Tips and Advice
For general cruising advice, there is a wealth of resources already online. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel, here. http://www.CruiseCritic.com is highly recommended.
Illness
GET ENOUGH SLEEP! We did this by napping every day. If you have time for a nap, TAKE IT!
Travel
See Theme Days
Follow this group while travelling (there will be a thread that is dedicated to travel updates) and also the #jococruise or #jococruisecrazy hashtags on twitter to be alerted to other seamonkeys that might be at your airport gate
If you have one, wear a PREVIOUS cruise badge while you travel to the port city. Find other Sea Monkeys on your plane, in the airport, at the hotel, etc. You can also wear pins
Port
During embarkation, there are photographers setup with backdrops. This can be bypassed.
Bring your own Sharpie marker and you can skip the wait to write your name on your badge.
Sunscreen rubs on Sharpie writing on badges. To prevent fading, cover the writing with invisible tape.
Use cruisecritic.com and TripAdvisor to get opinions about shore excursions
An offshoot of the Jeep Tour thread: Don't board with a stack of $20s from the ATM. Take time to hit a bank and have 10s 5s and 1s. Handy to not have to make vendors break them in Mexico and for tipping at all the little stops on tours.
Have something to cover legs and arms (guys and gals) if touring churches and the like, remove hats and sunglasses when entering.
Ship
Laundry Options: (2018) https://flic.kr/p/23B4WUs
There's different art in each hallway and each stairwell
There's no need to queue for the Main Theater events. All of the seats have good views. There are [multiple] levels to the theater, as well.
The elevators have carpets with the current day on them. Take a photo at the beginning of each day, and you'll be able to identify what day the following photos are from, easily.
Explore the ship early on. Take the time to explore all the nooks and crannies of each deck. Try to do it early on in the sailing, so that you can find your way easier. Use the maps posted throughout the ship. I've heard so many newbies say “I never knew that was there! I wish I had known.” Plus, you never know what you may find.
Cabins
Bring a humidifier - cabins can be really dry
Have stewards clean out mini bar to make more room for soda - Cans are a best use of the space
Ask your room Steward to bring you ice everyday at a particular time. So when you get back from expeditions, you will have ice and water to drink. I usually ask to have something waiting to eat as well.
Room Service:
- Room service breakfast is included in the price!
- For room service breakfast, one can utilize the pre-ordering hangtags. If you don't like the options, write in what you want, and they will often deliver (YMMV).
- If you have a balcony, enjoy a quiet breakfast with room service. That said, some of the room service food is rather meh. I recall the scrambled eggs being horrid, but the pastries and oatmeal were both good. If you order something that you don't like, order something else and don't eat the first thing.
- Often, one can order from the Main Dining Room (MDR) menu via room service.
- Use room service, even though you might feel bad about making someone bring you grilled cheese at 11:30 at night. Get up and have coffee delivered, have tea on your veranda, ask for a pre-dinner snack to be there everyday. Have ice cream. You're there to be pampered. Revel in it
- Room service selections are weak
Tipping your cabin steward and your bartender very generously on the first day can lead to exceptional service
Once unpacked in your cabin, store your luggage UNDER the bed. Cabins can be small, so this will free up space.
The laundry service on the boat is only 20 dollars a bag (fairly large bag too ) and it will come back folded. Don't forget to remove the plastic tags, they itch.
Decorating Cabin Doors. From HAL (ms Oosterdam, February 20, 2019): “You are more than welcome to decorate your door as long as you leave no residue from tape.” Dimensions are 26 inches wide and 78.5 inches high.
Magnets: Can be used on cabin doors. But, I also use them on my cabin WALLS to hang newsletters and such. Big clip magnets are good for that too. (NEODYMIUM magnets work best.)
Post-Its: Use them to leave notes for cabin mates. But, also use them to leave requests for cabin stewards. Sometimes you may get notes back
Bring binder clips. Sometimes, cabin window curtains don't exactly close all the way, allowing very bright light to shine in. If you want to sleep in, bring binder clips to help close the curtains.
Towards the end of the sailing, your cabin will receive paperwork to fill out to schedule your debarkation. Be sure to complete and return to the ship promptly. This information is used for your departure luggage tags, debarkation times, etc. It is very important. Don't wait until the last minute!
On the final night, most folks will place their packed luggage outside their cabins for pickup. BE SURE to keep a change of clothes for the next day!
Dining
Official
New for 2018:
- We’re having (limited) seating for breakfast and lunch daily in the Main Dining Room. There’ll still be plenty of room for gaming (and crafting).
- Expanded vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free menu options in the Main Dining Room and the Lido Market.
- Four words: All. Day. Taco. Bar. (Well, extended hours, any way.)
Drink more water than usual
Go to the buffet later if it's open
There's often one or two dishes, often Indian, prepared for the crew that can be ordered at dinner
You can take food with you out of the dining room and you can order as much food as you want in the dining room
You’ll have better luck finding food you like in the buffet than the sit down restaurant. Except the steak house you have to pay extra for, that’s always excellent.
Pace yourself with food. There is so much food. All the time. Even if you think you’re taking it easy, that’s a lot of food. Take it easy so you aren’t missing events you want to be at because you need another nap.
There is an ice cream counter in the Lido. The bowls provided are small. If you want more than one scoop of ice cream, grab a bigger bowl from elsewhere on the buffet and ask the server for more.
Grab a tall glass/cup and bring it to the ice cream counter. Get a scoop of ice cream, then add soda for a float.
Get fresh hot fries from the Dive In counter, then add cheese sauce from the taco bar for cheese fries.
After dinner service, the MDR menus for the next day are often posted outside the MDR entrance. Use these to decide where to dine.
The Lido buffet menus will be posted by the Lido buffet entrances. Read these instead of trying to see everything on the counters.
The MDR also sometimes serves breakfast and lunch (OR BRUNCH). See the daily newsletter for hours.
On debarkation morning, you may have time for breakfast, either with room service or in the MDR for a more relaxed pace.
If you see open seats at a dinner table, it is VERY OK to ask to join. Every single person on the boat knows about something you don't. Find out what it is.
Social
Stay at the hotel a day early and meet some sea monkeys on land. Veteran Seamonkeys are VERY welcoming
If you clip your room key onto the same lanyard as your name badge, be sure to attach the keycard in such a manner as to NOT block your name.
Write your name on both sides of your name badge, because it's going to turn around a lot. Which makes 'don't block your name with your room key' a little difficult, to be honest.
A hole punch of the proper shape and size to match the one on the name badge is generally found at the cruise line info/concierge desk.
Pace yourself. You can NEVER do it all. Take a deep breath, pick 2 things a day you MUST do, and wing it. You can watch events from your cabin, too.
Seamonkeys are pretty cool and can form ongoing friendships via social media
Performers and famous people really are just people
Pay attention to yourself. The event is a whole week long. It's okay to spend time alone.
NOTHING is required
In the gaming area (and other places) flipchart sized pads are used to post notices and invitations on the walls.
Leave your expectations at the door. And seriously… Make the time to get good sleep every single night.
Pamper yourself. This goes with don't try to do all the things. I've been tired after dinner and went to my room and watched the concert from my bed. Don't forget you're on vacation!
If you see open seats at a dinner table, it is VERY OK to ask to join. Every single person on the boat knows about something you don't. Find out what it is.
Have a drinking buddy. take advantage of the 2 for 1 specials
Miscellaneous
Double check the weather the night before you debark and make sure you have appropriate clothing options. Otherwise you end up, say, standing around the baggage claim in Florida on a freakishly chilly 45 degree day digging around for leggings and a sweat shirt because sandals and a sundress ain't getting it done.
Get notes from https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1S2DxZHtu7aVRrD3dmvxP99l8ZvSomudmpISqazlL45c/edit#gid=0
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JoCoCruise2018/permalink/326992554472683/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JoCoCruise2018/permalink/328754637629808/