TRAVEL THERE: LOOKING GOOD FOR MY SHIPBOARD VOW RENEWAL CEREMONY
We all have our priorities and I confess, one of mine is how I look. I know I don’t have super-model good looks, but like to make the best of what I have, especially for special occasions and a Shipboard 25th Anniversary Vow Renewal on the Mediterranean Sea is a pretty special occasion. All it takes is money.
My Girls
There were a lot of things I was excited about when it came to my cruise, but one I was particularly excited about was spending days on end with my girls. Deb, Melanie and Viktoriya are so dear to me. Most of all I was looking forward to spending salon time with them on the day of our ceremony and I was right to do so. It was some of the best moments of the whole cruise.
Make-up was easy. BAM $75 per person. Yep, that’s expensive for a little mascara and blush, but you’re paying for the experience, right? Believe me, it was worth every penny. We looked marvelous and we had a blast getting that way.
My Hair
Hair was not so easy, primarily because my hair was its own problem, all by itself. I’d decided to grow it out a few years before. By the time I booked the cruise, I was firmly convinced long hair was not for me, because my hair is somewhere on the cusp between wavy and curly, which, when it’s long, translates to frizzy with the least provocation Still, I really, really wanted to have an updo for my vow ceremony, so I fought my hair one more year just for that moment.
To complicate matters, Celebrity has all these different categories of things: Upstyle, Blow Dry & Style, Shampoo & Style and Bride’s Day Hair. What’s more, each of these choices was divided into categories based on length and there was no guide to let you exactly where each category began and ended. My hair was down past my shoulders, but that was nothing compared to someone with waist length hair. Was I paying the same thing as them or did I qualify as medium?
Then there was another problem. I would get my hair cut and colored the day before I left, but by the day of the ceremony I’d be wishing for clean hair. However, I was informed I should not wash my hair within the 24 hours before they were to give me my updo. Since 24 hours before my hair appointment I would be on a 10.5 hour tour of Capri and Pompei, I would have had to wash my hair on Embarkation Day. Washing my hair on Embarkation Day potentially meant frizzy hair for our first night’s dinner AND the 10.5 hour shore excursion. Did I mention I was vain? I opted for dirty hair for my ceremony – don’t tell anyone.
Still that didn’t answer whether I wanted an Upstyle or Bride’s Day Hair. It would make sense that I wanted the Bride’s Day Hair, which was $35 more than a mere Upstyle, but no one anywhere could tell me exactly what I got for my extra $35 – plus, that would mean the mandatory 18% service charge would also be more. They got their extra $35 and I still don’t know what for. In the big picture, $35 was nothing, but it still eats at me that I paid extra for virtually nothing the others didn’t get with their more economical Upstyle. Live and learn!
Like everything on board a ship, there are always more ways to spend your money. Sure that fare includes a place to stay, lots of food to eat and a lot of entertainment, but even though all of this is covered, they still find so many ways to stick their hands in your pockets. Let’s talk about that next week.
jane sadek 