We were flown out this morning to Miami Beach, FL for a wedding that we are shooting tomorrow! It’s beautiful and sunny and we can’t wait! (Let’s hope the tropical downpours stay away!).
Just thought we’d share a few photos taken on the lovely iPhone (no, not the 4G :) as we were scouting out locations for shooting.
We’re back in Nashville and what a fab few last days it has been!
On Thursday morning last week, we flew into the Windy City and met up with the SHOWIT team for the Chicago leg! Hanging out that afternoon was great (of course, had to stop at H&M on the way!) and that evening the tour went really well. We met so many of you and boy, Chicago has a great community of photographers out there! Through the night we rode the bus with the SHOWIT team, got officially inducted (ha ha), and woke up in Nashville and did everything again that evening!
We are so glad that we were able to be a part of this and thanks to all of you who came out!
Unfortunately, we really didn’t take that many pictures but we thought we would share what we have and what we were given from other photogs!
Below we have David Jay, who is the creator behind SHOWIT, the platform that thousands use for their websites. DJ has a great heart for equipping others with knowledge & resources so they truly can have a great business but not be bound to it. Freedom is what it’s all about!
If you haven’t heard the pipes of Molly Jenson – you need to. This girl provided the tunes for the tour and has a fantastic voice and is a pleasure to listen to (and very entertaining… ha ha). Way to go Nashville, for being her favorite stop!
This was our first time meeting Jim Davis Hicks a wedding & philanthropic photographer. He was on the tour getting the word out on his Action Runner goodness (who sponsored the tour), as well as Thirst Relief International. Jim has a great heart for people and is also a hilarious hang.
The Thirst Relief booth.
Bob & Dawn Davis were the other speakers at the Chicago stop. Sadly, we didn’t bring our camera so the best we have is an iPhone photo of Bob sharing and doing a lighting demo…
Below is a shot of the Chicago speaking clan taken by Russell of Tiberius Images.
We had never met Bob & Dawn before, and wow, what a great couple. We love their passion for not only their work, but for their family! If you have not checked them out…. you should :)
For the Nashville leg, the ever-so-joyful and sweet Sarah Barlow joined the speaker lineup and shared all of her goodness about branding and how to be productive by sharing great tips on running your day-to-day business.
Wrapping up each tour was the fab Kevin Sturm. Kevin is such a great guy and is a huge part of SHOWIT. He also facilitated all of the details and logistics for the whole tour and is the man! You ‘da best, Kevin!
So we totally stink because Mr. Andrew Barlow was a big part in making each of the SHOWIT Tour stops work when it came to the mics, sound, video, but alas, we have no photos of him!! (Well, I do have the one iPhone photo with the clown glasses, but I don’t think he would be too thrilled with us posting it…). Andrew is dedicated to SHOWIT and to all of the SHOWIT users. We kid you not, he was up late when all of us were having fun responding to SHOWIT users needs and requests. Talk about customer service!! Follow Andrew on Twitter and tell him he’s the bomb! :)
Props go to Nashville based photographer Michael Gomez, who is co-owner of Nashbox Studios – the SWEET place that the SHOWIT Nashville leg took place at. (Side note – Nashville area photogs – if you are looking for a space that you can utilize every now and then for studio work, Nashbox Studios is a FAB place to check out).
And lastly, here are some photos of us taken in Chicago (thanks Russ!) & Nashville (thanks Ginny!).
Us, getting ready to go on…
Doin’ our thang in Chicago!
Doin’ our thang in Nashville… Our favorite part – sharing our journey and where we came from…
Again, we had a great time being a part of the tour. Thanks again to DJ and his team for asking us to come out and allowing us to share with others, and thanks to all of you photographers who came out and listened! We were just as blessed by your stories…
Heatheryou guys are seriously adorable...i would love to hear you speak someday!
jim Davis-Hicksyou guys are amazing. i had so much fun hanging with you at your place and enjoyed the humor and quality conversation! thanks again!
Russ ClimieThanks so much for coming to Chicago and telling your story. I am excited to implement all the details you went through about your business transformation! Hope to run into you soon!
KevinLooking forward to the next time we get to hang out. You guys are awesome and have such a great message. Hope to hang sometime soon!
Sarah BarlowWhy are you guys just SO CUTE!!?!
Loved hanging out! Let's do more of it!! Yes??
Evangeline ReneeIt was so great meeting you two in Chicago! You. are. inspiring.
Ginny CorbettYou guys rocked it! Glad I was able to experience it in person!
Kenny KimLooks like you guys had a blast in Chicago. Sad I missed you guys! :) Thanks for taking care of my city!
Spencer ClarkCongrats guys! Looks like a great time!
Matt SavageHey, sorry we missed you guys while you were in town... looks like a great team showed up!
This is the first blog post that we have ever done from our iPhone. Exciting times :) As we write this we are in the Nashville airport waiting for our one way flight to the Windy City! We’re excited to be joining up with the Show It freedom tour for the last two legs (Chicago & Nashville) and it’s going to be great!
We especially can’t wait to see some of our friends up in the North!! Great times!
Michaela Potterbaumhey guys!! I so enjoyed everything you shared at the showit stop in chicago. it was so refreshing to see such an awesome photography couple, so full of life and love for Jesus... your insight totally got me pumped. blessings!
AmyYou guys rock and it was SOOOO good to have you here in Chicago. Thank you for your honesty and all of the encouragement and direction you shared. I'm a fan... You'll have to come again soon!
Tom HolmesThank you so much for being in Chicago! The info you shared was phenomenal, I only hope I can catch the "full " version someday.
Wow. What a week!!! It was a week ago today that we were packing up to leave for WPPI in Las Vegas with over 12,000-14,000 wedding and portrait photographers.
We are back and boy, we had a BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For all of you who came up and introduced yourselves to us – thank-you SO much!!! It seriously was AMAZING to meet you all! Most definitely one of the highlights!!
The other highlight of ours was when we arrived a day early to be a part of a Charity Event with the Boys and Girls Club of Las Vegas that Pictage put together. It seriously blessed us so much and we can’t wait to share it with you all!
The last (and biggest!) highlight of WPPI was when over 100 Christian photographers joined together for one purpose – to bring honor and glorify Christ. It was amazng and our hearts swell just thinking about it. God is moving in this industry and we are excited!! (PS. For more information on UNITE – the Christian photographers group – visit the Facebook UNITE fan page).
So as we rest and get our feet back under us, we just wanted to shoot out this small thank-you to Pictage, our sponsors, our friends, Janelle at Apollo, and our new friends for making this a FANTASTIC conference.
Tonhya KaeIt sounds like you two had so much fun! I'm so bummed I wasn't able to go and catch up with you guys! I guess there is always PartnerCon or WPPI 2011! Woo-hoo! It makes me smile to know that photographers got together to praise our Father for his goodness. Love it.
If this is your first time hearing about our IN-CAMERA photography workshop series, you will actually learn how to shoot images that amaze right in the camera. We will show you how we shoot photos like the one on the right, below, with no Photoshop work and next to zero post-production time (you can see more images from workshops on the workshop web page). These workshops feature class time, hands-on shooting with professional models, on location studio lighting, post-production and much more. These workshops are super fun, informative, and a great time to hang out with and meet other photographers who want what you want – great images without having to spend hours behind a computer screen editing.
These workshops will sell out fast and have limited seating, so be sure to sign up now to ensure a seat!!
We are super excited to be coming back to this area! Last time we were in town we spoke at the CT PUG to a full house, had an awesome shoot by Justin & Mary Marantz and loved everyone who we met! We can’t wait to see you all again and visit!!
Sponsored by:
PS. As of now we have one more state in the books for Spring… Announcement will be made Thursday at noon! If you are interested in bringing the IN-CAMERA workshops to your area, email us at INCAMERA@grayphotograph.com!
MapuanaI totally agree with Tira. After taking this workshop I feel that it has taken my business to a whole new level. Plus my shooting style has changed and let me tell you about my editing time..... More like WHAT editing? I learned to shoot correctly IN-CAMERA!!!! I edited an entire engagement shoot in 20 minutes. The Bride was THRILLED to get her images back that evening. People you don't want to miss this opportunity!!! Plus Zach and Jody are just the coolest couple to hang out with.
Eric FoleySuper siked to have you guys in CT! Can't wait :)
Tira JPEOPLE! If you are reading this and questioning whether or not you should go to this workshop, STOP! Look no further because this is the workshop you need to go to! Your images will be 1000% better after you learn from Zach & Jody! And no, they didn't pay me to say this! Love you guys! All the way from So Cal! Come back soon. xoxo
Ashley ScobeyWhoop whoop! I was right! We are so there!
Since almost the beginning of our business, we have been members of Pictage, the industry leader in online image hosting, printing and sales solutions, and services to professional photographers. Once we got their informational DVD on all the services they offered, we were sold!
Pictage has been HUGE in assisting us in our business, and their services for photographers range widely, and without them we would be spending countless hours dealing with print orders and many other things.
When we were in CA in December we set some time aside to visit the offices and have lunch with a few of the peeps! Enjoy the visual journey of our visit, thanks to the iPhone‘s picture taking abilities!
First, we were greeted with a custom welcome screen in the main entryway of our images… awwww, special.
Then the FABULOUS Scott Miura gave us a tour of the place which started in CEO Jim Collins‘ office… Jim wasn’t there yet so Zach was welcomed to take a moment and see how it felt in Jim’s Seat. Ohhh… the power…
We got to see and meet the people in all the departments and what a system they have set up there! We stopped by shipping and were told that we had just missed the crazy rush of getting all the thousands of Christmas orders out in time. Here were some of their regular orders waiting for pickup (this was one bin of like 4 or 5!).
And of course, we left our mark on a few whiteboards that just happened to be around…
Artwork by Zach Gray…
Artwork by moi
We headed off to lunch with the FAB Emily, Scott M., Scott A., and CEO Jim at the Red Car Brewery, and then came back for a few photos :)
What we love about Pictage is that the people there really care. They are open to any and all feedback and really want to make Pictage the absolute best it can be for their fellow photographers.
When we got back from our travels we had a package waiting for us with a print of the below picture that was taken of us all together… Aw!
(From L to R – Scott A, Jody, Jim, Zach, Emily, & Scott M. We heart you guys!)
We love how the people at Pictage really care about photographers. They aren’t interested in making their own lives easier, they are interested in making our lives as photographers easier. Thanks everyone at Pictage for all you do!!
Who else out there is a fellow Pictager? What do you use Pictage for and what do you like about it?
Stephen KnuthI love Pictage! What fun it sure was spending time with you in SoCal. Miss you guys!!! You going to wppi??
Cyler ParentI love Pictage. Their dedication to making my client's experience the best it can be is only one of many reasons why I <3 them and everything they do.
Jim CollinsThat jolt of power you felt in my chair was an electric cord that someone in the call center hooked up to it to fry me a little any time my title starts to go to my head. Hope it didn't get you too bad.
It was great having you guys here. I love it when Photographers visit!
Jim
shawnreederLooks like you all had a blast!!! I can't wait to visit the Pictage offices one of these days.
EmilyWe heart you more!!! Thanks so much for spending time with us.
Scott Miuraas Scott Anderson commented, it was such a treat having you both visit and grateful for all you do for our photography community. This post is wonderful and I am especially glad that you enjoyed your visit (and tour)!! Here's to making 2010 another wonderful year...see you both at WPPI in March.
Courtney AppletonIt was so great to see you guys at Pictage! We love seeing your work here! Hope to see you at WPPI!!!
scott andersonIt was such a treat having you both visit...we are so grateful for all you do for the photography community!
We really love the lighting photography workshops that we are able to do and get so excited to share what we have learned with other shooters! The great thing about the lighting workshops is we keep the classes super small to maximize the learning time. When we launched the first class in the OC it filled up so fast we decided to open an additional class, hence our third day of IN-CAMERA photography workshops in Laguna Beach!
Our heart behind our workshops is that we really want you (our attendees!) to walk away with the tools to do the same thing yourself, not just get a couple of cool shots. So we really take the day slow and let each photographer set up the light rig themselves, meter the lights and compose their shot. That way, they will be able to walk away and re-create their own version of some awesome off-camera lighting.
Both days started off great and we had a fun time talking through some of the techniques that we use in order to quickly and efficiently set up our lighting shots.
Thanks to Chris Robertson for shooting these shots with our camera!
Then, after lunch we headed out to set up our first few shots!! All of the following images have no Photoshop enhancements and are pretty much straight out of the camera with some very minor adjustments done in Adobe Lightroom that took about two second to do.
Our model Jesiree workin it!
Here is a little behind the scenes shot of our next set up using our Westcott lighting rig.
And the resulting image.
Here is another behind-the-scenes image of our set up down at the beach. These were shot about 1.5 hours before sunset when the natural light was still pretty bright.
The resulting image ended up being one of my favorite that I took during the whole series of photo workshops here in California.
We also demonstrated a two light set-up to show everyone the effect of adding another kicker light to camera left.
Our other lighting workshop was awesome as well and we got some really cool shots out on the beach!
Our model Kahala was super cool too and rocked it out for us below!! Thanks also to Brooke for doing such an amazing job as well!
Day One Group!
Day Two Group!
It was super amazing coming out to So Cal and we can’t wait to come back! We keep getting requests for holding a business workshop out here, so let us know if you are interested in us coming back and we just might be there sooner than you think!
Madison CollinsHi Jody and Zach, it is madison I found you on google and I found this website. I love it. It is sooo cool
talk to you ltr
Kimsua ChayMan I found out about the workshop after it had already happened! I just recently started following your blog but I really do hope that you come back to the OC so that I can attend the next one!
Tonhya KaeYou two are so amazing! What great hearts God blessed you two with... :) Keep it up! ooh...by the way these images are ridiculously gorgeous!
MapuanaHands down this was the BEST workshop EVER!!! I learned sooooooo much in 2 days. Let me know if you guys decide to do a Business workshop here in Cali. I know it's gonna sell out fast.
Stephen KnuthI had a blast with you guys!! I learned so much and had even more fun hanging out with you two! :-)
Feuzathese shots are hot! I can not wait to attend! safe travels!
JoshFreaking awesome! This workshop was totally worth the trip out from Ohio. Thanks Zach and Jody.
jenny mahh.. i am still so bummed i missed the lighting workshop! so wished i could have been there.. and please come back!
Brooke ConlinThanks Grayphotography for having me as a model. Had an awesome time! you guys are amazing =]
The Velvet TrunkMouth totally fell open at these. You guys are outdoing yourselves again! LOVE em!!! =)
-Mel
Kaysha WeinerI'm editing my photographs right now and I can't tell you how much faster the whole process is for me now! THANK YOU for coming all the way to California to show us the ropes! Oh yeah and my photos are totally EPIC, can't wait to blog them! :)
cassandra mWOW........looks like it was a BLAST! So happy for the lucky people in Cali that attended. I am sure they each walked away with a warm fuzzy feeling, fun memories & laughter and a lot more knowledge. congrats you guys...
justin wrightlooks like you had a blast...and found some great models to work with. i love their poses. thanks for the behind the scenes shot. i can tell zach gained some weight from all those burgers. : )
Kristine NeeleyWhat an incredible location for an incredible workshop!
This week we have been in the great state of California conducting our IN-CAMERA photography workshops and we have been having a blast!! We are meeting so many great photographers and pumping out a lot of golden nuggets of information.
A HUGE thanks goes out to the amazing and fabulous Mapuana who was our point person on the ground and made it happen for us to come to California!
A second thank-you goes to David of Tosti Studios who let us takeover his studio for 3 days. His studio is at a killer spot, right on the North Coast Highway facing the beautiful Laguna Beach and was perfect for the teaching portions of our workshops!!
Here is a little visual highlight of our sold out Shooting & Post class (limited to 20 students)… winner of the farthest traveler goes to Josh who flew in all the way from Ohio!
In this shot you can really see how many photographers were there shooting. It was sooo fun!!
And of course we ended the shoot taking some silhouette shots as the sun began to set!
Here we are with David Tosti posing it up!
And the very last part of the workshop is taking class attendants through our post production process, and showing shortcuts and tricks on how we are able to post an entire wedding of approx 1200 images in approx 2.5 hours.
The Shooting & Post group!
Fun, fun time. Great weather. Great beach. Great models. Great photogs. LOVE IT!
kristianne koch photography—-photo blog | [photography] is evolving your craft[...] I am posting a few of my favorite images from the shoot session here. After a morning of instruction in which I picked up a fresh understanding of white balance and perfecting exposure, we headed out to try our ‘camera’ at capturing a perfectly lit, balanced and exposed image in-camera. It was easier and harder than a usual session: easier because the model held still and had incredible camera presence and harder because there were 9 other photographers at any one time jumping in front of you to get ‘their’ shot. To see more about the workshops visit Zach and Jody’s blog. [...]
jenny msuch a fun day! you guys are amazing, and i learned so much in such a short amount of time.. just wished i could have been there for day two! thanks for spending your birthday with us zack.. and only three weeks til ours jody! thanks again guys.. i'll be first on the list next time you are in town.
DaveThanks for the great workshop and for all the inspiration and information you provided. You guys are top notch.
MapuanaThank you both so very very much for coming all this way. We all had a blast and I learned so much in such a short amount of time. I'm still on a Zach & Jody high. I can't stop thinking everything I've learned in only 2 days. Can't wait to put it to use. Sign me up if you ever come back for a business workshop.
Kaysha WeinerYou both are rock stars!! I learned sooo much and I'm keeping my fingers crossed you come back for a business workshop soon! ;)
alysonI have to echo the others! It was a great 2 days. Thank you so much for being so open and helpful...and for teaching in such a fun way (and not making us do any math)! Hope you guys will come back this way with more workshops.
imthiaz housemanoh my goodness, you guys have been busy... that group photo is so funny!
BrandiWooHoo!!!! Great fun guys!!! Thanks so much for traveling all the way to the OC to help out your fellow photographers! I had so much fun meeting everyone and learning a TON!!! You guys are number 1 in my book! :D
KellyHad SUCH a blast with you guys - you are both so fun and such amazing teachers! There is no price on the amount of knowledge and confidence that I walked away with after just one day with you both! Thanks for coming all the way out to CA to spread the love!
Jen JohnsonI agree with Courtney. This was the best two days of workshops EVER! So glad you guys came out to our neck o' the woods. It was truly a pleasure meeting you and learning from you!!! XO
JoshYou guys are awesome! I had so much fun at the workshops and learned so much, I have to agree with Courtney, this is one of the best investments I could have made in developing my photography skills!
HollyThank you again for sharing your knowledge with us Californians. I wish I could have taken the lighting workshop too. I learned so much and had such a great time!
Tira JHoly Cow! I am still trying to come off the high from your workshop on Sunday. Thank you thank you thank you so very much for everything you shared. I am excited to use some of the knowledge this weekend at a wedding. Oh, and my new expo disc is coming today! :) Love you guys and can't wait to see you again! p.s. didn't know I was going to show up in so many of your images! hee hee! Used some of them on facebook and gave you the credit! You both ROCK!
CourtneyBest investment I ever made in me and my photography was taking both days of this workshop! YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!! I walked away with so much confidence, inspiration, and appreciation for rock star people like Zach & Jody! Thanks guys!
MelissaThank you SOOOO much Zach & Jody for coming out to the OC! I learned an incredible amount of information - I'm not sure my brain can retain all of it! You two are wonderful people as well - I really enjoyed the workshop!!
We hit the ground running ever since we got back from vacation, hence the delay in posting any pictures from our cruise! Sooooooooo, to hold you all over we thought that in honor of all the cold weather the US has been getting (darn global warming) we would post this short video taken on the island of St. Lucia….
Feuzathis is great! love hearing the sound of the waves, makes me want to me very very very far away from here, and love how you guys say nothing only at the end!
Eric FoleyWOW, you must have gained about ten years back on your life after that trip. Good for you guys :)
Matt & LeslieAmazing!! I'm so jealous. Glad you guys had a great vacation.
traceyooooooooo you guys suck. :)
in the good sense of the word suck. xoxo
enjoy yourselves!!!!
ashIt was a well deserved vaca for you guys! Glad it was in such a beautiful place!
Kevin AutryWOW!! Looks SOOO relaxing. Hope you guys had a blast!
The Velvet TrunkGorgeous. SO very thrilled you four got to do this. Can't wait to see pics!! Hugs!! =)
For those of you not following us on out Twitter or FaceBook, you might have missed out on the news that we are going on a CRUISE!!!
This year has been super busy and we have been working hard and saving hard and are in need of a long break away from phones, email, internet and work :) A time to get away, refresh and revive is exactly what we need, and it doesn’t hurt that the cruise happens to fall over our anniversary! :)
It all started about two weeks ago when great friends and photographers, David & Tammy Molnar said they were looking into last minute cruises and wondering if we would want to join. We jumped at the opportunity and booked it that day!
Short of Zach, none of us have ever been on a cruise and are not fully sure what to expect, pack, think about, etc. My sister and her husband went on a cruise a bit ago and we have some family members who have been as well telling us some things to avoid, things to bring, things to keep in mind, and their help has been invaluable!
For those of you cruisers, we would definitely appreciate some insight if you have it!
A little bit of info about our trip if that will help you with your ideas & suggestions:
Royal Caribbean is the cruise line and we leave from Puerto Rico. Suh weet!
The islands we will be stopping at are:
- Bridgetown, Barbados
- Castries, St. Lucia
- St. John’s, Antigua
- Philipsburg, St. Maarten
- St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Tips and advice are mucho welcome (we obviously don’t speak much Spanish!)! We are so pumped and excited to go! Yay vacation!
d a v i d m o l n a rhey would you guys want to go on a cruise with us? it leaves on sunday. i could teach you how to snorkel. oh and my dad could ship us some extra snorkel gear so you don't have to rent any? oh and we could probably find great flights to puerto rico where a cool route leaves from. thoughts?
OlegMy wife and I went last year on Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas. At the time it was the biggest ship, but I think they have one even bigger now. It was Great. Best vacation we had. Check out the slideshow from our trip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRKA9VE117E
And have fun.
Noelle McCoyBest piece of advice my friends... is avoid being sea sick at all costs! =) You two are the best... the McCoy's {heart} the Gray's and we wish you a supa-fun and relaxing vacation!!!
Tammy Molnarwe can't wait to cruise with you guys...don't know if the boat will be able to handle all of the hotness from us four...hahaha. thanks for posting this...the comments are already so helpful! looks like we have 2 formal nights....woot woot!
Aprilawesome! I lived in Puerto Rico for 4 years. I have been to most of the islands you talked about. If it were me this is what I would do.
San Juan, go on a catamaran adventure. They provide a day on the water, lunch and all the rum punch you can drink. http://www.eastwindcats.com/ I think they have a free shuttle from San Jaun. 2. Go see the old fort in Old San Juan 3.Rainforest? 4. hit the casino at the El Sanjuan resort.
St. Johns is great. Much better than St. Thomas where the cruise ship usually pulls in. If your not into shopping I HIGHLY suggest getting scuba certified and a dive company will take you to beef island where you can dive the Wreck of the RM Rhone...it's rated one of the top 10 wreck dives in the world. We did it as our first on our own dive after we got certified and it was AWESOME!
Barbados...can't remember much about it. Seems like we went swimming with a sea turtle.
St. Maarten This place is awesome. Half the island is french and half is dutch...but they both take American money (or they did) There a bar that is on a big boat, the place next door to it has awesome food. Can't remember the name it's like Joes or Larry's.. It's on the french side across the street from the Royal Palm resort in Cole bay. It's not in Phillipsburg proper...get out of that area it's yucky. We also went wind surfing on the french side. They give you like 20 minutes of lessons and then set you loose in the cove. It was a total blast and a workout.
Pack for 82 degrees... with the most perfect breeze in the evenings.
Have fun! Sorry for the long comment!
Brent DeitrichAwesome! My wife was born in Bridgetown, Barbados and she still has family that lives there. Say hi to them for us!
JenniferNot too much advise.. I was 17 when I went on a crusie with my family so its been a while and I was young. You should have a great time and your going to some awesome ports. I would check on some of the pre deals you can do and also some of pre drink packages you can order because it will add up quick !! But most of enjoy!
AlisaIf you tend to have motion sickness call your dr and tell him you're going on a cruise. He can call you in an RX for a patch you put behind your ear to prevent motion sickness. Other than that, sit on the ship deck and soak up the sun, relax, take a fun shore excursion, and take lots of pictures...oh wait, you were probably going to do that anyway! :) Have fun!!
CharliPI think you guys will enjoy it. My BF and i were first time cruisers this spring. We did the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas Southern Caribbean cruise (Left from San Juan and visited Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, and St. Thomas) We did the 7-day version and we absolutely LOVED waking up in a new place each morning and not having to get bored anywhere. We also spent a ton on pre-booked excursions from the boat and we are SO glad we did. They left our tickets for us in the room for each day's excursion and we didn't have to wonder where to go or who to meet when we got off the boat. (The people who didn't pre-book excursions seemed a little nervous and frustrated trying to do so on the boat.) But we hated being stuck on the boat a lot of the time. Sure there's a lot to do, but it's not always what it sounded like. The casino and the bars were fun, but they got a little tired after two days and the nightlife and variety shows werent as diverse as we'd have hoped. WE STILL had a great time, but most of the nightlife and activities were geared toward a Latin crowd since it leaves from San Juan and 80% of the boat is Spanish-speaking. SO, we felt a little out of our element on the boat. Off the boat we were in heaven. We loved the pool until we jumped in and realized it was salt-water. I never got back in, and my eyes thanked me for it. BUT, i had fun laying by it and drinking. A note: Royal Caribbean wants you to pay for drinks on board and tip. It gets really really pricey so save up now. The food was awesome and there are SO many choices on board. We had a great time getting to know the other couples at our assigned table during formal dinner nights (when we were up for it) and we loved taking elegant pics on board. We met a lot of great people and we'd TOTALLY go back again (just not leaving from San Juan -- we hear the other boats have a more diverse crowd.)
What We're Glad We Packed: Small waterproof pouches, backpacks, and carriers. (You're off the boat all day.)
lots of memory cards (we took like 2000 pics!)
multiple swimsuits -- NOTHING dries
sunburn soothers -- we burned SO badly
lots of towels -- the pool was out
easy things to hold money and room card in
Water shoes -- comfy and you're ready for most things!
What We Wish We'd Packed: A set of friends (glad you guys aren't going alone!)
our iHome for the cabin -- TV sucked
Bathroom spray!
What We Wish We Hadn't Brought:
Too many "formal outfits" and clothing options all together. Nobody really cares about dress codes, and we over did it and our bags were heavy. We repeated swimsuits and covers so much.
Enjoy!! Can't wait to see pics!!
ashmake sure you check what the dinners are - some have more dressy dinners and some even a "formal" night. also, make sure you know what your money is paying for. when i went on carnival, certain things at mealtime were not including, like anything besides water and tea.
MelissaHmmm, not much advice - I've never been on a cruise and I've never been to any of the ports (I did go to St. John, USVI and if any of your ports are as beautiful as that island you guys are going to have a FABULOUS time!)
I will live vicariously - have fun!
