What were your techniques? My BiL used a clear water bladder and that wasn’t found. I would think that anything with a metal cap or bottle-shaped would probably get nabbed.
DCL has a policy where you can bring in a 6-pack of beer or two bottles of wine per person at embarkation and each port of call, which is typically enough for me to not have to hit the bars too heavily.
I think a good overall piece of an advice would be to hit up Cruise Critic or any message boards specific to the line you will be traveling on. They will likely have the most up-to-date information and details specific to your ship/line.
I’ve been on one cruise (with my experienced friend.)
He explained that there are very different prices for different quality cabins.
He liked an ‘high-up’ cabin on the outside with a balcony (so he had constant views of the sea.)
I was happy to have a cabin in the bowels of the ship near the centre.
It depends on where you are going. If you are on a transatlantic cruise, it won’t matter. On a Panama canal cruise we could sit on our balcony as we went through the locks, which was awesome. We just took a Viking river cruise, and you get to see lots of stuff on the shore.
I never get the drinks package, but I don’t drink nearly enough.
Set times for dinner are nice in that you can schedule your day and, as mentioned, you get an assigned table. On our first cruise, on the QE2 in 1980, our travel agent recommended we get a large table. It turned out the Chief Engineer and Deputy Chief Engineer rotated at our table for lunch and dinner, and we got invited to a cocktail party in their quarters.
I agree that food isn’t as good as it used to be, but still pretty good. The standard portions are quite a bit smaller than in the old days. Viking doesn’t have a buffet except for breakfast, and I think I lost weight.
One final thing - I strongly recommend that if you are flying into your cruise port, go the day before. It saves a lot of worry. When we went to Alaska, we took the pre-cruise package. We flew from Oakland to Vancouver, and the flight was badly delayed due to weather. A lot of people in the gate area were on a cruise leaving that day, and they were freaking out. We got in real late, but there was still a limo waiting for us. Transfers are good in strange cities, not that necessary in place you are familiar with.
If there is a time change, they’ll tell you. I suspect your phone will update itself if connected to wifi. You won’t get mobile service in the middle of the ocean. When we crossed from New York to France we lost an hour every night, which was a bummer. Going the other direction would give more time for eating!
When we went to the Baltic wifi was expensive and slow. It was okay on our Viking cruise. Free, and though you only got two devices it was good enough. Don’t expect to do any streaming though. It was especially useful in Germany since I could get messages on my phone without turning on an international calling package I had set up before I left.
Cruise lines are different. We loved Viking and will try an ocean cruise someday. NCL was not so great. Holland America was pretty good. We did a Princess cruise in 2000. It was good but I couldn’t testify to how they are these days. Size matters also. I enjoyed the small river cruise ship, but it didn’t have some amenities like a place for shows. I’ve never been on a truly gigantic ship, it sounds awful though.
If you have digested all of the above advice, you are pretty well set. Here’s my two cents worth:
Carrying your own luggage at disembarking is really only a good idea for people in a hurry. They may have a plane to catch for example and need an early start. We learned early on that the trick is to head for whichever restaurant is open and tuck in to the fresh fruit, croissants and coffee, before making our leisurely way to the exit.
Cruise lines keep the upfront prices low as a loss-leader. They make their profit from upselling which varies between lines and countries. The casino is the most profitable area for them, followed by all the “sales” of art, watches, and other expensive stuff that you could probably buy back home for less. If you want a professional photo, you can go to the booth at the end and choose which ones you really want to keep.
I am sure you will anyway, but be nice to the staff on the ship. They are not well paid and have to smile and be polite to even the obnoxious passengers.
WiFi USED to be slow (OK for email), but at least on my cruise last October, it was good enough for watching videos - some folks who had to did some remote work. It was ~$225 for my 16 day trans-Atlantic cruise.
I did not get any drink package – I was Ok with the free stuff.
YMMV
Everyone is different. My Wife and I are used to big, expansive views from our house (passive solar means lots of big windows) and fresh air. And, well, lot’s of natural light.
True we mostly just slept there, but it was nice to chill on the balcony and get away from people.
Disclaimer: Only been on one cruise. It was kind of a disastor. A friend was celebrating her 40th birthday, a bunch of us went. Anyway, it was also spring break for colledge students. They would never leave the bar, it was hard to get a drink. Also, some poor fellow had a heart attack and we had to ‘steam’ as fast as we could towards the nearest Coast Guard station. Otherwise the helicoptor would not have enough fuel to reach us. I saw them winch him off the boat.
That side trip either burnt too much fuel, or damaged something. We limped back to NOLA. Incresing the cruise by 24 hours. During that time, they said the bars where going to be closed. Umm… no. Bad call. You’re looking at a mutiny. They opened them back up.
I don’t cruise a lot and, in fact, haven’t cruised since my trip to Hawaii. The methodology that works best for me is what I call “the floating hotel” approach. On my Hawaiian cruise, you could eat when you wanted to eat at any of 3 different cuisine based restaurants on the ship. I wanted to see all the major islands, so the ship allowed me to sleep while it traveled. I would wake up when I wanted, get brunch on the ship, and then spend the rest of the day exploring. When I got back in the evening, I would have dinner on the ship and enjoy time on the deck or in one of the on board bars or clubs. Rinse and repeat the next day.
Once the ship docks, is safely secured, and extends its runway to the shore, you can come and go as you please. Just make sure you are back in time, otherwise you will have to find a way to catch up to your ship at its next stop. They won’t wait for you.
If your main goal is to experience just a cruise ship and all of its amenities, don’t spend the money to fly to Hawaii or the Mediterranean. Take a Bahamas cruise. That is what I did on my first cruise.
Coffee and croissants (delivered to your room) every morning on the balcony was wonderful. Also, we left our sliding door open all night, every night while sleeping. Last point: One of our group got stuck with an interior cabin. She complained about how awful it was, not knowing the weather or even if it’s dark or light outside.
That might work if you can pack it in a different suitcase.
Totally unnecessary. A significant portion of the formal night diners, including me, wore jeans and a polo shirt. If you want to get formal, go for it, but nobody will give you a second glance if you do not.
I have not done these, but reviews (on Cruise Critic & Reddit) are very mixed. It’s pretty pricey, too.
No technique, just packed the contraband in my suitcase, as did others in my group. As mentioned, I was the only one busted. I suspect they just do random (or semi-attentive) x-rays of incoming luggage.
This was not at all our experience on Royal Caribbean last month. One member of our party paid for the WiFi. It was virtually unusable. She ended up getting her money refunded after a bit of haggling.
A couple other things come to mind:
Some folks bring some sort of decoration to hang on their cabin door, which makes it easy to identify. This sounds silly but it would be helpful. I’ve never done it but I think I will next time.
This may be obvious, but areas near the center (and lower levels) of the ship rock less than upper, fore and aft areas.
Within the Royal Caribbean app you can communicate via text with others in your party without buying the WiFi package. We used this a lot. I don’t know if this is offered on other cruise lines.
Most cruise lines these days have apps you can download, that connect to the ship’s wifi even if you haven’t bought an internet package. They let you track your whole vacation, including excursions, mealtimes, and anything else you’ve booked, like spa days. This app will also show you the “ship’s time”, which is sometimes different from the time in the ports of call.
I’ve been on many cruises organized by people who have been on hundreds of cruises, and are professional cruise travel agents. They all say buying anything like jewelry, watches, and art on the ship is likely a bad deal. Unless you genuinely want that particular item, you’re not going to find a great bargain, and may actually pay more than other places.
If it’s close, I’d usually advise getting it. I like to drink, so it’s usually a safe bet for me, but this way, you don’t risk any surprises at the end of the cruise, which is often unpleasant for some people who didn’t do the math (correctly, at least). Also, the package will cover a range of drinks, up to a certain cost per drink (they’ll tell you that up front). I usually drink beer, but will almost always have at least one “fancy drink” per day, since it’s vacation and all. The fancy drinks make the economics much more favorable quite quickly. Also, this upper limit acts as a discount on the even more expensive drinks, if you want to splurge. My last cruise, the last evening, I and few others in my group decided to try the $50 scotch, and mine ended up only costing about $33, because they discounted it based on my package.
Wifi in general has improved a lot in the last few years, but as other have noted, it’s still hit-or-miss, and can be expensive. What you get depends not just on the cruise line you choose, but also which ship you’re on. Not all ships have been updated to good wifi systems. If you want it, it’s worth researching the particular ship you’re on.
I often get a basic wifi package, covering one device*, as a perk when I book my cruise through my friends mentioned above, so that’s useful, but I don’t know if I’d pay for it otherwise.
*They offer different level of packages depending on the number of devices you want to use at the same time. If you’re travelling with someone and you both want to use a device at the same time, you’d want the two device or more plan, but if you only every need one device at a time, the system will just switch to the current device every time you log on. As a single guy, I’d never get more than the single device package.
But if you have a CPAP machine, or some other kind of medical device, they’ll supply one on demand, and you can use it for other things, not just your CPAP.
It’s pretty much just like going through airport security. X-rays of luggage, metal detectors, and sometimes a pat-down. Once you’re through, you’re done.
This is correct. I should point out, though, that the extension cord they give you for a medical device has exactly one outlet. You are gaining length only, not additional outlets.
After reading this thread last night, we counted up our cruises. My lovely wife has been on 21, I’ve been on 22 (she didn’t want to go to Antarctica),
Because she has gluten, egg, and dairy intolerance, cruises work well for ensuring there is actually something she can eat without hoping there’s something on shore and that her restrictions can be adequately conveyed in another language. We have a Japan cruise scheduled because soy sauce has wheat and is ubiquitous. Othwrwuse, we’d opt for a land tour.
We drink coffee on the balcony and watch for sea life. We don’t always get one, but on some lines you can buy a lesser cabin and bid for a better one. My preference is a lower level balcony in the middle of the ship. Further forward and higher up, the pitch and yaw can nauseate me too much.
We don’t buy soda or booze packages, but sometimes have a local drink on shore. The bridge and kitchen tours I’ve been on were enjoyable if you’re interested in those aspects of the ship.
We’ve been on Royal Olympic (now defunct), Hurtigruten, Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, NCL (Norwegian), Costa, Celebrity, Celebrity X (small expedition ship), and Tauck (river cruise). We’re looking at Oceania. My favorite lines are Celebrity and Hurtigruten for better ecological practices. Tauck was wonderful but had a hard time meeting my lovely wife’s dietary needs with any variety.
We often arrange a private bird watching tour that will pick us up at the port. This usually puts us into local communities and gives us a good feet-on-the-ground experience. We also often get off the ship and do a self-guided tour around the old deep water port city when it’s just a walk-off or quick shuttle. Choosing good ship’s tours requires reading between the lines or checking the ratings on Cruise Critic.
Definitely arrive at the embarcation city a day or two early. The worst thing that will happen is you’ll catch up on the time zone or get some tourism time in that port, and a travel delay won’t mean missing your cruise.
Oh–and have a snack, change of underwear, medication, and maybe a jacket in you carry-on. On our last return from the Caribbean, we got stuck at Seattle airport during a huge cold storm, with checked luggage delayed, outside security in warm-weather wear, overnight, with no socks.
I’ve been on about a dozen cruises. I’ve had both balconies and interior rooms (and also some ocean view rooms, which have windows but no balconies). They each have their advantages and disadvantages.
Balcony rooms are more exposed to the outside, obviously, so they’re great on cruises where you expect to see impressive scenery, e.g, Alaska.
Interior rooms are much cheaper. They’re great if you don’t expect to be in your cabin very much. When we choose this, we know very well that you don’t even know if it’s day or night in the room, and we expect it. It’s actually great for sleeping because with the lights off, it is pitch black dark. Only thing is, you must set an alarm because there’s no visual cue that it’s time to wake up.
We never had breakfast in our room, we always go to the buffet.
And this emphasizes something: Everyone has different preferences, and the big ships can accommodate a hell of a lot of them. Take a bit of time early in the cruise to learn as much as you can about what is available, and then pick and choose the bits you like. I’ve had several cruises where someone laments, “Oh, I didn’t know they had X!” on the second last day of the cruise.
Every cruise I’ve ever been on, I’ve spent a lot of time looking at the deck plans before the cruise, and then, I board as early as I can, and take a walk around as much of the ship as I can get to. See all the bar spots you might like to use, and choose one or two as your “home bars” (one for during the day, one for the evenings). Find the little out-of-the-way spots where you could have a quiet moment or two to get away from the crowds. Find the Boat Deck, which usually has an open promenade that’s rarely crowded. Gets you the closest to the water you can get on most ships. Find out if you’re allowed to access the helipad, if they have one, since that’s usually the most forward point on the ship. There’s always spots that look like you’re not supposed to go there, but if there are no signs telling you “NO!”, give them a look. Every ship is different, even if they’re in “the same class”, so you never know what you might find.
Yes. You’ll be reminded every night to set your watch ahead an hour.
I big thing to know with Cunard is the dress code. This only applies to night time, and only in the dining rooms and some lounges. Anytime and anywhere else you can go around in shorts and flipflops and no one will care. Most nights the dress code is what they call smart attire: a dress shirt and trousers, skirt and a top, or a cocktail dress. Two days will be gala nights. That’s where you go all out, formal dresses, dark suits. Many men even wear tuxedos. But remember if you don’t want to get all dressed up you can always eat in the buffet or the pub.
And Cunard doesn’t have an app. It does have a website that’s accessible on the ship even if you don’t have an internet package.
