I had dreamed of sipping drinks on-stop and it never worked out that way. On HAL a lot of the bars close early (before or at 10) and you're left with 3 bars for a lot of people. So it makes it hard to go and chill and drink.

That said some of it was our own fault, so it's not all on HAL. But if you are not a DRINKER, I'd think twice about the drink package. I think ours was supposed to be a $450 value (each) I don't know that we'd have drank that much anyway.

I found magnets to be essential. I brought several, both clips and just really strong magnets. I used them to run the extension cord along the wall to my side of the bed so I could use my fan at night (kept the cord off the floor and out of the way) we hung our lanyards from them, clipped the daily schedule up, held the curtain to both sides of the wall (the one between the main door and the bed and the one on the veranda) they were really indispensable. I packed them apart from my electronics and my magnetic strip cards, never had a problem. I highly recommend you take magnets. Too useful.

My wife went with the classic French manicure (with a twist) her girl gave her little palm trees with coconuts! for a fun little cruise theme.

They lasted well and in fact still look good, going on 15 or more days at this point.

Here was my DW's choices for the formals. She had some other lovely dresses for non-formals but I had these handy.

We did it up for both formals, the rest of the time I was wearing khakis and a nice shirt. We enjoyed it a great deal, we dont have "LOTS" of chances to dress to the nines.

:D

First New Year's party

And second the first formal.

This was our first cruise. We have always kept cards from the hotels we have stayed in over the years and are planning to one day make a US Map out of said cards. Once we've hit each state that is. :rolleyes:

See the idea is this, we cut the cards into the shape of the state they are from and glue them to a wall map we have in our office. We are currently tracking our visited states on said map as well.

Anyway, it's a thought.

(With the cruise we'll mark the ports of call of course - luckily our map includes the Caribbean.)

Just back from my first cruise and honestly the "Consistent" highlight was our room stewards. Sugeng (Sue) and Pai on Holland. From first moment to last moment they were wonderful. (Wish the rest of the staff had gotten the memo - but I digress)

Each day that I saw them, 5 out of the 7 day cruise they each got a 2 dollar tip. Our ice was forever full, our towel animals each nigh out did the last and they were always there to answer a question and help if we needed.

I don't know if they would have preferred a "gift" but I know they were really surprised (or at least looked to be) each time I tipped. I think the money is greatly appreciated in the service sector.

We had a family that each of the 4 days we ate at the Lido buffet arrived in robes, the man and the little boy were not to concerned with tying their robes tightly and it was obvious (disgustingly so) that neither was wearing anything (on top) underneath their robes. It was very tasteless. Literally.

I think my absolute worst would be jammy pants and a t-shirt with like flip flops and a ball cap, though each day I got up, showered (or at least washed my face and wet and re-did my hair) got dressed and went to breakfast.

I think that's the respectful thing to do. It's how I was raised.

Just back from our cruise. My wife has pasty white porcelain skin. We used (liberally and often) equate brand SPF 60 sport sunblock. Cheap and available at Wal Marts the world over. We neither one burned but both came home with a slight tint and glow from our 7 days in the Eastern Caribbean.

SUNBLOCK

SUNBLOCK

SUNBLOCK

:D;)

In Puerto Rico you actually have some other choices besides the Medalla Light.

(Not that Medalla is not fricking awesome cause it is)

There's

Boquerón Brewing Co.

They have very nice Blonde, Pale and Autumn ale and a nice Coffee porter and others....

There is also Old Harbor Brewery not far from where the cruise ships dock. They brew in house and it's very tasty. Look em up.

(Ya know if you like craft brew)

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

 

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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:

Greatest thread EVAR!

:D

I hope to have stories of my own after our cruse in 3 weeks. Until then, I do have one second hand cruise related story. Not funny just the strange people you meet on a cruise.

My first marriage (also know as the trial run, the dark times and/or the prehappiness period) was to a woman who with her mother and grandmother would cruise fairly regularly. For the first 5 years we knew each other, prior to getting married, they must have gone on at least 3 cruises. Her mother hated me so I never got an invite but back in those days (92-97) I was a workaholic and wouldn't have taken the time anyway, especially if I had to spend it with her family. :rolleyes:

So the story, it was probably 95ish, I believe it was a carnival cruise and the 3 ladies had a suite (her mom was fairly well off don't ya know) and they had gotten all settled in and unpacked on day one. Well day 2 was the captains dinner so they all got dressed up and off they went.

This dinner became the focal point of the entire cruise. Her mother (we'll call her Gina) was gabbing away over diner and grabbed her wine glass without looking and proceeded to empty the glass, including the fly that had landed in the wine. She felt it go down and my ex saw it go down but too late. Now I can not tell you if this was the reason or not but her mother was "sick" the rest of the trip and was a total drag on the other 2. (Does not surprise me, same woman refused to talk to us on Christmas day because we were 5 minutes late in a blizzard. - I digress)

Now, when they were getting on the boat there was a young foreigner (22-23 ish a few years younger than my ex at the time) whom did not speak much English but had "bumped" into my ex in the lines and they started a "friendship". Well Grandma was too old for most of the excursions that had been booked so my ex was stuck either going alone or not at all ... until she ran into (we'll call him Marco) the next morning at breakfast. Gina was sick in bed, grandma ordered room service but my ex wanted to go to the buffet. Now Marco found out what happened and proceeded to stalk my ex for the remainder of the cruise including offering to escort her on the excursions and reimburse Gina for the initial costs. This was fine at first until he became .... friendlier and friendlier as the cruse went on. I mean waiting outside their cabin door when she'd come out in the morning, when she would go to the pool, bam he'd appear 10 minutes later. She said by day 5 it was getting both creepy and yet oddly interesting that he could track her movements so precisely with 1200 other passengers on board.

My ex continued to refute his advances but by the second formal he was quite drunk and basically threw himself at her (backed her into a corner and was being very forceful and suggestive) Everyone swears nothing happened but her Latin lover was now resolute in his love of this woman. He went so far as to get her number from grandma and continued to try to communicate with her long after the cruise. I also understand grandma - in her newly acquired free time - also met a suitor and last I heard still carried on a relationship with him via correspondence.

So we laughed about this for some time after, referred to it as the "fly in the ointment cruise". Oddly her mother never saw the humor. She also never saw anything but the suite for the whole 7 days. (Can you imagine?)

Oh and I told my ex next time she went cruising I'd be there too. Never ended up happening - at the time I was not willing to spend the time or money.

Once I get back in January I hope to add some personal stories.

You've come to some sound conclusions. A 7 day Caribbean itinerary during school vacation time will have a younger crowd - but you might bear in mind that even the longer itineraries on HAL will not be much unlike longer itineraries on other lines. While the demographic might be a little bit older, it will not be dramatically so -- and you might want to bear in mind the fact that slightly older people might just have that bit of greater knowledge which leads them to choose the higher quality of the HAL experience.

Sorry for the miscommunication, I meant that those rules apply across the board. All cruise line demographics follow that general pattern. (for the most part)

Plus I am 44 so I am at the perfect age to enjoy regardless. Old enough to know better but maybe still do it anyway, young enough to enjoy what comes my way. (Also old enough to appreciate sitting on the veranda and enjoying a cup a Joe and letting the world roll on by.)

:)

I think it's all about frame of mind.

My beloved wife and I honeymooned in Los Angeles in March of 2010, we spent 6 days in town, it was too cool to really get in the water (ocean) unless we were in the outside Jacuzzi or heated pool at our hotel. It rained our next to last day we were there, all day. We decided early that we would cruise the PCH down to San Diego cause it looked dry there on radar. We never made it as far as San Diego that day, we stopped several times along the way and took pictures, ate, shopped, explored ... in the rain. It was the best day of the trip and I have some of my favorite pictures of us from that day ... in our hoodies, snuggled in front of an ocean view. It was amazing.

So, if it rains on our cruise ... I don't give one single .... iota (that works right?).

None of us is made of sugar, get out and enjoy the rain. It doesn't bite.

Our first cruise is Dec. 26th on HAL Westerdam out of Fort Lauderdale - 7 day Eastern Caribbean. I researched for a while before we booked and was a bit worried as you are now about the basic age demographic. But after looking around and reading a lot of posts like this from CC and other cruise forums, blogs, travel reviews, etc. I decided that this would be a great cruise and a great cruise line.

The reoccurring themes I discovered were as follows.

1. The age demographic is more dependent on the cruise location and duration more than "just" the cruise line. Longer cruises (10-14 days and longer) and cruises to places like Alaska, the Mediterranean, world cruises etc. are more likely to have an older demographic.

2. Holiday cruises and cruises around school breaks (spring break, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas) will have a younger demographic since even older cruisers will be bringing the family.

3. HAL is said to be a classier operation, better service, better food, better accommodations.

4. HAL (if it's sailing where you want to be) offers the same excursions everyone else does.

5. The reviews of HAL are by in large very positive and in my research had a MUCH lower number of complaints and unsatisfied cruisers then some of the other lines.

Lastly, they had the itinerary we wanted, prices we liked, and where we booked it we got a smoking package deal with some great ship board credit, drink cards and free meals in the Pinnacle.

Ultimately, you just need to research and make a decision based on what you want. :cool:

Oddly, I think the Joker in The Dark Knight said it best.

"Nobody panics when things go according to plan. Even if the plan is horrifying. If tomorrow I tell the press that like a gang banger, will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it’s all, part of the plan. But when I say that one, little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!"

Same applies here. The terror attacks that have been perpetrated over the past several years while horrible, violent, traumatizing, are in fact dwarfed by the lives lost in battle, lives lost via accidents (whether they be auto, train, boat, plane, helicopter, etc.), lives lost by domestic violence (gang bangers, car jacking, drive bys, petty theft, break ins, family violence, etc) or even by stepping off a curb at the wrong time or standing too close to the edge of the grand canyon to get the perfect selfie. We barely bat an eye when we hear a story about some crazy guy that kills a family of 6 that was innocently camping, but we loose our minds worrying about what might happen due to terrorists.

As the old saying goes, you can die any day any time, you don't have to put yourself in a compromising position to get hurt or killed. It's part of being human. We are actually quite easily hurt, very soft and squishy.

There's no reason to purposefully run into a stupid situation like say booking a trip to the middle east or something like that. But equally there's no reason to stop living and doing what we do. As stated before, if you do go run and hide, the bad guys win.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. "Well, I certainly hope this little incident hasn't put you off flying, miss. Statistically speaking, of course, it's still the safest way to travel." I would think that's not too far off the truth about cruising....Right?

It's my understanding that certain locations have location specific charms. For instance, Las Vegas, you have to go to the Las Vegas Pandora to get their charm. I was told (just about 2 weeks ago) that the same applies for some spots in the Caribbean. I'm wondering if anyone knows if Grand Turk and/or St. Thomas have Pandora shops or specific charms?

First cruise I packed a ton of "stuff" more stuff than clothes probably. Now I know what i actually used and wore. So treat this as a trial run for future cruises. Take more than what you will need, take whatever you think you might want. Then for next time you'll know what you actually used.

 

My #1 best thing I brought was a fan. Thank god for that fan :) But i was in an inside studio, so if you have balcony, maybe not. But I loved my fan. and my ginger candy, sea bands, and motion sickness drugs (we had a hurricane).

 

Clothes, i wish i had brought another pair of pants and a couple more comfy tops.

Thanks for the ideas!

I have heard more than one person say fan, I have yet to ask.

I sleep at home with a fan, and when I have traveled I have used an app on my phone that lets me choose between a number of "sleep sounds" including a fan. For me if the temperature is fine I still need the white noise. In a ships cabin is the temperature tough to keep cool enough? Is a fan needed for that reason or for the noise?

I can't sleep hot, I know that. Even with a balcony if the HVAC is sub standard I will need a fan.

What say you?

:D I was being a bit crazy with that list more of an example - minimal vs a bunch of .... "stuff".

Like I said I will probably be somewhere in the middle.

Both suits, 3 dress shirts, 3 casual shirts, 5 t-shirts, 4 shorts 2 casual 2 excursion ready. 3 pair shoes (nice, tennis, water) I will probably pack 7 underwear and socks cause they don't take up much space. Just kinda work off that and see how I am for space in the old suitcase. :cool:

Well, our cruise leaves the day after Christmas (26th at 2 or 4PM can't remember) we were going to drive but got some EXCELLENT non-stop flights there and back on Southwest for less than rental car and gas would have been. We arrive the evening of Christmas Eve (about 10-11PM Eastern on the 24th) We have hotel for that evening and Christmas and we have one for our return day (2nd of Jan) and then fly home on the 3rd of Jan. So we are all set for pre and post cruise.

I am continuing to research St. Johns and Grand Turk and just reading about cruises in general.

If anything is left to plan it's what all I/my wife will pack, clothes wise, since there seems to be 2 schools of thought on wardrobe.

School of thought 1. Pack super light, there are laundry facilities (I don't want to do a stitch of laundry on my vacation barring any emergency/unexpected need)

School of thought 2. Pack normally, 7 nights with 2 formals = 2 jackets and pants, 5-7 nice shirts 4-5 tee shirts, 3-5 pairs of shorts some nice some "play" 1 nice pair of shoes, one pair tennis shoes, one pair water shoes, 7+ Underwear/socks 2 pair nice socks ... etc etc.

So I am not sure what I am doing there, probably something in between the 2 schools of thought. I have a lot of items that can cover me for multiple options.

Otherwise I think I am reasonably on top of it at this point thanks to the WONDERFUL people here on CC.

Thanks for all the great responses. The only time it really kills me is when I am working during the day. I have a somewhat slow paced job that affords me time to daydream, research, and well post on discussion boards. If I am outside these 4 walls I have lots to keep me busy.

With regard to planning more and looking at the ports of call pages, been there done that, also signed up for my roll call weeks ago. It's pretty slow on the roll call right now.... :confused:

Oh and yes there are actually posts about cruise rituals and cruise pranks over in the cruise discussion boards ... for example http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=966123

Anyway, we've been to San Juan, so we totally know what we are doing there, and we watched some travel channel shows about St. Thomas and Grand Turk so my wife has some ideas about how we will spend those shore days, only question is the Half Moon Cay day, which honestly, I think I just want to chill on the beach.

I suppose the post was more an effort to start a discussion than for any real answers, I am sure we all deal with it in different ways but it was a fun distraction reading everyone's posts. So that's something!

THANKS ALL

:D

I am a forum veteran, I'm on several. From cars to camping, android to comics. I understand the process and I really enjoy the great feeling of community that only anonymous internet groups can provide since no one is judged (at least on good forums) and everyone has a voice. :D

My wife and I booked our first cruise back in early September, for Dec 26th - Jan 2nd Eastern Caribbean on HAL. NOW, I looked around here and other places and I think we booked a good room (with balcony :cool: you know it's our 5th Anniversary trip) in a good place on the ship. Where we booked it offered specials so we both have drink cards and on board credit and a free dinner in the premier restaurant.

I got a nice new suit for formal nights, my wife a lovely new dress.

I have looked over the packing lists, the what to not forget lists, the what did you forget lists, the what do you wish you had lists. :rolleyes: some call it thorough some call it OCD. To each his own right? ;)

I've read about excursions (which we have not as yet booked) I have read about things to do on the ship.

I've looked at cruise traditions, I've read about cruise pranks, I've read about the pros and cons of balcony vs. no balcony. Embarkation drinks? Yea read that too.

Here's my biggest question.

HOW IN THE NAME OF GOD DO YOU MAKE IT FROM BOOKING TO EMBARKATION? The wait is absolutely killing me. I can feel the breeze on my face, the salty air in my lungs, the sun on my back. I live in the KC area and the mornings are chilly, there's been frost. I am dying waiting for this and I have a long 6 weeks to go. HOW DO YOU DO IT?

Another vote for KEEN's I had a 10-day trip to Puerto Rico Last fall (October of 14) and walked all over old San Juan (cobblestone) hiked in the rain forest, and also through the desert area on the western portion of the island. (I also used KEEN water shoes for beach and ocean excursions. They performed perfectly in my experience.

They offer quite stylish casual shoes as well as hikers, water shoes, boots, snow gear. Really all quite awesome.