ChicagoCrafter

how early or what time of day were you able to snag it? I keep seeing sold out.

I went to bed before my husband, who came in later after playing at the casino.

I had forgotten about the chocolates on the pillows and just climbed into bed and fell asleep. He didn't think to check either - why would I have left chocolate on the bed?

In the morning I woke up and saw our sheets and screamed "ARE YOU OK?!" I thought he had $#!& the bed and was so sick or something he couldn't move. Of course me waking him up by screaming that was quite upsetting, and even more so when he looked down and saw the mess in the bed - thinking I had $#!& on him!!!!

We both jumped out of the bed and quickly realized what caused the mess. Of course, we were embarrassed about what the steward might think, but I'm hopeful we're not the first people in cruise history to fall asleep with our chocolates.

I'm fairly certain the next night the steward kindly left the chocolates on the desk instead of the bed. I still laugh thinking at how neither one of us knew what was happening - just that we were both looking down at the sheets, horrified and concerned about one another.

Whenever I come back from a cruise I always go through a phase of trying to "bring ship life back to land life" - it never lasts as long as I'd like but here's a list of things I do to try to keep the good times going:

1) Bagel & Lox for breakfast at home (a treat I usually only order on cruises, but always purchase supplies upon returning)

2) Pre-dinner cocktail or glass of wine (I rarely drink...unless I'm cruisin')

3) Eating dinner later in general (normal life = starving at 5:30, cruise life = ready to relax and enjoy a meal at 8:30)

4) Utilize my deck aka my land-balcony - the view sucks but there is a simple pleasure easily forgotten in just sitting outside and taking it all in as the world passes by

5) NEW! My dog will bark his head off at the slightest sound, so I started playing ocean noises for him to drown out the neighbor's dogs. I guess this is now part of my year-round quest for cruise lifestyle habit.

What are some ways you try to bring vacation back to your every day life?

amarvel what kind of side jobs? I'm trying to figure out what I could do.

Found this older thread. Not sure if/how I can delete this!

boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1893093

Do you have a special saving system, a money making hobby, a sugar daddy? How do you save up during your land life to pay for time on the open seas?