What is the one valuable lesson you learned on your first cruise 🚢

[Cafedumonde]

On 12/3/2018 at 12:28 PM, Athankfulheart said:

 

 

 

Lessons I have learned ( abridged version) 

1) Be cautious about bringing teenagers that don't live at your house. Nothing major here but some issues that really complicated the mood of our cruise.

2) Be VERY cautious about the adult singles you cruise with. People who are neurotic complainers on land don't usually improve at sea. Both of my problem people were adult singles , but that doesn't mean that they all are. 

3) On a "couples only cruise" be sure that all of your couples actually enjoy spending lots of time together. Just one couple who doesn't can really make things weird for everyone else.

4) Don't tell yourself that you can get along with the family "for just a week". If they drive you crazy on land you definitely don't want to be trapped at sea with them. 

 

I enjoy cruising with my kids ( I have 8 of them, with 4 being grown adults now) but my favorite way to cruise is with just my hubby. Our 29th is December 30th and we are sailing on Valentines week to celebrate. It is 4 couples celebrating big anniversaries - and we all like our spouse a lot ♥️

Lol!

[plettza]

For me I learnt to definitely pack a suit for cruise elegant night(s).

 

My first cruise was in March of 2017 with my girlfriend and her family and so on.  I was told to pack a suit for formal night.  Not thinking formal night was going to be such a big deal, I didn't bother.  Sure, I still had nice pants and shirt but it was pretty casual looking.  Well, when we attended formal night, there were so many people looking a million bucks, I felt out of place.  I spoke to the hotel services manager and he jokingly commented, but in a friendly manner, "thank you for making the effort to dress up".  I've brought along a suit and nice shoes along ever since.  Having said that, I certainly wasn't the scruffiest person there.  On our last cruise in November, I felt fewer people bothered with cruise elegant attire than on my 1st Carnival cruise.

[Mommawo]

10 hours ago, plettza said:

For me I learnt to definitely pack a suit for cruise elegant night(s).

 

My first cruise was in March of 2017 with my girlfriend and her family and so on.  I was told to pack a suit for formal night.  Not thinking formal night was going to be such a big deal, I didn't bother.  Sure, I still had nice pants and shirt but it was pretty casual looking.  Well, when we attended formal night, there were so many people looking a million bucks, I felt out of place.  I spoke to the hotel services manager and he jokingly commented, but in a friendly manner, "thank you for making the effort to dress up".  I've brought along a suit and nice shoes along ever since.  Having said that, I certainly wasn't the scruffiest person there.  On our last cruise in November, I felt fewer people bothered with cruise elegant attire than on my 1st Carnival cruise.

I absolutely love getting dress up.  Hope others do as well on min.  I won’t be in an evening gown or anything but will be all spiffy 

[pyropoodle]

10 minutes ago, Mommawo said:

I absolutely love getting dress up.  Hope others do as well on min.  I won’t be in an evening gown or anything but will be all spiffy 

we have 2 small children and we never go anywhere other than church and work (kids go to school) but other than that we are home bodies, so you bet your bottom area that I'm going to get as done up and as purty as I can possibly get on those elegant nights.  I love it!   

[Gamecock_Cruiser]

That cruise ships have higher threshholds at doors than most land based buildings, and that you need to pick your feet up a little high! 

[plettza]

10 hours ago, Mommawo said:

I absolutely love getting dress up.  Hope others do as well on min.  I won’t be in an evening gown or anything but will be all spiffy 

 

Yep.  I don't mind getting the old suit on, especially going to Nouveau or Truffles/Empire main dining rooms on Legend and Spirit.  The only issue is my tummy usually gets a little more, how shall I say, rotund after a few nights aboard a ship.

Edited January 29, 2019 by plettza

[maurinsky]

I have to admit I was skeptical about the very concept of cruising before I went on my first cruise. I though it was bougeois and uncool.

Then I went on a cruise, and found out how unbelievably relaxing it can be! I am used to taking vacations where we're always DOING SO MUCH STUFF - the cruise gives you time and space to actually sit down and spend time with the people you love while visiting beautiful places.

 

[MississippiMom]

Some background, so you don't get the wrong impression.  My very first cruise, as a 20-something year old, was with two other young females.  We had saved up a lot of money to fly to Miami to take this quick 3-night cruise (followed by a few nights in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale), and we wanted to get our money's worth.  We might have slept a maximum of 3 hours each night.  It was fun, but exhausting.

 

I learned that it's okay to miss a few activities, and actually slow down for your own sanity.   We made some incredible memories, but, dang, we truly needed a vacation after our vacation.

[Wombservice]

On 1/27/2019 at 8:53 PM, Mommawo said:

Do you pick a time. For it to be delivered?

 

Yes, you can tell them what time you would like it delivered

[Georgie562]

Lesson learned on my first cruise, April 2009 Carnival Elation from San Diego:

Don't always expect the itinerary you book there is always that chance that your'e going to miss a port.

Our cruise missed Ensenada, Mexico due to the swine flu outbreak. We only stopped there for about an hour (no one was allowed off) to comply with the PVSA.

Edited January 29, 2019 by Georgie562

[Mommawo]

16 hours ago, Georgie562 said:

Lesson learned on my first cruise, April 2009 Carnival Elation from San Diego:

Don't always expect the itinerary you book there is always that chance that your'e going to miss a port.

Our cruise missed Ensenada, Mexico due to the swine flu outbreak. We only stopped there for about an hour (no one was allowed off) to comply with the PVSA.

Oh man I would be so sad.  2 of my stops are bucket list places for me

[Jmdh66]

On 12/11/2018 at 10:34 AM, mackenzie80 said:

For me, Faster to the Fun is worth it.  You are one of the first on the ship. Can drop off your bags, do a little unpacking.  Then go get food.  Because everything is so crowded we bring our food back down to our room so we don't have to worry about dealing with the chaotic crowds.  Much nicer to be able to relax and non sit there for hours in massive crowds of people with luggage.

Just curious,if we have FTTF and our check in time is 1230, how early can we arrive?

[surrealuv]

Gained 7 lbs 1st cruise... never again. Save dessert for dinner. Drink champagne (1/2 the calories). Eat eggs and grapefruit for breakfast. Have french toast last brunch sea day as a reward. Lunch try and not do alot of carbs, Love salad w/ protein added or wrap at Blue Iguana. Do active excursions.20+ cruises later never gained a lb, sometimes a lb or two less.

[surrealuv]

Also, brought suit jacket for my husband on first cruise. Every cruise after he now wears a very nice black button sweater with subtle embroidered crest with black dress pants and shoes. He has two shirts in dry cleaner bags pressed with ties. If you just brought a neutral white or beige shirt you could get away with that for both elegant nights. Just have different tie.

[NutsAboutGolf]

It's been ten years since I've been on carnival but the extremely packed lido omelette station allowed you to get multiple omelettes.  So you could have one person wait in line and get multiple omelette while the other(s) get the other breakfast items you want and bring them to a table.

[DavyJoneses]

On ‎11‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 6:37 AM, PhillyFan33579 said:

Why did I wait so long to book a cruise?  That was the biggest thing I learned on my first cruise (Paradise out of Tampa). 

LOL.  Probably fits a lot of us!

[plettza]

7 hours ago, Jmdh66 said:

Just curious,if we have FTTF and our check in time is 1230, how early can we arrive?

 

I'm not sure if the FTTF works the same way in the US, but in Australia, you can rock up and check-in around 11:30am.  We've had FTTF each time since it was made available here.  We never knew you could turn up at any time from when check-in starts but on our last cruise (December 2018), we spoke to a couple of staff that assist with check-in and they said Diamond, Platinum and FTTF can check-in as soon as they want.

[amcarbs]

-If you are cruising during the winter months, always fly out a day early (had to drive to Orlando last year from Chicago due to a snow storm). 

-You'll be doing lots of walking and be prepared to take lots of stairs if you can.  Comfortable walking shoes are key. 

-When you're packing, take half of what you packed out and leave it at home. 

-Do research on the ports ahead of time, you're only there for 8ish hours and will want to make the most of it.

-Take part in the goofy on-board activities, because they make some of the best memories and it's vacation so why not.

-You're on vacation, have fun and don't sweat the small stuff!

[Luckiestmanonearth]

1) don’t bring clothes that are tight before a cruise

 

2) overeating every meal and snacking between meals 

[Mommawo]

19 minutes ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

1) don’t bring clothes that are tight before a cruise

 

2) overeating every meal and snacking between meals 

I will be hitting the treadmill several times also. Lol 

[threedjmay]

Know when to bail on an activity or show when it's not what you expected.

 

Case in point... on the Carnival Magic and at a Scotch and Watches event... it was supposed to be sipping on scotch while learning about the history of watches. Ended up being empty promises about scotch and 90 minutes of the Cruise "expert" buyer telling everyone why they should spend $5000 and more on watches and a bunch of his own personal stories to let us know how great he is, Next time I'd speak up about the Scotch and leave to do something else if it's not what is advertised. 

[moey142]

Don’t assume you WON’T get seasick. On our first cruise I was very sick the first night.  Now ,12 cruises later, I always pack Bonine and use it on sea days😀

Edited February 1, 2019 by moey142

[Mommawo]

On 2/1/2019 at 3:22 PM, moey142 said:

Don’t assume you WON’T get seasick. On our first cruise I was very sick the first night.  Now ,12 cruises later, I always pack Bonine and use it on sea days😀

I assume I will get sea sick lol I get car sick pretty easily.  

[robertlanajean]

On 1/28/2019 at 4:01 AM, plettza said:

For me I learnt to definitely pack a suit for cruise elegant night(s).

 

My first cruise was in March of 2017 with my girlfriend and her family and so on.  I was told to pack a suit for formal night.  Not thinking formal night was going to be such a big deal, I didn't bother.  Sure, I still had nice pants and shirt but it was pretty casual looking.  Well, when we attended formal night, there were so many people looking a million bucks, I felt out of place.  I spoke to the hotel services manager and he jokingly commented, but in a friendly manner, "thank you for making the effort to dress up".  I've brought along a suit and nice shoes along ever since.  Having said that, I certainly wasn't the scruffiest person there.  On our last cruise in November, I felt fewer people bothered with cruise elegant attire than on my 1st Carnival cruise.

On our first cruise we brought the suit and evening gown and got all dressed up, bought the pics (that wife now hates). As we're planning for our May cruise my wife keeps talking about how we over-packed so much last time and she wants to simplify for this trip. Naturally I assumed she was referring to formal wear. Nope. She still wants us to do the full dress-up so I'm not sure what she'll bring less of? Maybe 8 pair of shoes/flip flops instead of 10? 

Thanks for the story  - made me laugh as that is usually my luck.

 

[robertlanajean]

On 1/29/2019 at 12:58 AM, plettza said:

The only issue is my tummy usually gets a little more, how shall I say, rotund after a few nights aboard a ship.

...exactly why I bring slacks with elastic "helpers" hidden in the belt line.