TessOR

We've used the laundry bag program on almost every cruise we have been on.  It has it's limits, but somehow, in my head, I never considered that hubby can have his OWN bag.  I also pack clothes that do not need ironing.  I traveled in my career a lot and long ago found fabrics that do well packed!  Thanks everyone for the great ideas. 105 days to go - buy who's counting?

We gave up the evening gowns and suits a long time ago.  I generally do slacks and a nice top with jewelry for "formal night".  Initially, we were going to do the TA and then be in the UK for 2 days before leaving for Norway for 7 days at a hotel that would have had laundry facilities.  We decided to stay on the ship for a little 2 nights to France and that's when I started panicking.  The tips I have been getting have me thinking of various solutions.  I am not sure why I did not realize that we BOTH get to do a bag of laundry if needed with our D status. 
In case another greenie stumbles onto this board - here is my plan after gathering tips:
I ordered laundry sheets today - had never heard of them before I finally ordered the magnetic hooks that everyone talks about - for hanging items as needed Found reversible dresses - who knew? These are just casual, but with a sweater can dress up for evening if necessary I DO use packing cubes, so will order some for hubby as well Plan on taking advantage of the laundry days Packing only things that can wash in regular wash Thanks Everyone!   I'm excited!

We've used the laundry bag program on almost every cruise we have been on.  It has it's limits, but somehow, in my head, I never considered that hubby can have his OWN bag.  I also pack clothes that do not need ironing.  I traveled in my career a lot and long ago found fabrics that do well packed!  Thanks everyone for the great ideas. 105 days to go - buy who's counting?

We've used the laundry bag program on almost every cruise we have been on.  It has it's limits, but somehow, in my head, I never considered that hubby can have his OWN bag.  I also pack clothes that do not need ironing.  I traveled in my career a lot and long ago found fabrics that do well packed!  Thanks everyone for the great ideas. 105 days to go - buy who's counting?

@TessOR Don’t forget the bag of wash and fold laundry is for each leg of the b2b2b…that’s a lot of laundry. But, I’m pretty sure that’s for cruises of five nights or more.
Also, if you want…you can cram lots of stuff in your suitcase or packing cubes without worrying about wrinkles if you want to spend the $17 on the first day for the Express Press service. Again, pretty sure that’s for cruises of five nights or more. They’ll press your things overnight. Just remember you’re limited to ten items in the bag. I usually send out my nice shirts. Beats trying to carefully fold and pack after ironing them at home. They do a good job and come back nicely pressed on hangers. Also, some cruisers have commented about having very good results with Downey Wrinkle Release spray.
I also have some nice wrinkle free clothes that I use for cruising. Nice shorts and polo shirts that I just shake out and they’re fine. Even if I need to rinse them out, they dry quickly.
Don't forget the most important thing to pack; patience and a good attitude. You’ll be on a cruise! Enjoy!😎

We gave up the evening gowns and suits a long time ago.  I generally do slacks and a nice top with jewelry for "formal night".  Initially, we were going to do the TA and then be in the UK for 2 days before leaving for Norway for 7 days at a hotel that would have had laundry facilities.  We decided to stay on the ship for a little 2 nights to France and that's when I started panicking.  The tips I have been getting have me thinking of various solutions.  I am not sure why I did not realize that we BOTH get to do a bag of laundry if needed with our D status. 
In case another greenie stumbles onto this board - here is my plan after gathering tips:
I ordered laundry sheets today - had never heard of them before I finally ordered the magnetic hooks that everyone talks about - for hanging items as needed Found reversible dresses - who knew? These are just casual, but with a sweater can dress up for evening if necessary I DO use packing cubes, so will order some for hubby as well Plan on taking advantage of the laundry days Packing only things that can wash in regular wash Thanks Everyone!   I'm excited!

We gave up the evening gowns and suits a long time ago.  I generally do slacks and a nice top with jewelry for "formal night".  Initially, we were going to do the TA and then be in the UK for 2 days before leaving for Norway for 7 days at a hotel that would have had laundry facilities.  We decided to stay on the ship for a little 2 nights to France and that's when I started panicking.  The tips I have been getting have me thinking of various solutions.  I am not sure why I did not realize that we BOTH get to do a bag of laundry if needed with our D status. 
In case another greenie stumbles onto this board - here is my plan after gathering tips:
I ordered laundry sheets today - had never heard of them before I finally ordered the magnetic hooks that everyone talks about - for hanging items as needed Found reversible dresses - who knew? These are just casual, but with a sweater can dress up for evening if necessary I DO use packing cubes, so will order some for hubby as well Plan on taking advantage of the laundry days Packing only things that can wash in regular wash Thanks Everyone!   I'm excited!

Three different rooms are not a big issue.  You cabin steward will move your stuff. I always take Tide Pods and wash things in the sink and shower.  Use extra towels to suck out the excess water to help dry. When packing think about reusable and easy laundry.

Taking two of the grandkiddos on their first cruise.  We had originally scheduled this for 2020 and Alaska.  Do-over merits a different location.  Looking for tween-teen friendly activities. 

Also spending two days in Southampton.  On Saturday planning a day trip to Oxford, if my friend is still in school there, or to London.  Even if it rains, could still see the British Museum, or possibly a matinee concert followed by a nice tea.  

I am still figuring out timelines.  We plan to do the Norway sailing that is 2 days after this one.  Would like to see a show in NY while we are traveling, but I have not decided whether to do it at the beginning of the vacation, or after we get back from Europe.  Any tips on things to do while we are in Southampton for a couple days?
 

Glad to see someone else here finally!  Still a ways out, but since all the suites of any sort were taken when I booked, I thought there might be some early activity here. 
Still too far out to actually book so I am hoping the rates come down.  I am really hoping to add up enough points in air miles to get a free flight home though.  Using my United card for EVERYthing for the next 6 months! 

Just booked this incredible cruise.  It will be our first transatlantic.  Looking forward to 6 days of relaxation before arriving at the first port. 

If you like history or fancy seeing some really old ships I suggest riding the train to Portsmouth harbour and see the historic dockyard. 
 
They have the wreck of the Mary Rose (sank in the 1500s raised in the 80s) as well as HMS Victory which fought in the battle of trafalgar. 
 
Or there is the Seacity Museum which covers Southampton history , including the titanic  
Alternatively rent a car and go for a drive into the new forest (picturesque and lots of free roaming ponies)

The dates to this one has passed. 

Hi All,
Booked on this cruise yesterday. 
Flying over to the US from the UK a few days before, and plan on exploring the area a little bit. 
 
We are on a transatlantic this october from the UK to Barbados, on a UK cruise line. 
 
We have sailed, Disney, Princess, P & O and MSC 😩, so looking forward to seeing what Royal Caribbean is like 😄
 

We are also on this trip and are staying on board for the Norway fjords trip also.  We are interested in visiting the beach’s of Normandy but so far have not found any cruise related tours.  We’re looking into booking a semi private tour like Viator or something similar.  If anyone would be interested or has any ideas on the best way to do the Normandy tour please share. most groups are 8 or less persons.   Have not done too much research on this but want to get an early start to see who might be interested.  By the way we did transatlantic in Nov and it was great
Jim/Karen

You can try these websites.
https://www.mazatlantours.org/
https://www.puertovallartatours.net/
https://www.cabosanlucastours.net/
They are all run by the same company. We used them in Mazatlán without any problems.

I'm just waiting for a Geico ad or a plea from a Nigerian Prince to appear in my offers page.

whoever gets an offer first needs to let us know!!

He was able to board!  We are on the ship now.  They only asked if he has has symptoms in the past 24 hours and he could truthfully answer “no”.  So we’re all here!  Happy Sailing! 

After months of reading blogs and FB posts leading up to my cruise,it's finally come and gone and I thought I'd share a few things. Just got off Oasis this past Sunday...3 of us, 2 adults and an 11 yr old. 
1. Don't overpack. I read it a million times, I swore we wouldn't, yet..here we were with a large suitcase,a large duffel bag and three back packs. Packing up on our last night, cursing as I packed tons of unworn clothes,  unnecessary footwear and clothes for "cold nights". Next time it WILL be one suitcase and maybe a backpack. 
2. Magnetic hooks. Maybe they are helpful on older ships but our basic (boardwalk balcony) room had hooks on the bathroom wall, bathroom door, inside the shower, next to the front door and next to the vanity/ mirror on the desk. Plenty of hooks. We put a few on the balcony walls just because we brought them..but definitely not needed.  
3. Plug extender. This one came in handy..not needed,though. again would have had enough plugs between the ones behind the bed and the ones on the desk. We never needed to have more than one or two chargers in at any time. And all of our Android devices,including lap top and tablet all use the same charger. 
4. Take some adult time. I love my kid...I do. But after day 3 I needed some daddy time,once the wife and kid were down for the night..I strolled around on my own. Hit the casino, walked the pool deck, just sat on the balcony. I did this early in the morning sometimes also, since I am a very early riser and they are not. 
5.Maybe we missed something,but after all the reviews,we thought for sure we would have loved coco cay more. But we did chill beach, ate at a few stands, checked out the straw market, hung out in the pool for a bit...then were all ready to get back to the ship by maybe 1:30.  I don't know..maybe we will explore the other beaches next time,but we took advantage of the empty ship and enjoyed that more. 
6. Planned for the worst and got yhe opposite. Read so much about crowds,lines and food issues. We experienced none of this. The ship never felt over crowded, food was fine,service was amazing, shows were fantastic (no amount of reading or watching videos can compare with how amazing aqua 80 was in person). The only time we ever felt a little crowded was Windjammer. 
 
Edited to Add one more. 
Tipping/dining (I'll combine them):
We are over tippers. We are both former service workers,so we tip more than necessary.  I saw so many people posting how,besides the pre-paid tips, they tip additionally on every drink. I think I saw maybe 2 other people put cash on the bar the whole trip. I'm not shaming anyone..it's totally your choice since the drink price includes tip, just surprised how many people say they do it compared to the amount we actually saw. Also...dining at MDR,we did it 3 nights, and it never took longer than maybe 75-80 minutes. 
Overall it was an amazing trip on a beatiful ship.  I played way more mini golf than I could imagine, ate way more pizza and drank way too many mocktails. We can't wait to book our next one..already dropped the deposit at next cruise..just gotta pick the date!

Just booked this incredible cruise.  It will be our first transatlantic.  Looking forward to 6 days of relaxation before arriving at the first port. 

I concur that the MDR had much better coffee than elsewhere on the ship (Allure, April 2022), ESPECIALLY Windjammer. Promenade was ok. MDR > Promenade > Windjammer (IMO). We had a coffee card and I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed the MDR coffee that we ended up scrambling to use up our punches in the Promenade at the end of the cruise. I wouldn't call myself a coffee snob because I don't know much about it, but I do know we drink good flavored coffee at home (an espresso roast from Trader Joe's) and grind it fresh before using, so I can usually tell a better flavored coffee from a bad flavored coffee...

Would they consider something up at Bacalar?  Some sailing options up there - boat tours with swimming and fun in the water and Cenotes to explore might be an option for them.