I remember the first time I took a cruise. I had no idea what to expect! Cruising was not as popular in the 1970’s as it is today and things were so different! You had assigned dining times and you dressed for dinner. Formal night was, well, formal! Ships were much smaller and you paid cash for anything you purchased onboard. You got small envelopes to put tips in to give to your steward, servers and bartenders. You could eat as many lobster tails as you wanted at dinner time. I can’t remember the last time I even saw a full size lobster tail on a cruise ship. Just sayin…
A little trivia on my first cruise. It was in 1979 on Royal Caribbean’s Song of Norway. She had just been cut in half and extended shortly before our cruise. She was the first cruise ship in the industry to have this done. The first of many ship modifications that would come over the years. By today’s standard she is tiny!
But times have changed. You can dine anytime you want, avoid formal nights and you use a sign-n-sail card that doubles as your room key to pay for shipboard items. Cruise ships comes in all sizes, with different vibes and clientele. It can be overwhelming for a first time cruiser. I am going to give some advise to help you chill. Cruising is a blast if you know what’s happening. So keep calm and trust your Travel Agent!
Do You Need To Pack Formal Clothes?
The short answer is no, not in today’s world. The long answer is yes, if you want to. The BEST answer is it depends on what cruise line you are on and what their vibe is. Cruise lines have really relaxed their dress codes over the years, but most still have 2 formal nights during a 7 day cruise for example. If you choose not to dress up on the formal nights, you may not be allowed in the main or specialty dining restaurants. You can still enjoy the buffet or casual eateries though, so no big ordeal if you don’t want to pack dressy clothes. Although, personally, I find it fun to dress up a couple of nights because I rarely do it at home.
If you sail on a high-end or luxury line, you will be required to dress smart, resort casual every night. But they might not have formal nights at all. Just a country club vibe through your cruise. Keep this in mind. The general rule of thumb for any cruise line is no jeans in the dining room at night. Not that hard to comply with, no matter which cruise line you sail on.
Plus, there are LOTS of photo opps onboard. Every night on our last Princess Cruise on the Grand Princess we took advantage of the photographers and got our pictures taken. We needed updated photos of ourselves and for the first time ever, purchased the photo package. We got to keep all the pictures they printed and got all the digital files on a cruise ship USB flash drive. Worth every penny!
Is It Safe To Drink The Water?
According to CLIA, yes. The tap water onboard cruise ships is safe to drink, whether it be from the bathroom sink or the dispenser in the buffet. Cruise ships are amazing mechanical marvels and have their own desalination systems onboard that purify and safely store water. However, if you are like me, I find tap water tastes ‘funny’. At home I have a reverse osmosis system for my drinking water. Otherwise I add lemon to cover up the taste or drink bottled water.
There are generally 2 different kinds of bottled water available onboard cruise ships. Still and sparkling, and yes, you will pay for them. For the record the only ‘free’ drinks onboard are dispensed water, iced tea, regular coffee and maybe lemonade. Everything else, including soda, is available for a charge. Unless you are on a high-end, luxury cruise ship and then most of these lines include all beverages, or at least up to top-shelf liquor. On most mainstream cruise lines, they will sell different beverage packages including soda, water, specialty coffees and alcohol. More about onboard charges coming up!
How Do I Pay For Stuff Onboard?
Onboard charges are paid for by the ship staff swiping your keycard. Every item you purchase in the boutique, shore excursion desk, jewelry store, salon, spa and at the bar requires a swipe of your card. These charges get tallied up in your personal folio and you get a nice bill at the end of your cruise telling you how much you spent. It can be shocking if you are not careful. You can plan ahead and pre-pay for a lot of your expenses ahead of time, which I always recommend and something we do every time. It’s easy!
In the digital age we live in, almost every cruise line wants you to visit their website and create an online account. This serves multiple purposes and is really quite useful. You can enter all your personal information and passport details, making embarkation day a breeze. You can elect to pre-pay your mandatory gratuities/tips, choose and pre-pay any specialty dining meals you will have, purchase any of the available beverage packages, and book and pay for your shore excursions. I recommend you pay for as much in advance as you can, it helps you control your vacation budget much more efficiently.
A new benefit of the digital age is wrist bands that take the place of your credit card sized keycard. No more worrying about miss placing the card. You can wear them in the pool like a watch. SO convenient! So far only Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises have taken advantage of this technology, but I am sure once they work out the bugs, other cruise lines will follow suit. Nice option if you ask me!
Where Is Everyone?
A few times on recent cruises, I have spent some time trying to find my husband onboard. Ships are big, but not so big you can’t walk end to end in about 20 minutes or so. But with all the different decks, 2 or 3 elevator banks and places to hang out in, finding someone can be difficult. Most cruise lines today have their own smartphone apps that allow you to text when you are onboard. The apps only work in airplane mode, so you won’t get massive data charges when you get home, thank goodness. You use the ship’s WiFi via a nominal one time charge or purchase a internet package so everyone in your party has access. Then you can text your husband and see where he is…if he has his phone with him, anyway.
I used to think that the internet plans were a waste of money. BUT….I discovered when I was on a cruise by myself this past year, that with the internet package, I can use Facebook. And with Facebook, you can make phone calls to your Facebook friends. NO cell phone data charges, NO calling charges. Just a WiFi package and my Facebook account. It was great! So that is another way to keep track of your friends and family onboard with you, if you all have smartphones and Facebook. Okay, who doesn’t these days?
Why Are ALL The Pool Lounges Taken?
Kind of crazy isn’t it? A mega size ship and you can’t find one empty lounge chair. There is a strange breed of people that take cruises. They are known as Chair Hogs. The see nothing wrong with getting up early and putting some stuff on empty lounge chairs and not coming back to actually sit in these lounge chairs for hours. I’ve seen it happen on every cruise I have been on. However recently, ship staff and fellow passengers are getting wise to this practice and fed up with the Chair Hogs. Said stuff has been removed and placed by the towel bin, and the lounges are actually being used by someone. I am hoping the Chair Hogs are getting the point, but I doubt it. But it is nice to know people aren’t allowing these types to rule the deck chairs anymore.
If you don’t really have to lay by the pool, try one of the upper decks, forward or aft. Not as crowded, you still get bar service and you don’t have to fight to get a lounge chair. Some ships even have adult only areas with nice lounge chairs and no kids running around. Nothing wrong with that, but I love the private time in The Sanctuary on Princess Cruises. Comfy lounge chairs too! Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas has a huge adult only area, forward, called The Solarium. There are a variety of lounges to choose from and several Jacuzzis to hang out in.
What If All My Clothes Get Dirty?
I always tell my travelers to try to pack as light as possible. You don’t need to bring a pair of shoes for each outfit. Really. Trust me, you won’t wear half of what you bring. It’s true! If you are cruising somewhere tropical and warm, a couple of swim suits, some shorts and shirts that you can mix and match to make more outfits, long pants for guys and simple dresses for the gals for evenings and you’re good to go! Even if you want to dress up on formal nights, if you pack light on the rest of your clothes, you will have plenty of room. What happens if you don’t have anything clean left by day 5? You do a little laundry.
Some cruise lines still have laundry rooms with washers, dryers – even irons. Or those without, offer laundry service. You’re not going to be doing 3 full loads, just a few items, so it won’t cost that much. You can even rinse some things out in your bathroom sink and hang them in your shower to dry. Most cruise showers have the pull across lines for hanging your swim suits. Those will work for one or 2 ’emergency needed’ items. Honestly, if you pack things you can wear more than once, and with other tops or bottoms, this will be a last resort. Over the years, I have learned to pack less, match more and I still don’t wear everything.
Crystal Cruises’ Crystal Serenity has nice laundry bags in their suites for guests to use during their cruise. No need for rinsing things in the sink on Crystal Serenity! Here again is the difference in high-end, luxury cruising versus mainstream. Limited laundry service included in your cruise fare. Limited is fine, how dirty will your clothes get during 7 days onboard?
What Should I Pack or Not Pack?
That is a great question! You don’t want to waste precious space in your luggage with unnecessary stuff. Your cabin will have a hair dryer. Maybe not the best, but you’re on vacation, it’s okay! No need to pack a beach towel, they have lots of them onboard. Even if you do a beach excursion, you can use theirs, just remember to bring it back with you. Lot’s of cash is not necessary. The cruise ships are cashless and most stores in your port cities take credit cards. You will want some money for tipping anyone extra that makes your cruise experience amazing. We usually tip our favorite bartenders a $20 or 2 at the end of the cruise. Some do it the first day to ensure they get great service throughout their cruise.
Speaking of cash for ports of call. In the Caribbean and Mexico most cater to tourists and will gladly take US dollars. Other parts of the world, depending on how long you will be in port, you may want to get a small amount of local currency. Not so much you will have a lot left over when you get home. Again you can use credit cards almost everywhere, and you will get the best rate of exchange using them in most cases.
Beach or snorkel excursions require you to bring your own towel. When you get onboard, 90% of the cruise lines have towels in your room to use. You can recycle them onboard doing the ole switcheroo. Go to the pool, use your room towel, and when you are ready to go back to your cabin, grab a clean dry one. The only thing the cruise line cares about is when your cruise is over, there are 2 towels in your cabin. If you don’t leave 2, you might see a charge on your folio pop up for towels.
Dining With Strangers…
Always fun, in a weird way. Okay, not always fun. You can avoid it if you choose Any Time dining and always request a table that only fits the size of your party. That can back fire though, because sometimes the cruise line will put tables for 2 almost side by side together with other tables for 2, and it is really like there are 4 of you together. Very hard not to talk to your neighbors. To truly avoid it, do room service. Even the buffet has tables for 2 lined up 3 deep, so you are not eating by yourselves. If you are a traditional dining kind of couple and you just cannot tolerate your table mates, talk to the Maitre d’ and ask to move tables. They may or may not be able to accommodate you. Then you have to decide if you want to skip traditional dining, eat in your room or just tough it out.
Specialty dining restaurants are better at staggering tables, so it is a bit more private. Think about it though. Are restaurants back at home that private? Not really, so unless you are just totally unsociable, I am sure you can handle 1 meal with some strange people. You might even discover you have something in common. Or, egads, become friends! I have met lifetime friends on a few cruises, so yes, it happens.
Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas has a great idea for those that want to dine alone. A lunch counter! I thought this was kind of a cool concept when I saw it, and I have never seen it on any other cruise ship. (There might be some, but I personally have not seen them.) Dine alone anytime you want!
Save The Best For Last – Safety
I have had people tell me not to book them a balcony cabin because they don’t want to worry about falling overboard. No one has ever ‘fell’ overboard. The railings are about 4 feet high with glass walls below the rail. No way to ‘fall’, you would really have to make a concerted effort to ‘jump’ overboard. So push that thought out of your mind. Cruise ships are really one of the safest places you can be. They are enclosed areas, you can only go so far. There are crew and ship staff watching what is going on all the time. And if you get hurt or sick, there is a full medical staff onboard. Really a wonderfully safe way to take a vacation.
To protect your valuable and personal items, each cabin is equipped with a safe. This is the perfect place to store your passport, wallet, jewelry, money, credit cards and any other small, valuable items. I prefer to take my passport with me when I go ashore, because if something happens to me when I am ashore, I have it with me. When going ashore, it is best to keep your valuables close to your person. Don’t carry a big floppy bag that would be easy to snatch. Be aware of your surroundings and be smart about what you are doing and wearing. Don’t drip jewelry or brandish a wad of cash. My mantra is let’s keep the honest people honest and not tempt anyone. Be safe, be smart and most of all – enjoy your vacation!
