A beginner’s guide to cruising
I now have a few cruises under my belt and I can honestly say they are some of my favorite vacations! Thankfully I have some close friends who are veteran cruisers and they have saved me a lot of headache when it comes to preparing for a cruise.
Today I want to share a few tips with you that I am thankful I knew, or wish I would have known before taking my first cruise.
Let’s start with planning your cruise. My first tip would be to try out vacationstogo.com . This is NOT a paid advertisement at all. But in my experience we have saved a lot of money with this website compared to what we would have spent going directly to the cruise line to purchase.
When we have booked with this site we were given an agent. Our agent was so helpful setting some things up for us. Even if you don’t have an agent, be sure you do these things:
Dinner reservation. Before you get on the boat, be sure you have set up a time for dinner. This will assure you have a table reserved for you each evening. You aren’t required to use it, but when you do, you won’t regret it. By having the same wait staff each evening, the service is amazing! You keep from waiting in the long line with those without a reservation. This costs nothing extra, so be sure to take advantage of it.
Download the app for your cruise company early on and it will give you alerts on when to check in. This will assure you get your ideal time for boarding and you can have access to see what is happening on the ship. You can even go ahead and book times for certain events on some cruise lines.
Drink packages. Another thing you want to take advantage of is the drink packages. Now, they provide water, tea, and juice. But if you plan to drink coffee or soda, you will need a drink package. I was able to buy a coffee package at 30% off by getting it on sale pre-boarding on the app. You also avoid waiting in the long lines on the first day to purchase this.
Here are a few other things I recommend you do before boarding:
Call your cell phone provider to see where you have coverage. You can give them a list of your ports and your cell provider will let you know where you have coverage and what is covered. I have been amazed at how many places have free data. And for the ports that do not, just be sure to keep your phone on airplane mode.
Download receipts, info, etc. When we were checking in, we were in a very large metal building and had no cell phone service. Thankfully I had saved our passes on my phone. We were able to step ahead of quite a few people who were having trouble accessing their documentation to check in. You will also want to take a screenshot of any receipts you might need. Remember, unless you pay for the internet package on the boat, you won’t have access to your emails or other apps.
Download games, books, etc. Speaking of not having access, go ahead and download anything before you set sail. If it’s on the cloud it will do you no good. I rarely play games on my phone, but I enjoyed a few of them while on the boat. We didn’t buy the internet package and for the first few days I only had one game. I had to wait until we were at the next port to download a few more.
Here are a few of my packing recommendations:
Tips. You will have wonderful service on the cruise. And while some tipping is automatically charged, you will want to reward your room steward, wait staff, and maybe a few others for a job well done! Be sure to bring cash in the appropriate bills to do so. You can charge this to your account, but we prefer to give cash.
Toiletries. There are basically no toiletries provided. (at least in my experiences) The shower has a body wash and shampoo combination and that is it. So be sure to bring all the things you will need.
Fan for room. We will bring one next time! We were pretty warm several of the nights and wished we had a small fan.
Medicines and after sun lotion. Most of us will remember sun block. But you’re in the sun a lot. Don’t forget some after sun lotion. And you will have a small shop on the boat for some needs. But you will be paying a premium for these items and they are likely not going to have exactly what you want. When we travel with our kids we bring a gallon ziplock bag with all the meds I might need. I have THIS pill organizer that is so handy! I packed pain medicine, allergy and sinus medicine, and a few other things in this little organizer. I’ve had it for a while now and carry it in my purse.
Lanyards. You can purchase lanyards on the boat to carry your room key (which you also need to check in for shows and to get soda or purchase anything.) Or you can grab THESE on Amazon and save a lot of money by having them with you when you arrive.
Light sweater/shawl. When the sun goes down and there is an ocean breeze it can get a bit cool on the deck. Or especially after you’ve had some sun, the dining room can be pretty cool. I wore my sweater quite a bit more than I thought I would and was very thankful my dear friend reminded me to bring one!
Crossbody bag. I carried THIS purse/belt bag and loved it! It fit the few things I needed and held up so well! I know I’ll use it for many vacations to come.
Final tips:
Room needs. As soon as you have access to your room you can request extra items for your room such as extra blankets and pillows. They even provided distilled water for my husband’s breathing machine. If you think you’ll need it, just ask. I’m amazed at all they offer.
Pool towels. On our last cruise we checked out some towels and our room steward turned them back in for us. So on the last day we left our last 2 towels in our room. Upon returning home I had a charge for $50. It took about a half hour on the phone, but I was able to get the charge reversed. In the future, if we check anything out, we will personally check it back in to avoid this.
Cruising with kids - just a few tips here. (I might do a full post on this in the future.) Our daughter is young, and so we usually do a rest time each day. While we refuse to spend money on a cruise and have our kids glued to devices all day, we did upload a movie or 2 to a tablet for quiet time in the room. She rarely used it. But for the few times we needed it, I was glad we did.
Especially for the deals we have found on Vacations To Go, a cruise is a great bang for your buck. The all-inclusive part is wonderful. I love not having to worry about budgeting for food, it’s all included! It was a dream to not have to make a million decisions a day. For us, it’s an incredibly restful vacation. If you haven’t cruised yet, I recommend you give it a try!