Post Cruise Tips

@ableman I do the same. By the second week of sitting in DC traffic, I am checking my PTO allowances to book my next one. As a solo cruiser, I base a portion of my experience on the number of people I meet and the general "vibe" of the cruise. Not to mention I'm still recovering from the inevitable sun burn. I'm aiming for two a year moving forward as long as I'm blessed enough to keep my job.

Adding on: be careful who you pose for the camera for, they may work for the police! Also, little chocolates will appear on your pillow....but only if you put them there! Finally, you don't have to make your bed in the morning, but it will still be unmade at night!

I'm one day post cruise, so I guess I can respond with a few things to remember after getting off the cruise.

1. When you go to a restaurant, you have to pay before you leave.

2. You can stand in the kitchen all day with a plate in your hand, and nobody will put an omelet on it.

3. After taking a shower in the morning, you can throw your towel on the floor, and it will still be there that night.

4. Even though it feels like you're rocking, you're no longer on a ship.

5. When you leave your house, you don't have to show your card as you leave.

Did I miss anything?

I start planning for the next cruise! My family already has cruises booked out to April 2024! One of them is my bucket list itinerary...the Hawaiian Islands!

Im not even off the ship, and im already counting down.

WE generally either book onboard, or in the case of our last 2, we already had the 3rd booked. it will be the same for our next cruise in April, because I will be booking 12 rooms to Alaska in '24 when the reservations open in November :Facepalm:

Normally 1-2x a week, I check on drink package prices, Excursions, watch videos of the next ship, and destinations, see where that next ship is currently on the map, cruise through Amazon for the latest and greatest cruise accessories, and then about 5 months out, start planning hotels, transportation, and restaurants. about 3 months out, I make a powerpoint and have a meeting with the remainder of our group(if there is one) and start packing...

After about a month I say something like, were we on a cruise recently ?

After about a month I say something like, were we on a cruise recently ?

Sounds like a great system. We also have started cruising just because someone asked us to join them. That can be nice way to experience something you've never done before.

After a day or two to decompress from the travel, I usually sit down and make a mental assessment of what I liked about everything (cruise line, ship, airline, hotel, ports, shore excursions, etc....) and I ask my wife to do the same. I then mentally file away what we want to avoid in the future, as well as what we may like to experience again. We then decide on when we'd like to take our next cruise. Then I sit down at the computer to begin to plan the next trip. I'm a details guy who constructs spreadsheets comparing costs for different cruise lines from different ports. It's pretty elaborate and I'll admit also a bit obsessive, but it's what I do.

bump