New to Cruise Top Tips

A few weeks ago I took to the medium of Facebook to ask for help on a question one of my customers asked me, If you could give one tip or one piece of advice to someone who has never cruised before? This was to be her first cruise, and she was travelling alone with her two sons, and was interested in the opinions of seasoned cruisers.

The post had over 90 comments, with people all over the UK and Ireland willing to share experiences, both good and bad, to help my customer build a picture of what to expect and to help her plan her upcoming trip.

I found a lot of people were offering the same advice, which was brilliant as it helped her gauge what was more important – and some were a little on the weird or funny side – but all comments were very welcome.

The top ten hints and tips were:

1. Buy good quality walkie talkies to keep in contact with her children. Some cruise lines will tell you what frequency to tune them in to

2. Bring an extension lead in your luggage. With normally only one plug in the cabin and phones, kindles, ipods etc to charge it will save any arguments on what gets charged first.

3. Embrace the kids clubs and the children’s dining options. Let your children enjoy all the fantastic facilities. It will give you time to relax and also give them stories to share with you time to catch up together in the evening.

4. Add on the soda packages if you can. They normally start around £4-5 a day for unlimited fountain sodas. It will not only save you money, it will save you from having to get up and charge the drinks every 5 minutes.

5. Freedom or Anytime dining is the way to go. This allows you great flexibility in your dining times and you can pre-book dining times around your excursions or on board activities

6. If you are taking a inside cabin then an alarm clock that has a light up face is ideal. The cabins are pitch black as soon as the lights go off so you don’t have to fumble around trying to find the time

7. Take hold all bags rather than suitcases as these are easier stored – especially with three in the cabin.

8. Take a tour of the ship on the first day. This way you will be familiar with it all and you will feel more comfortable in your surroundings.

9. If you are in an inside cabin it might be an idea to take a child’s night light with you to prevent toe snubbing in the middle of the night when moving around the cabin.

10. Have fun, it is her holiday too and she should take the time to relax and reboot

Everyone was so helpful and both my customer and I were grateful you all took time out of your busy lives and shared your experiences and helped not only this customer but others out there who have an interest in cruising and may find the top ten here helpful.