Even the Experts Get it Wrong! (Me included!!)

I have just returned from a 4 night cruise with MSC – my daughter loves cruising, my husband loves Italy and I like Prosecco so we thought this cruise would be ideal

I haven’t cruised really since my daughter was born 4 years ago except for a short cruise with Celebrity last year and this was my 1st cruise with MSC so I felt a bit like a cruise virgin newbie

This just goes to show how even the ‘experts’ can get it wrong!

We stayed overnight at a hotel at Stansted and missed the shuttle bus to the airport at 6 am, not too much of a problem so we took a taxi instead, this should have been an omen for things to come!

We had paid for a taxi from Rome to Civitavecchia and narrowly missed an accident inches in front of our car when 2 cars collided – we shrugged it off as a near miss and were pleased to have not been involved

Day 1: We arrived at the ship and I realised I hadn’t printed my cruise tickets – luckily the check girl printed them for me (I didn’t admit I was a travel agent – oh the shame!)

Advice: check you have all your documents printed before you leave

I thought it was strange that we hadn’t had to do the safety muster drill and we completely missed it

Advice: read the daily programme left in your cabin for important information

After a quick change in our cabin we headed to the pool bar and ordered some drinks, we had booked the All Inclusive drinks package so headed to the sun to enjoy our beers only to realise these were the only brand not included in the package and so were charged to our account

Advice: check what drinks are excluded before you order

I had no idea what time our evening dining was or which restaurant we had been allocated

Advice: check your cruise card – the information was right there!

Day 2 – Genoa:  the sun was blazing so we headed off the ship to the city, it was quite an effort to disembark, through reception up and along and through the casino, off the ship and down an escalator through the terminal only for me to realise I had left my purse in the safe!

It was such a hassle with a 4 year old in tow so we abandoned our plans for Genoa and headed back to the pool …

Advice: check you have your cards or currency before you leave the ship

The sun was shining and the Mojitos were included – my husband didn’t think he needed sun cream… needless to say he had sunburn from head to toe (especially his ‘sunroof’)

Advice: the sun in the Med is hot even when there is a breeze – don’t be a lobster and top up your factors!

Later I went back to our cabin a few times  I couldn’t understand why our beds had not been made up, when we asked the cabin steward he said because I had left my cruise card in the slot to leave the lights on he thought we were in the cabin and didn’t want to disturb us so the cabin had not been made up all day

Advice: don’t leave your cruise card in the power slot or your cabin will not be made up!

I was quite annoyed that I had left our pool towels on our balcony and these were not replaced with fresh ones

Advice: check the cabin instructions – I read later that if we wanted fresh towels to leave them on the floor in the bathroom or they would not be changed

After I had a shower I plugged in my lovely Dyson hairdryer and it didn’t work! as a last resort I tried the cabin hairdryer and it didn’t work either so I went to reception and they sent a maintenance man to our cabin, I was so embarrassed when he told me I hadn’t put my cruise card in the slot to activate the power!

The same happened when I tried to charge my phone and ipad – no charge after 12 hours!

Advice: make sure your cruise card is inserted to turn on the power in your cabin

I had bought a wifi package and couldn’t understand why it had run out so quickly..

Advice: check the way the package works and log out correctly so the countdown timer stops when you are not using it

On the last day we were late disembarking and tempers were frayed, as we finally got to security we were not allowed to to leave because we had an open cruise account

I had to go back to reception to close my account even though it was in CREDIT by 14 euros

Advice: check out as you would in a hotel even if your account is in credit or you will not be allowed off the ship

It might sound like we had a nightmare cruise but these are simple mistakes that I will not make again

Despite all of this we had a fantastic time and had lots of fun and 2 days later my daughter broke head to toe in Chicken Pox !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have you got any tips for Newbie cruisers or those that haven’t cruised for a while? I would love to hear them!