Exactly HOW, What happens at the start..

[3happyferrets]

A couple of things I've picked up on these boards- I buy a travel bottle of Lysol to spray down the handles in the room and the remote, you don't have to but I'm a germaphobe so it makes me feel better. I've gotten a door hanging shoe holder to put a lot of things in like toiletries ( I found this one of the best pieces of advice from these boards). It frees up so much counter space. Also like others say, a highlighter and I take pens too, helps me remember on the cruise compass the activities I want to do. And finally, I get one of the Febreze disposable air freshness for the bathroom. I feel like it makes our room smell fresher and you just throw it away at the end of the trip. I know that's not a play by play of the day, but the CC people shared it with me and I appreciated the knowledge. And like other people have said, don't stress too much. All of us at one time were on our first cruise and clearly they went well because we keep going back! Have a great trip[emoji4]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[dwayneb236]

On the day of departure we arrive at the port, give our bags to the porter, check in, carry on what we carry on, eat, go to our room, nap for a few, wander the ship and see what's going on. We don't pre mark everything in the planner, we glance at it to see if there is anything that interests us, we may miss it and we don't really care, we don't check on our dining arrangements as we never eat in the dining room, just not for us , we don't go lay out at the pool or gamble. We are boring, we just enjoy being on the ship with absolutely nothing planned other than what we want to do at the time. Sadly the next cruise we are traveling with 3 other couples which means we'll have to coordinate with others instead of just doing what we want. Sigh... my wife's idea. .

 

Having said that, I did pre book all of our shows on the last cruise on the Harmony as we were told it was necessary. Shows were pretty crowded so nice that service was offered.

[bobmacliberty]

I also suggest enjoying sailaway...as the ship starts pulling away from the pier and heads out to sea. You can either be down on the pool deck dancing/being close to the band and the excitement there, or up on the deck above the pool at the railing watching the scenery go by (might vary depending on the ship). We prefer to watch from the railing. If you're leaving from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, or NYC, I recommend the port (left) side of the ship. For the FLA ports, you'll have a better view of the beaches and the people waving to the ship. For Port Liberty, you should be able to see the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline in the distance. Some experienced cruisers who have been there/done that don't get as mush excitement out of sailaway anymore, but we still enjoy this as the way to officially get the cruise started.

 

Good trick also to remember the difference between port and starboard...the words port and left both have 4 letters in them. Port = left and starboard = right.

[jennio2015]

Unpack your clothes into the drawers and closet and stow your suitcases under the bed so you don't have to drag them out all the time. I wipe down surfaces with sanitizing wipes first :-)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums