Tips on cruising

[plunker]

I am looking for any tips i can get on cruising, be it packing or the best meals or the best place to go on the ship. We are booked on the Ruby feb 10-15. We are taking our 2 kids (11,7) and want to make this really memorable for them so they enjoy it and we can go on more cruises. Any tips will be appreciated. Thanks

[paul929207]

Relax and have a wonderful cruise.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Buy FCC onboard for the next cruise.

 

Take your kids to the camp the first day to meet everyone, by the next day the kids have friends etc

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - Oy, excuse the auto correct ;)

[wineforhealth]

Let the kids know they can eat plenty of pizza and soft serve ice cream

[MAJPLO]

Use ebags packing cubes. Take a pop up hamper and an over the door shoe organizer.

[Sunsailor]

Packing.

Pack as little as possible. We use Jumbo zipper bags for shirts and almost everything else.; they takes less space and the clothes won't wrinkle. You can use one bag for each day for the kids.

 

Do go to the kids clubs on the first day so they can meet the others. Don't forget that the kids clubs are open until 10pm.

Don't forget to carve out time for grownups alone. Take the kids to the buffet for dinner and when they go back to the kids clubs have a grown up romantic dinner for 2.

 

There are family friendly shore excursions on both your ports.

 

Check the Patter for Movies under the stars. If you have kid suitable Movies it's fun for the family and the kids don't have to be too quiet or sit too still.

 

The cabin walls are metal. Bring a few flat magnets for artwork (kids) and notes and messages.

I'll post again as I think of more.

[skynight]

You will receive the Princess Patter each evening which details all the activities for the next day. Read through it an make a plan for your children and yourselves.

 

Visit the youth center after you board. Your children will be in two separate groups, the 7 year old will be in the Pelican group and the 11 year old will be in the Shockwave group. If you have a way to communicate with them using cells or other use it. If you use the cells be sure to turn off the cell service so you don't get charged.

 

Pack light, then repack and eliminate what you don't need. There are laundries on board in case of an emergency, and free irons. But on a short cruise you probably don't require them.

 

Relax, don't try to do everything. Let you children dine where they wish. Lots of free kid friendly food on board such as soft ice cream, burgers, fries, dogs, pizza, doughnuts, danish, soft cookies & milk, popcorn at the movies, plus all the stuff in the buffet. Most stuff available most hours of the day.

[plunker]

Is there a better way other than cell phones to communicate with your kids on the ship? Would walkie talkies work on a ship?

[monalloh]

Partner and I did a 4 day on the Ruby 2 weeks ago. We thought we had packed light and still took too many clothes and were surprised to discover that we could have done the entire cruise in t-shirts and shorts had we desired. It is a wonderfully casual cruise that I'm sure your children will enjoy. If you want to have dinner in a dining room men are required to wear collared shirts, but I understand you may wear shorts for dinner. We dined every night at the buffet and always found something to our liking. If the two of you want a special evening alone, try one of the specialty restaurants; we like Sabatini's. MUTS is always fun; on our cruise they showed The Wolverine and Now You See Me plus Sunday and Monday Night Football, so you'll have more movies after football season. Have a great cruise; I'm sure your children will be bugging you to go on another cruise once they expeience this one. :)

[gooch47]

Look for some posts about unpleasant surprises on your bill if you try to use your cell phones on the ship.

[Cruisin' Chick]

My tips:

1) make sure to get to your embarkation city at least a day early. The hotel stay is worth the lack of stress for your first day of your cruise.

 

2) as the others suggest, sign up the kids the first night of the cruise. You don't need to give your 7-year-old sign out privileges (we didn't let our 8-yr-old sign herself out)

 

3) tell your older kid to make sure to go to the cabin if leaving the kids' area and leave a note in the cabin or leave a message on the cabin's voice mail as to where he/she is going (if there's a violation, you can always revoke the sign-out privilege). You don't need to use your cells (and you won't want to use walkie talkies as they tend to disturb others). Anyone can leave a message on the in-cabin phone. On our last cruise, our girl was 15, and she used the notepad I kept on the desk and often wrote on the latest note my hubby would tape to our door as to where he was going if we went separate ways.

 

4) the kids' program does have a kids' dinner in the Horizon Court on many cruises (not sure about the ones shorter than 7 days). You drop your kid off on the side with the sign "Private Party." After dinner, the staff take the kids up to the kids' area for the evening activities. This gives parents to enjoy dinner without the kids.

 

We often would just take the girl, before her teens, to the pizzeria or pool side grill or to the Horizon to get her dinner, then take her to the kids' area. That was her choice. On our last cruise, she actually wanted to eat in the main dining room with us on many nights. Go figure.

 

5) The Ruby should have the International Cafe, which is not an enclosed eatery, but a set of display cases with food and desserts. It's now open 24/7. Probably on the Plaza deck in the Grand Atrium.

 

I would suggest checking out the Princess website and reading up on the Ruby and reading the Cruise Answer Book. The person who mentioned being able to wear shorts to the main dining room for dinner is wrong. Most likely the head waiter or maitre'd will turn you away. But you can wear shorts in the MDRs for breakfast and lunch, and can wear them in the Horizon Court or other public areas at night. You might be able to get away with it in the dining rooms, but most people will try to respect the dress code.

[tip]

Don't get stressed out and become obsessed with the so-called formal nights. Contrary to what some may wish, not everyone dresses in a tuxedo. You may if you wish, but if you are dressed nicely you will not have a problem. I choose to wear a dress shirt, tie, dark slacks, a navy blue blazer and shined shoes. No one has ever said a word to me.

[jean s]

:oWe cruised many times with our son when he was young and loved every minute of it. We really tried to not have many expectations and just focused on relaxing. I guess he likes it because he and his wife are on a cruise right now and my dh and I have the baby!

[Pam in CA]

If you want to have dinner in a dining room men are required to wear collared shirts, but I understand you may wear shorts for dinner.

No. No shorts in the dining room at dinner. During the day, yes, but you will be sent back to change if you show up in shorts for dinner. Specialty restaurants are "smart casual" even on formal nights. Also no shorts.

[4x4bob]

Plunker;

 

Since you are going with two kids here are two tips that you need to brief them on:

1. Unless you are in a full suite, the sodas in the cabin refrigerator are not free and even if you purchase a soda card for them, there will be a charge if they are used.

 

2. The Pizza at the Pizza stand is free, however, room service delivery of Pizza is charged $3.00 each and every time.

 

bob

[Happy ks]

We don't cruise with our kids any longer, but the one thing I remember from our first cruise was...don't overplan. I had a plan for our entire vacation, thinking they would enjoy what I had carefully read about and scheduled. The second day I threw out the plan and just enjoyed the time with my family.

 

Another thing I learned on that trip was not to buy them a bunch of new clothing. Take a few new things, perhaps, but kids are more comfortable with what they are familiar with. I could have saved a fortune if I knew that, but at the time I thought cruising was luxurious and people dressed up a lot. It's a lot more casual than I imagined. That was 1998 and cruising is a whole lot more casual now, especially evening dining.

[dasha05]

I am looking for any tips i can get on cruising, be it packing or the best meals or the best place to go on the ship. We are booked on the Ruby feb 10-15. We are taking our 2 kids (11,7) and want to make this really memorable for them so they enjoy it and we can go on more cruises. Any tips will be appreciated. Thanks

 

Hi Plunker. My wife and I are both 36 with a 14y/o son.

 

Biggest tip : go with a relaxed attitude , and remember that its a ship and sometimes, something's go wrong. It never did for us.

 

The Mock tail/ soda drinks package was great

You don't have to pay gratuities if you don't want to, sign the waiver at the pursers desk when you board the ship.

We tipped our room steward and the person who done a great job looking after our son , as they deserved it.

Our son who's 14 had a fantastic time

Take a powerboard for your room

The powerpoint in the room is American power point.

The money in the casino is American

We did the Ultimate ship tour and loved it

The free coffee was terrible. We purchased the coffee card, and the coffee for this was heaps better quality.

anything else you would like to know? :)

[Moviegirlnyorlando]

We just got off our first cruise on.Primcess and it was the ruby, it's not well adversitied but the main dining room is open for lunch 12-130 pm on embarkment day and it's a small but lovely little menus the salmon is yummy,

 

Princess cabins are ready when you get on board so drop off your luggage and if you are there earlier enough do the MDR ipon embarkment day. Their buffet on lido is good and offers just about everything in a MDR plus more but on embarkment days it's a madhouse!

 

Make sure to have some snacks at the International Cafe, the food there is free (except gelato at $1.25 for 3 scoops ) but the coffee and stuff there cost money. Also on that deck is Vines a wine bar, if you buy a glass of wine there you get yummy tapas amd sushi for free

 

They have two speciality restaurants we ate one night at sabatinis and loved it (Italian food) there is also a steak house. Each have a $25 pp upcharge but offer lobster, good steaks, veal chops, etc.

 

We won our dinner by doing the scavenger hunt and submitting the completed card. The scavenger hunt is also a good way to learn your way around the Ship. It is offered when you first get on board before the muster drill and sailing.

 

HAVe a great time !

[caribill]

You don't have to pay gratuities if you don't want to, sign the waiver at the pursers desk when you board the ship.

We tipped our room steward and the person who done a great job looking after our son , as they deserved it.

 

Since you removed the automatic gratuities, your room steward could not keep what you gave him and he had to put it into the same pool that all the automatic gratuities go.

 

You may have thought you were rewarding him, but you were not.

[dasha05]

Since you removed the automatic gratuities, your room steward could not keep what you gave him and he had to put it into the same pool that all the automatic gratuities go.

 

You may have thought you were rewarding him, but you were not.

 

We removed gratuities near the end of the cruise. The staff member is allowed to keep the tip to himself. The advice we received , came directly from the "Cruise Directors" mouth, in a private 20 minute conversation we had with him regarding numerous things. I cant see the Cruise Director lying ,nor can I see the staff member handing over the money I directly gave him. :)

[Cruisin' Chick]

Hi Plunker. My wife and I are both 36 with a 14y/o son.

 

Biggest tip : go with a relaxed attitude , and remember that its a ship and sometimes, something's go wrong. It never did for us.

 

The Mock tail/ soda drinks package was great

You don't have to pay gratuities if you don't want to, sign the waiver at the pursers desk when you board the ship.

We tipped our room steward and the person who done a great job looking after our son , as they deserved it.

Our son who's 14 had a fantastic time

Take a powerboard for your room

The powerpoint in the room is American power point.

The money in the casino is American

We did the Ultimate ship tour and loved it

The free coffee was terrible. We purchased the coffee card, and the coffee for this was heaps better quality.

anything else you would like to know? :)

 

The OP is from the US so some of what you've mentioned isn't relevant for him.

 

My hubby actually didn't mind the ship's coffee on our last cruise, even though he did treat himself to a specialty coffee now and then. I don't drink the stuff so I couldn't comment either way.

 

We removed gratuities near the end of the cruise. The staff member is allowed to keep the tip to himself. The advice we received , came directly from the "Cruise Directors" mouth, in a private 20 minute conversation we had with him regarding numerous things. I cant see the Cruise Director lying ,nor can I see the staff member handing over the money I directly gave him. :)

 

It would be interesting to know the name of this "cruise director" as it is not standard for a cabin steward or waiter to be able to keep any tip to himself if you do remove the autotip. Maybe he thought you were keeping it on. And yes, the crew members who are in the tipping pool are required to turn in any tips to his or her supervisor in order to check the list of those who have removed the autotips. If your name isn't on that list, the extra money is returned back to the crew member (who actually may tip out his helpers too).

[Moviegirlnyorlando]

Things I take on cruises to help stay organized in close quarters and save money

 

1.Lanyards for cruise card. If you forget these the casino will punch a hole in your card and give you one for free

2 Clips and hooks with magnets door and walls of most cabins are metal hooks for holding above lanyards, light sweaters used often. I also keep the patters (activities guides, or any excursion papers, contest drawing tickets etc etc on the clips organized per what they are for)

3. IKEA drawer organizers I used to do the over the door shoe hangers for toiletries but as I've really tried to slim down what I bring I bring less toiletriesl this time I did bring a bunch if draw organizer cubes from ikea bought shepa. They fold flat with a zipper and take up no room in luggage. I put them inside of drawers, on shelves in closet and even had on on nightstand I put in glasses, remote control, Chapstick etc anything I'd need at night at arms length to keep counter clear.

4. First aid kit.

To be seen at ship medical center it's like $100 then add on more money for everything, you can buy some first aid stuff in boutiques on board but it's all small samples and pricey. Two dramine pills were $3.99 (I didn't bring enough and had to buy three packs. This is what I think should go in a first aid kit, small bottles of everything and adjust to personal health needs. I put it all in a big ziplock bag that I lay flat in luggage or carry on

 

.Antiseptic cleaner for small cuts, scrapers, blisters, bites etc

.assorted size band aids

.antibiotic cream such as neospoirin

.hydrocortisone cream

.aloe of after sun cream (of course sunblock should be #1thing packed)

. gauze for both cleaning or bandage

.bandage tape

.ace bandage

.aspirin

.Tylenol

.decongestant

.antacid

.antigas

.benadryl

.immodium or peptobismol

.if prone to UTIs ulnar antiseptic such as pyridine.

.ginger mints, great for nausea or seasickness

. DRAMAMINE

.any Prescription meds enough for length of cruise plus a few days in case of some sort of delay, in original bottles with rx to you in case customs gives you an issue

 

Tip to prevent blisters or chaffing when on excursions - apply your regular antiperspirant to blister or chaffing prone areas

 

5. Lots of ziplock bags assorted sizes large ones too for putting in and wet bathing suits to clothes that didn't dry when disembarking

 

I don't pack any clothes that I can't wear at least 2-3 times without laundering and for multipurpose use except of course underwear

 

 

My wardrobe good for 4-7 days in Caribbean wash for longer cruises

1. I bring a large pashmina scarf with a little sparkle that ban be used as a sarong by beach or (mine is in black any gray leopard print pool, as scarf around my head on windy nights when in deck and to cover shoulders when wearing sleeveless evening wear

2. Black chino type "skinny" pants , ankle length can be worn during day with flip flops and tshirt or tank and at night with dress pants and health

3. Black Cashmere Cardigan

4. White cotton button down over sides shirt large rough to use as cover up

5. Black tshirt material sleeveless jumper to wear over white shirt

6. White cotton tank top with sequins

7. Black max length dress in jersey or velour, short sleeves

8 .Red silk sleeveless button down shirt

9. Gray jersey maxi skirt

10 black tshirt, black and white striped tshirt

11. Red long sleeve vneck tshirt

12 two pair of cotton but thick footless leggings, calf length one black one gray

13. Two bathing suits that colors match all above (I have ad solid black and black and white print)

14. Silver metallic ballet flats

15. Flip flops

16. Crocs (mine are ballet flat style leopard print)

17. One pair of black high heel platform wedge sandles for evenings

18. Victoria secret nightshirt

19. Underwear

20. Assorted Jewelry

21. Small evening bag.

 

 

I keep my entire wardrobe black, white and gray (silver) with 1-2 accent color or patterns, I picked Red and leopard print. Almost everything goes with everything else and I have countless combos

 

My husband and son live in bathing suit trunks, tshirts and flip flops during day and chino pants with button down color shirts, or colored golf shirts at night and one pair of dress pants, dress shirt and a tie for formal nights . They also bring a pair of chino shorts to wear with golf shirt in case we go to MDR for lunch or for non beach port days.

 

Bring mostly very comfortable shoes, these boats are big .

[Smallfamily]

I agree strongly take both kids to kids club the first night and make them stay. Our son went willingly and our daughter was nervous and wanted to try in a couple days. When we finally got her to go everyone was fast friends and she panicked she never went again, this was a huge problem as her brother wanted to be there every minute and she would beg him not to go. Huge mistake lesson learned

 

 

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[Wehwalt]

I use a collapsible plate cover made of plastic if I want to take a plate from the buffet to my cabin. Since you have kids, you may want to do the same, and it it costs less then ten bucks. FAR better than trying to cover with a napkin.

[Mommypig]

I took grandkids a few years ago and they loved the ship programs.

 

Definitely take enough Bonine or Dramamine for max dose for everybody. I prefer Bonine because less drowsy. Take one very morning, and if sea is very rough I take another in the evening. Walmart brand is cheapest. Also unisom slept melts. They are actually diphenhydramine, like Benadryl, but will melt and absorb under your tongue. Sometimes going to sleep can help one get thru seasickness.

 

My grandsons wore chino shorts and Oxford cloth button downs with sleeves rolled to 3/4 length to formal night. They were 4and 7 so they were OK.

 

Take plenty of sunscreen and after sun aloe, etc. the only stuff they have on the ship is Clinque and its pricey.

 

If you have a balcony, set the rule hard and firm that no kids out on it without an adult. The adult bed was closest to the balcony so we told the boys they had to be "invited" to come into our space. The 4 year old is a climber, and both boys are a tad prone to rough housing, so we felt the need to be proactive on this.

 

The boys lived in bathing suits and rash guard shirts during the day, and shorts and polos at night.

 

We also brought some Gatorade/ koolaid powder and water bottles fr the boys. The ships water is purified so it is safe to drink out of the tap. They were happy with that.

 

 

 

 

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