Traditions

[mikesstuff]

Hey Gang,

 

I'm kinda burned out on hearing all the fire talk lately. How about we lighten the mood of the board some with listing any kind of traditions you and your spouse, friends, or family do when cruising. :) I'm a soon to be first time cruiser and am curious what others have do.

 

mike

[secretcastle]

Hi Mike,

I like to start way before the cruise - one thing I do is make a music CD (this time I made one for the whole group) , this time I made one with Calypso/pirate/vacation tunes to listen to during the long wait for the cruise.

Where are you cruising to?

Julia

[D4]

Sounds like a nice topic. With our family of 4, on each cruise we each pick out our favorite crew member that doesn't gets tips. Throughout the week we talk about who we think our own favorite is and why. It needs to be someone you happen to see a lot. Then near the end of the week, we each give $5 to our favorite and tell them why. They're always blown away. We also get their name and write about them on the comment card. It's a great feeling to make someone's day. It also teaches my kids a great lesson in thanking workers that do jobs that aren't in the spotlight.

 

Some of the people we've acknowledged have been a worker that paints the outside of the ship, a worker always vacumming the stairs, and people like that.

[Charliesmom]

What a wonderful way to instill pride in their work!!!

 

Kudos to you for recognizing the rest of the people who make a cruise great.

 

Roberta

[Linda the Book Lover]

D4, What a wonderful idea!

[WeLuvCruising]

Hey All, I've been reading the boards for the last few days, and this is a wonderful change of topic. My heart goes out to everyone that was on board the Star, may you all experience only happy sailings in your future!

 

DH and I started a tradition about 5 years ago, we like to call it our Pay it

Forward (after the Helen Hunt movie). We choose a port in advance of our cruise, load up on goodies from the dollar store (pencils, colouring books, tennis balls, even bottles of bubbles) we ask a taxi driver to take us to a school or orphanage and we spend an hour or so playing Santa and Mrs Claus.

 

For any of you that were on the Nov '04 Island Princess will remember DH and I (word had gotten out what we did).

 

We feel its a small thing that we can do, however, the smiles on their faces will remain intact in your memories!

 

Pay it Forward,

Cheers,

[Ethel5]

We bring a bubble gun and make a lot of bubbles during sailaway! they cost about $5 at Wal-Mart and really make an impression.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Before the muester drill, we put on our lifejackets in the cabin and take photos of each other. Then we take off the jackets and carry them to the drill. We do this every cruise.

[mikesstuff]

Wow some great ideas. I especially liked the school "Pay it Forward" idea. I may have to look into doing something like that.

 

We will be going on Caribbean Princess March 2007. Can't wait!

[mikesstuff]

Here are some things a crew member noted as being the coolest things he's seen people do on a cruise. I have to admit, this is where I got the idea for this thread. If you haven't read this blog before, bookmark it! He posts some great stuff!

http://crewoffice.blogspot.com/2006/03/and-now-for-something-completely.html

[MHS4]

If you haven't read this blog before, bookmark it! He posts some great stuff!

http://crewoffice.blogspot.com/2006/03/and-now-for-something-completely.html

 

What great ideas -- especially like the Map & Where's Gramma? Imagine the Drink tradition would certainly provide a FUN cruise!

 

Unfortunately, other than enjoying morning coffee delivered to our cabin, and playing a few games of cribbage (a traditional sailor's card game, DH claims)while enjoying a special cofee in the late afternoon if we are back from port tour , we don't have any wild & whacky traditions.

[kftw]

We don't have any special traditions except enjoying every minute of the cruise, but think we will be adopting D4's. What a wonderful idea.

[A Sixth?]

We always find a spot to watch the sunset, always!

 

It's surprising how few people actually are on deck for it. We have a drink to toast another day as the sun slips below the horizon, and so far it's brought good luck on all our cruises.

 

Maybe not a tradition, but I also always find little things to add to the photo album to with pictures of our cruise experience; ticket stubs and beer labels from ports that we've visited. Stamps are great souvenirs, menus, even store receipts.

 

It makes the photos of the vacation also a scrapbook. It'll make you cry when you look at an old bar bill from 20 years ago ($ 1.25 for a beer!!! :eek: )

[envy4u]

I like to pay it forward too . We went to the Domincan Republic in January .We brought all kinds of gifts for the staff and children of staff of he hotel we were staying at in addition to $ . They were so thankful but we were the ones who felt blessed !

[mikesstuff]

One thing I plan on doing is at each port drinking a beer and then filling the bottle with sand and maybe some small sea shells from the beach. I know, not very original but a great memento.

[TorontoTL]

Sounds like a nice topic. With our family of 4, on each cruise we each pick out our favorite crew member that doesn't gets tips. Throughout the week we talk about who we think our own favorite is and why. It needs to be someone you happen to see a lot. Then near the end of the week, we each give $5 to our favorite and tell them why. They're always blown away. We also get their name and write about them on the comment card. It's a great feeling to make someone's day. It also teaches my kids a great lesson in thanking workers that do jobs that aren't in the spotlight.

 

Some of the people we've acknowledged have been a worker that paints the outside of the ship, a worker always vacumming the stairs, and people like that.

 

That's a great idea and a wonderful way of making someone feel so good.

 

I don't have any great traditions but one thing that we do, and I'm sure many people would say that it's not that unusual is that we go up to the Horizon Court before bedtime. On our cruises we don't typically use the buffet. However, we like to go up to the buffet to "Look at it, and see what they are serving" before going to bed. This typically results in more than just looking.