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

[sk8erguy1978]

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? 

[JLMoran]

I break out my Deadpool luggage tags and clip them to whatever suitcases I'm using. Wade is always happy to get back on a cruise ship.  

[Matt]

Listening to Radio Margaritaville in the weeks leading up to the cruise

[sk8erguy1978]

5 minutes ago, Matt said:

Listening to Radio Margaritaville in the weeks leading up to the cruise

Oh! I have definitely put on some "poolside cruise ship music" for my commute to work too. Sometimes I'd lower the windows to add a breeze effect.

[ehw51]

Head to NJ (Bahamian music in the car, visit with friends in Lyndhurst to Harolds for dinner. Breakfast at Goldberg´s bagels, Liberty State Park, see the Statue of Liberty and a glimpse of the ship. Finally on to Port Liberty. Always love it when you get your first sight of the ship driving up.

[sk8erguy1978]

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." 

[ehw51]

That´s hilarious. First ship we saw was the Liberty, it was impressive, then we saw the Anthem, Awesome

[parkyy2k]

Listen and sing Escape (The Piña Colada Song)

[Cruisegirl1976]

Get together we the couples that are going on the cruise with us for a night of discussing the excursions we want to take,, and listen to some party music to get us in the mood. 

[KWong]

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.

[sk8erguy1978]

20 minutes ago, KWong said:

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

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

[Andy & Sheryl Unwin]

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

 

[KWong]

 

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.

[sk8erguy1978]

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.

[KWong]

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. 

[Matt]

52 minutes ago, Andy & Sheryl Unwin said:

We watch as many youtube videos (not just Matt's)

[nhilding10]

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! 

[sk8erguy1978]

4 minutes ago, nhilding10 said:

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

Not if you're in a Grand Suite or above. LOL

[Andy & Sheryl Unwin]

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:

Harr travel does the most impressive ship and suite tours

[sk8erguy1978]

50 minutes ago, Matt said:

LOL! Don't worry, we all love yours best!

[melmar02]

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. 

[sk8erguy1978]

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! 

[cruisellama]

Building the itinerary folder and breaking out the cruise supply/clothing boxes for pre-sort depending upon itinerary

 

[Zacharius]

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.

[Ian T]

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 

[sk8erguy1978]

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!

[KWong]

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?

[sk8erguy1978]

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.

[RickinSTL]

Check into a Hilton property.. Drink some Man Sodas..  Find a good burger joint.. 

[tonyfsu21]

Wake up at 7:00am and drive over to Einstein’s on 17th street and grab coffee & bagels for us. 8am pack the suitcases. 10:15am call Uber. 11:00- 11:30am sitting on the boardwalk getting ready for the doghouse to open for lunch. 

[AnnetteJackson]

Meeting up with fellow cruisers or friends that live near the port the night prior to the cruise.  Always a PLUS if I can sit outside by water with a good view while visiting with everyone as well.