What Do You Do

[qsuzi]

What do you do to make the time go faster or seem to go faster between HAL cruises? We are so eager to try HAL but our first HAL cruise isn't until March. Any tips?

[kazu]

What do you do to make the time go faster or seem to go faster between HAL cruises? We are so eager to try HAL but our first HAL cruise isn't until March. Any tips?

 

there's always planning - that can fill in the time :)

 

checking the hotel to see if it has gone down in price. :)

 

looking for ideas, cruising the ports boards for tips and then of course, there is your own life at home. That can keep you pretty busy and make the time fly away as well.

[sail7seas]

I never had a 'plan' to make the time go faster. Who wants to wish away their lives a day at a time? :D Do the things expected of you, do the things you enjoy and do your planning for your cruise. :)

[maxout]

Research ports (if they're new to me), plan/set up excursions, participate in the roll call, read the other roll calls for the same cruise to get ideas/info, get things set up for home as we tend to take longer cruises now.

[Winters in NZ]

I never had a 'plan' to make the time go faster. Who wants to wish away their lives a day at a time? :D Do the things expected of you, do the things you enjoy and do your planning for your cruise. :)

 

Have to agree with you on that one, sail7seas. I don't understand why anyone would wish their days away....just doesn't make any sense to me.

[wander]

I'm with Sail on this one. I really live by my father's advice - "Don't wish your life away!" It is too short and precious to wish it away. However, that does not preclude spending time planning, researching, dreaming, etc.

 

Other way to think about an upcoming trip:

Anticipation can be half the fun, enjoy it.

The sooner the trip starts the sooner it ends.

[Lizzie68]

Lighten up, people. The OP is obviously excited about their upcoming cruise and wanting it to come quicker. Do you not remember anticipating Christmas when you were a kid?

[Alberta Quilter]

I start planning the following cruise/vacation!!

[qsuzi]

I appreciate ALL the comments. Guess I have just been looking at too many pix and comments about the Veendam and the Westerdam. It took us awhile to even think about HAL and we are ready for the experience. A special thank you to Lizzie for your comment. After 30ish cruises it is great to be this excited and have sweeter anticipation.

Edited November 17, 2014 by qsuzi

[taxmantoo]

Take a Princess cruise ? :D

[callmebetty]

When we get down to 120ish days...we have a peg board. I number them all and face the numbers forward. Each day I turn a day over and on the back is a cruise memory or something I don't want to forget to pack.

[sail7seas]

When we get down to 120ish days...we have a peg board. I number them all and face the numbers forward. Each day I turn a day over and on the back is a cruise memory or something I don't want to forget to pack.

 

 

 

:) What a fun idea.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[PathfinderEss]

Life passes fast enough, I don't think you need to do anything to make it pass faster. Just relax and know it will get here soon enough.

[rkacruiser]

The more mature--you will note I did not say the older I become--I become, the planning for a trip becomes increasingly enjoyable. I like doing the research for airfares, airlines, cruises, excursions, hotels, etc. I enjoy the booking of the travel experience and am excited in doing so. I rather like making sure all the details are taken care of well in advance of the trip, i.e passport not expired, visas in order, money/traveler's checks obtained, credit card companies notified, mail stopped, etc.

 

Then, comes the packing. Pleasant for me? Not so much!

 

Flying to a port? Maybe OK; maybe not. Once I am on my flight to my port of embarkation, a Bloody Mary (in the morning) or a CC-7 after Noon makes it really OK!

 

But, once I am on the ship: all of the whatever unpleasantness disappears and I am thankful to be able to have another cruise experience!

[take us away]

As a consummate planner I LOVE the preplanning as it adds to the excitement of the upcoming trip. Spend time surfing many areas of the web for ideas of what to do in a port, how to get to where we want to go as we usually do not take ship's excursions (although they are a good information source for what to do in a port), what each activity may cost as we try not to use our credit card in foreign ports. All the information goes into a folder or binder for easy access. Then there are the lists .... Now that we are retired and travel more often, we have the standard lists that just get tweeked and printed off; items to bring, clothes to pack, what needs to be 'turned off' like the mail and paper, last minute activities such as turning down the water heater. Had a friend who in her excitement, forget to empty her trash and when she got home after 3 weeks, the house was just awful!

[Prisc777]

A Fun Cruise is that we plan :)

[qsuzi]

Thanks again to all for your comments and suggestions.

[iancal]

We are always in travel planning mode. And we sometimes take advantage of last minute travel offers/cruises.