Cruise Tips

• Drive to port if you can. Take two days if you must. Take your time, it’s your vacation.
  
• Buy a beverage package: Having a personal sommelier at the evening meal is so much better than a “by the glass” experience. Also, you get more for your money. Three bottles of premium wine is around $119, whereas individually those wines would be about $45 a bottle. That’s a $30 savings. Three bottles is about one glass shy of sufficient for a one week cruise, right? (oh behave!)
  
• Beverage packages for teens: They don’t care as much as you think they might about a Red Bull premium package, and please don’t buy that for them! A regular soda package will go over just fine.
  
• Take a Water Seal Bag: You can get them at your AAA store and they are great for cameras cell phones, and watches, keeping sand and water out. This is a photo of my wrist holding my items while swimming. Be careful not to reach in the bag with a wet hand, if you can help it.
  
• Cabins: Some people say an inside cabin is fine, and it was for me, until I had an outside/porthole cabin. Now I probably won’t go back to an inside, unless I am cruising on Le Boreal or Regent Seven Seas, but they provide all outside cabins anyway. It was very nice looking at the deep blue sea when I wanted to. Splurge on an outside. Have your travel agent pick your cabin. If you are taking the lesser priced commercial ships, like Carnival, I’d say try to get an upper deck whether out or in. But honestly, if you are on a budget, it won’t make a difference, an inside cabin is just fine.
  
• Pre-paid gratuities are a good idea. You won’t need to do anything but sign for things, and after the cruise, you may want to tip your stateroom attendant, or someone else a tiny bit more (no need to go crazy), but do it the last night, not in the morning when you’re leaving. And you can’t call up and tip after the cruise. I tried it :) Celebrity told me it just couldn’t be done.
  
• Regular Dining: Like the Lady is a Tramp “I get too hungry for dinner at 8.” I think it’s better to dine at 6PM.
  Table Size: The bigger the better! Cruisers are generally very friendly, social people, and I personally enjoy the ritual of meeting my new friends night after night, have often stayed in touch with them, and even booked their next cruise.
  If you have a port intensive itinerary (one where you don’t have any ‘At Sea” days) pick one or two ports where you don’t leave the ship. You will save money and energy. Then, take more ambitious excursions in the ports that matter to you, or that strike your fancy. You will be able to tell when you know you just have to burst onto port right away, and when you can hang back.
  

Back Home