Cruise planning mistakes: What were yours?

[mt family]

My cruise mistake was not checking to see when school starts. My daughter is going to be a HS senior and she is going to miss the first week of her senior year because I booked the cruise to late in the season.:o

[tea4ular]

The biggest was just recently. Got super excited about an itinerary & ship, picked the date, informed several friends who also got excited, put down deposits on several cabins (trip not until early 2011). A couple of weeks later did some preliminary research. Getting to said port from our location a veritable logistic nightmare. The cost of airfare, hotel for a night in each direction, and then transportation from airport to hotel/port, added a cost equal to the cruise fare. BAH! Had to call friends and family, and we all canceled. Not out any money, but lots of disappointment. :(

 

Lucky for us we were all able to soothe our souls and booked a different trip, same time, from a local port that we can all get to easily. Not as exciting an itinerary, but at least we can all afford it. :p

 

Next time I will research more thoroughly in advance!

[Putterdude]

Mine would probably not planning enough...but having done this a couple of times I have wised up.

[SelectSys]

The classic of trying to fly in the same day (actually a red eye the night before) and missing the ship due to a mechanical failure of the aircraft coupled with an airport curfew.

[ttowers]

Hi,

 

Our biggest mistake in cruising was trying P&O. Never again!

Enough said.

[mom2351man]

Forgot one.

 

On my very first cruise, I was so excited I lost track of all those "Drinks of the Day". I missed dinner the first night! NEVER AGAIN!!!

 

 

Too funny......liked this one.!:p

[Jolimont]

My biggest cruise mistake had to do with a delayed ship (Princess Diamond) and following orders from Princess subsequently. Sometimes it's best to not follow orders.

 

The ship hit the pier on its way back to Seattle and was delayed 8 hours. Passengers were told to wait at a conference center in Seattle and not to leave the premises because the ship was going to leave as soon as possible and would not wait for anyone who wandered off. So we stayed at the conference center with 3000 fellow passengers, not daring to go any further than around the block.

 

We were parked in a large room with not enough chairs (I sat on the floor most of that time) and not enough bathroom facilities. Within two hours there was no soap or toilet paper left. Princess provided coffee and water and not much else.

 

Someone brought the norovirus to that room, and within one day hundreds of passengers came down with wicked symptoms and were confined to cabins. There were 4 generations of us on the cruise, youngest was 4 and oldest was 88. Great grandpa dehydrated so bad he was put on IV fluids in the ship's medical facility for two days.

 

Having gone through this once there is no way I would stay in a confined room with 3000 people and inadequate facilities. That's just asking for viral trouble. Princess should have set a new time of departure and let passengers fill the wait however they wished. Even great granpa was in good enough shape to go for a long walk around Seattle. But we didn't do that because they didn't tell us what time the ship would leave.

 

Princess compensated us for missing two ports on that cruise, but still I don't ever want to cruise them again.

[vacation luvver]

My biggest planning mistake was the time that I booked a cruise less than two weeks in advance, and (1) I didn't have enough time for proper planning, and (2) I mistakenly assumed that the cruise would be similar to cruises that I had taken with the cruiseline more than ten years ago.

 

When I boarded the Norwegian Dawn in November of 2006, I didn't know much about freestyle. All I knew was that there wouldn't be any early or late sittings for meals. That was okay. What I didn't know was that there weren't any formal nights. I didn't check my daily newsletter, because I just assumed that the second night was a formal night. So I dressed in an outfit fit for a black tie optional wedding and felt horribly ill at ease to be surrounded by people dressed very casually.

 

There were five times that I flew in the same day that the cruise began, and now looking back, I think that I was incredibly fortunate that nothing went wrong. But all of those cruises took place before 1995, and there wasn't such a problem with flights being delayed and canceled back then. But I would never fly in the same day nowadays.

[Adri204]

I havent been on a single cruise yet. But the one thing I quickly learned from CC was to fly in the day before and get a room the night before. I live in Alaska and am flying out of LA (San Pedro) so this works for me. It also makes sence that way if thier is a screw up or somthing. I am not as panicked as I have time to figure things out and some leeway. I also used Hotwire to get my room at the Crowne Plaza and that saved me like 60.00-80.00 dollars and that is also a great thing.

 

Adri :)

[printingchick]

Thought of another that might be helpful for others to learn from.

 

When looking for airline tickets, I will often scan multiple locations to find the best price/flight times, before I return to book. I did this a couple of years ago, finally settling on my flights. When I returned to book the flights, I failed to notice that there were two flights to my location - one at 8AM and one at 8PM. I had intended to book the 8AM flight, but accidentally booked the 8PM flight. It was a day-of cruise flight.

 

Fortuntely, when I sent my flight information to my TA, she caught it. It cost money to switch over to the other flight, but at least I didn't miss my ship! Had the error not be caught until we showed up at the airport, we likely would have missed the cruise!!

[Sea Hag]

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.

 

This is true, but it's better still to dump the cruiseline tours altogether and book the park shuttle. That way, you really get to see the park.

[Sea Hag]

I put us under the buffet galley once. Talk about mistakes! Oh my.

[Cruisin' Chick]

My biggest cruise mistake had to do with a delayed ship (Princess Diamond) and following orders from Princess subsequently. Sometimes it's best to not follow orders.

 

The ship hit the pier on its way back to Seattle and was delayed 8 hours. Passengers were told to wait at a conference center in Seattle and not to leave the premises because the ship was going to leave as soon as possible and would not wait for anyone who wandered off. So we stayed at the conference center with 3000 fellow passengers, not daring to go any further than around the block.

 

We were parked in a large room with not enough chairs (I sat on the floor most of that time) and not enough bathroom facilities. Within two hours there was no soap or toilet paper left. Princess provided coffee and water and not much else.

 

Someone brought the norovirus to that room, and within one day hundreds of passengers came down with wicked symptoms and were confined to cabins. There were 4 generations of us on the cruise, youngest was 4 and oldest was 88. Great grandpa dehydrated so bad he was put on IV fluids in the ship's medical facility for two days.

 

Having gone through this once there is no way I would stay in a confined room with 3000 people and inadequate facilities. That's just asking for viral trouble. Princess should have set a new time of departure and let passengers fill the wait however they wished. Even great granpa was in good enough shape to go for a long walk around Seattle. But we didn't do that because they didn't tell us what time the ship would leave.

 

Princess compensated us for missing two ports on that cruise, but still I don't ever want to cruise them again.

 

You were on the inaugural (or almost inaugural sailing) of the Diamond Princess. Some people are gung ho about going on one of the first few sailings, but it might be worth it to wait for any bugs to be worked out first. I also think that terminal could have been new that year for use for cruiseships (can't remember if it was in use the year before or not). Someone who used to work for my hubby went on the DP in June and got married onboard (to a Princess employee). We were going to watch, but they had the wedding cam turned off. In August, we had gone on the sister ship, the Sapphire. If there had been any glitches for that new ship, which started sailing in June 2004, they were gone by our sailing in August. It was a wonderful experience.

 

I would consider giving Princess another chance.

 

Thought of another that might be helpful for others to learn from.

 

When looking for airline tickets, I will often scan multiple locations to find the best price/flight times, before I return to book. I did this a couple of years ago, finally settling on my flights. When I returned to book the flights, I failed to notice that there were two flights to my location - one at 8AM and one at 8PM. I had intended to book the 8AM flight, but accidentally booked the 8PM flight. It was a day-of cruise flight.

 

Fortuntely, when I sent my flight information to my TA, she caught it. It cost money to switch over to the other flight, but at least I didn't miss my ship! Had the error not be caught until we showed up at the airport, we likely would have missed the cruise!!

 

This reminds me of when we were planning our honeymoon in Hawaii in 1995. Hubby was showing me that you can access the booking engine now (apparently you couldn't previously unless you were a TA) for flights. We worked out the details, then hubby booked the flights. But when I looked over the print outs, it turned out he had booked us to return a day earlier than we had planned. The tickets were nonrefundable so we were stuck with those dates. We had to call the hotel and cancel the last night's stay. As it turned out, it would have been more of a traffic nightmare to return our original day (Wednesday before Thanksgiving). The traffic was bad enough two days before the holiday.

 

Since then, I have done the reserving as I'm better with details.

[ActiveTraveler]

You were on the inaugural (or almost inaugural sailing) of the Diamond Princess.

 

Using that logic' date=' it must not be a good idea to sail on Norwegian Epic this year.[/font']

Wha a shame that would be for cruisers who love circuses and Blue Man Group.

[pris993]

Great question:

 

* Booked under pool deck once, too noisy.

* Booked under the buffet once, smell of burnt garlic is not very pleasant.

* Forgot to take a complete list of all medications and their generic names so that we could get a RX filled that we forgot to bring in a foreign country.

* Continued to eat in the MDR when food and service were less than enjoyable on a 10 cruise. We learned to skip the MDR go to Lido or a Speciality Restrauant instead or have a late lunch and skip dinner.

* Invited a casual acquaintence to share our table for one night, they stayed for 13 nights and we realized it was a big mistake.

* Failed to book a non stop flight when one was available.

* Prefer to book non stop to avoid risks of missing luggage.

* Book air thru a cruiseline, prefer to do independent air.

* Book hotel pre/post cruise thru cruiseline, cheaper to book ourselves.

* Learned to pace ourselves, relax and take a nap so we are not worn out after a trip.

* Learned to check air options before booking a cruise. We book cruises so that we have the most direct flights possible.

* Learned to purchase future booking credits for deposits and OBCs.

* Don't mail postcards onboard and post and mail in a US port to save money.

[pris993]

A couple of more:

* Book new ships after in service 6 months.

* Order off the menu, ask for what you want.

[Tnittany10]

Two biggest mistakes:

1) Renting a driving a scooter in Cozumel to/from Playa Mia, got clipped by a taxi on the way back, broke my collarbone and messed up my elbow (my wife, who was on the back was fine), and then had to pay $300 USD for the damages to the scooter b/c the taxi took off!

 

2) Bought an excursion to a private "island" in Guatemala where the tour operator told us that there were lots of water activities and games. The beach was really tiny, there were about 6 other people who fell for the same ruse and there was literally nothing to do but sunbathe and sleep, drinks were outrageously priced, and we had to wait for several hours before being picked back up by the water taxi. And, to top it all off, after being bored and frustrated and feeling bad about wasting $$$, we got on the taxi with a group of people that had loved their excursion and were raving about it.

[Zambini]

Mistakes:

 

Sailed MSC

Sailed NCL

Sailed when school was out so lots of kids

Did little research, found out just how boring Nassau can be with no plan for the day. (first cruise)

Booked ship's shore ex. when better private deals were available.

Overpacked

[JLC@SD]

Our biggest mistake.....taking a redeye flight across country to arrive the day the ship sailed.....we were exhausted. We now fly in the day before.

[pris993]

Our biggest mistake.....taking a redeye flight across country to arrive the day the ship sailed.....we were exhausted. We now fly in the day before.

 

Really agree with this one. Once we flew in the same day for a departure from Rome. Never again, we were like zoombies boarding. Now we always fly in at least one day in advance for every cruise.

[Blondilu]

My biggest mistake is clothing and packing. Too much, too little, or the wrong clothes. On my last cruise, I think I finally figured it out and for the first time I was packed almost perfectly.

 

Second would be not enough money.

[numberguy]

Let's see, mistakes, mistakes, mistakes . . . No, never made any.

 

Just kidding. Here are mine.

 

* Taking my driver's license out of my wallet the night before a flight to Hawai'i for a combo land vacation/NCLA cruise for some reason that I don't remember now. Then going to the airport and not having the license. Luckily, DDP had packed our passports, so I could get on the plane.

* Walking around my cabin after my shower without clothes in an obstructed view oceanview room, which meant that the mechanical crew working on the lifeboats got to see EVERYTHING through my window. I close the curtains now.

* Not discovering Cruise Critic until after my first cruise.

* Trying to switch from traditional seating to anytime dining on RCCL, and waiting too long. Was stuck with late dining, in Australia, and I fell asleep within 15 minutes of eating due to time zone changes.

 

--Michael

[Cruisin' Chick]

Using that logic, it must not be a good idea to sail on Norwegian Epic this year.

 

Wha a shame that would be for cruisers who love circuses and Blue Man Group.

 

We were on the Sapphire Princess in its third month of sailing and it was one of our best cruises. Our waiter had been our assistant waiter on our previous cruise and she told us that the crew had worked out all their bugs and established working relationships on the cruise out of the shipyard in Japan to LA. But it still is a good idea to wait a few sailings, from what I've read here on CC. As for the Epic, we have no interest, personally. Too big of a ship and it's a NCL ship, which means it doesn't have traditional dining, which I love.

[printingchick]

I've learned to alternate between active and slow-paced excursions on very port-intensive cruises. On our first southern Caribbean cruise, we missed most of the night life by pushing ourselves hard at every port, then having LATE dinner. After we ate, we invariably fell asleep. Missed shows, parties, the nightclub...

 

Now we pace ourselves.

[5326jan]

My biggest mistake is clothing and packing. Too much, too little, or the wrong clothes. On my last cruise, I think I finally figured it out and for the first time I was packed almost perfectly.

 

Second would be not enough money.

 

Please enlighten me to the perfect amount of clothes!!!! I "practice packed" for 10 days and had a check bag and carry on bag stuffed to the brim! :o I'm sure I wouldn't need that much going to Europe, definitely wouldn't for the islands, but I can't figure out how to cut it down for Alaska! I'd love to know your basic plan. Thanks