What are the things you ''ALWAYS'' do on a cruise that other people dont.

[ExpatBride]

Stay on the ship until it's time to disembark. Norway is my favourite place to cruise and I sail for the scenery, so I board the ship and stay on until it's time to get off. I love having it mostly to myself during port days. 

Edited May 2, 2023 by ExpatBride

[lynncarol]

My husband and I only bring carry-on luggage whenever we travel and we don't use the ship laundry unless it is free. Tricky to do...especially as I always bring my personal small pillow along. More challenging on a long cruise (17 days) but we are good at handwashing clothes at night and our perks on one line gives us a bag of free laundry..  

[MBP&O2/O]

What do I do that others don't?

 

I avoid any hyper CD or anybody that exhorts you to have their idea of 'fun' ..... ie spend money on booze. I am quite capable of enjoying myself without needing advice on how to do so.

 

I avoid any sailaway party .... just not interested ... especially when linked to the above 🙂

 

 

[SPacificbound]

We have never gone to a pool on a ship, with any cruise line. 

 

We do not go to any loud "party type" activities.

 

We do use our cabin and our balcony, it's not just a place to sleep.

 

We do send our laundry out, other than things that could we ruined. Those I hand wash while in the shower.

Edited May 5, 2023 by SPacificbound
added to content

[DarrenM]

21 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

What do I do that others don't?

 

I avoid any hyper CD or anybody that exhorts you to have their idea of 'fun' ..... ie spend money on booze. I am quite capable of enjoying myself without needing advice on how to do so.

 

I avoid any sailaway party .... just not interested ... especially when linked to the above 🙂

 

 

Forced fun is a dreadful concept.

[sydney dog]

We never go to the pool and we always do trivia.

Edited May 18, 2023 by sydney dog

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, sydney dog said:

We never go to the pool and we always do trivia.

My DW spends lots and lots of time in the pool and if uncrowded tries to swim laps. I spend no time in the pool, but as much as I can at trivia.

[Sailin Gal]

Bubbles.  It started several years ago on a girls’ cruise when we each had little bubble wand bottles in the goodie bags one of the girls brought. Any time we have a balcony, I try to take a bubble wand. 

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, Sailin Gal said:

Bubbles.  It started several years ago on a girls’ cruise when we each had little bubble wand bottles in the goodie bags one of the girls brought. Any time we have a balcony, I try to take a bubble wand. 

 

Ok, now that is something that most others don't do!  Nice!  

[simplelife]

On disembarkation day, everyone seems to be in a hurry to leave the ship. We like to wait a bit. We clear out of our cabin early (we know the stewards have a short turnaround time), enjoy breakfast in the  MDR, and find a quiet place to sit on the upper decks and wait for the crowds on the lower decks to subside. We usually wait until they announce "all passengers debark" and pretty much just walk of the ship with short, if any, lines.. If we have silent debarkation, we choose the latest time. So much less stress. (We generally drive to port, so we are not worried about flight times).

[Lois R]

7 minutes ago, simplelife said:

On disembarkation day, everyone seems to be in a hurry to leave the ship. We like to wait a bit. We clear out of our cabin early (we know the stewards have a short turnaround time), enjoy breakfast in the  MDR, and find a quiet place to sit on the upper decks and wait for the crowds on the lower decks to subside. We usually wait until they announce "all passengers debark" and pretty much just walk of the ship with short, if any, lines.. If we have silent debarkation, we choose the latest time. So much less stress. (We generally drive to port, so we are not worried about flight times).

You are not alone. If I can be in the "last group" off? I would do it every time too.

[MississippiMom]

Anyone on here hide the ducks on the ship for folks to find?  Or the opposite (I guess) - hunt for the ducks?  On our last cruise our 6 year old nephew was so very excited about finding a duck that I'm tempted to take some on our upcoming cruise.  But is the small ducks around the ship a "thing everyone does" or a "thing no one does"?

[BklynBoy8]

3 hours ago, simplelife said:

On disembarkation day, everyone seems to be in a hurry to leave the ship. We like to wait a bit. We clear out of our cabin early (we know the stewards have a short turnaround time), enjoy breakfast in the  MDR, and find a quiet place to sit on the upper decks and wait for the crowds on the lower decks to subside. We usually wait until they announce "all passengers debark" and pretty much just walk of the ship with short, if any, lines.. If we have silent debarkation, we choose the latest time. So much less stress. (We generally drive to port, so we are not worried about flight times).

 

Nice !

[jsn55]

3 hours ago, simplelife said:

On disembarkation day, everyone seems to be in a hurry to leave the ship. We like to wait a bit. We clear out of our cabin early (we know the stewards have a short turnaround time), enjoy breakfast in the  MDR, and find a quiet place to sit on the upper decks and wait for the crowds on the lower decks to subside. We usually wait until they announce "all passengers debark" and pretty much just walk of the ship with short, if any, lines.. If we have silent debarkation, we choose the latest time. So much less stress. (We generally drive to port, so we are not worried about flight times).

We do the same, always have except probably 40 years ago when we didn't know any better.  We spend the night at a local hotel, usually where I have status, check in early, dump our luggage and go sightseeing. Depends on what we've been doing during the cruise, sometimes we just lay around reading books all day and find a nice place for dinner.  We fly home the next day.  Once you start eliminating stress from your travels, you'll never go back to 'normal'.  

[davekathy]

On 4/4/2023 at 2:00 PM, DarrenM said:

A couple of years ago my wife starting running aged 55. I then started six months later aged 56.

 

We now run, separately, about 3-4 times a week.

 

So on the ship we are up early using the jogging track for its actual purpose.

 

You have to get up really early to do this. Problem is its sometimes very wet.

 

Anyway, we are both training for two half marathons so we need to keep up the training.

 

And as I like the food a bit too much, the weight would soon be back on.

 

 

I'm on the walking track NLT 6:AM and walk (cross between power and speed walker) for 1.5 hours. By 7:30 I'm gone as the track is getting way to crowded with all styles and those that don't know proper track etiquette. The best cruise ship track that I've ever walked was on Celebrity's Apex. 

[Woody14]

On 5/3/2023 at 7:17 AM, lynncarol said:

My husband and I only bring carry-on luggage whenever we travel 

That is us as well.   

My last trip to Mexico I got so excited of the real vanilla (and its price) I bought a big bottle to bring back and then when packing up realized 'doh I am traveling with only carry on' and I could not take it back.  some times there is a price to pay for the liberating feeling of traveling light.

[DarrenM]

On 5/24/2023 at 6:08 PM, davekathy said:

I'm on the walking track NLT 6:AM and walk (cross between power and speed walker) for 1.5 hours. By 7:30 I'm gone as the track is getting way to crowded with all styles and those that don't know proper track etiquette. The best cruise ship track that I've ever walked was on Celebrity's Apex. 

Yeh I can sort of vouch for this, as I have been on Celebrity Edge which I believe has the same track.

 

You are right about doing it very early too, as some people seem to think its fine to put their deck chairs across it. Or walk hand in hand like they own the road. cant even attempt to walk in single file.

[jsn55]

1 minute ago, DarrenM said:

Yeh I can sort of vouch for this, as I have been on Celebrity Edge which I believe has the same track.

 

You are right about doing it very early too, as some people seem to think its fine to put their deck chairs across it. Or walk hand in hand like they own the road. cant even attempt to walk in single file.

I was out walking on 'the track' one morning, RCL I think.  A group of 5 or 6 women came toward me, just yakking away.  They took up the whole track, and I stepped aside.  Around we went, same thing happened again, the smallest woman and loudest yapper brushed by my shoulder.  The third time, I just held my ground and she ran right into me.  That took care of that.  

[DarrenM]

6 minutes ago, jsn55 said:

I was out walking on 'the track' one morning, RCL I think.  A group of 5 or 6 women came toward me, just yakking away.  They took up the whole track, and I stepped aside.  Around we went, same thing happened again, the smallest woman and loudest yapper brushed by my shoulder.  The third time, I just held my ground and she ran right into me.  That took care of that.  

This I like a lot.

[navybankerteacher]

13 minutes ago, jsn55 said:

I was out walking on 'the track' one morning, RCL I think.  A group of 5 or 6 women came toward me, just yakking away.  They took up the whole track, and I stepped aside.  Around we went, same thing happened again, the smallest woman and loudest yapper brushed by my shoulder.  The third time, I just held my ground and she ran right into me.  That took care of that.  

It makes one wonder - what is so hard about about going in the right direction?

[Lois R]

4 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

It makes one wonder - what is so hard about about going in the right direction?

AND what is so difficult about having common courtesy.....? Look girls, MOVE your a$$es out of the way!

[DarrenM]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

It makes one wonder - what is so hard about about going in the right direction?

Genuine question. Is there a right way?

[davekathy]

22 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

Genuine question. Is there a right way?

The ship tracks I've been on have the lanes marked. One lane with running the other with walking. You have to be heading in the correct direction in order to read them. When I approach others that are lane hogging I always drag one of my heals (loud squeaking sound) to give notice so they'll look and hopefully move to one lane or the other or single file. If not I have a loud deep voice, "passing on your..." as I'm very quickly approaching them. 

Edited May 26, 2023 by davekathy

[davekathy]

2 hours ago, DarrenM said:

Yeh I can sort of vouch for this, as I have been on Celebrity Edge which I believe has the same track.

We have a future cruise booked on the Edge. According to what I've seen online the track layout is the same as the Apex.  

[navybankerteacher]

7 hours ago, DarrenM said:

Genuine question. Is there a right way?  As a practical matter, I think most ships serving UK customer bases would indicate a clockwise pattern - comparable to the way you enter traffic roundabouts.  Most US (and other) customer bases would see counterclockwise indications - for the same reason. 
 

In any event, I have seen arrows indicating desired direction.