What advise would you give to first time cruiser?

I respectfully take exactly the opposite view. :p

 

A new cruiser has nothing to compare against, and prospects are than pretty-well any ship will wow them.

If they go on an up-market ship for a first cruise, for subsequent cruises the mainstream stuff will probably disappoint.:(

 

JB :)

Nicely put. :)

I suppose it al depends on whether in future you want to take a few cruises a year or just one cruise every so often.

Generally speaking, if someone was considering taking a cruise for the first time what advise would you give them? What could you tell them from your experience to make their cruise experience better and go smoother?

Research . We were spoiled because our first cruise was on a Cunard ship and nothing compares .

2.) Plan activities. The cruise goes by fast, Time at the port is short. Make the best of it with a plan. No need to plan every minute of every day. Have some solid ideas.

1.) Enjoy yourself. This can not be stated enough. Too many people are finding something to complain about. There's too many people on here who will "never again" somewhere because of trivial stuff. Last year was my first year cruising. I had to tell the world how awesome it is. Everyone I know had something to complain about.

If I could go back and talk to my younger self just prior to the first cruise, I'd say this:

1. Take a journal with you. My first cruise was a 3 day cruise on Carnival shortly after high school. I did so much. I think I may have slept 10 hours, total. You can't stuff that much into your memory banks in a short time. Also, that first time is a mind blower so it is doubtful you'll remember as much as you think.

2. Don't read the reviews. It's far too subjective to gather anything from it.

3. Visit cruise critic forums for the cruise lines you're interested in. From there, you can gather what types of personalities will be on that particular ship for the most part. When it gets late, do you hit the dance floor, party? You'll be far happier on carnival than celebrity. Are you an old soul, a sentimental type who might be a foodie, take in a broadway show, or an ice show? You'll be happy on royal or even celebrity (except if you have kids). (I'm an old soul, so when my dad took me on Royal those years ago, it was a match made in heaven)

4. A 3 day cruise was far too short. 5 is probably perfect for the first timer. To me, a 5 day is similar to a 7 day, except without time to wind down.

5. Packing cubes. Saves so much luggage space.

6. Get a balcony.

Enjoy yourself.

1. Remember it's your vacation, and what works for others, or what others do, doesn't necessarily mean it's going to work for you or that you should do it.

That being said,

2. Arrive in the port city the day before the cruise (at least). This gives you time to explore the port city a little (why not?), you can fly in, unwind, relax, do a nice evening dinner before hand. You won't stress about minor delays with the plane or feel rushed going from the airport to the cruise port.

3. Remember to stay on ship time the whole cruise. You can set your phone so as to not change time zones, or take/buy an inexpensive watch for ports.

4. Be wary of "seminars" in the spa.These are sales pitches for various products or services that you probably don't need. If you are in that particular market for a product, be prepared and know what sort of price this would cost you on land.

5. Port talks/shopping talks are geared towards jewelry such as Diamonds International, etc.

6. Have fun. Don't be afraid to have your picture taken by the ship's photographers. If you have the time and want to have fun with the back drops, do it. You don't have to buy anything if you don't want it. You may (or may not) find some pictures you'd like, but you won't know if you don't try. But have fun in general, not just with photos. If you see something you are interested in that's happening that day, do it. Some days you may be running around the ship, other days you may be sitting on deck relaxing. Some nights, you may be up late, other nights you may go to bed early.

7. Keep an open mind with everything you encounter. Do things for the first time. Try foods you've never had before. There are a lot of foods and activities are included, and it's a great opportunity to try them. If you don't like the food or activity, it hasn't cost you anything. If you do, you may have found a new hobby, interest, food you like.

8. Try both independent and ship excursions. Some people will say they always do independent and others will always do ship excursions. Both have their pros and cons, and it's up to you which you decide you like better.

9. Research your ship before you go. Find out what restaurants it has, what activities it has, whether or not you should make reservations for entertainment ahead of time. And then explore your ship that first afternoon. Chances are, the ship's public areas won't be very busy, and it's a great opportunity to find out exactly where everything is so that you don't have to try to find venues at the same time that you're fighting crowds.

10. Realize that not everything is going to go as smooth as you may like. You need to have enough flexibility so that if one or two things happen that you're still able to enjoy your vacation without letting it get to you too much. I've had independent excursions canceled without any notice--but I had a back-up plan of things to do. In Grand Cayman, we were planning on just going and relaxing on the beach. Because of weather, we got to be the one ship that was re-routed to a secondary tender location...we still got off the ship and happened to find another albeit not as nice beach to go and relax on--with probably a lot fewer people.

Itineraries can change!! Check the board for the time to be back, each and every port! Take a picture so you don't forget the time. Don't miss the boat!

Arrive a day early not the same day of your cruise.

Don't forget to take an overnight bag for the last night. You will probably put your luggage out in the corridor sometime during the last evening, and the final case before going to bed. Keep back what you need for the morning, - you really don't want to disembark in your PJs do you?! - and put all last-minute things into the overnight bag to carry off with you.

Take half the clothes and twice the money.

YUP!!!! And you won't need the dozen pair of shoes you packed, just the 2 you actually wore;p

Arrive a day early not the same day of your cruise.

THIS THIS THIS!!!! You will have so much less stress if you do this.

Generally speaking, if someone was considering taking a cruise for the first time what advise would you give them? What could you tell them from your experience to make their cruise experience better and go smoother?

I saved the attached document from here a long long time ago and it's very helpful!

Tips For New Cruisers.pdf

I saved the attached document from here a long long time ago and it's very helpful!

VERY, VERY helpful. Thanks for posting.

I have just booked my first cruise with Cunard for the Southampton round trip experience, for the fact that it is a familiar culture and I think I have booked the correct cabin for my needs, Balcony Britannia. I considered a high grade cabin but thought that I didn’t need it this time, but could splash out if I really loved the trip. I have researched the shore excursions and shall do them at some ports because this is my first time. So I hope that I have ticked all the boxes. What about drinks packages? I guess I can do that either just before I go or on board. Have I forgotten anything else?:confused:

Don’t get an expensive room, you’re never in it! My first cruise I booked a window room, which was awesome to be able to see the land every morning. However, so not necessary. We are going on our second cruise in 2019 and I booked an interior room and would never book anything else. We were never in our room!!

I disagree.

If you get a larger room or balcony, you may well spend more time in the room or on the balcony.

But you won't know until you tried it.

I would put interior and window rooms in the same groups, separate from any room with a balcony.

Don’t get an expensive room, you’re never in it! My first cruise I booked a window room, which was awesome to be able to see the land every morning. However, so not necessary. We are going on our second cruise in 2019 and I booked an interior room and would never book anything else. We were never in our room!!

I agree. Our TA tried to talk us into a balcony (which I thought I would love but was trying to keep expenses down.) It was rainy and a little chilly the whole time and I seriously doubt we would have spent time out there. We were able to find several spots on the ship next to windows and thats where we spent the little bit of time we were actually on the ship. We were on excursions every port day.

Thank you everyone. I am so excited for our first voyage of this type. Traveling for the sake of nothing but enjoyment. We have visited locales on land but always because of a need to go somewhere and adding a day or three to make it more fun or meaningful. This will be such a spectacular family event, celebrating two special birthdays (one is 70, the other 17).

We are back from this cruise and I definitely chose the correct cabin, Britannia Balcony. For the older travelers, I would recommend room service breakfast before shore excursions, which avoids a great scramble to be on time and we had breakfast on our balcony several times in the sunshine which was great. The cruise was wonderful and we enjoyed the ship immensely.

4 hours ago, Beesue said:

We are back from this cruise and I definitely chose the correct cabin, Britannia Balcony. For the older travelers, I would recommend room service breakfast before shore excursions, which avoids a great scramble to be on time and we had breakfast on our balcony several times in the sunshine which was great. The cruise was wonderful and we enjoyed the ship immensely.

Thanks for the update. I'm glad you enjoyed your first cruise - when is the next one? 🙂

After 10+ solo cruises the best advice I provide is to pack half as much and bring twice as much money as planned. 

Relax and enjoy yourself.  Minor problems may occur but you will have a great time.

DON

If you're at all concerned about price try to go when kids are in school
 

My Husband and I did a video for when we went on the Carnival Miracle 

On ‎1‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 5:41 PM, Crew News said:

Avoid the stress of booking private excursions and stick to the ship-sponsored excursions for your first cruise. On your next cruise you can consider going private.

 

Arrive in the cruise port city the day before the cruise and plan on staying one night in the port city after the cruise to avoid potential flight delays. The post-cruise flights will be packed so waiting one extra day before flying home will yield lower airfares, earlier-morning flights, a chance to repack your luggage for the flight home, and time to relax..

We normally cruise a lot in the Winter- January typically and although we don't fly- we've ran into snow/ice driving conditions getting to Mobile or New Orleans from our house so we always get into town at least the day before to try to limit some of these issues. 

On ‎11‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 9:31 AM, Beesue said:

We are back from this cruise and I definitely chose the correct cabin, Britannia Balcony. For the older travelers, I would recommend room service breakfast before shore excursions, which avoids a great scramble to be on time and we had breakfast on our balcony several times in the sunshine which was great. The cruise was wonderful and we enjoyed the ship immensely.

How much in advance do you need to book the room service breakfast and how do you do so?