Just booked my first cruise!

[JVes]

I'm sure this topic has been said before, but I couldn't find it. SO:

 

JUST BOOKED MY FIRST CRUISE!

And I am SO excited. And collecting all the cruise advice I've found. And SO EXCITED (just in case I hadn't mentioned that).

 

 

[John Bull]

Hi, and welcome to Cruise Critic.🙂

 

How exciting 🙂

So, where are you sailing from?

And where to?

Which ship and when?

I expect you're quite excited.

 

For any hints it's important to know which cruise line & ship, there are lots of differences, especially if you're sailing out of Oz.

Things like ship's currency - except in some ships' casinos you don't use cash, everything including any purchases from ship's shops and shore excursions but prices are quoted in ship's currency and your credit card is charged in ship's currency at the end of the cruise (sometimes also part-way thro on long cruises. Often American ships use AUS for cruises out of Oz.

BTW, don't go booking any ship's excursions til you get any hints on this forum - they tend to be expensive -  some ports you don't need an excursion & some you can book with a local operator, but sometimes  for some excursions where distances are long, local transportation is unreliable or timings are tight it's better to bite the bullet & book with the ship.

 

All first cruises are great - you're probably quite excited

 

JB 🙂

  

[BklynBoy8]

5 hours ago, JVes said:

I'm sure this topic has been said before, but I couldn't find it. SO:

JUST BOOKED MY FIRST CRUISE!

And I am SO excited. And collecting all the cruise advice I've found. And SO EXCITED (just in case I hadn't mentioned that).

 

Welcome to the World of Cruising...... After our cruising for 54 years you will look forward to each booking and choosing which sailings you would like. There's a large world out there to sail.

 

We have done Caribbean, Norway, Transatlantic, Panama Canal, New England and Canada etc...

 

So you have a lot of choices in the future to pick.

 

What ship have you picked? Where are you going? How many Days?

 

You will learn over the years what you will need to pack for the trip. REMEMBER...not to over pack....

 

Each location will need certain clothing..and toiletries like sunscreen........

[puppycanducruise]

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Cruising!

 

[SPacificbound]

Congratulations!!! 

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!!   

[Haljo1935]

Congrats @JVes!! Welcome to cruising and CC 🤗 - sooooo exciting!

Looking forward to learning about the details of your cruise - the ship🚢, itinerary, when, who with, what ypur expectations are and what questions you have.🤔

I hope you'll consider doing a "Live" review prosing on your adventure and documenting with photos. It would be cool to get a first timer perspective on their first cruise on their first Live. 🤭

Welcome, safe travels  - enjoy your cruise!

[Mum2Mercury]

Good for you!  I'm sure you'll have a great time. 

[Host Kat]

17 hours ago, JVes said:

I'm sure this topic has been said before, but I couldn't find it. SO:

 

JUST BOOKED MY FIRST CRUISE!

And I am SO excited. And collecting all the cruise advice I've found. And SO EXCITED (just in case I hadn't mentioned that).

 

Welcome @JVes to Cruise Critic and the message boards!

 

The Cruise Critic website and message boards are a great resource for new as well as experienced cruisers and we are so glad you found us! Please feel free to browse the Cruise Critic Community categories list for the various forums. Read a few threads in the different forums to get a feel for what each forum is about. Make sure you read any pinned threads (aka Stickies) on the top of the first page of threads in most forums. You will find very important instructions or information there.

 

Please remember the following stated in the Guidelines we all agreed to follow when registering for our free Cruise Critic memberships:

Browse Before You Post
Browse a topic first to see if your question has already been asked or answered by someone else. Also, many of the major cruise lines forums have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) topic that has been created by our members. Give that a try first. Browsing is your #1 best resource! Please post your messages in an appropriate topic so that you'll receive the best possible response. It is very time consuming to move misplaced messages that are in the wrong topics.

 

Anytime you need to start a new thread/topic on a forum, first make sure you are in the correct forum for your topic. Word your new thread title in a way to help the members know exactly the information you seek. This greatly helps the members browsing through the thread titles and if they know the information, they will reply to you.

 

Also, it is best to limit each inquiry to only one topic such as one cruise line, one ship, one port of call, etc. and of course, on the correct forum. You will get more replies that way. Be sure to mention your cruise line, ship, port or sail date in your message if that sort of information will help your fellow Cruise Critic members help you.

 

To find your fellow Cruise Critic members sailing with you, you need to post on the specific Roll Call thread for your cruise. Please read What is a Roll Call? Everything you Need to Know and How To: Create A New Roll Call. For more information about our famous Roll Calls, please read the Roll Calls and Our Policy Regarding Facebook and Roll Calls sections in the Guidelines. We also have the following Cruise Critic article you might enjoy: 8 Reasons to Join a Cruise Critic Roll Call

 

The specific Roll Call thread for your cruise is the ONLY place on the Cruise Critic message boards where you and your fellow Roll Call thread members are allowed to post personal ads about sharing private tours, excursions or transportation with each other. There is a "captive audience" there since you are all sailing together! Your fellow Roll Call thread members may have important information posted in your Roll Call thread. Especially those that have sailed your line, ship or itinerary before. Also, they may already have posted share requests that may interest you.

 

Once you locate the Roll Call thread for your specific line, ship and sail date, read through the whole thread to get to know the others sailing with you. Use the blue Reply to this topic button to post an introductory post about yourself on the Roll Call. If you want to address a particular post already in the thread, be sure to use the Quote feature on that post as I did yours so all will be aware of what your post concerns.

 

And don't forget, after your cruise be sure to submit your review for publication by Cruise Critic. Many cruisers will benefit from your experience! Make YOUR voice heard. Your honest cruise review will influence next year's Cruisers' Choice award winners and help others choose the right sailing. See How To: Submit a Member Review.

 

I sincerely hope this information will be helpful to someone new to posting on our message boards. We are so glad to have you aboard Cruise Critic! 

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat 

 

[JVes]

I'm delighted to see you all being excited for me & curious!

 

Grand Princess,

Melbourne-Adelaide-Melbourne,

11/Nov to 15/Nov.

We're not doing any excursions, we can see Adelaide any time we want, and even get there along the most scenic road in Australia - the Great Ocean Road.
The point of this trip is (cough, quote coming) not the destination, but the journey.

 

I'm going with my best friend in the whole world, after my husband. (He doesn't want to come.) Bestie and I share a lot of experiences, and tend to find the same things beautiful, or funny, or sad. We're likely to be joined at the hip at first, but once we find out what each of us likes more, we'll split up.

 

John Bull,

I didn't think about currency: since we're staying in Australian waters the whole time, it just didn't occur to me that we might need to change currency.

 

What I have done is buy a little 'not-smart' watch. So I can set it to ship time and it'll never switch to a local time zone and turn me into a pier runner. (Well, pier stumble awkwardly.)
That's a little investment into more ambitious cruising!

 

BKLYNBOY8,

I have a cheat code: Ilana's Ultimate Cruise Planner. (Life Well Cruised). In addition to that, there are a LOT of cruise blogs. I credit Gary Bembridge (sp?) and Emma with giving me the idea that 'hey, cruising might be a way to get around my disabilities'. (Tips for Travellers, and Emma Cruises) 
I first heard Gary's dulcet tones because the Youtube algorithm picked that for me to listen to. Then kept picking him. And soon I was actively picking cruise vlogs.

So yeah, I'm going to make packing mistakes. But (hopefully) not the obvious ones. Like no underwear.

 

Haljo1935,

I work well with prose, adequately with poetry, and not at all with images. But I'll bear in mind that you want to see how I experience cruising.
Questions .. I don't have any right now, except for things like meetups. But they'll probably be answered when I follow the links in Host Kat's post.

 

Host Kat,

I've read your post and am off to explore your links and learn more about Cruise Critic. Thank you very much!

 

Expectations

Good food.

Good entertainment: everything from a full-on theatre show to a small band playing in a lounge.

Places to relax and see the sea. Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean, to be precise. They're both fairly unique pieces of water, and my only wish would be to have an oceanographer in the chair beside me teaching me about it.

(OMG! That's a brilliant idea for an 'enrichment talk'. An oceanographer explaining the unique qualities of whichever bit of water the ship is sailing in!)

And I expect a space to retreat to if I get overwhelmed (our cabin, which we'll personalise).

And I expect them all to be close enough to each other that I can manage to walk (or limp) to them.

 

Edited July 16, 2023 by JVes
Messed up a name

[John Bull]

We like Princess 🙂

More civilised and laid-back than most other mainstream US cruise lines, none of the "fun-fun-fun" getting rammed down your throats, no belly-flop competitions, no "Quest" (don't ask 😄).

Calm up-market decor, good food, decent entertainment, less toys & whistles & bells than other modern ship, instead things like "Movies under the stars, with milk & cookies" (milk not obligatory 😏, unless sound quality has improved don't bother with films which rely heavily on dialogue because on deck in the open air it's difficult to follow).

 

Princess - and even their Aussie passengers - make the effort on formal nights, usually called "dress to impress night" or "chic night" or similar, I forget what phrase Princess use. Not formal like Cunard, not everyone in tuxedos or fine dresses but at least jacket & tie and little-black-dress. So pack something suitable - we've given up on Carnival & Royal Caribbean special nights, folks in DJs & evening frocks alongside folks in t-shirts and baseball caps 😒. Usually introductions to senior officers (but skip the queue if you don't want your phot with the Captain) and hopefully a Champagne Tower in the atrium.

Usually one such night per week, if that's not your scene try the buffet that evening.

 

Some years ago, we sailed Princess Sydney to Sydney. Ship's currency was AUD, probably the same for you - unless your cruise is via somewhere like Singapore or Cape Town or Rio 😏

But if it's USD there's no need to buy USD - everything on the ship (even the casino I think) is signed-for using your sail-card (which is also your cabin key-card and ID for leaving or returning to the ship in your ports-of-call). Your on-board account will be automatically settled using the credit card which you registered when (or before or just after) you board the ship.

If ship's currency is USD, you'll be asked if you'd like the cruise line to convert your payment to AUD "for your convenience" 🙄. Decline that kind offer - ship's exchange rates are always poorer than those given by credit card issuers, so leave it in USD.

 

Drinks are expensive on cruise ships. Figure whether any of the drinks packages are good value for you. 

Princess allow you to take aboard one bottle of wine per person (or is it two per cabin?) to drink in your cabin / on your balcony.

But if wine is your tipple, here's a tip which is only worthwhile in a few embarkation ports - including Aus 🙂:

As well as the allowed wine, on Princess you can also take aboard in your hand-luggage (and declare it at security) as many bottles as you like and be charged (on your ship account) corkage of 20 USD per bottle when you board. According to the 'web, cheapest wine on the ship is about 34 USD plus drinks service charge per bottle. Which means that taking wine bought in a bottlo costing the equivalent of about 24 USD or less gives you better value, as well as being your preferred wine rather than the lottery of ship's cheapest wines. Because you've paid corkage you can take that wine to your dinner table etc,

After supping Aussie wines in Aus before our cruise, we chose and hauled a dozen bottles onto the ship.🙂

 

US cruise lines charge a daily service charge / tips / gratuity / whatever word they use, for your cabin steward and waiting staff. I think the ticket price of our cruise (booked in the UK) included that charge - because of the Aussie no-tipping culture it's probably the same for you, but do check 'cos it adds a significant amount to your on-board account.

 

JB 🙂

 

[JVes]

Thank you for such a helpful response!

 

I have two little black dresses, one requires a bit more 'dressing up' than the other: I'll try them both on before the cruise. The one with the cowl neck suits me better so it'll probably be the one I pack.

Unfortunately for the 'formal' dress code, I need to wear prescription shoes. If I'm in a crafting mood, I'll make spats for them.

 

13 minutes ago, John Bull said:

More civilised and laid-back than most other mainstream US cruise lines, none of the "fun-fun-fun" getting rammed down your throats, no belly-flop competitions, no "Quest" (don't ask 😄).

Calm up-market decor, good food, decent entertainment, less toys & whistles & bells than other modern ship, instead things like "Movies under the stars, with milk & cookies" (milk not obligatory

I like milk.

But yeah, we don't need zip lines, conga lines, limbo line.. sticks. We wanted to sail Melbourne-to-Melbourne, which limited our options, but all the research I'd been doing suggested that of the options, Princess would suit us best. Your post makes me feel better about the choice.

15 minutes ago, John Bull said:

Some years ago, we sailed Princess Sydney to Sydney.

I hope you enjoyed Australia! I have the kind of deep love of country that I think comes from having lived here my whole life. I've patted koalas, kangaroos, even a wombat. And had a zookeeper drape a snake over me and let it explore me. I've played with the bark from paperbark trees (never made a bark painting. Probably should look into that). Ghost gums in fog look amazing. Kookaburras do sound like laughter.

 

Re wine and currency

 

I suspect the ship's currency will be AUD, I'll check with the travel agent.
As for alcomahol, neither of us drinks it. Correction: Bestie may try a cocktail or two. No enough to warrant a drinks package! I won't have any. Unless I want one of those spectacular flambe food.

 

And thank you very much for caring enough to post all of that!

 

[broadwaybaby123]

Welcome aboard!

 

It's funny you should be posting this thread now, I'm watching YouTube and came across this video that might be useful for beginners.  Although it's for Royal Caribbean, many of the tips can be applied to other cruise lines.

[JVes]

I hope 'thank you' posts don't clog up your bandwidth.

I've read everything suggested, and viewed that Royal Caribbean video. Thank you for all those ideas and sources.

 

I feel very welcomed.

 

I think that's all I have. Thank you, and I feel welcome here.

[BklynBoy8]

3 hours ago, JVes said:

I hope 'thank you' posts don't clog up your bandwidth.

I've read everything suggested, and viewed that Royal Caribbean video. Thank you for all those ideas and sources.

 

I feel very welcomed.

 

I think that's all I have. Thank you, and I feel welcome here.

 

After sailing for 54 years, you will learn from one cruise to the other cruise what you will experience and you will need. Go with the flow.....

[JVes]

FINAL PAYMENT IS MADE!

 

My cruise is 110 days away. I've been trying to fill in Ocean Ready, but it seems that I'm too excited and eager.

 

I have travel insurance. I'm making a mermaid picture to magnet-attach to the room door. It's one of the 'colouring in for adults' pictures. I think it's Art Deco in style but don't quote me on it. The important thing is that it's distinctive, and it's distracting me from compulsively digging through my wardrobe trying to decide on everything from 'which shorts' to 'I need to buy a hawaiian print skirt'.

Hawaiian print skirt. In Australia. In the south of Australia.

 

So yeah. Final payment made, and I'm excited. Could you tell?

[John Bull]

44 minutes ago, JVes said:

FINAL PAYMENT IS MADE!

 

My cruise is 110 days away. I've been trying to fill in Ocean Ready, but it seems that I'm too excited and eager.

 

I have travel insurance. I'm making a mermaid picture to magnet-attach to the room door. It's one of the 'colouring in for adults' pictures. I think it's Art Deco in style but don't quote me on it. The important thing is that it's distinctive, and it's distracting me from compulsively digging through my wardrobe trying to decide on everything from 'which shorts' to 'I need to buy a hawaiian print skirt'.

Hawaiian print skirt. In Australia. In the south of Australia.

 

So yeah. Final payment made, and I'm excited. Could you tell?

 

Yes, we kinda got the impression that you're excited - you're going to be insufferable for the next 110 days 😄😄😄

 

Re your previous post

- be aware that the sea air will shrink your little black dress. (That's a cruisers' way of saying that folk tend to eat too much on cruises 😏) 

- you like milk & rarely drink alcomahol. Are you sure that you're Australian ?

- yes, we enjoyed our road-trips down-under (NSW & Queensland). Yes, saw & heard kookaburras. No koalas but plenty of kangaroos and "wannabes". Also saw quite a few wombats - sadly every one of them was road-kill 😢.

 

Now 109 days to go 🙂

 

JB 🙂  

[JVes]

I love Vegemite, does that count?
 

I'm planning to do a wardrobe try-on soon. I have friends who I can trust to say 'don't pack that'. I hope I will have two lbds that fit me with enough ease to allow for sea air. Thanks for the warning!

 

Koalas and wombats are both hard to find. My parents used to live next to a state park that had lots of koalas living there. They commonly saw koala claw scratches but only very rarely saw the koalas. I've seen two wombats - one of which was in a shelter, healing from injuries. The other one was amazing - this wombat just walked out from the side of a path, waddled his way along the path ignoring us, then went back into the wild grass and completely disappeared.

 

The pademelon, wallaby and kangaroos are pretty much the same thing; they're in the family macropodidae. There are other macropods in the family, but .... ahem. Let's just stop that before I wax too lyrical about my country. I kinda love it.

 

109 days!

[John Bull]

2 hours ago, JVes said:

I love Vegemite, does that count?

Marmite yes, vegemite no, no, no.

 

wallaby and kangaroos are pretty much the same thing

 

My "wannabe" wasn't a typo 😏

 

 Happy sailings

 

JB 🙂

[JVes]

See? 

 

The love of Vegemite is what makes a person an Aussie. I had a B vitamin deficiency at one point in my childhood. Our doctor prescribed a teaspoon-ful amount of vegemite per day. Probably expecting I'd have vegemite on toast for breakfast, vegemite in my sandwiches or in after school snacks.

 

Nup.

 

I grabbed a teaspoon, took a teaspoon of vegemite, and would sit down and do my homework with the spoon in my mouth. Like one of those lollypops on a stick.

 

I figure that's proof of my Aussieness.

 

And yeah, wallabies are small kangaroos, pademelons are small wallabies.... (different species, same family.)

 

Of course, the Six White Boomers are special. Aussieland is too hot for raindeer, so when Santa arrives in Australia, the elves unharness the raindeer and look after them, and other elves harness in the Six Boomers.
They're a special, unique set of Macropods, reserved for Santa's use. They live on a secret, magic island near Darwin, and the elves who live there protect the island from intruders.

 

Jenn.

 

[JVes]

108 days.

 

I'm already planning my next cruise. Is that a problem?

[John Bull]

3 hours ago, JVes said:

108 days.

 

I'm already planning my next cruise. Is that a problem?

 

Your booked cruise is a long way off, so I can understand itching to book another.

 

 

I have just one reservation ..........

 

Do you get car-sick?

Air-sick?

Have you had experience of sailing the ocean?

Even on a decent-sized ferry?

In storms even experienced mariners can get sea-sick, but such days are rare. In the main big cruise ships move very little but that does affect some people whereas most don't even notice the movement. There are various sea-sickness remedies, others can suggest what works for them.

 

Main ship movements are

- fore-and-aft (pitching). Kinda like a see-saw but very very much slower & nowhere near as extreme, as the ship ploughs thro bigger-than-usual waves. More pronounced at the stern and particularly at the bow. Mid-ships (halfway along the ship) is the most stable, same as a see-saw,

Big ships cope better than little ships.

- side-to-side (rolling / swaying). You'll notice this more on big ships than on little-uns because bigger ships tend to be a lot taller and cabins on the (more expensive) higher decks will of course sway more. They are also affected more by high winds, just like wind affects high-sided trucks more than cars, making them more difficult to steer - this won't affect you unless the captain asks you to take the helm 😄. All cruise ships have stabilisers, which limit the swaying, but they're not effective aat low speeds.

There are three sayings - "the higher you pay, the more you sway" and "if you suffer from sea-sickness choose a cabin mid-ships and on as low a deck as your self-respect allows" and "in a storm a good big-un is better than a good little-un".

 

I'd be inclined to take the first cruise before booking another because from your first experience you're likely to learn the pros & cons of things like the cruise line that you'd sailed, the size of ship, cabin location, any-time dining vs traditional dining etc.
But if you're keen to jump in, the only reservation that I'd have would be about sea-sickness.

 

106 days

 

JB 🙂

 

[JVes]

Thank you for the kind words.

 

We have no intention to try a cruise sooner than this. We've been a bit careful (and hopefully clever) with what we chose.

We will be going through some of Bass Strait, and into the bit of the Indian Ocean which blends into the Southern Ocean. If we can make it through Bass Strait comfortably, we should be okay with most wild waters.

We have one port day, but the port day is into Adelaide (the city closest to Melbourne, where we live). We're hoping to experience a ship in port, with most of the cruisers off into the port.

And we have a couple of sea days.

And we're on Princess, which I hope bestie and I like. Cruise vloggers and bloggers talk about Princess and it 'feels' like one of the short-list lines for us.

 

So yeah, all my choices have been intentional. I want it all, I Want it All, I WANT it all, I , and (to quote Queen) I WANT IT NOW!

But I'll try not to pull on the leash too hard.
 

[Willking]

On 7/15/2023 at 11:26 AM, JVes said:

I'm sure this topic has been said before, but I couldn't find it. SO:

 

JUST BOOKED MY FIRST CRUISE!

And I am SO excited. And collecting all the cruise advice I've found. And SO EXCITED (just in case I hadn't mentioned that).

 

 

Congratulations on booking your first cruise. I'm sure it's going to be really exciting. I remember booking my first cruise a few years ago. It was both very stressfull and exciting at the same time. I remember my first cruise to this day and I'll never forget it. I'm sure you won't forget your first cruise either. Have a great cruise and let us know how it went! 

[JVes]

I will!
It's not until November (late spring/early summer down here), so I'll be waiting on tenterhooks for a while. Update to come ....

 

 

[Kruise_Kat]

How exciting!  I have just booked my first cruise for April 2024 and I'm beyond excited!  I've learned so much reading these forums and watching vlogs.

 

I agree with your Queen quote, I want it all now too😆