Keeping up the tradition ? Feels like my first cruise-

[marshhawk]

We all complain about cutbacks, but I have found a way to make the cruise, the way it was when we started cruising.

 

I bring dove chocolate, and put one each night on the pillow.

 

I bring my own fancy tea bags, and take them to tea. I also have a nice chamomile that I have each night before bed time.

 

I do decorate my door.

 

What do you do to make your cruise feel like the first cruise?

[marshhawk]

I should have asked what can you do to get that same feeling of wonderful treatment...

at least I don't have to make my own towel animals.

[Drazil65]

I do not have to make my bed or cook, someone else is driving me around for 7 days and dropping me off in exotic ports so I can lay on the beach or do whatever I want all day, I can nap, I have a vast ocean and a balcony to watch the sun rise each morning and reflect on how grateful I am to be right there with the most important people in the world to me (DH & DS)....this makes it exciting everytime I step on a ship...63 days to go...:D

[mom says]

You started cruising on Cunard, but have sailed Carnival the last few times. No wonder you feel the need to pack all that stuff just to try to recapture your first cruise experiences!

 

I just sail with lines that give me those things.

[BlueRiband]

You started cruising on Cunard, but have sailed Carnival the last few times. No wonder you feel the need to pack all that stuff just to try to recapture your first cruise experiences!

 

I just sail with lines that give me those things.

 

So true! You get what you pay for.... and you have to pay for what you want to get!

[Floridiana]

One way to do it is an upgrade to a higher cabin category and/or to a luxury ship. :cool:

 

Great ideas! I don't do anything, but the idea of better tea bags appeals to me.

[marshhawk]

Yup started out as a kid moving over seas, and we moved via Cunard, to and from. I had no choice in the matter, and my dad didn't pay for the transfer.

 

Then we did the Maine Windjammer, you know, you raise the sail, you haul the anchor, you row the "tender" to shore. But I found Carnival as an elderly adult, and I am almost to platinum, on a line I can afford. I started this on a Carnival page, and the moderators moved it to here- I guess so that we can all learn that other folks have lots of money and they can cruise on what they want. That wasn't the point of the thread, so go ahead and tell some little old lady she needs to spend more money on fancier cruise lines.

 

Have a nice day.

[mom says]

That wasn't the point of the thread, so go ahead and tell some little old lady she needs to spend more money on fancier cruise lines.

 

Have a nice day.

 

May I remind you of what you asked in your first post:

What do you do to make your cruise feel like the first cruise?

No one was telling you what to do. You asked, and we told you what WE do. Not our fault if you don't like the answers. Oh, and I'm a little old lady, too. So that don't fly.

[Keith1010]

My wife and I bring a positive attitude with us.

 

We don't focus on anything that has been cut but rather we focus on the moment and how fortunate we are to cruise.

 

We also have some traditions we follow on embarkation day.

 

Keith

[shipgeeks]

We still cherish the moment when we step aboard.

We dress for dinner each evening, and enjoy a leisurely meal with conversation.

We spend time just gazing at the ocean, while the ship is in transit.

Those are things we can control, and they are all special to us.

[leaveitallbehind]

Clearly everyone has good responses and thoughts on what you all do, and this is not a knock on any of that. But I have a different spin on this. It's not as important to us to recreate our first cruise feeling. Over the years our cruising style has evolved considerably and we don't cruise even close to the same manner we did on our earlier cruises.

 

And we enjoy our cruises now in a different, and IMO, better way than we did in our early years. It is now far less hectic, less "following the crowds", less focus on the clock and where we need to be to do whatever the daily planner says, and far more relaxation and enjoying being at sea away from our daily routine. Cruising just for the sake of doing so.

 

We have also over the years met a number of other cruisers with whom we now cruise frequently - some of whom we also plan time together back on land. As a result, our expectations are more oriented towards our next experience with them. Or simply our next cruise by ourselves.

 

So in our case, rather than to try to recreate the feeling of the first one, we get or enjoyment from just boarding the ship and starting the next in our series of cruises and building our memories and experiences on that.

Edited January 27, 2018 by leaveitallbehind

[javamom]

It's too bad you didn't specify Carnival in your post. I can read between the lines to realize you didn't personally/specifically mean your very first cruise. I bet every cruise line represented by these comments has had cutbacks and it's these cutbacks to which you refer.

One thing I do is still dress formally on formal night, which Carnival now calls elegant. Many people do not even dress elegantly on said night. We dress up as we always have and enjoy it. We wish as many people still did as when we first cruised as it was just a totally different ambiance.

[marshhawk]

thanks java, it was in reference to Carnival and I guess I was too broad for the monitors. lesson learned. you just know me too well.!