"I wish I knew before..."

I have just finished reading every post! I did it over a couple months and found some great tips!

Here's what I wish I knew....

I wish I knew about the unlimited food in MDR, and I wish I knew how to relieve my swollen ankles! After a few days, they are unbearable!

I wish I knew not to worry about having my diet catered for!

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I wish I knew how to relieve my swollen ankles! After a few days, they are unbearable!

Have you learned a good technique to relieve your swollen ankles? If so, please share. :-)

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When storing a suitcase (other than a duffle) under your bed you can save a couple of inches by leaving it open. It also becomes a good place to store things you hope not to need, like rain ponchos, things you may not need often, like snorkel equipment, and/or dirty clothes.

Terrific!! Have cruised a bit and always use under the bed for the suitcases but leaving them open for extra storage is a great idea! Thanks

Have you learned a good technique to relieve your swollen ankles? If so, please share. :-)

 

 

 

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Had the ship's doctor at our table on HAL. He said put your life jacket under the mattress at the foot of your bed to raise it up and help the swollen ankles.

So much helpful information, thank you everyone! I have learned so much already. My first cruise will be next year in the Mediterranean in late fall (Last week of October into early November) from Venice to Barcelona. A lot of the advice here is focused on Caribbean/Topical cruises. What advice is out there for a fall time cruise? We may not use the pool, or even bring swim wear, and we have a port-intensive itinerary. What have you learned about currency, languages, and touring in the Med?

 

Thanks.

 

Contact your bank and let them know so they don't block your account as suspicious when they see a foreign transaction like a cash withdrawal from an ATM (also let your credit card companies know). Go to your roll call and see if anyone has booked a private tour/guide that interests you. I highly recommend using a private guide in at least some of the ports. Only use one highly rated by Cruise Critic and TripAdviser folks. We went on our first Med cruise in June, but it was so port intensive that by the time we returned to the ship, cleaned up and had dinner, we were falling into bed to get up early and start again the next day. This was the first cruise where we really didn't get around to the pool at all. In most cities near a port and in tourist areas, we didn't find the language to be problem. We also used an app on our phone that translated and it was wonderful. Read up on each port to decide what's important for you see, then go to the various excursion companies in the areas and take a look at the itineraries they offer. We only used companies that we paid (in Euros) at the end of the tour. We took the cost of the guide/driver plus the tip and put it in a zip-lock baggie along with our confirmation from each tour, and any pre-purchased tickets and had this ready in our safe in the cabin so that each day, all we had to do was pull out the baggie marked for that port and we had everything together and ready. We kept our cash separate and used one of the wallets that hangs around your neck for safety.

Have you learned a good technique to relieve your swollen ankles? If so, please share. :-)

 

 

 

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I have to wear my tennis shoes, not sandals, and try to walk as much as you can. I do take a water pill, somedays when it is the worse, I take two of them

I have to wear my tennis shoes, not sandals, and try to walk as much as you can. I do take a water pill, somedays when it is the worse, I take two of them

Thanks!

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Room safe hint: get quart size ziplock bags place all important papers, cash, wallets, jewelry in the bags and place in the safe. That way, you just grab the bags and go. Use only one or two bags. If you have a large portfolio bag, that is even better since everythinwill fil on one bag.

Large Post it notes to leave messages for family or the room Stewart.

Tea lights for night lights.

Old room key cards to place in the light/AC slot.

i know this will vary from room to room but the tea light comment is advice i took and i brought my old tap light.

maybe its just because i had a haven spa room but there were more than enough lights in the room not to need a nite light

the coffee maker had its lights. the portable ship phone glowed, the tiny green dots on the wall and next to each side of the bed for the lights glowed. so we found we didnt need the tap light after all.

also our curtain had a 'longer area' where if you closed it past that area, you had no light through it at all that i saw. they obviously designed this to keep light out. dont know if its NCL thing or just my room type

Tea lights for night lights.

Any of the items on this page:

https://sites.google.com/site/princesscruisesfaq/home/packing-list

I've purchased all of them and found them all to be very useful. The best items were the magnetic hooks (since almost all the walls in cabins are magnetic), bungee cables (makes moving several suitcases really easy), and the MagicBox (really nice bluetooth speaker that charges with a standard USB charger and has nice sound).

For taking pictures of pictures I'd hope they would prosecute under Copyright laws and kick you off the cruise. :D

For taking pictures of pictures I'd hope they would prosecute under Copyright laws and kick you off the cruise. :D

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Would you please quote the post to which you are referring?

I am sure these suggestions have been made since this is a long, but good thread.

1. Have everyone in your cabin download the same "white noise" application. We normally turn a box fan noice application on all of our phones (4 of them). The sound helps block out noise from the hallways or if someone is coming in late into the cabin after everyone else has gone to sleep, or late night bathroom call.

2. If you want to take good pictures of the ship and the different areas on the ship , board early and tour the whole ship. Even if you don't have kids, go see the kids area. The kid areas on some ships are really neat.

3. If you need to stay connected to home, but don't want a huge cell phone bill. Turn off your data. Watch SMS messages.... the cost per message can really add up.

4. If you need to complain, be nice. The ship workers are people and everyone makes mistakes. They cannot make everyone happy. Everything will not be perfect....life isn't perfect. They will do their best to make it right.

5. Wash your hands often and take your own hand sanitizer. Use hand sanitizer often.

6. Try the main dinning room for breakfast.

7. Try food you through you would never eat.

8. Watch your food consumption.... it can add up quickly. Guilty as Charged!!! I have know people to put on 20lbs in a week. No it wasn't me. :)

9. Take your kids.... all ages! Seeing the world can be a great education.

10. Arrive a day early. We fly or drive to the port a day early when possible. We try to make sure that we have multiple ways to get to a port so we don't miss the ship.

11. Understand all the standard fees (fare, taxes, and port charges) and expected gratuities costs. Multiple times I have seen people freaking out on the last day of the cruise trying to find a way to pay for all the stuff they purchased.... they didn't plan for gratuities. TA's don't like to make customers aware of some of these different costs. Prepay gratuities.

12. Get a passport! To fly back into the USA, you need a passport.

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omg when i started the last post was in 70's read to 50 and its up to nearly 100! Plan to read the rest tomorrow and expect a post saying ' dang go ahead and pack your entire wardrobe because you are worth it!!!' lol

read all! My q's...

Why the need for night lights? are there no bedside lights or are everyone such light sleepers? (pardon pun)

What are the current 2016 ship policies re taking on power extension cords (UK)/power strips?

On port trips do you need passport/go through a customs style security? or just walk off as previously checked to board cruise?

Why the need for night lights? are there no bedside lights or are everyone such light sleepers? (pardon pun)

There are typically bedside lights, but that would wake up others sleeping in your room... a nightlight allows you to safely walk to the bathroom without running into anything, and you can turn on the light in the bathroom only.

What are the current 2016 ship policies re taking on power extension cords (UK)/power strips?

If you're just wanting additional plug openings for plugging in additional items, a power strip is usually fine as long as it doesn't include a surge protector. Surge protectors don't play nicely with the specialized electrical grid system on a ship.

On port trips do you need passport/go through a customs style security? or just walk off as previously checked to board cruise?

Passports are not generally needed for ports, however you may need some form of picture ID in addition to your ship card in order to gain access to the port facility for returning to the ship.

Why the need for night lights? are there no bedside lights or are everyone such light sleepers? (pardon pun)

I'm pretty sensitive to light in the room when I'm trying to sleep so closing / almost closing the bathroom door helps me.

We always book an inside cabin and never have an issue with light at night....for us there is plenty of light comin in from under the door to light up the way to the bathroom....anyone else think the same?

I also find there's enough light to make it to the bathroom at night. We put one of those really small flashlights on the sink, and turn it on when we close the door to the bathroom, so the light doesn't blind us or bother the other one who's still (hopefully) sleeping. That makes plenty enough light to use the toilet and wash our hands.

We also found the night light wasn't necessary BUT I wish I'd had a little battery operated light to stick inside the wardrobe where all the shelves were. It was quite dark in there and a great storage space, so I was often digging around with one hand and holding my phone/torch with the other.

The magnets worked a treat, I put the daily schedule and the kids schedules up where everyone could see them. The post it notes were good, too, and we could keep track of where everyone was even with four of us in various parts of the ship. I took what felt like a mini pharmacy with small amounts of all kinds of cold meds, first aid things, pain meds, etc and was very pleased I did. We needed band aids, first aid cream, pain relievers, aloe vera, antacids, and a few other things that would have been expensive or unavailable if we hadn't packed them.

I did heaps of research in the lead up to our cruise, so I did feel like I had a handle on things BUT I wish I'd thought to share more with the rest of the family. My daughter didn't know where to get her drinks for her bottomless bubbles, so she barely used it for the first 5 days. My husband didn't realise the first cocktails weren't free. Little things like that I took for granted but could have prevented had I thought to!

Re passports. You won't need them off the ship but I am amazed by the people who take them 'just in case' and then leave then on the ship while in port. Means that if the reason they were bringing them happened they'd be stuck anyway

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Re passports. You won't need them off the ship but I am amazed by the people who take them 'just in case' and then leave then on the ship while in port. Means that if the reason they were bringing them happened they'd be stuck anyway

 

 

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If something happens and you get stuck ashore, the ship will get your passport out of your safe and leave it with the port personnel. They ALWAYS know when you're not on the ship when it pulls out of port. And I've never been to a port that does, but I think there are some ports where you do have to carry them with you, like maybe the Middle East, or Far East.

Thanks for all the helpful info.

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