periwinklechi

If you like to eat outside, take your food from the buffet and bring it to eat somewhere al fresco.

 

You can even have it on your private balcony.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

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I was hoping something like this was possible! Do people ever do this? I haven't really seen anyone mentioning it so I suppose it isn't all that common..?

I don't have answers to everything, but can say:

1. Look at excursions on TripAdvisor....I think you can book far out (6 months or more) and they are more reasonable and less crowded than the ones you get through the cruise ships.

2. I think all rooms have refrigerators.

3. ? They take your luggage when you arrive and you get your luggage in front of your room later that day/evening. Pack a backpack with your suit and other must have items so you can have items you need until your luggage arrives. You do not want to carry around your luggage waiting for your room to be ready...it will weigh you down - literally.

4. I've heard Celebrity is for an older crowd (my 80 yr old mil loves Celebrity). I would do RCCL. Norwegian is good too and is more affordable.

5. Unsure about pick pocketers....nobody gets close enough to me and I take only what I need.

6. Unsure of outdoor dining...depends on cruise ship, but I think most dining is inside.

7. I usually pack a backpack with change of clothes, towel, etc...and wear my suit with coverup or shirt/shorts.

8. Depends on ship, but they all have gyms loaded with cardio equipment and all weights. I always bring my gym clothes...and they never see the gym. Lol.

 

Have fun! We are going on our next cruise in March 2019...too long to wait, but excited none the less.

 

 

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Thank you for your response! I was definitely already leaning towards a lot of what you advised, especially with the luggage/carry on, attire for excursions, etc. Thank you for the advice on ages on Celebrity; I had heard they leaned toward an older crowd. BF isn't huge into parties (I'm the more extroverted one in the relationship lol) but I think we'd both appreciate a larger under-30 crowd on a cruise and the option for a late night spot, even though we do get along wonderfully with those older than us! We'll take a look at Norwegian too! :) I'm currently keeping track of stateroom prices on several sites... hoping for a good deal! Congrats on booking your cruise! Hey, March 2019 will be here before you know it!

Hello everyone! Thanks so much for this awesome thread with all of your tips and advice! I've spent the last several days reading over all of them! My boyfriend and I are seriously considering taking a cruise this summer for a trip together. We're hoping to book soon, to the Caribbean! I did have a few general questions.

• How early can you book excursions?
  
• Do all cabins typically have a refrigerator in them?
  
• Are cruise carry on dimensions similar to planes? I'm assuming we could just carry on all of our stuff, but it doesn't seem like people do that from reading here.
  
• We're heavily considering Celebrity, but we also liked a Royal Caribbean itinerary as well. However right now Celebrity is less expensive. It doesn't look like we could go horribly wrong with any cruise line, but of these 2 which would you recommend for a young couple? He's 29 and I'm 28.
  
• How much of a problem are pickpockets in ports? I plan to prepare for the possibility regardless, but I was curious.
  
• Are there outdoor dining options available on cruises? Obviously it's not a make-or-break thing, but I do love eating outside on occasion.
  
• When dressing for an excursion, is it a good rule of thumb to perhaps just wear a swimsuit underneath a coverup like a casual dress or something similar?
  
• We love going to the gym and are wondering how gyms usually are on board. They look fairly decent from what I could tell, but I was just curious if anyone had any experience with the weights in these gyms.
  

I'm sorry for all of the questions! We just have a lot of them and are very excited! :) Thank you again for all of your tips! I've already taken some notes :)