Cruising

 

Our family has just recently returned from a cruise aboard the ship called Allure of the Seas, which is part of the Royal Carribean fleet. We went on a 7 day Caribbean cruise and left from Ft Lauderdale, Florida. I had never been on a cruise although I had heard of them, and it was one of my mother's dreams - for me, let's just say it never made my bucket list. So how did I get on it.... Well, its a loooooong story, and suffieceth to say - we made it....Checking in or actually getting onto the boat is just like an airport except for a couple of things - make that three - 1) it's faster, 2) there's a ship waiting and 3) people take photos of you......just like you do at a theme park - take now and pay later ;-) Once that was done - and we got on board - our cruising journey began and what a ride that was.... here are my top five things to know about cruising?

 

1) MONEY

One of the attractions to going on a cruise is that the cost includes both accomodation and food which on land is pretty expensive for families. However, what you need to know is that there will be things that you will have to pay for like your drinks and any shopping done on the ship (there are real shops on board!!) so how do you pay - because there is actually NO CASH on board.... Well, when you book your trip you register a credit card and you hook everyone in your travelling party to that card. So then when you check in, before boarding, you will be given a SEA PASS which has all that information on it. Everytime you want something that costs money like a drink or must-have diamond earrings - you just swipe the card. The night before the final day - is the time to settle the bill and all those transactions on your SEA PASS are tallied up and ch-ching! No cash... pretty tempting to swipe away and tell ya - my sons became expert at it ;-)

 

2) ROOMS I searched high and low for information about the room that we had booked. It looked roomy but really I had no idea. So I am going to try and explain it.... SMALL. But really it doesn't matter because you are not going to be in them much - unless you are on your honeymoon - then, if you are - you shouldn't be on a boat.... 'cos you are wasting your money - cruising is about being on the boat ;-). I took a photo and compared it to the ones I had seen online and they are pretty much the same...If you are used to camping in tents and caravans-then this is going to be an upgrade;-)

 

3) ENTERTAINMENT One word - AMAZING. The entertainment is world class - well it was on our board. We had former national, olympic, state champion ice skaters, divers and accomplished actors in our shows. And there is so much to be done every night, all day and all through the night. The main street gets cleared about 2am so up until then - it is just fun! fun! fun!. What I enjoyed was the range - there was latino dancing, karoke, through to string duet, big band performances and so much dancing - loved it! This was on top of the shows! The best tip we got was to book before we left which meant that all of the shows were loaded onto your SEAPASS. If you are not sooo organised you may be able to get into the shows - but you will have to wait in the standby lines which are pretty long! 

 

4) FOOD

One word - FREE!! There are some restuarants that you pay for like regular restaurants but the main dining room offers three course meals with the menu changing every night so why dine elsewhere.... The only catch is that the drinks are not free so if you like a little drink here and there - those come at a cost that you just swipe away on your SEA PASS card. If you are a non-alcholic drinker like our group - don't worry there are virgins and mocktails available... My favourite was knowing that pizza - american pizza was on tap nearly 24/7 and american hotdogs were free as well!! The boys were told by one of the trainers at the gym that is is proven that people gain 3lbs a day on the ship! I don't agree - I reckon its more ;-) Awesome!!

 

5) TRAVEL COMPANIONS

You need to go on a cruise with  a group. If you go on your own - there are single nights, and there are even single cruises. But I am talking about going (even if you are single) with other single or coupled friends and/or family. There were heaps of large groups/parties on board celebrating birthdays and anniversarys. Some even dressed up in the same t-shirts and a group even came to dinner one night dressed up as animals to celebrate a mate's 40th birthday so anything is possible. We went with some friends and there were 14 of us in the group and we loved it. Our teenage sons got to meet people, my husband got to play sports all day, and I got to 'be' and then at dinner we would all meet up again and then do our own things - or meet up and go dancing or whatever we wanted!

 

So, if cruising has been on your mind or maybe not - have another look. I loved it and looking forward to going again.... once the credit cards have bounced back a bit ;-)

 

Yours in friendship,

 

Mxo

Travelling for beginners...

I'm 43 years old and I finally got to go to the USA. I was born in Hawaii and been there many times but to get to the states has been a long time coming!! So I get to go with my husband and our 17 year old sons and my husband's sister.... and this is what I learnt that hopefully will save you some time ;-)

DIETING BEFORE YOU GO HAS AN UP SIZE AND A DOWN SIZE ;-)

I went on a diet before I left. It was one of those ridiculous quick-loss ones where you eat 'air' practically every day ;-) I went on in specifically for one reason - to make sure I fit the rides. You see I am a big girl with a bigger appetite so there was no guarantee that I was going to be able to fit some things..... as it turned out - even after quitting my diet prematurely (before I got on the plane!!) I fit ;-) So tip number one - if you are going to go on a diet make sure it works (the downsize) and be prepared to have to go back on it after your holiday (due to the upsizing)!!

BUDGETING

We have friends that travel regularly and they have a formula of spending $100 a day between the both of them. So we figured we could do the same EXCEPT we hadn't figured into the equation that the children have to eat too (and making them pay for their food out of their spending money was a bit harsh ;-)) - so we quickly did some re-thinking on that one...which least to tip number two - figure out a budget that is realistic AND be prepared to make some changes all the time. The last thing you want to do is fight over money while on holiday.... that's a bit of a drag ain't it Mr M....

GET GPS

I don't know how people used to do it in the olden days - but thank goodness we didn't have to do it just recently....We almost left the airport without one due to booking problems so make sure you have booked and CONFIRMED your car booking WITH a GPS before you leave home. You may find that your GPS has a hard time breaking the male hearing barrier as I found with Mr M being not too good at listening to it (we heard "re-calculating" quite frequently) - but one thing I will tell you for free - Mr M got us to where we needed to go EVERY TIME ;-) Thank heavens for the GPS!!

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN

Some people like to turn up to things and see how they feel before making decisions which is awesome - however, tip number four is that unless you have perfect travelling conditions (weather, children, money, car, air conditioning - EVERYTHING is perfect!!) then I would suggest you plan as much as you can. I used expedia, vegas.com, and paid and printed tickets (even parking coupons) directly from amusement parks before we left the country. This cut down on heaps of waiting time in lines for tickets - HEAPs. Mr M went alittle further and had an itinerary - which was great but sometimes changes had to be made so as long as your plan has room for unexpected turns..... then it will work a treat!

ACCOMODATION

The one thing we got told to look out for was the best advice we could get - and that was to book accomodation that offers a free breakfast! Thankfully we did that and it was great - however the next time, I will investigate exactly what is breakfast as we had a range of a muffin and juice and/or a hot drink to a full cooked breakfast and two of our seven hotels had none (although one did give coupons for 20% off from a local eatery) The other thing I would make sure we have next time is free Wi-Fi - all but one had, however even with it - coverage was sketchy some days so it will pay to read the customer comments to make sure.... Why Wi-fi? For us it was so handy because I would go online every night and have a look for addresses for things that we were going to do the next day so all we had to do was input it in the GPS and after a few re-calculations we made it there...

FINALLY,

• Remember that the intention for all holidays is to make memories so do whatever you can to make sure that the ones being collected are the very best.
• Make sure you schedule in rest days or be prepared to recover when you get back because you have to make up those 'rest' hours somewhere.
• If you have been to somewhere before and travelling with people who haven't - be gracious about it and try and find something different or interesting because the people who are travelling with you are discovering things for the first time and it is ALL AMAZING!!!
• Not everyone wants to see what you do - so be prepared to go on your own...
• Take a camera.... and all the cords you have to keep it charged and all the connectors to take it off your camera and download to a laptop or an external source...
• Do what our friends told us to do but I didn't and will NEXT time - take the very bare minimum of clothes with you as you will find that your shopping will keep you dressed for some time....
• Travel with people you like and can be yourself with....
• Front of line passes are worth it at Disneyland but maybe not so needed at other places - so ask around...
• Ask around from people who are well-travelled for some more tips - you can never have enough although don't forget - no two people's experiences are going to be the same...
• Remember how blessed you are to be travelling and realise that many people you know will NEVER get this wonderful experience so be grateful for every one you have, and lastly,
• PLEASE  take me with you..... ;-)

Yours in friendship,

Mxo