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What's your pre-cruise tradition(s)?


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Not being able to cruise this year made me realize we missed out on our pre-cruise tradition and it's something I really look forward to. Within two weeks of the sailing my wife and I watch Titanic. It started the night before our first cruise, in the hotel with not much to do and Titanic was on, so being the last movie someone would watch the night before their first cruise, we watched it; that was also the first time I've ever seen it (well, most of anyway since we tuned in after it started).

Needless to say, I enjoyed the movie and wanted to see it again from the beginning. When our second cruise came around a few months later I joked "we should watch Titanic again before we sail", well the joke turned into reality.

It has become such a tradition that in September 2019 we hosted a Titanic Movie Party for a bunch of our friends joining us on the cruise. 

Hopefully I get to see the Titanic in September 2021 :).

What's your pre-cruise tradition? 

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17 minutes ago, ehw51 said:

Always love it when you get your first sight of the ship driving up.

I'll never forget the reaction from one friend (a first timer) as we drove around the bend and he saw Anthem of the Seas.... He was impressed to say the least.

I'll also not forget a comment my other friend (not a first timer) made when we saw the first ship that happened to be a container ship... "Look it's a Carnival Cruise ship." 

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That One Last Trip to Walmart to pick up stuff I'd forgotten to get.

We also go out and eat foods that we're unlikely to get (usually Chinese or Vietnamese) while on board or near the hotels. We tend to take for granted all the Asian food options we have in Toronto, and forget that there might not be as much choice wherever we go.

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16 minutes ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

I make it a point to get travel sized stuff (& other helpful travel accessories) from Harmon.

I'm good with the travel-sized things - more than enough sample bottles and refillable travel bottles to get by (I like the soft silicone ones). 

It's mostly snacks and stuff that kids could eat on the plane (in the past, anyway) or in the pre-cruise hotel, or if I need to fill the emergency coffee stockpile with Starbucks Via singles.

Forgot to mention the daily weather check. Approximately 25% of Canadian conversations are about the weather (50% is comparing ourselves to the States, 20% is love and/or hate for the Maple Leafs, and 5% is "other", in case you were wondering) so I'm almost obliged to check out the weather patterns.

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13 minutes ago, Andy & Sheryl Unwin said:

We watch as many youtube videos (not just Matt's) about the ship we will be embarking on, for months ahead of time

 

Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules. Danny from Harr travel does some detailed walkthroughs. If you want to know where every outlet is in your stateroom or every bathroom on the pool deck, see if he's done the ship you're sailing.

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34 minutes ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules. Danny from Harr travel does some detailed walkthroughs. If you want to know where every outlet is in your stateroom or every bathroom on the pool deck, see if he's done the ship you're sailing.

I also watch those walkthroughs. It's certainly quite thorough. To be honest, I'm watching a LOT of YouTube content nowadays (although I generally watch the livestreams on delay - sorry Matt!) and it's probably bad since I have the travel bug again. 

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1 hour ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules. Danny from Harr travel does some detailed walkthroughs. If you want to know where every outlet is in your stateroom or every bathroom on the pool deck, see if he's done the ship you're sailing.

The safe in your room probably isn't quite large enough for a laptop, however! 

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1 hour ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules. Danny from Harr travel does some detailed walkthroughs. If you want to know where every outlet is in your stateroom or every bathroom on the pool deck, see if he's done the ship you're sailing.

 

25 minutes ago, Matt said:

Shocked Oh My God GIF

Harr travel does the most impressive ship and suite tours

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In addition to the endless YouTube video tours, I tweak and re-tweak my packing list, make sure the kids clothes still fit only to find out the week before we leave that they don't, and make the various Dollar Tree / Walmart runs for all the travel related things. We get the suitcases down a couple weeks before we leave so they can taunt us so we can finesse our packing a little bit more. Finally the night before embarkation we eat out somewhere around the hotel, load the kids up on Benadryl, and share a bottle of wine while we put on our luggage tags. 

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1 hour ago, KWong said:

and it's probably bad since I have the travel bug again. 

Same! I just read @Matt's latest blog post about double points being extended into Q1 of 2022 if we book by January 31st, 2021. Now I am looking at March 2022 cruises even though I wanted to wait until ships were sailing before making a new booking. I hope Royal Caribbean pays him a monthly stipend for all the blogs  tempting us to book more LOL! 

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Wow, I can't really think of too many. Sometimes I forget to pack until the last minute, if that's a tradition. I listen to reggae all year round, so there's no music that gets me psyched (and I can't stand Jimmy Buffet). No movies. I guess I am just boring. Perhaps dropping my dog off at my mother-in-laws house the night before? Oh, and if we're cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale, we always hit up The Field Irish pub right off the plane for onion rings and Guinness, followed by a walk out the jetty next to Halmos College to watch any ships leaving if there are. That's about it. 

 

22 hours ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

Within two weeks of the sailing my wife and I watch Titanic.

Terio at Popeye's | Know Your Meme

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11 minutes ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

Same! I just read @Matt's latest blog post about double points being extended into Q1 of 2022 if we book by January 31st, 2021. Now I am looking at March 2022 cruises even though I wanted to wait until ships were sailing before making a new booking. I hope Royal Caribbean pays him a monthly stipend for all the blogs  tempting us to book more LOL! 

Yay that's great news! Looks like we could make it to Diamond before the end of 2022 after all ?

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11 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

Wow, I can't really think of too many. Sometimes I forget to pack until the last minute, if that's a tradition. I listen to reggae all year round, so there's no music that gets me psyched (and I can't stand Jimmy Buffet). No movies. I guess I am just boring. Perhaps dropping my dog off at my mother-in-laws house the night before? Oh, and if we're cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale, we always hit up The Field Irish pub right off the plane for onion rings and Guinness, followed by a walk out the jetty next to Halmos College to watch any ships leaving if there are. That's about it. 

I just pack last minute. I'll "prep" the week of but getting suitcases and stuff but otherwise, order pizza, poor a Guinness and start randomly tossing stuff in my bag. I do it so quick that I triple check I didn't forget an essential, like underwear. 

That's cool you have an Irish Pub you get to look forward too! I will have to remember that pub next time I fly into FLL!

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1 hour ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

Same! I just read @Matt's latest blog post about double points being extended into Q1 of 2022 if we book by January 31st, 2021. Now I am looking at March 2022 cruises even though I wanted to wait until ships were sailing before making a new booking. I hope Royal Caribbean pays him a monthly stipend for all the blogs  tempting us to book more LOL! 

I actually booked a cottage in the Bruce Peninsula for early July because I needed to have a vacation to look forward to. It's not exactly a cruise, of course, but at least it gets me out of the house.

1 hour ago, Zacharius said:

Wow, I can't really think of too many. Sometimes I forget to pack until the last minute, if that's a tradition. I listen to reggae all year round, so there's no music that gets me psyched (and I can't stand Jimmy Buffet). No movies. I guess I am just boring. Perhaps dropping my dog off at my mother-in-laws house the night before? Oh, and if we're cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale, we always hit up The Field Irish pub right off the plane for onion rings and Guinness, followed by a walk out the jetty next to Halmos College to watch any ships leaving if there are. That's about it. 

My wife seems to like Kelly's Landing near the Convention Centre hotel cluster so we've gone there the last 3 times we've sailed out of Port Everglades. So I guess that's a tradition as well?

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1 hour ago, KWong said:

I actually booked a cottage in the Bruce Peninsula for early July because I needed to have a vacation to look forward to. It's not exactly a cruise, of course, but at least it gets me out of the house.

We did two short trips this past summer. Wildwood NJ since we could drive to it & NY Adirondacks where wife & family own property in a small town (also driveable).

Probably do something over the summer if a weekend getaway to Florida or something in the Spring still looks like a bad idea.

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