What won't you do?

[Thebes]

[quote name='AlohaPride']If I lived in Cali, I'd for SURE take the 15 day Circle Hawaii as often as I could. All those sea days = Heaven. In fact, the 15 day Circle Hawaii is on my bucket list and I LIVE in Hawaii. ROFL[/QUOTE]

What is ROFL please ? Excuse my ignorance.

[Thebes]

[quote name='Crew News']No ship's photographs on embarkation
No ship's photographs with folks in bear, eagle, pirate, moose, bear, etc costumes
No cruise DVDs - I make my own digital memories
No shopping lectures
No bingo
No bar crawl
No art auctions
No onshore shopping at Carnival Corp stores
No Lido Restaurant on embarkation day
No Ochio Rios vendor harassment
No whale watching in Victoria BC - no comparison to Juneau
No glass-bottomed boats - boat speed in shallow water gives me motion sickness[/QUOTE]

How about the stingray cruise in Cayman ? Is that any good ? And what do u do btw in Ocho Rios ?
Trying to plan some fun on my 14 days in feb east west Caribbean collector cruise.

[Thebes]

[quote name='NoobCruise']Avoid long bus ride excursions. We took an excursion in Mazatlan that took us to a very small town in the Sierra Madres. It ended up being an all day ride in a very hot bus with a horrible smelling potty. BORING! and it was our 15th anniversary. DH is not allowed to pick excursions all on his own anymore lol

After reading everyone elses posts, we didn't do mst of those things either:

no photos
no spa
no port talks that tell you where to shop
no cocktail parties, captain's or suite
no art auction[/QUOTE]

Just curious why no Spa ? Or for that matter thermal suites ?

[Thebes]

[quote name='cruisemom42']No spa treatments -- more expensive and not as good as spas I visit at home.

No ship shore excursions unless absolutely necessary -- I am constitutionally not suited for large group tours with mandatory shopping stops

No "private islands", just stay on the ship -- just not a beach and barbecue person; I'd rather enjoy the vista from afar than deal with sand in my suit and long lines waiting for mediocre food

No disembarkation talk -- after cruising most of my life, I could be giving it[/QUOTE]

So for a Caribbean cruise , you would stay on the ship the whole time ?
You wouldn't experience HMC ?

[jimmy2x]

[quote name='Thebes']How about the stingray cruise in Cayman ? Is that any good ? And what do u do btw in Ocho Rios ?
Trying to plan some fun on my 14 days in feb east west Caribbean collector cruise.[/quote]

Not EVERYBODY here dislikes the Caribbean. Sting Ray city is great fun - but organize your own group. Ship tours are too short.

We had one of our very best shore days in Jamaica. Book your own tour through an independent operator. We spent the day traveling to the Blue Mountains where the coffee is grown and had coffee with one of the plantation owners looking out over a gorgeous hillside where his plantation is. Great view of Kingston in the background.

[erewhon]

No photos.
No supposed "port talks", which are really shopping promotions.
No "art" auction.
Never drink their sparkling wine which some folk call "champagne".

[Thebes]

[quote name='jimmy2x']Not EVERYBODY here dislikes the Caribbean. Sting Ray city is great fun - but organize your own group. Ship tours are too short.

We had one of our very best shore days in Jamaica. Book your own tour through an independent operator. We spent the day traveling to the Blue Mountains where the coffee is grown and had coffee with one of the plantation owners looking out over a gorgeous hillside where his plantation is. Great view of Kingston in the background.[/QUOTE]
Thanks jimmy,

Wondering what would be the best way to find those independent operators ? Internet websites ? Or off the ship upon arrival ? Im talking here specifically Jamaica

[MrsMuir]

I guess I'm an oddball, but I like having our pictures taken by the ship's photographers, especially on embarkation. That photo becomes the first page of our album. We like having our portrait taken on formal nights. Maybe it's because we are so happy on a cruise that we look pretty good in most of the photos. I was upset that no ship photographer took our photos when we visited the Pyramids. Seemed like everyone else had a souvenir photo taken except us.

What wouldn't I do again? Have an oily massage just before the Suite Cocktail Party.

Mrs M

[AlohaPride]

[quote name='Thebes']What is ROFL please ? Excuse my ignorance.[/QUOTE]

Rolling On the Floor Laughing. I was laughing at myself for wanting to fly to San Diego to take a cruise back home just so I could have so many sea days. :p

[Thebes]

[quote name='AlohaPride']Rolling On the Floor Laughing. I was laughing at myself for wanting to fly to San Diego to take a cruise back home just so I could have so many sea days. :p[/QUOTE]

LoL.........I live in Oregon and like u I would love to do the Hawaii circle but we're doing the 14 day collectors Caribbean in feb. wonder if Hawaii circle runs in winter time ? It should

[ellieanne]

[quote name='MrsMuir']I guess I'm an oddball, but I like having our pictures taken by the ship's photographers, especially on embarkation. That photo becomes the first page of our album. We like having our portrait taken on formal nights. Maybe it's because we are so happy on a cruise that we look pretty good in most of the photos. I was upset that no ship photographer took our photos when we visited the Pyramids. Seemed like everyone else had a souvenir photo taken except us.

What wouldn't I do again? Have an oily massage just before the Suite Cocktail Party.

Mrs M[/QUOTE]

We usually have ours taken as well. We don't really have all that many family portraits done, but the ones are the cruise are treasured memories. We don't buy them all, but we get at least one for each of us from each cruise.

I won't eat at Tamarind or the Pinnacle Grill on my next cruise.

[monina01]

I will never ever step out of the bathroom nekkid anymore without in advance having closed the curtain thingie that partitions the "hall" and the rest of the room...................:o

[Wakepatrol]

Some of you are about as exciting

as a wet wick at a fireworks display

[smokinmike]

I'll never not want to wade ashore at the Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke.

[BellBoys]

We will never have breakfast in the lido ever again there is just too much commotion. Prefer the MDR, Pinnacle or room service for a quiet start to the day. Edited August 20, 2013 by BellBoys

[shrimp56]

[quote name='blueboro'] Bring back Horse Racing!![/quote]

YES! That is lovely fun.

[igraf]

Someone always has to say that...

It means we sleep in land-based hotels, as opposed to on a ship.

igraf





[quote name='HamOp'][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4][COLOR=Blue]So glad to hear the new interstate highway from LA to Hawaii is finally done. :D
[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[COLOR=Magenta](I knew what you meant, but couldn't resist. :o)[/COLOR][/quote] Edited August 20, 2013 by igraf

[RuthC]

[quote name='Thebes']What is ROFL please ? Excuse my ignorance.[/quote]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=royalblue]Mary thoughtfully answered your question. For future reference, though, there's a sticky at the top of the HAL board with lists of common acronyms and their meanings. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[magandab]

Last cruise I decided to go out of my way to get my pictures taken. I remember, especially as we got off the tender in Akaroa, the photographer was there, and I went over and posed for him. The look on his face was priceless! He was clearly tired of the brusque reactions he had been getting so he enjoyed that someone was eager to let him snap a photo. Turned out to be one of the photos I bought.

[AlohaPride]

[quote name='Thebes']LoL.........I live in Oregon and like u I would love to do the Hawaii circle but we're doing the 14 day collectors Caribbean in feb. wonder if Hawaii circle runs in winter time ? It should[/QUOTE]

It runs in the Fall. Winter wouldn't be too great because that's when we get our waves ;)

[jimmy2x]

[quote name='Thebes']Thanks jimmy,

Wondering what would be the best way to find those independent operators ? Internet websites ? Or off the ship upon arrival ? Im talking here specifically Jamaica[/QUOTE]

Best to arrange ahead of time. Check the port of call boards for Jamaica.

[Thebes]

[quote name='sppunk']We won't:

- visit the Caribbean, even if free
- sail FROM New Jersey or New York on any cruise shorter than 14 days
- eat at Pinnacle on Eurodam
- pose for photos / buy photos
- attend any production show
- do any Mariner / suite brunch/happy hour/etc[/QUOTE]

Hi sppunk,
Wonder what's your rationale for not doing happy hours? I'm guessing , crowded ?

[pxn748]

Stingray City is really cool we have done it two times. For us the ship's tours spend enough time there.

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

I won't have anything to do with computers or cell phones for a whole week....:D! It is my vacation from personal electronics.

[kakalina]

No photos ( unless it is a new port - we have a wall of ports visited)
No art auctions
No bingo
No scavenger hunts
No MDR
No cruise less than 21 days.
No internet
No disembark talks
No sales pitches
No "ship" stores
Few if ever ship excursions - sometimes that is all that's available in certain ports.