Although it will only be my second cruise, and both on HAL, cruising has become my "drug of choice". My wait is over. I leave tomorrow the 25th on the Noordam for 11 great days!
I get so upset when people who have never been on a cruise talk about how boring it must be to be stuck on a boat for a week!
Oh well, more room for us smart ones!

You go Mr. TP!! ?? people actually think it might be boring?? LMAO!

I'm off in 4 weeks (need to update sig) on an 8-day repo

Have fun TP!

Nancy

Thanks Nancy. 4 weeks will fly by!
You have a great trip also.

Why is it, I'm all packed and surffing the net and my wife is still trying to figure out what to bring???

TP

I'm jealous of Mr. TP I wanted go on my cruise now! Oh well planning is part of the fun. I'm going on my first Alaska cruise and it's a new cruiseline for me and my hubby. we have never been on Celebrity before. May 20 is my depart day. I'm so addicted that at my work computer the back group is a midnight buffet.
I went on the star princess and I still today walk around saying Ahola deck 12. Today we diet for in 2 months we cruise.

Katlady..

"I'm so addicted that at my work computer the back group is a midnight buffet."
u r funny! I've heard Celebrity is very awesome! ur also leaving on my bday - a very good omen

Have a great time!

quote:

Originally posted by Nita:
I am a first time cruiser am I crazy or am I not the only person in the world, who think about my upcoming cruise so much till I canot contain myself. I am always looking at pitures at work of different people who have been on cruises and I am always on this board. I have 5 months left and all I can think about is getting to the point of leaving, if I didn't think it was crazy I would start packing right now just to help me get through the next 5 months. What do other people do to past their time away?? We booked last September was real excited then and could not contain my self;l then the holidays came and it kind o f wore down a little, got a laptop for christmas and have been looking into different things about the cruise. Now I am on the site so much and looking at pictures everyday by the time I cruise I will know everything their is to know and the ship backwards and forwards I look at the website and study it soo much. Plese help me to think of something to do to pass these last 5 months away and am I crazy or do other cruisers go thru this. This is my first cruise am I way over to excited. HELP HELP ME!!!!

Edit: Moved to General Cruise Chat. RF

Hi Nancylee I will celebrate your birthday with a large meal at dinner and a toast. I meant to write background not back group I was so excited about the cruise I can't type. The sad thing about the midnight buffet picture is it's not even a picture of a cruise I was on. It's lobster buffet on Crystal Cruise lines.

It always fascinates me that lots of people on these boards go on more than 1 cruise a year! How are you guys doing it? I feel fortunate to have gone on three in three years! I do have 3 small children, but how do you financially cruise as often as you all do??
Cheap cruises? travel agents? very gracious employers? whats the secret?

quote:

Originally posted by jbrooks175:
It always fascinates me that lots of people on these boards go on more than 1 cruise a year! How are you guys doing it? I feel fortunate to have gone on three in three years! I do have 3 small children, but how do you financially cruise as often as you all do??
Cheap cruises? travel agents? very gracious employers? whats the secret?

Hi Jbrooks
Let me start with I don't have kids so that makes it easier to cruise more often. But also I have a MBNA cruise rewards credit card. I get cruise points for every dollar spent and I can use them at the 500 and 800 point level. Which gives me $500 or $800 dollars off my cruise. My hubby and I did a 4 day to baja mexico for $75 per person because for this card.

quote:

Originally posted by jbrooks175:
It always fascinates me that lots of people on these boards go on more than 1 cruise a year! How are you guys doing it? I feel fortunate to have gone on three in three years! I do have 3 small children, but how do you financially cruise as often as you all do??
Cheap cruises? travel agents? very gracious employers? whats the secret?

You know that funny commercial where the guy ends up saying "I'm in debt up to my eyeballs"? LOL!

Seriously, I also don't have kids either. Until I turned 50 a few years ago, all I did was pay bills and took NO vacations. Then I treated myself to a 4-day. I was hooked and now I honestly don't do much the rest of the time (i.e. weekends, no movies, dinner out, etc). I enjoy cruising so much I'd prefer to save my cash for that.

I also SEARCH endlessly for a good deal! As far as work, I've worked there 18 years and get 4 weeks vacation.

One cruise a year is GREAT for a mother of 3 children!

Have fun!
Nancy

For one I look every day at cruises just to see if there's a great price out there. I would say all my cruises are cheap cruises. Aug 2005 my daughter and I went on a 4 night cruise for $219.00 a person. Aug 2006 I'm booked with Carnival 7 nights at $529.00 a person - now the price is just about $700.00 a person -

My boss is great - I take about three weeks a year - maybe a little more.

My travel lady is the best - she says you are getting a good price if it's $100 or less a night. I have found no matter where you look all the prices are the same. So I look at the computer find what I want then call her to book it for me. She always gives us a nice thank you gift. (My Aunt last year spent about $8,000.00 on a cruise and never got nothing for a gift from her travel person - I think next time she is going with my travel person.)

Plus I work part time doing books for a friend - pay is good - this is some of my cruise money.

Just always look, plan ahead - and go.

quote:

Originally posted by DSR:
Crusing is the best. My husband is not a big fan of it so my 15 year old daughter is my crusing partner. We were able to do three last year. We are leaving April the 13 on Zenith and have another one planned for August with Carnival. If you really spend time at it you can find some really great prices. Make sure you take lots of pictures - I take about 500 a trip. What cruise are you going on?

We are going on the Carnival Imagination the last of August so we have the whole summer to wait. Oh Boy

I don't know if I would say I was obsessed but certainly looking forward to going on the conquest in 3 weeks. OK so i'll be working but think about it. i play music for up to 4 hours a night and there will be 2 DJ's on the conquest so I get nights off.
I do not have to pay for food or accomodation and it is quitte correct that i get paid in cash every 2 weeks. So what do I spend my money on??? Well I do like the odd alcoholic drink, i am NOT a heavy drinker but when it's $1 a beer (that's right $1!!!!) in the crew bar you can hardly say no.
Oh yeah and i get to do whaever i want during the day so can see the lovely ports of call.
I would hardly call that work

DJ, that is a great job you have there! you get to do a work vacation. I am impressed! I hope you have a great time on your cruise you lucky dog!

Hi WooHooCruising
I like you ticker at the bottom of your message how do you add that. Thanks, Sherry

I too am highly addicted to cruising and all types of travel. I really have no other hobbies except for travel. We have several children and typically plan one nice family vacation a year and one or two vacations just for my wife and I.

As others have mentioned, it helps to be continually searching for a good deal. It pays to learn the travel seasons in your intended destination; often a change of as little as two weeks in your travel dates can result in savings of 50%. I will typically pick two or three itineraries and two cruise lines for a cruise I want to take. I then search for the best deal instead of having my heart set on just one cruise line and itinerary.

We also have a separate savings account that we contribute a set amount to every month—sort of like a “Travel 401k”. (We even did this years ago when we were first married and poor college students.) We always have the money saved before we take a vacation. This way, we never have to pay for a vacation after the fact. We also are able to travel frequently by watching our costs on vacation. We are willing to book an inside cabin if it means we can cruise twice a year instead of once.

In short, if you really want to travel more often you can find a way to make it happen. And if you don’t think you can leave the kids too often, bring them with you. They need a vacation too and will love a cruise.

Welcome to the club. You will meet people from around the world, discover wonderful places and have a great laugh while you do so.

Enjoy!

Ridley
Publisher of deckchair magazine
www.deckchair.ca

**Check out our 15 page World Cruise Guide, listing every ship and where they will be during the next 12 months.**

Sorry this is long!!

Well, Nita, as the others have said, you are NOT alone!!

My husband and I had cruised two times prior to last summer, and both of those cruises were okay. However, I was seasick the 2nd time and sick and tired of drunk high school and college graduates, so I didn't think about cruising for 10 years!! (I *can't believe that!!)

Last summer, I told my husband that I was going to see a TA to plan something so that we wouldn't have access to the telephone (We are both work-a-holics.) and stress. She suggested a S0. Caribbean cruise, and I reluctantly went with it since the price was so good. My thought at that time was, "Whatever. . ..We'll see if I can last the week."

BEST, BEST, BEST decision I ever made. We did AOS out of San Juan and had the greatest time doing NOTHING. We didn't call home. . . didn't email anyone. . .. didn't even go near the internet cafe.

As soon as we got home, I started thinking about planning another cruise. My husband jokingly told people that I thought we needed to go on a cruise every month. (He wasn't really that far off!!)

Then I found this board, and my obsession has grown. In January, I was telling friends about the cruise last year, and they asked me to plan a get-together cruise for 4 couples. DONE!! I found the cruise ticker, and everyday I check it a couple of times a day to see how long I have to wait.

To make it even worse, I own a paper arts store, and my customers are asking me to plan a crafting cruise for them because I have talked it up so much. You KNOW they don't have twist my arm to plan that adventure!!

And, while I am sitting here writing this response, I am at the store and should be checking in product or doing other crap that I need to finish this week.

HA! I'm checking the important stuff!!

On a more serious note, 10 days after we got home, my mother very suddenly and unexpectedly passed away, and I can tell you that had I not been on that cruise, I probably would not have been able to handle it as well as I did. I think everything happens for a reason, and that cruise last year showed me how to slow down!!

So, let's not call it an addiction to cruising. How about calling it a passion?

Now then. . . .How much time do I have left?

Chris

Chris,
Your post was so nice and I like the word that you used it sound better than obession, I am now going to use the word passion. You have a little bit more longer wait than I so what else are you doing to pass the time away

We also have the great cruise addiction. We're in our 50's and went on our 1st cruise ever in Feb. Within 2 days of getting home we had booked 2 more cruises for this year (we leave on the first of those in 6 days!....yippee). I also decided to take my 84 yr old Mom on a 7 day cruise to Bermuda in May and we just finished booking an 11 night cruise in Oct. I feel there's no hope for us! If we could figure a way to do one a month we would