Vwjo

I'll usually bring at least a deck of cards - it makes for a nice low-key night at the pub on the promenade to have a few beers and play a few card games (or learn a new game!) 

Cards, Dominoes and Scrabble.

Just read the live blog from @Scatmanjack about his family's cruise on Independence, and was intrigued by his coverage of the game room and how his family brought along some board games for family time. Made me wonder, as we're doing the cruise nerd signs / "it's been too long" signs thing. I mean, there are rainy days from time to time that keep everyone indoors. So...
What board games would you bring / have you brought on a cruise?
If nothing else, it'll give everyone a little more insight into the folks on these boards. ?
So I'll start off, with the games I think I'd bring for our upcoming family cruise on Freedom:
Carcassonne Settlers of Catan Apples to Apples (maybe, looks like this might be a standard on the ships) Cards Against Humanity (more my older daughter on this one, in case she meets any like-minded teens on board) Apart from that, if Freedom has Cribbage in their game room I'd be happy to play some other passengers. ?

Heh, heh, heh ... you can't go wrong with Battleship, Walk the Plank or Rum and Pirates.
pops

On  a rainy, windy sea day we were thankful my brother packed domino's.  3 kids, Grandma and 3 adults pass the afternoon drinking (virgin and not so virgin Pina Coladas) and playing Mexican dominoes!  Good Times.

My wife and I bring a small travel Scrabble set.  We like to sit and play while we people watch.  It also helps for layovers when flying to/from the port.  

We just got off Vision and there were some games in with the books (no "proper" library on her).  On each day, there were a couple hours set aside for "Informal Cards and Games" in the Portside Dining Room.  Also had Family Wii Sports in the Schooner Lounge each day.

We do enjoy larger cabins from time to time but generally just get interiors to save money and really aren't in the cabin much.   We just got back from a 5 night on Empress and the cabin was smaller than some other interiors we have had.    We asked the room guy/steward to split the beds and it created alot more useable space and an aisle to get out of bed without trying to squeeze by cabinets.  He gave us a funny look and asked "are you two ok?"   Lol!   Yea, we are fine, happily married.   Anybody else do this or are we strange?
 
BTW, this is interior cabin 3109 on Empress of the Seas.  We tried a guaranteed cabin (GTY) this time and it worked out just fine.  We will do that again in the future.
 

LOL Nothing wrong with it at all!  We had ours split one cruise too.  We were in an interior with our two boys.  They were in two pullmans, and having the beds together underneath that was crazy weird.  They jumped down onto our bed then had to scootch to the end of the bed to get out, or, move over to where the gap was between the beds & the wall then duck to get out.  For us, we had to do the same, scootch to the end or the side (which being an adult made it harder than for the kids).  
We asked for our beds to be split, and boy was life easier!  The kids could use the ladder down to the gap inbetween and off they went.  No more plopping on our beds.  
We sleep together every night - a week apart never kills anyone!  LOL 

I have always been "colorful" and not one to follow the beaten path. I have had a couple occasions  where staff had to ask me nicely to stop fishing off my balcony. This time I decided to go a slightly different direction. Brought my daughter to Coco Cay when she was about seven and came up with a "good way" to spice her trip up some. I brought her to the little shallow beach away from the popular snorkeling one to do some "special snorkeling". Being a fisherman and diver over the years I developed a collection of old galleon "pirate coins". brought one along tucked in my waist band. The water on that south beach was maybe knee deep, sand bottom and of course gin clear. We were maybe thirty yard from shore and I tossed the coin out in front of us without her seeing... I nudged her and kept her on course to "find" it... I remember her making noises through her snorkel when she "found" it.  
"Daddy its a pirate coin!" Wow was she excited! Mission accomplished  (or so I thought). We exited the water and she ran off showing the coin to every person she saw. Before I knew it,  the other areas emptied out and we were "joined" with a couple thousand "treasure hunters"... She's 27 this year and getting married. I had that coin set and unbeknownst to her I will make it available for her to wear when I walk her down the aisle... ?

I’m not sure why those people are so mad. Frustrated yes. But most of those ports were missed because of weather/high winds. It not like the ship had mechanical problems. And to scream in the face of an officer? Terrible. What is wrong with people? Geez. 

FREE continental breakfast room service to enjoy on our balcony

I remove mine when I am not cruising.  I like to have it to check the schedules of what is going on.

Both. Each serves as a back-up in case the other fails. And the chances are I will also have a copy saved as a PDF on a second device, usually my tablet. Can you say overkill? 

Nope, can all be done with the app
Though I do still like to have the paper ones in my carry on just in case my phone lets me down

How to take full advantage of the cruise planner, including the benefits of booking activities and shows on the Oasis and Quantam Class, sales on drink and internet packages, as well as making reservations in advance for excursions. The convenience of booking excursions in advance, even if they are not on sale, saves mere time waiting to talk to and book an excursion as the sales center on board. As I have cruised these last few times, I have really understood more and more the advantages of all of this offered on Cruise Planner. I credit a lot of this to this blog as well a one or two other sites I have found helpful. These sites work because the tips are all coming from fellow cruisers who learned from other fellow cruisers that came before them. Thankful for that!!!

I just re-booked myself. It was very easy and the agent on the phone took care of it quickly.
 
My rebooking was for an upgraded cabin. I spend 15 minutes on hold, spent $230 and now have room 8164 on Empress of the seas. Well worth it in my opinion.  

The Cruise Compass I submitted (and now posted) was for the 27 September sailing and only a week old.  

We returned this morning from Mariner of the Seas and I submitted the weekend Cruise Compass for posting here.  That will have the show times.  

While I guess it CAN be done, we have never asked for it to be done.  I am too picky about my stuff and I would not be comfortable with anyone else unpacking for me....that's just me.
If you are in a loft suite you need to make SURE that the Genie knows you want your bags taken upstairs.  If you don't say anything to them your bags will be left downstairs.  No bueno.

I guess there has to be some benefit to living with you. ?
I kid because I love!

She's using me for my C&A status.....

Thanks y'all. I got her set up and we will see if we can do enough cruises to get anywhere on the rewards program.  If it were up to me, we'd take every vacation on a cruise.  She likes them, too, but I think I'm the addict. 

Not sure how many cruises it is on sale for but it was $24.99 now it is $19.99 thats 20%off

If you get The Key, you get to have the Chops menu for lunch (in either the MDR or Chops). Looking forward to missing the crowd on lunch first thing.

Oh yeah, the room service coffee, fresh fruit, sweet roll thing is just the pre-game meal. You'll be throwing down a little later after you take a shower, do some housekeeping and got the kinks out of your legs and feet.