Going on our first cruise! Advice, please?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My husband and I are going on a 5-day cruise during Thanksgiving week! Being as we’re newbies, what tips, tricks or advice should we be aware of? We’ll be going to Grand Turk and the Bahamas on the Carnival Victory.

I’ve always wanted to go on a cruise, ever since growing up watching The Love Boat every week. He’s interested in sitting on a deck chair and soaking up the rays. (We live in PA and are expecting our first snowfall this weekend.) Do any of you experienced cruisers have words of wisdom to share with us?

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Explore the ship. You can try new foods in the ship’s restaurant; let your waiter know if you don’t like something and they’ll bring you something else. In addition to the big shows, there’s often live music happening at the bars and other small venues. Walk on deck early in the morning and look for sea life. Check out the shore excursions, but also look at a map and see if there’s anything near the port that you’d prefer.

12 cruises, 13th booked.

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Take as much of your own booze as you can carry.

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Check out CruiseCritic.com. They have a ton of info and veteran cruisers are happy to share with newbies. We did our first cruise in July and the info we got from them was very helpful. When you go to the site just find the forum for your cruise line. They’ll be threads on specific topics and a thread for each specific cruise (called roll calls).

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Resist the temptation to eat everything.

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Resist the urge to eat half of everything.

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Since you’re looking for advice, moved to IMHO (from MPSIMS).

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your cabin steward can do about a million little things for you, use them. with a couple hours warning they can get all kinds of things done. need a shirt ironed, extra pillows, arrange some romantic surprise, they are there for you.

plug bar

if you like sodas toss a 12 pack or two in the bags…

have fun, cruise ships often have far more stuff to do than you can imagine, try some crazy stuff. I took an “austin powers dance class” a couple of the showgirls ran it, they had about 20 of us doing a little dance segment from one of the movies. it was awesome, and i suck at dancing.

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The one we went on their was a LONG line and slow one to get checked in and on board. Maybe others are easier? Just be prepared.

Also remember everything is NOT free. They find ways to tack on lots of extra fees.

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Watch very carefully for extra fees.
For example, when you come on board the first day, they may ask you to sign a form for the kitchen whether you want cola with every meal. Then they charge you $100 for it.

Take the shore excursions offered by the ship, not local companies. The ship’s tours are crazy expensive, and you can get the same service for half price (or less) from local tour guides. They are usually waiting on the dock, like taxis at an airport. But you don’t know anything about them, and it’s a hassle to arrange— and the whole point of a cruise is to have zero hassles, with everything planned out for you, and you just sit back and let it happen.

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If a crew member sends you to the supply room for some relative bearing grease, or a water hammer, don’t fall for it.

Waitaminute, a cruise ship cruise, as a passenger? Lucky you! Have a great time!

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If a crew member sends you to the supply room for some relative bearing grease, or a water hammer, don’t fall for it.

Waitaminute, a cruise ship cruise, as a passenger? Lucky you! Have a great time!

13

show up early. last i recall we could not board until like 2pm, ship departing at like 6pm. Showed up around 1 and there was maybe 15 people in line for checkin. Had to putter for about 30 min before getting on the ship.

luggage claim. if you have standard looking bags, dont be afraid to put triangles of neon green duct tape on all sides or something similarly obvious. you will find your bag in seconds. They do break it up by deck, but remember there are often two airliners worth of people on each deck.

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I would say this one “it depends” The $49 lunch and shopping areas type excursions are more like $10 total if you just grab one of the taxis or shuttles at the port and find your own lunch. in my experience its easy to get back from such areas as well. if its something like a tour of 3-4 wineries scattered around the fringes of town, take the cruise line version as if there is a problem like a broken down bus, the ship will wait for you and or arrange to retrieve you.

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I’ve done four cruises. Probably wouldn’t do another, but glad I’ve done the ones I have.

Drop five to eight pounds prior to embarkation. Have a blast.

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An over-the-door shoe organizer can be very useful in a small cabin with limited storage. You can keep cell phones, cameras, chargers etc. there.

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That region at that time of year will be a lot warmer than PA. But it won’t really be sunbathing weather. One thing to remember is the boat is always moving and the wind is always blowing at sea. Yes, there are sheltered areas, typically around the pools. But it won’t be toasty warm; it’ll be OK if you’re used to cool & have some insulation under your skin.

5 days is not real long. It’d be easy to just be getting used to cruising when it’s over. So spend some time now deciding how you want to spend your time. Is it eating & drinking? Fine dining or buffet or fast casual? Gambling? Sun bathing? Stage shows? Being glamorously dressed all the time, or only shorts & beach shoes? Staying on the ship or taking the shore tours? Doing adventurous new things, or enjoying your comfortable ruts? Filling each day with activities to the max & sleeping barely 5 hours a night, or sleeping in to the crack of noon then napping half the afternoon away? Making new instant friends or sticking to yourselves?

Cruising can be all the above. But any one cruise doesn’t have time for even half those things. Also, don’t be surprised if he & she have different ideas of what’s worth doing. You can have a fine time doing your own things separately, but only if you both plan for it and your relationship works that way.

And yes, plan to spend about 15-20% above what you think the cruise price is now. The fees & tips & extras & such really add up.
It’ll be fun. Disappointing in spots, but fun.

18

Your large suitcases will arrive on board separately from you. They will be delivered to your doorstep on the first night. In the same way, you must prepare your suitcases and leave them for pick-up on the last evening. Plan to put some clothing, toiletries, etc. in smaller bags that you can use and carry with you on the last day.

On the first night, there is an evacuation lesson. Basically they show everybody where the lifeboats are and how to put on a life jacket. It lasts maybe 30 minutes, with everybody standing up on the boat deck.

You will get a daily “newspaper” in your room (the Fun Times), detailing all activities for the following 24 hours.

Drinking age is 21. The cruises I was on, we were only allowed to bring liquor on board (for consumption in our cabins) at initial departure, max 2 bottles per adult. At subsequent stops, we could have purchased more alcohol, but when coming back aboard it would be “seized” and kept for us until we left the ship on the final day.

The Carnival Victory has laundry rooms, with soap dispensers and an iron and board. Quarters are required, which you can purchase at the service desk.

For most other expenses on board, including drinks at dinner, you just present your room key/card and sign for them. A basic gratuity of about 13$ per room per night is also charged by default. Your total running bill can usually be viewed from your TV or printed from an ATM-like machine close to the service desk.

If you want Wi-Fi, it’s usually available on board for a fee. You pay for minutes of connection, in various packages. I think I paid about 50$ for 90 minutes.

One big thing they try to sell you are pictures. There are company photographers at dinner but also at every shore stop. You can view their pictures in a special gallery area, but if you want them they’re pretty expensive (and the pictures have chips, you can’t sneak them away!). Bring your camera, the (non-photographer) crew are always willing to take your picture.

When going ashore, you must have your card/key with you. When coming back aboard, you put your bags on a scanner-conveyor similar to TSA at the airport (but with friendlier people).

Expect to do some walking. Your cabin always seems to be at the other end of the ship!

You can be as entertained or as quiet as you want. I was expecting a loud, 24-hour party when I went on Carnival, and in some ways it was, but these are big ships and there are plenty of quiet spots, including the Serenity section.

Explore the ship! There’s probably something you haven’t seen yet.

Have fun!

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With deck chairs, stake out your spot early because the best ones always get snatched up early.

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Good advice, everyone, thanks. Five days seems like a long time but I’m sure it will fly by. I think the hardest part will be not overpacking.