[rscowtown1]

dh and i are going in a cruise from miami to jamacia, cozumel and somewhere else down there.

any suggestions for cruising?

can i take my bullet on the ship?

if i cannot, how can i make a thick shake with my shaker bottle? i use only the bullet currently.

am gonna ship some protein powder and bottle to my friend who we are meeting down there so i don't have to take a big container unopened on the plane.

other than don't eat myself silly and protein first and lots o water, suggestions are greatly appreciated. we leave on the 7th, cruise from 11 to 18.

thanks in advance!

[IamSheila]

I was going to say protein first, and lots of water, but you already know that! I just wanted to say have a great time! You are so lucky!!!! I've never been on a cruise before, but I'd love to go on one!!!!!

[chappelear4]

Ooo Ooo...I have tons of advice for you! I went from Galveston on Carnival Conquest to the Western Caribbean (Jamaica, Grand Cayman Islands and Cozumel). If you are taking the cruise with Carnival out of Miami, I believe the ship is the Victory. So let me begin to run you some advice....

• Pack a beach towel. Although they have a couple in the state room, they will charge you $20 ea if they are not there when you leave. Besides, everyone else on the ship has the same towel if you use the cruise ship one.
  
• BONINE for sea sickness, cause you may hit a small storm on your way (we did and DH was thankful for the medicine)
  
• A pwer strip, they only have 1 plug on the counter in the bedroom.
  
• Alarm clock, cause there are no clocks in the room.
  
• 2-way radios, so you can do your own thing and meet up with DH later (Trust me, that boat is bigger than you think).
  
• YES you can brin your bullets. I brought my powdered protein (the syntrax travel packs).
  
• Eat in the Dining room for dinner, you can make special requests (I was on a shrimp fettish, LOL!)
  
• Bring a travel sized (or small) detergent & dryer sheets. You may need to wash clothes by the 5th day and their detergent is like $2.00 for 1 load.
  
• Belt Pack! Great for carrying money, passports and your cruise ship card (that you have to use to get back on the ship).
  
• ALOE VERA! We all got sun burnt on the 7-mile beach at the Grand Cayman Island.
  
• You can bring water bottles on the ship, but lugging them on is a pain. Be prepared to pay $3 a bottle for a huge bottle of water (worth it over luggin your own).
  
• They do provide shampoo and body wash on the ship, but my hair was a nightmare after swimming in the ocean. I recommend bringing your own.
  
• At least 3 types of shoes- Flip flops, tennies, and dress shoes.
  
• They have 2 formal nights on the ship and if it's carnival, you don't have to dress up like you're going to prom. A simple $30 dress will do. My hubby wore a dress shirt, tie, slacks and dress shoes.
  
• In Jamaica, I would recommend the water fall excursion. I took a Black River Safari, but it wasn't worth it. Buy your excursions through the ship only.
  
• Grand Cayman. If you are going here, the Pirate Ship excursion was fun, but the 7 Mile Beach break was the best! Make sure to bring sunscreen. I almost wanted to ditch the ship and stay on the Cayman Island.
  
• Cozumel- If you are all about exploring, take an excursion. We did a mini Rhino (off road) vehicle tour. The best thing is snorkeling, like swimming in a saltwater fish tank.

Oh yeah.... bring cash! We brought about $1200 in cash, with lots of $1's, $5's and $10's and of course $20's. Make sure to lock it in the room safe. Use your bank card or grocery store card to lock the safe, not your cruise ship card.

Send me a message if you have more questions. I am hooked now. I am going on another cruise in May for Mother's day week from San Diego to Catalina and Ensenada Mexico, this time without my kids (ages 4 & 9). If I think of anything I missed, I will add it to the board.

[chappelear4]

Oh yeah! Call the cruise ship and tell them you want your refrigerator emptied. They put stuff in there and you could use the space for your own purpose. Also, take fruit with you from the ship if you go on a long excursion. You or DH may get a little hungry while in transit.

[MJBH73]

Hi There,

I have 32 days at sea over three cruises under my belt, and we're planning a 14 night for next fall :-) You'll have a great time!
Bullets would be okay on a flight or the ship... open powders are probably fine for the ship, but I'd worry about the flight... There are tons of choices at every meal, you can check out the menu before hand each day (or you can often find them online, try cruisecriticdotcom for tons of cruise info) or you can always hit the buffet. Depending what ship/line you're on there is usually a 24/7 pizza/grill station thaat have offered a grilled chicken salad on all sailings I've been on.

I always pick up a case of bottled water on the way to the ship, slap one of your luggage tags on it and it gets delivered witht he rest of your bags.

Make sure you don't pack one suitcase per person, mix the stuff up so that if one bag gets lost no one is stuck with n othing, make a list of what's in each bag as you pack it so that you don't go crazy looking for someting.

No food can be taken off the ship unless it is sealed... ESPECIALLY FRUIT, this is for the protection of the port ecosystem, sounds a little silly, but who knows what you'd be bringing ashore along with your fruit, and this is usually posted in many places as you debark.

In Cozumel I loved Chakanaab park, you can spend the day, they had decent snorkeling (though a lot got washed away in the last set of big storms, we were there in February and there was obvious destruction) they also had shady seats on the beach, a bar, restaraunt and lots of different trails/areas to explore. It was beautiful. If you aren't into snorkeling you can also take tours out to the mayan ruins.

Pack for what you think you need, then take out half your clothes and double the money, and you'll be set :sunburn:

Have a great trip! We decided to do one long rather thn two small, but I think we might try to do Bermuda in August as well with the kids if we can swing it, lol... I'm so hooked now, it will be so much more fun when I'm closer to goal!!!!

[HeatherM]

WE LOOOVED the morning snorkel excursion on Grand Cayman. The fish are SPECTACULAR!!! Even if the menu doesn't list sf desserts, they do have them, just ask. Ditto bringing on a case of water. You will be VERY thirsty and the ship water will kill your pocketbook. NEVER drink ship faucet water. That is how all those scary cruise-ship viruses are spread. Order bottled in the dining room as well, the water on the table and the ice cubes are ship faucet water. Bring your magic bullet, it will be fine. I also brought a big travel mug and mixed chocolate Matrix with some bottle water in the cabin, then after breakfast filled with hot coffee. I will think more later, but have a GREAT TIME!

[rscowtown1]

awesome thanks so much!

did any of you take a small cooler along?

im thinking of buying string cheese to take with or do they have it on board?

gotta get my protein bars out! im sure they will come in handy on the day excursions.

we have signed up with phil for the dun river falls and tubing for the ocho rio stop, we are on the carnival triumph ship.

have not signed up for others, i am anxious to see the ruins in cozumel.

did you buy anything art wise in cozumel? any suggestions as what's good to look for? clothes? jewelry? artwork?

i hope we get hooked on cruising it sounds like such fun!

thanks again!

[Jo]

If you have time between landing in Miami and going on the cruise, take time to go to the BE store. You can get all kinds of goodies there to take with you. Get some RTD's. There's no problem getting them on the ship.

The biggest mistake I made on our cruise was forgetting my blender bottle. I had to buy a souvenior coffee mug to mix my drinks in and it wasn't very good.

We did the "swim with the dolphins" at Chakanaub Park in Cozumel and it was really fun. I especially enjoyed shopping in the little mall area across from where the ship docked. They're willing to bargain with you. Carlo's n Charlie's is a really fun restaurant to have lunch.

We didn't book a ship excursion in Grand Caymen but when we got off the ship we booked a trip to see the stingrays. It was really great but it didn't leave us much time for the beach. Do not go to Margarittaville in Grand Caymen - it was too expensive.

I hope you have a really great time.

[bitty]

My DH and I love to cruise. We're planning another for 2009. Someone suggested getting water before you go and taking it on. We've done this in this past. The last cruise we went on was about 4 years ago with our 4 year old. On the way to the ship, we stopped at Walmart, bought a cheap hard-sided trunk and filled it up with kid snacks likes juice boxes, fruit snacks, graham crackers, etc. It was so helpful because our daughter wanted snacks but not necessarily what was offered (which is A LOT) on the ship. We just put a tag on the trunk and it arrived in our room.

Other suggestions/things to bring...

Yellow stickie pads - leaving notes to spouses or cabin stewards.

Small sewing kit - fix quick hem or button mishaps.

Don't over pack. Once you've packed your clothes, take half away and you'll have enough. If like the pool and you're comfortable in a bathing suit, you'll find you spend a lot of time in it. 10 changes of clothes aren't needed. Also, most ships have a mini laundry facility so if you run out of clothes, you can do a load of wash.

Shoes...stick to basics. Black and brown is easiest. I always do two pair of strappy dress sandals, two pair of casual sandals, and a good walking shoe. I plan my wardrobe around them. Carrying a lot of shoes is a waste of space in my suitcase.

Don't bring just cash. Traveler's checks are great because you can lose a wallet or get it stolen and then your stuck. If you have traveler's checks, write the information down and you can have them replaced.

I hope you have a great time!

[MJBH73]

We didn't buy too much other than trinkets for the kids, but Cozumel was our last stop, and things were much more expensive there than at the smaller stops i.e. Progresso (I haven't been to your other stops tough!) I did get a beautiful Talavera pottery plate in Cozumel, but not at the huge mall of tourist shops, there are tons and tons of tiny stands with all sorts of things if you get dropped off at the galleria, then walk back down the strip towards the ship, you can find amazing deals on pottery, Vanilla and silver, that's mostly what I was looking at... oh, and booze, lol.

We went to Uxmal (which is slighty smaller than Chitzenitza), from Progresso, and were not dissapointed, though it was HOT bring a shade hat, water and sunscreen!!! Great excercise too to boot, wear good, non-slip shoes! You can either got to Chitzenitza which is one of the new 7 wonders of the world, or there are smaller ruins closer by if you want to do other things as well.

We've brought a small collapsible cooler aboard before, but I didn't bother last time... I didn't see cheese sticks anywhere, but the lunch buffet usually had sliced cheeses. On the Carnival Fantasy they had a deli station near the pizza station which is at the back of the buffet dining room and they'd be happy to just give you the innards of a sandwich, but they weren't 24/7.

[Sami]

I have been on several cruises as well....as a matter of fact my DH and I went on the Carnival Destiny and planned our wedding in St. Thomas (our first port). Anyways, some of the advice I can offer is:

If ur hubby drinks sodas either by themselves or in a mixed drink, you can purchase a 'Soda Fountain Card'...but it really needs to be worth your while because they are like $40 give or take but it offers unlimited soda drinks, you just show them your card whenever you want one. It doesn't matter if your by the pool or if you're sitting down at dinnertime.

Before you ever get on the ship they will confirm a credit card number to cover expenses and you will get your picture taken for a 'Sail n Sign' card. You will not use money on the ship and anything that you need/want you will 'buy' with your sail n sign card and at the end of the trip you will receive an invoice and it will show what will be charged to your card. You can always look up the information on your TV.

Another thing is that your sail n sign card will automatically be charged $10 per person per day for gratuities. So if you're cruise is 4 days then you can expect a charge of $80 for tips, $40 for you and $40 for DH. In your cabin there will be a 'book' that explains everything to you including the breakdown of all the tips and how much goes where etc. My husband and I usually hit the purser's desk the first day to have the tips removed and we ask for gratuity envelopes so that we can distribute the tips where we want them to go. I mean, if you don't drink alcohol or visit the casino, etc, why would you want to give them tip when you didn't even use their service?

Something else we do is scope out which dining area is the main dining for us as there are normally 2 main areas. You get assigned where you will eat mainly unless you eat at the buffet or the 24 hour pizza/burger place. A lot of the times we have gone an a ship you can walk thru any of the dining areas and check it out. If we didn't totally love where we would be eating we would hunt up the maitre'd and ask if he could be changed. For instance, when we got married we only wanted to be at a table for 2 instead of a table for 8 or 10. There is not assigned seating only the tables are assigned so even if you love your table you may not get the 'aisle' seat or the 'window' seat. There is no guarantee of getting what you ask for but the maitre'd does try to accomodate your request.

You will need your sail n sign card everytime you get on and off the boat, that's how they keep track of who is there and who is missing.

There is 24 hour room service (no cost) but it is somewhat limited on choices and they will be listed in your room book. There are these door tag things you can use for breakfast ordering if you choose to eat in your room. DH and I had a balcony room and he loved the prosciutto and mellon...fresh fruit, coffee, bagel and cream cheese, I usually got cereal and juice but we sat on our balcony every morning and at breakfast at a slower pace. Nothing hot, mostly refrigerated stuff but still, if your wiped out and you're not super close to the food places it's awesome!

You will get a 'Carnival Capers' everynight to let you know everything that will be going on the next day...all the shows, shop opening times...games, comedy acts etc. This is where you will also find out what the 'theme' for the buffet will be that night...Italian, Mexican etc

DH always takes a backpack (he likes carrying everything, something about getting a workout even on vacation...LOL) We bought these little containers that were insulated and he would bring a plate of different kind of fruits back to our room and we would package them up in the containers in case for some reason I had a low sugar problem. We also carried the foam collapsable lunchbox type coolers and we would put ice in it from the ship and place it in the cooler with the fruit containers on top. I also bought us a couple of thermos' from Dick's Sporting Goods, the kind that is insulated for up to 24 hours hot or cold because I can't stomach luke warm fluid.

You will have anywhere from 1-2 formal nights on board but as someone has already said you don't have to eat in the main dining area nor do you have to get dressed up....most will be tho so you should know that too. Picture takers will be all over the place especially on formal night, they too will cost you in the end if you want them, but don't feel like you have to buy them, they will take your picture even when you don't want it or least expect it.

IF you should happen to change your mind on a booked shore excursion cancel it as soon as you know because they can charge like 25% of whatever the cost was as a cancellaton fee.

You will have an awesome time especially if there aren't any unexpected expenses. I know I've kind of rambled on but my DH and I love going on cruises and have some of our most fondest memories aboard ship.

Let us know everything when you come back!!!

[avidreader]

Never been cruising, but I can suggest the following:

1. Stay away from the side rails - seems like everyone is falling overboard!
2. Add sugar free instant pudding mix to your protein shakes in the blender bottle - it will help thicken the shake up. Usually 1 tbsp will work, but you may want more.

This post has been edited by avidreader: 28 December 2008 - 09:38 PM

[Bella Bean]

My dh had his surgery 6 months before our honeymoon cruise. He had arranged with the room service folks to have a shrimp cocktail in our room after excursions so he could get a protein fix. This helped tremendously at dinner - he'd be somewhat full on the protein and wouldn't binge at dinner.

Now, me? I can't handle shrimp. Go figure!

Have fun!

[MelissaR]

I just got back from a 7-night Carribean cruise from Florida, my first since my surgery. I was hoping to visit the BE store before the cruise left, but due to flight delays I wasn't able to. If you have time, I'd definitely recommend doing that - I was really looking forward to it. At one of the recent chats here, SM, Teresa and Linda had given me some great advice! Here are some suggestions that were really helpful:

-Pack plenty of protein powders and some bars - these were great for excursion days and also kept me away from buffets
-It was pretty easy to find healthy choices.... even during the lunch buffets, I could always find shrimp, grilled chicken, tuna, cheese, etc. ask for anything that you don't see - a lot of times they were able to prepare special items
-Dinner was only challenging due to all of the courses - I ordered either a clear soup or a salad and then a main course of something like salmon, chicken, etc.
-They do have a daily alternatives menu in the dining rooms - these always had low fat, low carb choices, and they were also very flexible about accomodating me with anything that I needed. If you have particular foods that you'd like (I asked for grilled veggies), just let them know on the first night and they will take care of it for the entire week. They also have plenty of sugar-free desserts available.

I came home losing 5 pounds from the cruise week while everyone else gained weight! Have a wonderful time, cruises are so much fun!!