Bethany’s Guide for 1st Time Cruisers

In my most recent post, I gave you a little snapshot of my hubby & my cruise vacation this summer (click here to view post). It was both of our first time on a cruise, & it was to celebrate our 3 year anniversary! We definitely had an awesome time on the cruise, but I think we could have been better prepared, it being our first cruise. I researched stuff like “things to know for first time cruisers,” but could barely find anything that really helped us know what to expect. So, I decided to come up with
“Bethany’s Guide for 1st Time Cruisers”
to help prepare anyone for their first time on a cruise.

**We went on a Carnival Cruise, so some of these may vary from cruise line to cruise ship.

These are in no particular order…

1. Bring a small waterproof bag of some sort that you can zip or button shut. I am so glad I brought my fanny pack (shout out to JRLC)! It was the perfect size to fit our cruise ship cards (you will need to keep those with you wherever you go), chapstick, sunscreen, money, & any other knick knacks you might need while sunbathing or walking around. I also love that I could clip my bag around my chair while I was laying out. It can get very windy on the outside decks & things will fly away before you know it!

2. Be prepared at all times for a photo! I understand a lot of people already do that on vacation because they will be taking pictures of their own, but sometimes you are just too tired to put make-up on & dress up for dinner. Well, there are cruise photographers that walk around taking pictures of you. Mostly only at dinner time & when you get off the ship at a port, but they will barely give you any time to smile & won’t take no for an answer. You won’t have any obligation to buy them, but they will be on display for ALL to see throughout the cruise. Although this can be a nice feature, they won’t re-do a photo if you blink or have something in your teeth.

That leads me to point number…

3. Our first mistake when packing was not bringing dressy clothes. We mostly brought shorts, tanks, & our suits. I mean, we were going to the Caribbean for Pete’s sake! During the day, you will most likely eat at a casual buffet style restaurant at any time you want, but for dinner, you have a reserved table that you eat at the same time every night. This restaurant is much more fancy, so much so that they have a dress code & dress “theme” for every night. To our surprise, the 2nd night was formal dining. We didn’t know it until we walked out of our room in jeans to see people in tuxes & ball gowns! Yes, ball gowns!! I don’t even own dresses as nice as some that I saw. We definitely felt out of place. Thankfully we had black jeans on so they looked semi-dressy (haha), but I felt that everywhere we walked, people were staring at us laughing in their heads. Apparently every day you get a schedule of events & information about what to wear that evening. We had no idea. Thankfully we understood what to look for the rest of the days, but that’s something that would have been nice to know while packing.
4. Get a room with a balcony. This tip is preference based & may not be as important as the others, but we enjoyed our balcony. It’s not like we spent a ton of time out on our balcony, & it’s not completely private, but it’s still nice to have that feature rather than just a small window. Also, when choosing where your room is, look at the diagram (you will choose your exact room while you’re booking online) of the ship & decide what you want to be close to. For us, I wanted as quiet & calm as possible, so I chose a room by the spa on a higher deck. Next time I probably will do the same deck just further away from the big pool which was always blasting with music during the day. If you want to be close to the party, choose a deck close to the bigger pool (the ship will probably have a small pool & a large pool which will be louder & more crowded).

5. Excursions!! When you port for the day you will have the option to stay on the ship or go on an excursion. There are so many options of things to do, & you can book them while on the ship, but if you don’t want to wait in a long line at the customer service desk, try to look for things online offered by your booking company. For example, we booked our cruise through Orbitz, & during the booking process they had some excursion options. The one in Jamaica that we did was a day pass at a Sandals Resort. It was a little expensive, but soooo worth it! We probably won’t ever be able to afford staying at a Sandals Resort, so a day pass was the next best thing. And to our surprise, nobody else on our ship was there because they didn’t even have the option from the cruise! A cruise is fun but very loud & crowded, so it was perfect to get to a private, peaceful beach with only a few other couples. There were two private beaches & three awesome pools at the resort, a buffet restaurant, & swim up bars all available to us for no added cost. It was truly all-inclusive! Which brings me to my next tip…

6. Cruise ships are NOT all-inclusive! I can’t tell you how many times we heard that cruises are all-inclusive. We were blessed with an amazing honeymoon at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico, & it sure would be hard to beat that vacation, so I was trying not to compare the two trips. But when you’ve stayed at an all-inclusive place & are expecting that same thing but don’t get it, it can be disappointing. On a cruise, the food at the restaurants are free as well as a 24-hour ice-cream soft-serve station. But here is what is NOT free…
soda & specialty coffee drinks
smoothies & other drinks besides coffee & water
ice-cream or dessert from little shops
Also, tips are not included in the price. When I hear “all-inclusive” I think ALL-inclusive (drinks, all food, cappuccinos, smoothies, tips, etc). My husband & I do not drink alcohol, but we still like to get smoothies & virgin pina coladas. However, the only day on our cruise that we got those were when we were at the Sandals Resort, because they truly were all-inclusive (included in the price).
7. Take advantage of room service because the buffet lines can be pretty long!! Room service is one nice thing that does NOT cost extra.

8. When your cruise ship depart time is 4pm, don’t arrive at 3:30pm. You can get there hours before you set sail! I wish we knew that & arrived earlier so that we could have extra time to find our way around the ship & get unpacked. You depart with your luggage when you check-in before boarding the ship (unless you want to carry it on), & someone will deliver it to your room. Even though it’s nice not to worry about your luggage, you may not receive it for a few hours after you set sail. We didn’t, which meant that we couldn’t lay out by the pool because we weren’t already wearing our suits, & also we wore shorts to dinner the first night even though you are not allowed to wear shorts to dinner. Also, the ship can be very confusing to get around, take some time to explore EVERYTHING possible right when you arrive.

9. Choose your ship wisely when booking. Look for pool sizes, amenities, etc when booking. Our pools were smaller than I had anticipated. We went on Carnival because it was more affordable & it was available the dates we needed. Because it was our first cruise, we were just excited to experience it & had nothing to compare it to. It was awesome, don’t get me wrong, but I would like to try out Royal Caribbean or another cruise line next time. We heard that Carnival was more the “party” ship, & I would agree. The music was so loud we couldn’t even stand it & the people were a little crazy. Although we enjoyed our time together & got to experience our first cruise w/ each other, I think a cruise would be better suited for a family vacation or one to bring friends along with. Especially if you have friends that have been on a cruise before, go with them!
10. My last tip would be to participate in all the activities the ship has to offer. There is so much happening all the time that you shouldn’t ever get bored. Everything from BINGO to comedy shows to raffles. You can win money at BINGO or the jewelry shop. Our little shop had drawings twice a day to win jewelry, watches, etc. They also have daily specials on name brand accessories. We got Griffin a watch for $120 that was originally $995!! I’d say that’s a good deal!

I sure hope my tips will help you or a friend for your first time cruising. If you have anything else to add to my tips or have any questions, please comment on this post! I’d love to hear some of your feedback or experience on cruising!