Basic Rules of Cruising

[Jeanne S]

As a single person living alone (except for furry creatures), I look forward to cruising as a gift to myself. While there may be things that don't fall into the 'perfect' category, here are some of the things that make me happy:

• I leave my cabin for breakfast and come back to a freshly made bed. At home, the covers are still tangled and there's usually a cat asleep in the warm spot I left.
  
• Speaking of breakfast, somebody - who wasn't me - shopped, put away, prepared, served, and washed the dishes from all of the groceries.
  
• It's 20 degrees here in Atlanta - while it may be rainy or windy, I can sit on my cabin balcony and watch the world slide by the railing.
  
• Monday I will have to get up at 4:45, make my coffee, feed the cats and head for work. On the Monday of my cruise, I can sleep until noon if I want to AND somebody will still make my bed and cook my breakfast. OR I can ask for someone to bring me a Bloody Mary.

I think you see the pattern here - if you arrive on your cruise and leave the dock with the knowledge that you have no responsibilities for a whole week, things are pretty good. If I start to get irritated with something that isn't going GREAT onboard, I remember what I would be doing in my 'real life' and my happy cruising attitude pops right back up.

 

Togetherness? I was supposed to be cruising with my Mom on 3/30. She passed away unexpectedly on the 19th of this month. I would give up a year of my own life to be able to take that cruise with her. So, if it rains, or if it's stifling hot, grab a deck of cards, find a table somewhere comfortable and spend a couple of hours playing bridge, gin or even FISH. Tell stories. Laugh. Enjoy. Make a memory to last forever.

 

I wish you and your family the perfect cruise, but if things go wrong, remember - today you are stuck in traffic on an overcrowded bus. Today you are not shoveling a foot of snow off the sidewalk. Today you are surrounded and by people whose roles are to do everything they can to make you happy.

 

Enjoy![/quote

 

I cannot imagine the loss of my parents (and they are in thir 80's). We have had many wonderful cruises together. I will heed your advice and appreciate every moment we still have together as this is what memories are made of.

 

Jeannie

[Garn]

I met someone via CC (Suseanjean) who is a CIA trained chef and she thought the food was great.

 

You know, even though I'm familiar with the Cuilinary Institute of America, when I read that my first thought was of someone who is trained in preparing meals for undercover foreign agents.

 

We had a hard time getting Dad to sail with us back in 2002 (we took the Carnival Trimumph to Canada) as he had had some bad memories of being on a transport ship in the South Pacific during WW2 and was caught in a Typhoon.

 

While my father hadn't had any bad experiences, he had been on a Heavy Cruiser while in NROTC in college, and didn't see the glamour in cruising. Although he did say that the food in the Navy was surprisingly good and plentiful (of course since his mother was a notoriously horrible cook, his opinion may have been less-than-unbiased)

 

How old are your parents?

My dad just turned 73 and my mom is... younger than that ;) . My in-laws are about 10 years younger than my parents. But one of each pair has fought cancer, so we're very conscious of the opportunity to be together while we all can, because you never can tell that the future will bring- and we want our kids to have as many great memories with their grandparents as they can.

 

Its sounds like you have planned everything well. They should love crusing! When crusing with Mom and Dad on NCL we wound up going to the Seven Seas (the Crown) or the Venetian (the Dawn) at 5:30 when it opened for dinner as this is what Dad preferrerd (no lines). But that was fine - we just got back from the beach a little earlier in order to shower and be ready for dinner.

 

Luckily, we're all pretty adventurous diners, so I think we should all be able to find something to eat. (And of course, the beauty of Freestyle, if you didn't like the dining room dinner, stop by the tapas bar or order room service or stop by the buffet, or....)

 

Thanks for your post!