Advice for 1st ever cruise

[purplesea]

Having had an inside cabin for the first time this year, I wouldn't say no if I wanted a cheap getaway, but we were only onboard for a week which I think was long enough in an inside cabin. I have had outside cabins before but mainly balconies and I did miss the fact that I couldn't open the curtains and step outside to see what the weather was doing or to see what was going on as we docked. Our next two cruises are balconies.

[gsmt47471015]

11 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

I agree Selbourne, we use our balcony all the time. I'm an early riser, and I love to sit quietly with a coffee listening to the sea and watching the day begin. During the day Frank will do some sketching and I read, we also sit out at night with a drink before bed. A balcony also gives a more spacious feel to the cabin. 

We did try an outside cabin, and it was okay,  but I felt closed in I wasn't comfortable at all. So like you Selbourne, no balcony, no cruise.

Avril

After over  50 years of early rising (for work ) getting up early is one of the  last considerations for us now, as for bed at night we are usually asleep before we hit the pillow, we have had balconies a number of times and in most cases have felt that on a personal level it has been a wasted exercise, if we have spent an hour or possibly two in a week using it that's it. On average ,sleeping time apart , we will spend an hour a day in them, its good that everybody's different and has their own preferences and makes their own choices.

Inside cabins ,for whatever reason, do appear to have a stigma attached to them though. 

[Adawn47]

1 hour ago, gsmt47471015 said:

After over  50 years of early rising (for work ) getting up early is one of the  last considerations for us now, as for bed at night we are usually asleep before we hit the pillow, we have had balconies a number of times and in most cases have felt that on a personal level it has been a wasted exercise, if we have spent an hour or possibly two in a week using it that's it. On average ,sleeping time apart , we will spend an hour a day in them, its good that everybody's different and has their own preferences and makes their own choices.

Inside cabins ,for whatever reason, do appear to have a stigma attached to them though. 

The only reason we avoid inside cabins is because I need the natural light.  I never close the bedroom curtains, or in fact any curtains, at home as it makes me feel closed in and 'antsy'

Maybe I'm a little claustrophobic, who knows.

We all have our own personal reasons for the choices we make, and mine have nothing to do with stigma, just comfort.

Avril

[Red Ray]

For us, the priority order is usually 1) No kids - not always possible of course other than the adult only ships, but avoiding school holidays is a must 2) Itinerary 3) Price 4) Ship.

 

We nearly always choose an inside cabin as we prefer to spend our money in other areas.

[Josy1953]

1 hour ago, gsmt47471015 said:

Inside cabins ,for whatever reason, do appear to have a stigma attached to them though. 

I don't understand why you would think that inside cabins have a stigma attached to them.

We always have a balcony because we like to have somewhere to sit quietly and read with a drink of wine on sea days.  I don't  think that there is anything wrong with having an inside cabin if that is what you want.  We are all different in what we like and what we are prepared to spend.

[wowzz]

We use balconies a lot, as we prefer to sit on them whenever possible, rather than use the public areas. So for us they are non-negotiable !

But if others prefer to be out and about all, the time,  interior cabins make sense. No stigma involved.

 

[gsmt47471015]

2 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

I don't understand why you would think that inside cabins have a stigma attached to them.

We always have a balcony because we like to have somewhere to sit quietly and read with a drink of wine on sea days.  I don't  think that there is anything wrong with having an inside cabin if that is what you want.  We are all different in what we like and what we are prepared to spend.

I personally do not feel any stigma(  I'm a think skinned Yorkshireman) ,but after overhearing many conversations in public places, the buffet in particular and the mdr  some peoples perceptions of an inside  cabin,  and the people who use them are less than complimentary , no offence was meant or intended to those who prefer not to use one🙂

[Valfan]

11 hours ago, gsmt47471015 said:

I personally do not feel any stigma(  I'm a think skinned Yorkshireman) ,but after overhearing many conversations in public places, the buffet in particular and the mdr  some peoples perceptions of an inside  cabin,  and the people who use them are less than complimentary , no offence was meant or intended to those who prefer not to use one🙂

On most of my 35 P&O cruises I've had an inside cabin by choice as I don't like a window I can't open. And I'm not keen on heat, so I can keep my inside cabin at a nice constant cool temperature. The twice when I was upgraded to an outside there was a constant game between me and the cabin steward - he kept opening the curtains to see what he was doing and I kept closing them to keep the sun out. The twice when I took a balcony cabin - once to try it cos it was very little extra compared to an inside, and the last time I cruised when it was literally cheaper than an inside cabin - I honestly never used the balcony. Both times I popped outside on the last day just to have a look. I took a photo of it and tried sitting on the chair for a few minutes. But it was cold and windy and there was packing to get on with, so I went back indoors a bit sharpish. I guess I'm just an inside cabin sort of person.

[sandancer]

On 5/15/2022 at 8:13 PM, Leesy said:

Hi.

Trying to plan our first ever cruise but finding it a bit of a minefield so could really use some advice from the experienced cruisers amongst you. 

We really want to do a world tour in a few years time but need to try a shorter cruise first to see if it's for us.

We're looking at a round trip to The Canary's from Southampton on Iona next year as a starting point. Is Iona a good choice?

I have so many newbie questions so I'm sorry if they've all been asked numerous times before.

I have no idea which is the best deck or which position for cabins i.e. forward, mid or aft. Is it worth paying for a full suite? Is it worth choosing the 'select' option for the benefits that gives or would you say it's not worth the considerable extra money?

Any & all advice for a complete novice would be so appreciated.

Thankyou.

Lisa

I am going to deviate from the inside/outside discussion as I think all the good advice you have been given will have helped with your cabin choice. So I am going to offer some practical tips that may help.

 

The first is to take a full change of clothing for both of you in hand baggage. If your bags are late being delivered to the cabin you will be able to change for dinner. 
Don’t bother carrying large bottles of shampoo etc unless you REALLY need to. There are usually products provided and your room attendant will keep them topped up. 
Take some magnetic hooks (Amazon) very useful for hanging costume jewellery or other stuff which normally ends up in a drawer getting tangled up. Heavy duty ones can hold a bathrobe. 
if you plan on doing laundry, fill a couple of small plastic bottles with liquid detergent and conditioner. 
Take a highlighter pen and mark off anything that interests you on the daily newsletter. It’s easy to miss good stuff if, like us, you don’t make a note of shows etc that you might enjoy. 

Finally, be aware that once you start cruising you can become addicted. 
There is not a single holiday that offers you as much as a cruise. We took our first cruise in 1990 and never looked back. 

 

[davecttr]

My advice to new cruisers that I met aboard was that you will meet people with different opinions, don't let them influence you and make your own minds up at the end.

[zap99]

Lots of sound advice and tips from experienced cruisers. Inside, outside, balcony, suite, port, starboard. All have missed the most important tip. Big plastic paperclips to stop your pool towels blowing away. But not the pink flamingo ones. They are a bit naff.⛱️

[sandancer]

I almost added them to the list but didn’t. 
ps. Have got flamingoes, flip flops, parrots and ice cream cones. Always nice to have a choice. 😎😎

[purplesea]

We've got lobsters and flip flop towel holders!

[Britboys]

And I would say if you think about following any of the advice above and then forget - don't worry. I've never taken magnetic hooks or towel clips and my cruises have not been the worse for it...😁

[Fionboard]

Just go for it. Learn as you go, as we all did. And have a great time!

[Leesy]

Hi all and thankyou all so much for your replies.

Its a while since I asked for your advice & tbh, I've been doing so much research & joined so many forums/groups that I'd forgotten which one's I'd posted on, hence my very delayed thanks.

Anyway...update: We finally booked a taster cruise yesterday to the Fjords next May on Iona. (I think the world cruise will be many more short cruises away before we make that leap!).

We wanted to make our first time really special so opted to splash out on a suite. We chose the Select option & picked the Arafura Suite 10110 deck 10. I umm'd & ahhh'd over fwd or aft after doing loads of review searching, purely basing our decision on the location which seemed better for us as far as facilities we think we'd like are concerned. Woke up last night in a panic thinking we should've booked aft (think wind on sea days) so I've just spent over an hour on hold to P&O to change position but unfortunately....the aft (corner) suites are all gone so we're sticking with our original choice. Really helpful lady though so made the wait time worth it (I guess). Just a shame you can't manage this sort of thing online.

So much still to learn. Thanks so much again for all your replies & tips.

Lisa

[Leesy]

On 5/18/2022 at 9:05 AM, sandancer said:

I am going to deviate from the inside/outside discussion as I think all the good advice you have been given will have helped with your cabin choice. So I am going to offer some practical tips that may help.

 

The first is to take a full change of clothing for both of you in hand baggage. If your bags are late being delivered to the cabin you will be able to change for dinner. 
Don’t bother carrying large bottles of shampoo etc unless you REALLY need to. There are usually products provided and your room attendant will keep them topped up. 
Take some magnetic hooks (Amazon) very useful for hanging costume jewellery or other stuff which normally ends up in a drawer getting tangled up. Heavy duty ones can hold a bathrobe. 
if you plan on doing laundry, fill a couple of small plastic bottles with liquid detergent and conditioner. 
Take a highlighter pen and mark off anything that interests you on the daily newsletter. It’s easy to miss good stuff if, like us, you don’t make a note of shows etc that you might enjoy. 

Finally, be aware that once you start cruising you can become addicted. 
There is not a single holiday that offers you as much as a cruise. We took our first cruise in 1990 and never looked back. 

 

That's really helpful, thanks Sandancer.

[Leesy]

On 5/16/2022 at 2:37 PM, pennib said:

Some good advice so far but I don’t think anyone has mentioned whether you should go for port side or starboard side. Our first cruise was on the old QE2 and the T/A we booked it through gave us loads of advice which we have often gone back to for our 25 or so cruises. His advice was go for port side if you can as ships usually tie up with that side facing the port. If you are on the opposite side, you may be looking out on just water!! We have followed that advice ever since. What I would say is be aware of how cruise lines number their cabins. For example, P&O port side cabins are all even numbers and starboard side odd numbers. However, MSC and Marella have odd numbers on their port sides and even numbers on starboard. So just another point to take into consideration. Port side is on the left as you stand on the ship facing forward (the pointy end). 
 

I personally could not survive in an inside cabin as I must have natural daylight. Also we get quite a lot of use from a balcony especially in warm climes to sit out with a drink in the evening and listen to the waves. We even enjoyed our balcony on our Alaska cruise sipping coffees laced with rum watching the icebergs! Happy days.

 

You are probably super confused by now!!!

Slowly getting my head around it all. Now then....where's that migralief! 😉

[sandancer]

11 minutes ago, Leesy said:

That's really helpful, thanks Sandancer.

My other piece of advice is to pace yourself. On our first cruise we were like kids in a sweet shop. We never missed a meal, and this was in the days of ubiquitous midnight buffet. We went to every show, took part in all the deck activities (limbo dancing anyone?) and took a tour at every port. Wonderful. 32 years later we still love to cruise but are way more selective. Some days we can just about be prised from the balcony to go for dinner. 

[Leesy]

52 minutes ago, sandancer said:

My other piece of advice is to pace yourself. On our first cruise we were like kids in a sweet shop. We never missed a meal, and this was in the days of ubiquitous midnight buffet. We went to every show, took part in all the deck activities (limbo dancing anyone?) and took a tour at every port. Wonderful. 32 years later we still love to cruise but are way more selective. Some days we can just about be prised from the balcony to go for dinner. 

Great advice. Think that's exactly how we'll play it. 🙂

[Ranchi]

Some ‘odd’ bits of advice. 
With an inside cabin, consider leaving the bathroom light on with the door closed. Just enough light gets out through the vent at the bottom of the door to allow safe passage for those who need to wander during the night, but not too much to disrupt sleep. 
 

Check on the type (& nature ) of bathroom shaver points. Most have been fine but (Britannia’s?) shaver points look normal but they won’t accept electric toothbrush plugs.You therefore need to pack a standard adapter.  Also be aware that on some newer vessels that the bathroom charging points isolate when the light is turned off.  
 

Considering a Worldie ? On a westbound circumnavigation you will have about 2 dozen 25 hour days. Fine if your young fit & eager but it can feel that you are getting up at 5am for breakfast & oh the embarrassment of almost falling asleep in the Crow’s Nest😂. Believe me, jet lag is a fluffy kitten compared to the hungry lion that is cruise ship lag. 

Eastbound circs have a couple of dozen shorter days (& an extra day! ) 

Edited May 31, 2022 by Ranchi

[Leesy]

21 minutes ago, Ranchi said:

Some ‘odd’ bits of advice. 
With an inside cabin, consider leaving the bathroom light on with the door closed. Just enough light gets out through the vent at the bottom of the door to allow safe passage for those who need to wander during the night, but not too much to disrupt sleep. 
 

Check on the type (& nature ) of bathroom shaver points. Most have been fine but (Britannia’s?) shaver points look normal but they won’t accept electric toothbrush plugs.You therefore need to pack a standard adapter.  Also be aware that on some newer vessels that the bathroom charging points isolate when the light is turned off.  
 

Considering a Worldie ? On a westbound circumnavigation you will have about 2 dozen 25 hour days. Fine if your young fit & eager but it can feel that you are getting up at 5am for breakfast & oh the embarrassment of almost falling asleep in the Crow’s Nest😂. Believe me, jet lag is a fluffy kitten compared to the hungry lion that is cruise ship lag. 

Eastbound circs have a couple of dozen shorter days (& an extra day! ) 

Hi Ranchi.

The circumnav aspect makes perfect sense & a very good tip...thankyou.

[Britboys]

29 minutes ago, Leesy said:

Hi Ranchi.

The circumnav aspect makes perfect sense & a very good tip...thankyou.

But also worth remembering that an Eastbound worldie potentially takes longer to get to some warm weather, depending on the itinerary...

[wowzz]

On 5/30/2022 at 1:02 PM, Leesy said:

His advice was go for port side if you can as ships usually tie up with that side facing the port

Just to follow up on our earlier discussion about this. On our current cruise, out of 8 ports, only twice has the port side of the ship been the dock side.

[davecttr]

Shaver bathroom charging solved on Iona. There are no sockets in there!