Happy Friday everyone
Three more weeks, until our Magical vacation begins
So Happy Birthday to me today! Not quite a part of the 40th birthday cruise club, but will be next year
What is one or two helpful tips you can give to our newbies (and to the pro's too)??
Mine would be,
Happy Birthday to you!!!!!
Enjoy your last year of your 30's to the fullest!!!
This is a great question of the day!
First, I totally agree with all of the tips given so far.... especially the highlighter tip Kathy gave! That is SOOOO nice, especially when you have kids. Our kids sometimes get frustrated because there are SO many things they want to do that are offered for the kids, but they can't do it all. So, on our second cruise, we brought a highlighter (we brought four different colored highlighters, actually), and we had each of our boys sit down and they each got their own color of highlighter, and they highlighted the things they really wanted to do in their own color. This really really helped with the "I feel like I can't do all the things I want to do" complaining, because they could look at the Navigator and see how many highlights are in their own color and THEN they'd see how MUCH they are doing, and that'd solve the issue of them feeling like they aren't doing everything.
Plus, it made them feel more grown up that THEY got to highlight themselves all they wanted to do instead of DH or I going through it with them, and all deciding together what they'd do. The reason we brought 4 highlighter colors is because DH and I had our own colors, too, and we'd highlight the things we wanted to .... most of them were the same things, but there were things DH wanted to that I didn't want to do, and visa-versa, and so it makes it easy to just quickly find the things you had planned to do... you just look for your color of highlighter on the Navigator.
But, now for other tips:
1.
Your suitcases will fit under your bed, BUT you have to lift the bed up a little to slide it under the bed!! We did not figure this out until our 2nd cruise. Our first cruise, we tried to slide our suitcases under the bed to store, and they didn't fit because the bedframe was too low. So, we just put one in the closet and the other in the corner of the room, which took up space. The next cruise, DH somehow thought to see if the bed frame lifted up (I guess he might have thought it was bolted to the ground or just super heavy), and it lifts up super easy! Once he lifted it up, once you get the suitcase past the bed frame, it totally fits under the bed all together, and THEN you are not wasting space in your cabin storing your suitcases!!!
2.
Buy a cheap collapsable mesh clothes hamper. Something like this:
They fold totally flat and are super light weight so they fit in your suitcase (can even fit in an outside pocket in your suitcase), but then they just pop up into this position in the picture for your laundry. If you plan to do laundry on the ship (which we always do half-way through the week) because we pack light, having this makes it SO easy to keep your dirty laundry in one place, and makes it super easy to carry it to and from the laundry room (which may not be on your floor your stateroom is on).
3.
Along the lines of laundry, you just use your room key to pay for laundry on the ship, so you don't need quarters (I didn't know that on our first cruise, so our first cruise, I brought like $10.00 in quarters and never used them).
4.
Another laundry tip: Before you leave, for $1.00 (or maybe less if you can find it on sale), buy a few of the 1 load boxes of Tide powder detergent and the $1.00 1 load downy fabric softener (if you use softener) and bring them in your suitcase! The detergent and softener on the ship is something like $2.00 (or maybe $2.25) for the exact same 1-load box of Tide Powder and $2.00 (or $2.25) for a 1-load Downy Fabric Softener... SO, if you have room, buy those 1-load detergents at home for $1.00 or less to save $$ on laundry. (OR, you can even just bring powder from home in a disposable plastic container, and then it's even cheaper!!)
5.
I haven't done this, but I've read on the main DIS boards that you can ask your Stateroom Host for extra hangers for your closet if you need them. For us, there are always plenty of hangers, mostly because we pack really light.
6. Not sure how much this tip will apply to everyone, because just from what I've observed, and heard from our dining room servers, and just read on the main DIS boards, I think our family is in the minority on this one, but will give the tip anyway....
IF you are not big eaters, tell your dining room server this on the FIRST night you are in the dining room, and tell them not to push food on you. DH and I really enjoy food, but we aren't big eaters.... sounds contradictory, but we really appreciate the tastes and flavors in the food and GOOD food, but we really don't eat a lot at one sitting.
Well, our first cruise, we actually did not have a great dining room experience. On your dinner menu, you'll have a choice of appetizer, soup, salad, main course and then dessert, and then they bring bread to your table, too. Well, when we'd order, it was rare we'd order one of everything from each category, but rather, we'd order either just an appetizer and a main course, or just a salad and a main course, or sometimes just the main course, just because we ordered the things on the menu that really appealed to us most, but we knew if we ordered one thing from each category, we'd never eat it all, and just end up wasting it... I know they waste a lot of food on the ship, but we just hate wasting food (like taking only one bite of something, an then throwing it away).
Well, what happened was our server didn't realize we weren't big eaters (mostly because we didn't think we had to tell him... I mean, when you go to a restaurant, you just order what you want. You don't need to tell your waiter or waitress that you are not a big eater, and that is why you aren't ordering much... so we really assumed the dining on the ships was no different than dining at a restaurant... you just order what you want, and you don't need to explain why you didn't order more). But, our server kept pushing food on us! For example, I'd order just a salad and a main course, and he'd kept pushing an appetizer on me, and I kept saying no, and then he'd just say, "Ok, I'll just bring out an appetizer just for you to "try" and just take one bite and don't eat the rest." This actually really annoyed me becaues I told him I didn't want the appetizer. The same thing happened to DH. We kept telling him, we don't want things we don't order, but he just kept pushing something from each section of the menu on us.... sometimes we'd only order 1 dessert, but he'd bring out 2 desserts jsut for us to "try" the second dessert that we didn't order, and this just really turned us off.
Well, after we got home, I was talking to our TA and telling her everything about the cruise was amazing, EXCEPT our dining experience... the food was awesome, but we hated the fact our server was trying to push food on us and basically stuff our bellies!
Our TA told me something I didn't know on our first cruise (and wish I had known)..... she said that the dining room servers are actually reviewed on the food itself (which to me at first did not make sense since they do not cook the food), but the reason they are reviewed on the food itself is because if there is something on the menu you don't like, or nothing appeals to you on the menu, the server is supposed to find out what you DO like, and suggest an alternative option so you feel like you were able to really enjoy food from each category. Well, my TA told me that the fact we weren't ordering something from each category each night made it looked like we didn't like the options in those categories, and if we didn't order something from each category, it would reflect poorly on the server because it'd looked like he/she didn't offer us any other options they could custom make or get from another dining room for that category. So, my TA told me he was most likely pushing food on us, and bringing out items just to "try" from the categories we didn't order from because he's so programmed to do this... to just try to figure out any other option for the guest so they feel like they had options from each category.
Well for us, the issue wasn't that we didn't feel like we didn't have options we didn't like, but it was just purely that our stomachs cannot hold that much food in one sitting!!! We tried telling him "we are full" or "we are not big eaters", but he just kept bringing food out we didn't order. My TA told me that he probably thought we were just being "polite" by saying we were full, or not big eaters, and he probably thought we really just didn't like the options on the menu be too polite to say so, and if that were the case... that we were just being polite by not telling him that we didn't like the food options, this could reflect him badly if he didn't try to find options we liked....
Anyway, so for our 2nd cruise, our TA told me to be totally upfront with our server on the first night, and tell him or her, "we are NOT big eaters". So, we did that on our 2nd cruise, and we told our server on our 2nd cruise our experience on our 1st cruise, and said (very very nicely) that we do not like food pushed on us, that we'll order what we want to order, and if that is only the main course, it's not because the food is bad, or because we don't like the options, but purely because that is all we feel like eating. Oh man, being that upfront with the server on the very first night made a
WORLD of difference on our dining experinece!!!!! He never pushed food on us, or never brought out food we didn't order "just to try"... he just let us order what we wanted, and he could tell we really enjoyed it. We do this now every cruise we are on.... just give our server the upfront talk on day 1, and they don't push food on us, and just really let us fully enjoy our dining experience!!!
But, I say I think we are in the minority on this because the server on our last cruise (the Panama Canal cruise) we got to know really well because it was 16 days, and he told us that he RARELY ever has had guests tell him they are light eaters and don't order something from each category... he said it's usually the opposite where guests will order 2 appetizers, and then something from each other category, and sometimes even 2 entrees, and 2 desserts, or guests really like it when he surprises them and brings out a 2nd appetizer or 2nd dessert... so he said that is what is more the norm.
Anyway, that was really long, but just wanted to share our story in case there is anyone here who are more like us that love food, but aren't big eaters... just be upfront with your server on day 1 and tell him/her not to push food... If they know that, they will tell their head server (who is their boss) that we are not big eaters and do not want food pushed on us, so when the head server comes by and sees we are not eating an appetizer, he will know that truly was just our choice, and does not at all reflect the fact the server did not find an option for us that worked better (because the head servers do circulate the dining room and they make sure the servers are doing their job by making sure the guests are getting all the food they really want... so if someone is not eating from a category, the head server will think the server did not do his job by offering an alternative option).
SO, these are my tips...
Sorry so long!
Kathy
Hope you have a great day!
tomorrow Sean has Apple Day with the cubs and I am running all the apples, lets hope the rain will stay away till we are finished!
