First time cruise - seeking advice

In My Humble Opinion
1

There have been several of these threads over the years but nothing recent so rather than revive them I figured I’d start a new one.

It looks like my wife and I will be taking a 3-day cruise from Miami to the Bahamas between Christmas and New Years with my parents, who are 87 and 93. They’ve been on cruises in the past but nothing recent; we’ve never been on one. We don’t have much time around the holidays, and we wanted to try a short cruise to start in case we find it unbearable. :slight_smile:

So, what advice would you give to first timers? Some questions:

[ul]
[li]We plan to get a balcony room, although there are options for bigger balconies. Are they worth it?[/li][li]The cruise has a full day at sea (no port of call). What would you do for that full day?[/li][li]Is it worth it to pay extra to get your room on higher decks?[/li][li]Back, Middle, or Front of ship, or does it matter?[/li][li]My parents don’t drink. My wife and I drink some but aren’t planning to go wild. Are the drink packages worth getting? [/li][li]We’ll probably do one night’s dinner at a fancy restaurant. Do we need to make reservations in advance? Can you make reservations before you get on board?[/li][li]Shore excursions - buy them from the cruise line or roll your own? We’ll be in Nassau, Bahamas.[/li][li]Book straight through the cruise line? Use Costco? Travel agent?[/li][li]Travel insurance? We’re flying down from Boston the day before the trip but it’s winter so anything can happen.[/li][/ul]

I’m sure I’ll have other questions as we get closer. The cruise line is Carnival and the ship is the Carnival Victory, which I understand is being renovated next year so I’m expecting it to be a little run down in preparation for that. Thanks in advance.

2

On the two cruises I’ve been on, tipping was expected. So if you’re the kind of person who tips, bring plenty cash.

3

So I’ve been on seven cruises since 2010, with #8 in a few weeks for a cruise out of NYC, and #9 already booked for next year (an Alaska cruise).

I was in the Navy, so it took quite a while for me to warm to the idea of going on a cruise. We are Disney fans, though, and decided to try out Disney Cruise Line (DCL). Our first cruise was similar to yours, a 4-night cruise from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas. Since then, we’ve also done several Caribbean cruises and a Mediterranean cruise. We’ve only cruised on DCL, though.

Much of what we’ve done with respect to cabin selection has revolved around issues with my wife’s tendency to motion sickness. For this reason, we always get balconies (so she can get some fresh air and not feel claustrophobic). We also tend to get rooms in the middle of the ship (less ship motion). My wife did actually get a little seasick the first night of our first cruise, but put on a Scopolamine patch and felt better. Now she (and my Mom) put on a patch prophylactically. They last for 3 days. The medication is by prescription only, so if this is a concern of yours, talk to your doctor.

Regarding your specific questions (answers in red):
[ul]
[li]We plan to get a balcony room, although there are options for bigger balconies. Are they worth it? IMHO, yes.[/li][li]The cruise has a full day at sea (no port of call). What would you do for that full day? Lay on the deck, read a book, get a massage, not think about work.[/li][li]Is it worth it to pay extra to get your room on higher decks? Not really, IMHO, although you might have less noise if there are cabins above and below you as opposed to common areas or something loud like a kid’s club or a movie theater.[/li][li]Back, Middle, or Front of ship, or does it matter? Middle for less ship motion. Other than that, it depends on where you spend most of your time. If you like to hang out in the adult area up forward, and your cabin is in the back, you may have a lot of walking.[/li][li]My parents don’t drink. My wife and I drink some but aren’t planning to go wild. Are the drink packages worth getting? Not for us. You’d have to look at the offer compared to how much you usually drink.[/li][li]We’ll probably do one night’s dinner at a fancy restaurant. Do we need to make reservations in advance? Can you make reservations before you get on board? Not familiar enough with Carnival to say. On DCL, yes, you need reservations for the fancier restaurants that have an upcharge. I’ve always reserved them in advance, but was unable to get any for this short-notice cruise we’re going on in a few weeks. However, I hear they hold back as many as 50% of the reservation slots for when you get on board. I plan to hit the reservation desk right away.[/li][li]Shore excursions - buy them from the cruise line or roll your own? We’ll be in Nassau, Bahamas. I’ve done both. In Nassau, we’ve often just taken a taxi to the public beach near Atlantis on Paradise Island. If you go this route, do some research to make sure this still exists. In the Med, we found a great private excursion from a company that was not affiliated with the cruise. In the Caribbean, we do a lot of scuba excursions, which I usually book through the cruise line. One advantage of booking through the cruise line is they guarantee you’ll get back in time. Don’t be late getting back to the ship![/li][li]Book straight through the cruise line? Use Costco? Travel agent? I’m a control freak, so I do everything myself on the cruise line website.[/li][li]Travel insurance? We’re flying down from Boston the day before the trip but it’s winter so anything can happen. Absolutely yes. We always get travel insurance. It also typically covers medical issues out of the country. I always get it from a third party, not from the cruise line. BTW, it’s an excellent idea to fly down at least the night before – I always recommend NOT flying in on the day a cruise departs. If your flight is delayed, the ship will not wait for you. The trip insurance company I use is affiliated with USAA. If this is not an option for you, I’ve also heard good things about InsureMyTrip.[/li][/ul]

I could speak more to your choice of cruise line and length of your cruise, if you wish, but it sounds like this has already been decided.

4

It depends on the cruise line. DCL is completely cashless. With that said, all alcoholic drinks, spa services, etc. automatically include an 18% gratuity. However, everything is billed to your shipboard account (which is tied to a credit card).

There is also a whole tipping culture that is expected for the crew members directly taking care of you. On DCL, there are four specific tipped positions for each passenger: Stateroom Host/Hostess ($4.50), Dining Server ($4.50), Dining Assistant Server ($3.50), and Head Server ($1). The recommended rates in parentheses are per person in your party and per night of your cruise. So if you have two people in your cabin on a 3-night cruise, the recommended tip for your Stateroom Host would be $27. You can also increase these recommended rates (which we almost always do). Here’s a calculator for DCL tips.

These tips also come out of your shipboard account. DCL uses an “auto-paid gratuities” system. If you take no action, the rates above will be automatically billed to your account. You can increase them, though (and even decrease them). However, note that not tipping the crew members who are taking care of you is like going to a nice restaurant and walking out without tipping.

This expected tipping is common throughout the cruise industry. See here.

5

My experience is with NCL, not Carnival, but here are my opinions.

Balcony: If all four of you are staying in the same cabin, a larger balcony is definitely preferable. Regular balconies can be tiny.

Sea Day: Besides lounging, reading, etc., the cruise ship will schedule extra activities on that day. Movies, cooking demos, parties on the pool deck, art auctions, et al.

Cabin location: I don’t have any experience with motion sickness, but we prefer forward cabins. On a Caribbean cruise, we had an aft cabin, and found it very windy on the balcony.

Drink Package: You should evaluate costs based on your consumption. The drink packages seem expensive at first glance, but if you calculate the cost per person per day, and then compare that to how much you expect to consume, it may or may not be a good deal. Caveat: NCL requires you to purchase the package for the entire group in your cabin, so take that into consideration.

Dinner Reservations: You can make reservations 30-60 days in advance, and I highly recommend it. The sea day can be a good choice; you don’t have to rush back from a shore day to get to dinner. But they are harder to get.

Shore Excursions: We book through the cruise line, just for a little more confidence in getting you there and back in a timely fashion. If you’re on your own, and wind up late for re-boarding, the ship won’t wait for you.

Travel Insurance: I recommend it. One never knows what can happen with the flight. Also, there could be a health emergency, especially with elderly parents.

Hope this helps!

6

My wife and I did a similar first cruise with our 84 y/o FIL last year, we went 4 days to Cozumel and Grand Cayman. We really enjoyed it and will do another one. All the advice is great and I agree with pretty much everything everyone said.

Some additional comments:
Balcony - I think this depends on how much you think you’ll actually be in the room. We had an interior room and no balcony and no issue and would absolutely do it again. There is so much to do on the cruise, aside from sleeping, we spent less than 1 hour per day in our room. For us, any balcony would have been a waste.

Drinking - It’s a pure cost / benefit based on how much you personally drink. We are not big drinkers and felt pressured to “get our money’s worth”, so we consciously drank more than we normally would. On the other hand - my FIL is a big drinker, so for him a great deal. If we did it again we’d pay as we went.

Tipping - It was auto included on ours. The 18% tipping charge was a big sticker shock when we got the bill on the last night, so we didn’t actually do any extra tips at all. I guess a major faux pas - who knew?

We were later given some good advice about tipping by some experienced cruisers. They said the 18% is not mandatory, but “suggested”, so you can change it. The issue they had wasn’t with the amount, but with the fact the tips are pooled and split among all the crew.

When they arrive they go to the purser and tell them then “can’t afford” the 18% and have it reduced to 10% charged on their card. They bring cash and then on the second last night they personally “slip” their servers and room staff and bartender etc the money.

Our staff (Princess Lines) is forbidden to take individual tips and if caught it goes into the pooled money. They said most people tip on the last night and the supervisors look for it then. That’s why on the 2nd last night and they literally do a palm handshake to give them the money.

I though that was a good idea.

7

I’ve been on Royal Caribbean, Holland America, and Princess Cruise lines - in each case, tips were automatically added to the bill - a certain amount per day, plus something like 18% for bar orders. You can tip your room steward more if you feel the service was exceptional, but I don’t think it’s expected. Also, daily tips for suites are more than for interior or regular balcony cabins, at least on the ships I’ve sailed.

I never used cash on any of the ships. Purchases on board are charged via your room key card, and your credit card is charged when it’s all over.

Personally, I don’t like upper deck cabins - we were on 14 once, and during one rough night at sea, I was almost tossed out of bed. On lower decks, the motion was less energetic. Seasickness isn’t an issue for me, but my sea legs can only compensate for so much motion. Also, motion tends to be less noticeable in mid-ship cabins.

Enjoy!!

8

[ul]
[li]We plan to get a balcony room, although there are options for bigger balconies. Are they worth it? How much time to you think you’ll spend in your room vs. out & about, only using it to sleep? With the age of your parents, I’d think you’d not be on the go constantly.[/li][li]The cruise has a full day at sea (no port of call). What would you do for that full day? Whatever you want. No pressure to see it all in town in just a few hours or make it back in time. You can go your separate ways & meet back for lunch. No need to carry cash means no wallet which means no pickpocket concerns. IMHO, this is the most relaxing day(s) of a cruise.[/li][li]Is it worth it to pay extra to get your room on higher decks? Just remember to check out what’s above/below you. That room right under the jogging track might not be the most desirable one if you like to sleep in.[/li][li]Back, Middle, or Front of ship, or does it matter?[/li][li]My parents don’t drink. My wife and I drink some but aren’t planning to go wild. Are the drink packages worth getting? Probably not but check the pricing. Also, what about non-alcoholic drinks like sodas & teas; do they have a non-alcoholic package that you or your parents might want? [/li][li]We’ll probably do one night’s dinner at a fancy restaurant. Do we need to make reservations in advance? Can you make reservations before you get on board?[/li][li]Shore excursions - buy them from the cruise line or roll your own? We’ll be in Nassau, Bahamas. Depends where you want to go. Booking on your own is usually a lot cheaper. Just want to go to the center of town, where there are lots of taxis if your driver doesn’t show up? Sure do your own thing. Want to go to some exotic local that’s not so highly trafficed where you can’t just hail a cab/rickshaw/Uber* back if necessary? Maybe not the safest thing to do in terms of guaranteeing your timely return to the dock/ship.[/li][/ul]

  • Pro tip: Don’t plan on using ride share unless you know you’re phone will work in whatever foreign country you’re in. You might need to buy a local sim, which means a different phone #, which means you might(?) need to resetup the app before you can use it. Also, there may be different ride share services in a different country. India uses Ola & Uber; your Lyft app is kinda useless there. Just checked; looks like Nassau uses Lyft & Uber.
9

Sound advice – that happened to a coworker of mine. Their connecting flight was delayed, and they got into the port city hours after their ship had sailed.

10

I think you are mixing up two different things. Per this guidance, Princess seems to follow the same policy as the rest of the cruise industry.

So anyway, the gratuity added to bar charges is automatically added and is not discretionary. This is apparently 15% of your bar bill. This gratuity is included every time you order an alcoholic drink or pay for a drink package.

The tip for the rest of the staff is technically discretionary, so you can reduce or even eliminate it. However, note that the rates described above are nothing close to 18% or even 15% of the cost of your cruise. For a normal non-suite stateroom, the recommended gratuity is only $13.50 per person per day. Depending on the cost of your cruise, this is something like 3-5% of the cost of the cruise.

It therefore makes no sense to me that one would go to the ship’s purser and say that you “can’t afford the 18% and have it reduced to 10%.”

11

The only thing I will add is to tip your cabin attendant on the first day of the cruise. In all cases they were extremely helpful when they didn’t have to be. My wife got sick on our last cruise, our cabin attendant made sure we had everything we could possible need. He even talked a chef into making my wife some made from scratch chicken noodle soup. It has been worth every penny each time we did this.

12

On the first night of our first cruise when my wife got queasy during dinner due to the ship’s motion, she went down to our stateroom to lie down. The stateroom host went above and beyond taking care of her.

In fact, the real reason that we go on cruises and like DCL so much is the service. The staff works very, very hard, so we tip accordingly. I’ve never tipped until the end, though.

13

We’re flying direct to avoid the problem of connections, especially around the holidays. That, plus the extra day should be enough to avoid the worst of the potential problem. A huge storm would mess everything up, so the insurance is still a good plan.

Thanks everyone for the advice so far. I think we’ll be happy with a simple balcony. Especially for the day at sea I think my wife will enjoy hanging in our private space an reading. All she needs is solitude, a chair, and the ocean view.

14

This is generally considered to be a dick move as the tip split covers the unseen people on the ship. Why would you spend money on the cruise and cheap put over what is considered part of the crew’s pay?

A couple things to consider: 1) As you stated, if you remove the tips, staff are expected to put any money received into the same pool. If they don’t (and don’t get caught) then you’re stiffing assistant waiters, buffet servers and all other behind the scenes people. 2) Don’t be a dick to the behind-the-scenes staff

Best thing to do is consider daily grats part of the fare and tip extra to anyone who gives you good service. They can keep this.

Cruise Critic has a message board and, if you want the juicy discussions, look up the tipping topics. They seem to pop up daily with people like the alleged expert who gave you the “remove the auto tips” advice. The many experienced cruisers there would berate you for this sort of thing.

15

There are lots of places aboard where one can read quietly and watch the ocean go by. I never had any problems finding a spot to read or knit or just sit quietly. We usually had interior cabins, so they’re pretty cozy, and they’re great for a daytime nap because they’re dark. But for me, they’re a place to sleep while the rest of the ship offers better vistas and more comfy seating in a lot of areas.

Even when we had a balcony cabin, we mostly used that to watch the goings-on when we came into or left a port, plus it was a great spot when we went thru the Panama Canal. :smiley:

16

I’ve been on six cruises. I mostly agree with what everyone has said.
A balcony room is really great when there is something special to see, like the Panama Canal (where we had one) or Alaska, where we didn’t. For other cruises it is nice for the extra room.

Every cruise line has a slate of activities for days at sea, so don’t worry about that. There is also the pool and reading on your balcony. I did a transAtlantic crossing and never got bored.

Good idea to come a day early. When we did our Alaska tour we were on a flight from Oakland to Vancouver, which was very delayed due to weather. We had booked a land package before sailing so we were fine, but a lot of people in the lounge were frantic since they were going to miss their ship.

We never got the drink package, but we don’t drink that much. If you buy wine at dinner and don’t drink it all they will save your bottle for the next night.

A lot of shore excursions are junk. Check out cruise critic and other sites for info on things to see. Beware the people who have done it a dozen times and have special guides. When we cruised the Baltic we booked a tour in St. Petersburg but toured the other ports by ourselves. On the other hand the shore package might work better for your parents, depending on their mobility. If you find some package you really want, book in advance, but there are tons of companies serving the cruise industry besides the ones the ship uses.
We pretty much never go to the fancy restaurants on board, since we live in the Bay Area and can get their “exotic” cuisine any time, better, for less money. We figure they are exciting for someone from the middle of Idaho or something. But if you want it to be an event, check the menus.

One thing we liked was the kitchen tour. NCL charged for this and we didn’t do it, but Holland America and Princess didn’t. Fascinating. Lots of free trivia quizzes. Lots of interesting demos, like how they fold the towels into little animals they leave on your bed at night. We also went to a meet and greet with the band that played at the BB King Blues Club every night.

As for where to book, the lower you are the more stable you are. We went to a party at the Chief Engineers room on the QE2 which was high up, and that thing rocked around. I haven’t noticed any big difference between bow and stern except how far you have to walk to and from dinner. There is a website about which rooms not to book (like right near the kids playroom or over the lounge with music until 2 am) so you should check that out.

17

Good idea, indeed. FWIW, our first cruise was in February 2010. The night before our early-morning flight, the Northeast got hit with a huge snowstorm that shut down all of the airports in New York and New England until noon the next day. We were supposed to depart on Thursday morning for a cruise that left on Sunday. (We planned to stay at Walt Disney World for a few days first.) Anyway, due to the storm, the earliest they could get us on a flight to Florida was Monday! :smack: We were actually ready to drive a one-way rental car all the way to Florida, but instead only had to drive halfway…to Norfolk, Virginia where we caught a flight Thursday evening. (We left Connecticut at 8:00 a.m., and got to Norfolk by 4:30 p.m., stopping only once for gas for the 500-mile drive!)

Anyway, our trip insurance paid for all of the extra expense, including tolls, gas, and the cost of the rental car. If we had completely missed the cruise due to the storm, the trip insurance would have covered that as well.

One of our favorite things on a cruise is sitting on the balcony in the morning with a cup of coffee, often as we pull into a port. On our Mediterranean cruise, this was even nicer as we cruised into ports along the coast of Italy and the French Riviera. :cool:

18

Speaking of trip insurance, I thought about posting this elsewhere or in its own thread, but this is as good a place as any.

On the FB group thread for my upcoming cruise (which is in less than a month), one of the posters indicated that they may have to cancel after the non-refundable date and could be out as much as $6K because of some health issues his wife has been experiencing lately. Someone asked if he had trip insurance, and his reply was, “No. We didn’t expect to need it. We’ve done 3 cruises before and never needed it. I guess it may have caught up with us.”

So everyone wished him luck. I certainly don’t wish him ill, but was struck by his first comment: “We didn’t expect to need it.” :dubious:

Does anybody expect to need insurance? That’s kind of the point of why you buy trip insurance (and collision and comprehensive auto insurance, homeowner’s insurance, and life insurance, for that matter).

For anyone contemplating an expensive non-refundable trip, I think trip insurance is a must. Keep in mind that most travel insurance companies have exclusions for anything they consider to be a pre-existing condition. However, many companies also have a waiver for any pre-existing conditions so long as you purchase the insurance for the full non-refundable amount of the trip within a certain time period of when you paid your initial deposit (usually something in the range of 21-30 days).

19

mrAru is also amused by shipping out and not having to actually do anything =)

We like to get a pot of coffee and pastries first thing in the morning and sit on the balcony and watch the water [well if in port, we people watch ] but unless you plan on having guests, a larger balcony isn’t really worth it.

mrAru gets seasick in heavier seas [yup, Navy guy gets seasick :stuck_out_tongue: ] but there was only one part of a cruise he had issues of- we left and went through a section of a class 1 hurricane. Barely moved the ship to my perception, but I grew up sailing and I happen to love being rocked in a ship.Only time on a submarine you get sea movement is when you are on top or above like 100 feet deep [Robby - you got the numbers?]

We like to pass time sitting and reading, swilling coffee and eating, so we spend a fair amount of time on the mess deck, the buffet area on most of the ships we have cruised upon have seating by windows, heat or air conditioning and reasonable comfortable seating to watch the sea from if we don’t want to do it on our balcony. The food in the buffets is quite good now - we like Norwegian best so far. In their generic buffet, each night is something different, one night was seafood, one night was Italian, one night was BBQ/burgers/dogs picnic sort of food. The more formal seated dining rooms are quite good as well but the more casual buffet appeals to us most of the time. The specialty places do cost, but for a special occasion, they can be great [we did our 25th anniversary at a Brazilian all you can eat meatfest sort of deal. Wonderful. but way more food than I could eat.]

Underway weather permitting you can hang out on the deck sun bathing, swim, hang out in the topside hot tubs, go to the spa and hang out in the saunas … the customer service people can suggest all sorts of stuff to do. We have toured the kitchens, engine rooms, done floor shows, watched movies, gone to art auctions [came back with an animation cel of mickey in wizards robes from fantasia] and sat and talked with random interesting people.

20

That’s about right in most sea conditions. You don’t usually notice anything in a sub until you get to a keel depth of about 100 feet deep. Although there was a time that we had significant rolling much deeper than that, but there were hurricane-type conditions up top (Sea State 9+, as it was reported).

It seemed like a lot of sailors that were prone to sea sickness went into the submarine force. Unlike surface warships that roll all the time, subs only roll at the surface and when shallow (at which point they roll at lot).

On the other hand, Telemark, cruise ships don’t usually roll much at all. For one thing, with modern weather forecasting, they avoid bad weather if at all possible. For another, they have stabilizers. The ship movement is usually all but imperceptible. I remember sitting on our balcony one morning and estimated that the ship was rolling about 1-2 degrees.