How to Cruise Like A Pro: 15 Tips for First Time Cruisers
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One way to take advantage of the ship's exciting features is to learn about each ship before your trip online on the Cruise Ship Hub. Here, you'll find an overview of the ship's highlights, deck plans, things to do, room options and trip details. Don't be surprised if you find yourself choosing a ship and then the destination you'll cruise to based on upcoming itineraries. If you're not sure where to begin, one of the best first-time cruise tips is to look at how much time you have to travel.
Interior Cabins Are Fine For First Time Cruisers
When you sail, all your spending on the ship is done through your room keycard that acts like a credit card tied to your onboard account. At the end of the cruise, it’s automatically paid for with the payment method on file. The rule of thumb is that cruises are most expensive when school is out.
Learn How to Save Money Planning a Cruise
Besides, many cruises add stops in the Bahamas to a Caribbean cruise. The majority of the cruise line private islands are located in the Bahamas, and these appear regularly on all Caribbean itineraries. The Bahamian ports of Nassau and Freeport, even Florida's Key West, may appear on Caribbean-centric cruises.
Food & Drink Tips For Your Cruise
You'll be hard-pressed to find a Caribbean cruise port that does not offer beach access. Before starting your cruise vacation, check your cell phone data plan to learn of its limitations and extra fees or, hopefully, lack of them. While weekend cruises are popular and considered a good way to sample cruising, long-time cruisers will say that they’re quite different from itineraries of a week or more. On longer itineraries, you’ll have the time to truly unwind and explore both the ship and its destinations. Purchase an international cell package before leaving – My husband had a whopping cell phone bill after our last 8-nighter.
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There’s no doubt that the size and scale of any cruise ship you sail will definitely put them firmly in the “ship” category. If you’re worried about sounds traveling through the walls, you should be. To be clear, the walls are not paper thin, so you won’t hear the cabin next to you watching a TV at a normal volume. But if you are the type that makes a lot of noise (ahem… enjoying your vacation with your partner, perhaps?), then you should try to keep it down.
Here’s a list of the cruise accessories and travel items to pack for your vacation. When going ashore, always bring the ship's contact information with you. Those details are usually printed in the newsletter that's delivered to your cabin each night. If something goes wrong when you're away from the ship, you'll want to get in contact with the cruise line right away.
Drink in Port to Save Cash Versus on the Ship
Keep this in mind if you’re out on the balcony when the mood for romance strikes. There’s nothing worse than being in an unfamiliar, dark cabin and having to get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. Save yourself from walking into furniture and stubbing your toe by packing a simple plug-in nightlight. It’s especially helpful if you’re in an interior cabin where there are no windows to provide outside illumination. Book directly with the cruise line to cut out the middleman in case there is an issue with your reservation.
Travel Corkscrew
From there, the ship will call groups to disembark, typically starting with those that are carrying off all of their luggage. Unfortunately, the saying is that all good things must come to an end. Don’t think, however, that disembarkation — getting off the ship — is as simple as just hopping off when the ship returns home. There’s a procedure to get thousands of passengers and luggage off the vessel, and it can take a couple of hours from when the ship arrives. You typically don’t have to show your documents in port.
You’ll get a daily schedule of everything going on delivered to your stateroom the night before or you can view it on the phone app for your cruise line. The theater, however, is just a drop in the bucket of the things to do. There are pools, hot tubs, the casino, spa, waterslides, shopping, sport courts, and more. Newer ships will often have more things to do, including things as crazy as go-karts and a roller coaster or zipline.
Whether you’re jonesing for an epic Antarctic holiday or an extended weekend in the Bahamas, cruises can be a good way to let someone else take the reins for your vacation. But planning a cruise can be confusing, especially when there are several types of cruises, destinations and price points. Note that expedition cruises are expensive, with pricing on par with traditional luxury cruises. Expedition ships are expensive to build on a per-berth basis and require a relatively high ratio of staff to passengers to operate compared with mass-market cruise ships.
Check out your ship’s alcohol policy before boarding and BYOBooze. Most cruise lines will allow for you to bring at least one bottle of wine onto the ship. My husband doesn’t drink wine so he will bring his mixers on the ship and then order a bottle of his favorite spirits and have it delivered to the room on embarkation day. This method saves us a few dollars on each cruise we take. One tip is to use these private island days as free days.
While most cruise lines appeal to both families and couples, certain travelers do have their preferences. In all honesty, cruising is one of the best vacation values out there. Compared to other forms of travel, your fare does cover quite a bit.
Some cruises may simply have a boarding window of several hours, allowing you to arrive at any time you like within that period. Sun, sand and sea are what most travelers want when they book a cruise to the Caribbean. If you want to trade chilly weather at home for warm, sunny days spent relaxing on a beach or swimming in clear blue waters, a Caribbean cruise is an ideal vacation. Unlike a resort stay, you can sample multiple beaches in various destinations, as well as the pool life on board the ship. Every day you wake up to warm weather and sunny skies (well, most of the time) and a new destination promising white sand beaches, fun activities and memories to be made.
In our experience, they are often just there for looks, most often on older ships. Having 2,000 different cabins with different A/C temperatures would be a nightmare. Don’t be surprised if you crank down the air but don’t feel much relief. Cruise ships are usually laid out with a center promenade area that includes indoor things like the casino, a center bar, restaurants, and shopping.
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