Cruise planning mistakes: What were yours?

[ActiveTraveler]

Admit it; everyone makes mistakes while planning and preparing for a vacation whether it is on land or at sea. People learn what to not do next time whenever they travel, even if they go on vacations every year. I know I have learned a lot about vacation planning in the many places I have traveled. So I thought to prevent others from making mistakes it would be good if cruisers shared what they had done wrong during all of their past trips. This would help more than just the first-time cruisers and answer a lot of questoins that many people have IMHO. So let's get started.

Did you ever . . .

Pack too much, pack too little, or pack the wrong things for your cruise?

Hire a bad tour company, sail on a bad ship, or eat at a bad restaurant?

Select the wrong cabin, do the wrong activities, or order the wrong food?

Take pictures of the wrong things and forget to take pictures you wanted?

Get too much or not enough cash or exchange currency the wrong way?

Expect the locals to be fluent in English were nobody knows a word of it?

Forget to bring necessities with you to ports or lock valuables in the safe?

Try to smuggle items onboard and get caught during the security check?

Drive the wrong way, get off at the wrong stop, or ride on the wrong bus?

Lose track of time and get to the train, bus, or ship dock after departure?

Miss the beginning of a tour you had reserved in advance for any reason?

Give a taxi driver the name of the wrong place or a city too far from port?

Fly to the embarkation port on the start date instead of the day before it?

Of cvourse, there are many more mistakes that can be made during a cruise vacation if you count problems I don't know about depending on the specific details of your cruise. If you made any other mistakes not listed here, tell everyone all of them too.

[madelinerose]

My advice would be to R-E-L-A-X. Your anxiety is screaming off the page. Nothing in life is perfect, cruise or no cruise.

 

I would consider none of the items in your long list "mistakes", only experiences and lessons learned.

 

Now, completely forgetting about the cruise and going to work the morning of.....that would be a mistake. ;)

[cb at sea]

I don't think you can bring "too much cash"....or clothes! As far as ordering the "wrong" food...that's what's great about a cruise...if you don't like it, get something else!

 

I think the worst thing we've done on a vacation was getting to the hotel too early...room not ready, and having to "kill time" while waiting to check in!

 

Oh...once we decided to document our Hawaii trip with HUNDREDS of pictures....once developed, we had no idea what we had taken pictures of....so now...we don't do that! We may take a few shots, but we figure if we can't remember our vacations without photo documentation, it probably was a bust!

[ActiveTraveler]

Apparently not all people agree with me a learning experience and a mistake frequently are the same thing. In my mind it is possible to have too much cash on your vacation if you need to pay a fee to exchange for euros, then learn credit cards are accepted in all stores and restaurants you bujy things at. Some mistakes may not be very bad to you, but they could be horrible for someone else. I did not mean all of those questions to be equally important to and answered by everyone. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[greatdanemom]

Mistakes I've made:

 

1. Booking an anniversary cruise the last week of May out of Port Canaveral and NOT realizing the kids in Florida are out of school for the summer.

2. Booking a cabin high up and far forward on a small ship to Bermuda. (I still feel queasy when I think about it.)

3. Booking balconies on cruises that we didn't use them on

4. Putting my husband on a Disney ship with 1,000 kids

5. Booking a cabin across from a passenger laundry room

6. Not packing a coat when I cruised to Alaska in June

7. Forgetting to pack the fan for "cool sleeping"

8. Linking my dining reservation to a group of cruisers I met on a cruise board who turned out to be awful people and we were stuck eating with them

9. Picking a window seat on a red-eye transatlantic flight to a cruise ship. Hubby fell asleep and I was trapped for hours!!

10. Waiting until I was almost 50 to try cruising

 

Gosh, I've made a lot of mistakes but I've never had a cruise that wasn't wonderful!

[madelinerose]

Apparently not all people agree with me a learning experience and a mistake frequently are the same thing. In my mind it is possible to have too much cash on your vacation if you need to pay a fee to exchange for euros, then learn credit cards are accepted in all stores and restaurants you bujy things at. Some mistakes may not be very bad to you, but they could be horrible for someone else. I did not mean all of those questions to be equally important to and answered by everyone. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

 

Andrea, I meant no harm. Yes, we all make first-time cruise mistakes, but none mean the end of the world. I just want you to enjoy your first cruise on Crystal, or what ever luxury line you choose. You will have a great time. ;)

[MissRabbit]

My advice would be to R-E-L-A-X. Your anxiety is screaming off the page. Nothing in life is perfect, cruise or no cruise.

 

;)

 

My biggest mistake when planning a cruise or vacation is to NOT plan every detail in its entirety. Yes, that means days and weeks of researching, anxiety,stress etc.. but in the end, once the vacation starts, i can sit back and R-E-L-A-X knowing that i have done everything i can to minimize surprises (which stress me out lol).

 

Reading some of the threads/reviews where people have complained about this or that... a little planning on their part and they could have avoided their horrible experience.

 

So for me, biggest mistake #1 would be in not putting in the time to research the ship and destinations etc of your vacation.

 

mistake #2 would be in packing way too much. This cruise, we're planning on packing our luggage only 2/3 full. This will allow room for any souvenirs we buy and not have to either buy more luggage or be over the weight limit for our flight back.

 

mistake #3 would be in not locating the public washrooms whenever you arrive at your destination *before* you actually need to use them. lolol. nuff said. Oh, and I always carry a nicely folded wad of TP in my travel bag just in case.

[madelinerose]

My biggest mistake when planning a cruise or vacation is to NOT plan every detail in its entirety. Yes, that means days and weeks of researching, anxiety,stress etc.. but in the end, once the vacation starts, i can sit back and R-E-L-A-X knowing that i have done everything i can to minimize surprises (which stress me out lol).

 

 

My R-E-L-A-X reply was in reference to the OP's previous threads and posts. ;)

[Taxguy77]

Forward facing cabin on a large ship. At night would be very tired and it was miles to the cabin. Booked it to look out, at night had to use blackout curtins as it was below the bridge, the Capt. sent 4 people including security to tell us that!:eek:

Booking ships over 2500 pax, 1750 or fewer is better to us.

Worst, maybe: Flying to Lisbon 2 days before sailing date. Should have spent 3 - 5 days there.

[briony]

Deporting from Miami--- Miami is horrible. Also spent 3 days in South Beach -

cannot figure out the appeal of South Beach.

[MissRabbit]

what's bad about Miami? We departed from there on our honeymoon cruise but it was so long ago i can't remember it!

 

At night would be very tired and it was miles to the cabin.

 

When we cruise, we purposely book cabins at the ends of the ship. That extra walking leaves me guilt free when waddling back from the midnight buffets :)

[BroncosFan2010]

1. Cruising with parents who have never cruised before, and feeling responsible for them the whole cruise (They are not even "elderly" only in late 40's).

2. Not researching the differences in cruise ships and lines (looking for a relaxing vacation, and was booked on a ship that was too large and had too many kids for my enjoyment. I still had a good cruise, but did not make that mistake again).

3. 1st cruise, packed too many clothes, 2nd did not pack enough! Now I have it down just right.

4. I learned to research what other ships will be in port and plan my excursions accordingly. For example, if there are 5 ships in port, it will be crowded and difficult to get back to the ship so we may be more likely to book a ship based excursion, same if we are tendered.

 

Hope this helps people plan a little better.

[ActiveTraveler]

My R-E-L-A-X reply was in reference to the OP's previous threads and posts.

I will relax when I am done planning everything and writing my to-do and packing lists. I can't relax until then because I have never been on a cruise or to Europe before.

 

what's bad about Miami? We departed from there on our honeymoon cruise but it was so long ago I can't remember it!

My BIL grew up in Miami. He said I should not go there for a vacation. If someone says don't go there after living in the city for years, is there any reason not to believe him? Of course, there are embarkation ports on the east coast I do like, so I don't need to go to Miami. Try Boston next time, or Cape Canaveral if possible.

By the way, mistakes I have made include:

1. Not making a TripTik on AAA's website for a Massachusetts vacation.

2. Packing the wrong shirts for a Grand Teton and Yellowstone vacation.

3. Forgetting I need to fill pocket pill boxes in addition to my weekly set.

4. Keeping my wallet in the hotel room while going to a shopping center.

5. Packing an $80 gold heart necklace that has sentimental importance.

While #2 is an easy one - nobody could expect to need seven t-shirts in Wyoming - I'm never going to forgive myself for #5, even if I somehow get the necklace back that I lost. Fortunately, #3 was not deadly, as my mom had packed extra pills when I did not.

[Kimbopolo]

Booking a balcony but leaving the binoculars at home.

[cruiserbryce]

we keep making the same mistake...not taking enough $

[klfrodo]

Booking my cruise air thru the cruiseline for a (normal) 6 hour cross country flight. 14 hours and 3 plane changes later, we finally arrived at our destination. Plus paid about $100 more pp than necessary for this wonderful learning experience.

[KayTea]

Is it possible to book tooo many excursions??? My husband and I are going to alaska for a cruisetour and I want to 'SEE IT ALL' my husband keeps reminding me 'this is a vacation'. We are doing a 6 day land portion (fairbanks, denali, talkeetna, anchorage, alyeska) followed by a 7 day cruise - southbound out of Seward (hubbard glacier, juneau, skagway, icy strait point, ketchikan and the inside passage).

 

Any recommended "must sees" along that path would be appreciated!

:)

[ActiveTraveler]

Is it possible to book tooo many excursions??? My husband and I are going to alaska for a cruisetour and I want to 'SEE IT ALL' my husband keeps reminding me 'this is a vacation'. We are doing a 6 day land portion (fairbanks, denali, talkeetna, anchorage, alyeska) followed by a 7 day cruise - southbound out of Seward (hubbard glacier, juneau, skagway, icy strait point, ketchikan and the inside passage).

 

Any recommended "must sees" along that path would be appreciated!

 

Wrong thread for that question. I was specifically thinking about what people have done to prepare for their cruises and do not care how many ships anyone has sailed on.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Is it possible to book tooo many excursions??? My husband and I are going to alaska for a cruisetour and I want to 'SEE IT ALL' my husband keeps reminding me 'this is a vacation'. We are doing a 6 day land portion (fairbanks, denali, talkeetna, anchorage, alyeska) followed by a 7 day cruise - southbound out of Seward (hubbard glacier, juneau, skagway, icy strait point, ketchikan and the inside passage).

 

Any recommended "must sees" along that path would be appreciated!

:)

 

Wrong thread for that question. I was specifically thinking about what people have done to prepare for their cruises and do not care how many ships anyone has sailed on.

 

Actually since you were asking for cruising mistakes, I would think the above question is an appropriate one. She was talking about planning excursions and not talking about how many ships she's been on.

 

So to answer that poster's question, IMO you can overdo the excursions. Sometimes, an excursion can run over. That happened with our Skagway excursion that was in the mid-afternoon. We got back to the pier minutes after the official sailaway time due to the weather conditions. Fortunately, we had booked the excursion thru Princess and the tour guide/driver had kept in touch with the ship. It waited for all of us. My daughter who stayed onboard even mentioned our names were called out on the PA.

 

Earlier that day, we went into Skagway on our own, walking around. Even though we did crash a tour that we were eavesdropping on. Turned out it was given by the US Park Service and was totally free -- you just give a donation back at the Moore House (BTW, Moore was the founder of that small town). That port was our favorite of the Alaskan ones we went to (didn't do the cruisetour as we did the RT out of Seattle).

 

We didn't book anything else, but grabbed a tour on the fly at the Ketchikan port. My hubby decided the trolley wasn't that comfy and said let's just stick with ship's tours if we can from now on. Juneau, we just walked around.

 

I am a big researcher of ports before cruises, reading the guide books and checking out websites for each of the ports.

 

I try to learn from previous mistakes, even tho' the one I can never get right is not overpacking. I keep taking more than I should, at least as far as my hubby is concerned. Can't help it. Did learn to double check to make sure my coat makes it into the car. Learned that after hubby didn't put my coat into the car (while I was making sure I had everything for our toddler). And of course on Baja cruises, you can get cool weather on Catalina and Ensenada.

 

Another thing we learned is to book our travel arrangements ourselves. First time I was leaving from Miami, the flight booked for us was a redeyed one getting in the morning of our cruise. That got changed. After that, I've made any arrangements so we get in at least a day ahead, when leaving from any port other than our home port. But most of the time, we have left out of the Port of LA, which is an hour's drive.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Oh, what I meant to say about too many excursions is that if you have one that runs over, you might miss the second one. Better to space them out. But sometimes even that, you can have problems. So I would agree with your husband. Try to narrow down. And talk to the other cruisers. Maybe you'll decide to repeat this cruise and then you'll have some recs for future excursions.

[Donder1]

Is it possible to book tooo many excursions??? My husband and I are going to alaska for a cruisetour and I want to 'SEE IT ALL' my husband keeps reminding me 'this is a vacation'. We are doing a 6 day land portion (fairbanks, denali, talkeetna, anchorage, alyeska) followed by a 7 day cruise - southbound out of Seward (hubbard glacier, juneau, skagway, icy strait point, ketchikan and the inside passage).

 

Any recommended "must sees" along that path would be appreciated!

:)

Hi, in Denali, take the all day tour, not the shorter one. Princess or other line,may book the shorter one but you can change it once there. We did. You will go deep into the park. We saw 12 grizzly bears and golden eagles and lots of other wild life. Also, don't miss Jeff King's kennel which you can book in the Visitor's Center or online. He won the Ididerod twice.

[Happy ks]

Admit it; everyone makes mistakes while planning and preparing for a vacation whether it is on land or at sea. People learn what to not do next time whenever they travel, even if they go on vacations every year. I know I have learned a lot about vacation planning in the many places I have traveled. So I thought to prevent others from making mistakes it would be good if cruisers shared what they had done wrong during all of their past trips. This would help more than just the first-time cruisers and answer a lot of questoins that many people have IMHO. So let's get started.

 

Did you ever . . .

Pack too much, pack too little, or pack the wrong things for your cruise? Yes, our first 2 cruises, I bought all new clothes thinking that people dress nicely for a luxury vacation, then found out it was just average people...we did look good, though :)

Hire a bad tour company, sail on a bad ship, or eat at a bad restaurant? The only "bad" ship we've sailed on was Carnival Ecstacy...hated every minute of it and never have wanted off a ship so much. But, I read about others who have hated ships I loved, so it's all subjective.

Select the wrong cabin, do the wrong activities, or order the wrong food? Wrong cabin, only once did we choose a forward, lower deck inside to save money. You live and learn, now we won't cruise if we can't afford a better location but just like above, others don't mind the lowest price cabin. The wrong food was only because we cruised NCL, we learned on that line you need to lower your expectations or budget for specialty restaurants.

Take pictures of the wrong things and forget to take pictures you wanted? Huh? I suppose if you forget your camera one day this could happen.

Get too much or not enough cash or exchange currency the wrong way? We have a few foreign bills as souvenirs. Hope one day to take them back ;)

 

Expect the locals to be fluent in English were nobody knows a word of it? Never, we feel it's up to us to learn a few words, or hire an English speaking tour guide.

Forget to bring necessities with you to ports or lock valuables in the safe? No, but we have learned to reduce the amount of necesseties.

Try to smuggle items onboard and get caught during the security check? Once we had a portable fan confiscated. They gave us a claim check and we picked it up on our way out of the terminal. It was the one lonely fan, amongst a sea of clothing irons, bottles of booze and toys that looked like weapons.

Drive the wrong way, get off at the wrong stop, or ride on the wrong bus? Yes :D, but I even do this at home.

Lose track of time and get to the train, bus, or ship dock after departure? Never, we double check the ship time and try to get back with a minimum of an hour to spare.

:mad:Miss the beginning of a tour you had reserved in advance for any reason? Yes, in Vatican City, we could not locat our tour guide. They very graciously refunded our money...we did get to see the Pope, though

Give a taxi driver the name of the wrong place or a city too far from port? Not yet.

Fly to the embarkation port on the start date instead of the day before it? We will not chance that!

 

Of cvourse, there are many more mistakes that can be made during a cruise vacation if you count problems I don't know about depending on the specific details of your cruise. If you made any other mistakes not listed here, tell everyone all of them too.

 

The only other thing I can think of is using the cruise line air/transfer program. We did that for our first cruise and had a horrid flight time we'd never select on our own. When we landed, it was hurry up and wait for the transport, both to the hotel and then to the ship a couple days later. The transport from the hotel to the ship was tedious. From that time on, we have booked our own flights and just grabbed a cab to wherever we wanted to go. Cheaper, more expedient and a far more pleasant experience for us.

[foppa2102]

i've only been on one cruise and got pretty lucky especially since i did very little pre-cruise planning, but one mistake that stands out was booking a 'tequila tasting' excursion in mazatlan, and it was scheduled at 8:30 am. i just didn't even go, it was way too early to start drinking.. lol.

[foppa2102]

oh yeah, an even bigger mistake i made was linking my onboard spending account to my debit card. next time i will do cash, because they charged my account for each individual charge (not a problem), but then once i got home, they'd taken away each individual charge and done one big charge, it ended up screwing up my bank account. won't do that again.

[printingchick]

My cruise mistakes:

 

- Booking a day-of-cruise flight, with a connection, for a cruise during February school break. It is the closest I've ever come to missing the ship.

 

- Agreeing to allow my cruise-mate to invite others to come along, essentially making me the odd-man out.

 

- Early in my cruise life, I booked all my excursions through the ship. I know now that it's both fun and money-saving to do my homework and research alternatives to the cruise-sponsored excursions. I still book with the cruise line occasionally, but never more than one excursion per cruise.

 

- Accidentally setting my new digital camera to take pictures in the smallest possible size, so they were only good for viewing on screen. Prints were all kind of blurry.