One month out from my first ever cruise and I am starting to panic

[cruzincurt]

Once the ship leaves the dock, the battery comes out of the cell phone and both go into the safe until we get back.

[jletsgo]

Everyone's responses are right on. With Verizon, if you don't want to power them down for whatever reason you can turn off your data and just use text feature. Much cheaper than calling

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[AFsouth]

I remember my first time, just relax and enjoy! :)

[Iluvcruising2]

Relax, and have fun!

[Mango Tango]

If you're concerned about seasickness, take Ginger Root Capsules. I can't cruise without them. I start taking them a couple of days before the trip and take 2 capsules every morning and 2 before dinner. I also take them for a couple days after returning home while I get my land legs back.

[POF]

Thanks so much everyone !

 

I will definitely getthe Mez *** and the Bonine and ginger capsules. For me its more of a circular spinning motion. I guess if the ship is spinning in circles I will have more to worry about than puking up.

 

I am on Freedom of the seas ... duh.... sorry not mention that.

 

Boys want to use their phones for photos / music / games. I am afraid they would "accidently get them out of airline mode and we would have a big bill ( I am actually more concernced about DH ! )

 

For me - I'll keep it in the safe - but keep it in airline mode. As far as stayinf in touch. I don't worry about it. Its not like a land vacation where if soemthing happens- I can get home ... I really can't - so I would rather not know.

 

 

For disemabarking ... I was planning to walk off the boat about 8:00 - for a 9:30 pickup. Gived me 90 minutes to get through security. Sound OK ?

 

Again - thanks for all the great help and the reassurances . I am sure I will love it. Just nervous ..... ( i.e. - I will be trapped on a ship and can't get off )

[Scotty G]

For disembarking ... I was planning to walk off the boat about 8:00 - for a 9:30 pickup. Gives me 90 minutes to get through security. Sound OK ?

 

More than adequate. Be advised that once outside you will be there until your ride arrives. You cannot reenter the building. You could be hanging out there for about an hour subject to the elements (heat, humidity and possible tropical rain - we live by the port).

 

I would get off between 8:45 and 9:00 if it were me. Again, have a great cruise!!!!!

[SandyAtSea]

 

5) Seriously can not figure out what I should do with the verizon phones to avoid lots of charges - what have you done that was successful.

 

 

I have Verizon. Texting on Verizon is fairly cheap – 5c to receive and 50c to send – good for checking in at home once a day, not for serial texting (since you mentioned you have two teens, probably a good thing they are DS’s not DD’s J).

If you have to CALL someone, DON’T call from the ship (don’t use the telephone in your room) – it’s terribly expensive, on the order of $7.95 a minute. Instead, wait until you get into port or, on the ship, use your cell phone – it goes through the ship’s Cellular at Sea and is $2.49 a minute. As a previous poster said, TURN OFF DATA. Data is $25 per 100MB, this is what really runs up charges. If you check email via your phone, this will kill you if someone attaches a file or a picture.

For peace of mind, call Verizon before you leave and they can walk you through what you need to do. I flew to Europe last year for a transatlantic crossing and when I got to the Copenhagen airport, my phone wouldn’t work. I couldn’t even call Verizon to turn on international roaming, duh. Make sure you do that ahead of time if you are going to be making calls from a port. From the cruise ship it is no problem. I had to wait until I got on the ship and then could use my phone to call home AND call Verizon to tell them to turn on roaming so I could call from the other ports.

 

Have a great cruise!

[LarryL]

I am on Freedom of the seas ... duh.... sorry not mention that.

 

( i.e. - I will be trapped on a ship and can't get off )

 

The Freedom is a great choice for a first cruise. We sailed on her sister ship (Liberty OTS) and it was wonderful. Your boys will have more than they can imagine to do, as will you and your husband.

 

Once you board you will see you ar not even close to being "stuck" on a ship. In fact, there will be times you won't even think about it.

[charmay]

1- I took Bonine with me, but it made me so tired I ended up going to directly to bed after dinner the first 2 nights, actually I feel asleep in the theater during a show on the first night and could NOT wake up, husband had to drag me to the room when the show was over and put me to bed with clothes, make-up & jewelery all still on. It was seriously that bad for me, it's supposed to be non-drowsy too, but for me it wasn't. Don't know of anything else to replace it with.

 

5- Turn your data off on your cell so you can still use your phone to snap pictures and not have to worry about getting hit with charges.

 

** Not sure of your ports, but on St. Thomas US rates apply, you can use texting, calls, facebook, etc, same rates as US, HOWEVER, I made the mistake of doing this while we were waiting in line to disembark from the ship and instead of it all being free/covered in my plan, I got hit with RCL's charges, so wait until you get off of the ship. I was sending pictures to my children while we waited and checking up on them, they were with family, not on the cruise with us, $60 down the drain :(

I cant believe it.

Thats exactly what happened to me.

I was falling asleep in my dessert:rolleyes:

I am determined on this cruise to get a taste of the nightlife.

So i am buying some of those seaband.

If i get woozy i will try those and ginger before giving into tablets.

OP

This is my second cruise and all i can say is try not to worry .

And you and your family will have a blast!

This place is full of helpful people just ask and you will normally find someone with the answer:)

[TalesFromTheCrib]

I'm going to give basically the same answers as everyone else, but maybe with a little more info so its not repetative

 

1) No motion scikness fo rme, but most others in my family suffer from it. They all use the patach and have good success with it, but I have heard bonine is the best OTC and I always carry some just in case. I've found that big ships are not nearly as bad as a small sailboat and you will many times even forget you are on one! LIke someone else said ginger is a natural anti nausea remedy and Ive brough ginger candies to help too. type ginger for motion sickness into amazon and you cna find gums, candies, etc that are all nice to have and taste good too

 

2) Should be fine - some people change out afgter dinner like you said but i tend to stay in my fancy dresses since i dont get to dress up much at home.

 

3) I feel like they close for cleaning.draining at night on occassion, but seem to have one that stays open later. They put "nets" over them when they are closed.

 

4) You carry your luggage out yourself so you have to be able to do this (some people have issue with buying too much and bags get very heavy). You should be fine though as this tends to be the first release off the ship from what I recall

 

 

5) I went with my iphone last time and put it in airplane mode so that i could still use it to take pictures and listen to music. If you dont turn off the phone or the service, you still will get text messages in the middle of the sea :) Once you get to port if you wish to make calls or check messages but not have emails or data charges you can alwasy turn off the data plan as well. Someone mentioned that you can call verizon ahead of time and buy a small data or phone pacakge for the cruise for about $25 if you need to be able to contact home but dont want to be suprised by the bill either.

 

Have fun!

[AZAficionado]

1) Motion Sickness - I get sick on some rides at amusement parks ( but not all of them - for eample - I can ride anything at Disney and feel OK ) . I can read in the car. I did get really sick once on a small sailboat. Patch is not an option for me. I plan to take Bonine with me and maybe the wrist bracelets. Any other hints ?

Can't really help you on this one other than to say that the motion of the ship (especially one as large as Freedom) isn't anything like an amusement park ride or riding in a car. It is far more subtle which can be better or worse, depending. The good thing is that unless there are particularly rough seas, you probably won't notice at all.

 

2) Dresscode - dinners: Will Capri length slacks be OK ? Is a sleeveless shell OK ? Is it OK to change back into shorts after dinner ? I read somewhere on the web ( so you know its true LOL ) that shorts were not allowed in the public venues in the evenings. Is that true ?

Dress code is only for the Main Dining Room. The specialty restaurants also have a dress code of "business casual" or something like that. I wouldn't concern yourself if you are making even the slightest attempt to look nice. They just don't want people wearing flip-flops, pasties and a thong to formal night.:eek:

3) Are the pools open for swimming at night - I love to swim at night.

Pretty much, yes. It depends on weather, cleaning, etc.

4) If I self disembark - will I be able to meet up with my car service by 9:30 ? ( Port Canaveral ). How does self embark work - can you just go when you are ready ? Do you have to go at a set time ?

You can go anytime you want after the ship has cleared, which depends entirely on customs and borders agents. *Usually* that is about 7:30 am.

5) Seriously can not figure out what I should do with the verizon phones to avoid lots of charges - what have you done that was successful.

In "Airplane Mode", you won't get any charges. Otherwise, it gets expensive no matter who your carrier is - international roaming via satellite. Not sure on the specifics of how all that works. Call Verizon and talk to them. I know many companies have temporary packages to cover your situation.

[sideways2]

Take a deep breath and don't panic! Everything will be ok!

 

Having been on quite a few cruises, I offer you this:

 

1) I, too, am prone to motion sickness. Start the Bonine or Dramamine before you set to the ship and keep taking it as directed. If you do get queasy, plenty of people on board will have tips for you on how to cope.

 

2) The capris will be fine any time except for formal night.

 

3) I don't recall the pools being open at night but I could be wrong.

 

4) I have never self disembarked so can't help you there.

 

5) My suggestion would be to turn the phones off and enjoy your vacation and family!

 

Have fun! You'll love cruising!