I had someone in a group ask for tips about cruising for the first time, so I wanted to collate a bunch of things I’ve learned into a single document.
Booking
Contrary to popular belief, travel agents are more relevant than ever and they’re not here to rip you off. You’ll pay the exact same price booking directly, or less. So find an agent you like or ask a friend. They’ll help you figure out where you want to stay, especially if it’s your first time. And they might throw in a bonus or two.
Daily Gratuities
To make everything more inclusive, most cruise lines charge a fixed tip amount per day in your cabin. It’s usually about $16/person/day but varies by cruise line and room type. Do not forget about this and get surprised when you get your bill at the end. When checking out, if it asks to pre-pay gratuities, this is what they’re talking about. This means you don’t need to tip on board, unless you really feel the need to. Also, if something goes sideways, you can always ask guest services to remove it, but come on…
Baggage handlers
Still tip these bad boys. They work for the port, not the ship. Like $5/bag or so. It’s a little awkward just trusting these guys to load up your luggage on a bag, but everyone does it. That’s why I use luggage tags that attach with a metal ring instead of just stapling paper together. I’ll have that stuff listed in a future post. It’s important to remember this is similar to an airplane.
Passport Cards
You ever notice how when renewing your passport, you have the option of a card, too, but it doesn’t work at airports? That’s what cruising is for! As long as you’re starting from a port in the USA, you can use a passport card instead of a passport book. It’s way smaller and easier to keep in your wallet. No need to fumble with a bunch of books and trying to splay open two pages for the officials.
Formal Nights
Don’t be caught off guard in terms of attire. One or two nights on every cruise for every line will have a formal night. That means to attend the sit-down dinner in the main dining rooms, you’ll need to dress better than jeans and t-shirts. Certain cruise lines are more relaxed than others, so look it up first, but just be aware of it. The alternative is you can always go up to the buffet on lido and eat there as you always would. And in fact, it’s more relaxing on those nights since it’ll be far less attended. Some people go all out for formal nights, some do the bare minimum. You’re on vacation so do what you want. But you can still walk around the ship however you want. Yes, you’ll be passing families all dressed to the 9s and dudes in tuxedos, but that’s expected. Someone will always be fancier than you and worse than you.
The Schedule
Make you sure download the app ahead of time and log in because once you’re on board, you’re going to log into their wifi to see the schedule of what to do. Go nuts and leave reminders for everything. Some lines like Royal will populate it early, even before you’re onboard. But at the bare minimum, make sure you have your username/password saved offline on your device and the app already downloaded
Internet
The Internet connection isn’t free, but on port days you might have an okay connection, depending on the port, the country and what side of the ship you’re on and what deck you’re on. But when you’re at sea? Put that bastard into airplane mode. You don’t want to risk the exorbitant fees. Pay for the wifi connection if you want, but we never do. We go on these trips to purposely get away from all that nonsense. Disconnecting is healthy for you.
Getting Onboard
When getting onboard, unless you spent extra (and even then, it’s not a guarantee), you won’t be able to visit your room for a bit. Remember, the entire ship is changing out every last guest. Every single room is being evacuated and populated all on the same day. So make sure the bag you carry with you onboard has the most important stuff you’ll need for the first few hours since getting checked bags. Because even when your room is ready, the bags will come even later. Also, to get to your room, your key cards will be on the door, waiting for you to retrieve them. Yeah, an honor system thing, but it works. Except on Princess. They have fancy medallions there. You get that well ahead of time, before boarding. I love that.