Nine Tips For A Fun and Relaxing Cruise Vacation
An amusing anecdote on vacations occurred back in 2002. My husband traveled to Turku, Finland, to work on a cruise ship under construction. Upon return, he said I think we should take a cruise. To which I laughed and promptly said, "they are for old people." Fast forward a year, and we were departing from Miami, Florida and sailing to the Caribbean amidst ports of call including San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Nassau. Now you may be asking why the change of heart. I collected Precious Moments figurines, and this was a member-only sailing.
This initial notion was quickly proven erroneous, and it became evident cruising is for all ages. Important to note you can make the itinerary as jam-packed or as relaxing as you want. The only limitations are port departure times to meet transportation to be back on board or incur a several hundred-dollar cab ride.
With eight cruises, they have taken us to amazing destinations, including both Western and Eastern Caribbean, Alaska, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, United Kingdom, and Norway. If you have considered a cruise vacation, I highly recommend them as you board, unpack, relax, and visit incredible ports of call.
The following Top Nine Cruising Tips will make your first or ninth cruise memorable.
1) Arrive A Day Early
Airlines make their best attempts to stay on time and not cancel flights. Stressfree travel does not always happen, so planning to arrive a full day before sailing gives you time to explore, rest from lengthy flights, and not worry about making it to the ship before it sails. Travel arrangements to the next port may be cost-prohibitive.
2) Shore Excursions
Book one or two during your itinerary before your vacation commences. Some of the best trips will sell out quickly, so don't procrastinate if there is something you have to see. However, a tip is don't select one for each port. These trips can be expensive, and you might not realize that some have long drives resulting in very little time to enjoy the sights. Additionally, the walking tours prove to be the best money as you get a quick guided trip and have several hours to wander on your
3) Luggage Handling
Luggage is one of the most challenging aspects of cruising. A key recommendation is to order from Amazon cruise approved luggage tags and SeaPass cardholders for easy management. With your luggage tags attached, you will drop off your luggage to one of the ship's employees outside customs and the gangway. The luggage is scanned and delivered to your stateroom later that afternoon. Note you should keep any medicines, sundries, and articles needed during the hours between boarding and final delivery. Choose to take your luggage off the boat with you, which allows flexibility when disembarking. Otherwise, the ship will assign your stateroom a number and time for departing, which may or may not coincide with your travel plans or sightseeing agenda.
4) Secure Your Valuables
The staterooms come outfitted with a locking safe for safely storing passports, wallets, jewelry, and other valuable items. While onboard, your SeaPass is the only form of identification and payment you will need, so lock up the others when not off the ship. A good practice is to photocopy in color all passports. Most ports of call don't require passports, but in an emergency, you will have a valid identification while protecting the real one.
5) Tipping
If you select a beverage package, dining package, or take the a' la carte approach to food and drink, the one thing that isn't extremely clear is tipping. Nearly all receipts have an automatic 18% gratuity included and a line for additional tips. Tips aren't passed onto the service provider, but rather pooled for all employees and distributed at the end of the cruise. Have a fantastic Sommelier, and you want to show your appreciation give them cash at the end of the sailing, so they retain it instead. Daily tips for the cabin and main dining room attendants are also automatically added to your stateroom invoice. Once again, cash is king in recognizing excellent service.
6) Onboard Laundry
International travel requires a lot of clothes and accounts for heavy and cumbersome luggage. The ship has laundry and dry-cleaning services available for a reasonable charge where you send out in the morning, and it is back in the closet that evening. It is important to note that on seven days or longer sailings, they often offer a sale day on laundry charges for everything that fits in the bag and is a great bargain.
7) Beverage Packages
Packages are a tricky topic depending on how you want to experience the voyage, but more importantly, your vacation budget. Coffee and tea are typically available, but specialty coffees come with a charge. Therefore, purchasing the refreshment beverage package allows free soda, non-alcoholic cocktails, still or sparkling water, and premium coffees. Or, if you prefer to partake in an adult beverage nightly, the deluxe beverage package provides significant savings over per drink purchases.
8) Dining Packages
Covered in your cruise fare are the buffet, main dining room, and limited food vendors. However, the specialty restaurants and smaller restaurants charge a modest menu item cost or per person cover because this is separate from the included meals. The specialty restaurants take the dining experience to a new level, so the purchase of a 3 Night Dining package is perfect for breaking the week up for intimate and delicious meals. The main dining room produces a schedule of cuisines so best to look at this before making reservations elsewhere.
9) Onboard Spa
Who doesn't love an exceptional spa experience? A vacation is all about relaxing, and therapy is one of the quickest ways to dissolve away the stress of our day to day lives. However, what you may not realize is the onboard spa is operated by a third-party company, not directly managed by the cruise line. The billing, service providers, and management are working on a different value and merit system. Their first and foremost responsibility is to upsell you on services, products, and even medical treatments. Be careful and retain ownership of your SeaPass card while in the spa. This card is your onboard "money," so treat it like a credit card and don't leave it with a spa attendant.