5 things I wish someone had told me before my first cruise!
Ok, you’ve booked your first cruise, but you have no idea what to expect. Welcome to the wonderful world of the cruise industry! Over the last couple of years, I’ve taken LOTS of cruises - I cruised on 19 different ships last year alone! For this reason, I’d probably consider myself a bit of a cruise veteran. However, I only took my first cruise in 2018, and I’m only 32 years old (at the point of writing this post), so I haven’t exactly been around forever! Before I took my first cruise, I didn’t really know what to expect, and I’ve realised over the years that there are a few things that I wish someone had spoken to me about before I climbed aboard my first ever cruise ship!
That’s exactly what we’re going to talk about in this post today - the things I wish I’d known before taking my first cruise!
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1) I wish someone had told me that, in reality, cruise ships are nowhere near as peaceful and quiet as what you see in the brochures (unless you know where to go, and when!)…
You’ve seen the photos - beautifully calm cruise ship swimming pools, with countless numbers of vacant loungers on all sides. Actually, when you stop to think about it, the brochures often show you these pictures with NOBODY around the pool.
When I boarded my first cruise ship (NCL Escape), I was absolutely overwhelmed with the sheer volume of PEOPLE enjoying the top deck - the loungers were touching each other all around the decks. Think about it - these cruise ships often have 10 (or sometimes even more) entire decks of passenger cabins, and there are only usually 1 or 2 open decks at the top of the ship for passengers to soak up the sun. This means that there’s probably going to be a high volume of people trying to get that prime spot in the sun during your cruise, especially when you’re spending all day ‘at sea’ and not docking somewhere.
However, don’t worry! You might look at the pictures and think it must be horrendously busy everywhere onboard, but this simply isn’t true. The picture you’re looking at above was taken onboard MSC World Europa (a huge cruise ship from MSC Cruises) as I cruised in the Mediterranean. You can see the pool is busy with ‘swimmers’, loungers are really busy and there’s even a dance class on the go (yes, really!). However, I’d expect this pool to be busiest as it’s the one onboard where the daily entertainment takes place (hence the dance class…). You’ll usually find that you just need to go to another part of your cruise ship to get some peace and quiet - don’t settle where you first go outside as you assume that’s what everywhere will be like! To prove my point, here’s a photo taken elsewhere on MSC World Europa, not long after I took the above…
If you’re looking for a quieter spot on your cruise ship than the main pool decks, there are a few places that are usually always quieter than up there, for example:
The Promenade deck - check if your ship has one of these! You’ll usually find this much further down the ship, and there’ll be benches, chairs and often loungers down there for you to relax into.
The aft-facing pool - in cruise-speak, the word ‘aft’ just means ‘back of the ship’, so this pool will always be at the back. This one is sometimes adults only (depends on the cruise line), but will almost always be quieter than the main pool area…
Indoor areas - during the daytime on a warmer cruise, the inside of the ship is usually blissfully quiet as everyone’s soaking up the sun. On colder itineraries, the opposite is the case though - worth noting!
Outdoor areas of restaurants - on some ships, the restaurant venues have outdoor seating that can be utilised during the day. For example, lots of NCL ships have this, and it’s well worth thinking about if you’re looking for a quiet spot to chill out!
2) I wish someone had told me that travel sickness probably isn’t something to worry too much about!
So many studies have been conducted over the years, but they tend to close with the same conclusion - very few people actually get travel sickness symptoms when they cruise. Yes, you might feel a little funny for the first few hours as you get used to being on a floating ship, but I was absolutely terrified I’d have my head in the toilet for the majority of my trip. The reality? I’m absolutely unfazed, and don’t actually know many people who do suffer (especially on the larger ships).
Most modern cruise ships have huge stabilisers that help to minimise the motion experienced onboard, but think about it - it’s in a cruise line’s best interest to minimise motion onboard - they’ve got thousands of people onboard potentially spending money. The smoother the ride, the more likely it is that these people will want to pay to enjoy wonderful meals, fine wines, and unique experiences while onboard.
Now, this doesn’t mean you should assume you’re not going to get sea-sick, but I do wish I’d stressed a little less about it before my first cruise. There are so many things you can do to combat motion sickness on a cruise, from travel bands to patches, and a few other things inbetween. There are also a few ‘home remedies’ that you can try out onboard - did you know that green apples apparently help to combat sea sickness symptoms? Yes, really!
So, once you’ve finished snacking on that lovely green apple, let’s move on to the third thing I was someone had told me before my first cruise…
3) I wish someone had told me that cruise ships and cruise lines are SO different!
Over the years, I’ve been on such a wide variety of ships: adult-only party ships, luxury British cruise ships, budget-friendly American cruise ships, and so much inbetween. My realisation is that cruise lines are often SO different to each other, and you often find that even cruise ships within one cruise line’s ownership can be SO different! It’s super important that, before you take your cruise, you try to understand what you want out of your experience. That way, you can tailor your research to pick the cruise line (and cruise ship) best suited to you!
The above images were taken on a Carnival and a Cunard ship - two very different experiences, but both ships at sea with thousands of holiday-makers! to avoid any doubt - the Carnival ship is the one with the massive deck party happening, ha!
I guess this is where this website comes in (thanks for finding me!), and where channels like my YouTube channel can help you - you really should take a look at the different ships before you make your decision on which you’re going to travel on. Some things to think about:
Some cruise lines will operate very traditional cruise ships in addition to much more modern evolutions - check before you book - if you’re looking for a surf simulator, a 4D cinema and a huge spiral slide onboard, don’t book to cruise on an older ship!
Some cruise lines will operate HUGE cruise ships in addition to MUCH smaller ships. Good examples here are P&O Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, but there are quite a few more, too! The facilities onboard will change depending on the size of the ship, but so will the overall vibe of the ship - do your homework!
Old vs young - do you want to experience a cruise on a brand new ship? In which case, it might sound obvious, but don’t book one that’s 20 years old… Yes, it would surprise you how many times I’ve cruised on an older ship and listened to people complaining about the fact it’s an older ship… D’oh!
What language do you speak? Some cruise lines (for example, Costa Cruises) do speak English, but it’s not their first language. You’ll also find this to be the case on some other European cruise lines, especially when their ships are sailing in Europe. For example, you should be expecting a cruise on AIDA ships, MSC ships or Costa ships to have a different first language than English when cruising in Europe (and potentially everywhere!).
4) I wish someone had told me to plan my cruise ports carefully!
Being totally honest, I’ve only recently started to really care about WHERE my cruise ship is taking me. So much of a cruise for me is experiencing the ship itself, but recently I’ve started to care a lot more about where I’m going to be travelling to. Looking back, I can’t really believe that this hasn’t been much of a consideration until recently.
Over the last few years, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve visited places like Barcelona in Spain, or Naples in Italy. While I absolutely adore these cities, I do wish that, in hindsight, I’d spent a bit longer route-planning to see other places, instead of re-visiting the same places multiple times.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that some cruise ports can be huge tourist traps, where the majority of the port area is built with the primary purpose of extracting money from visiting cruise passengers. I found this to be the case in Cozumel, Mexico, where it was actually pretty difficult to leave the hugely built-up port area and get into the town itself. If you’d like to see this port as an example of what I’m referring to, just click into the video below!
Don’t worry - it doesn’t actually take too long to do some basic port research. You’ll often find that just Googling cruise port reviews, checking out some YouTube channels or picking through some cruise blog sites (yes, like this one that you’re already on!) is all that it’ll take to sort you out and help you figure out what you do (and don’t!) want from your cruise!
5) I wish someone had told me about the food - how does it work, how do I find out when restaurants are open, and what’s INCLUDED in my fare?!
Ok, this one was such an important one after my first cruise - I spent the first couple of days totally confused about what I needed to pay extra for vs what was included, what time places would open, and what the ‘meals’ even were - there seemed to be food available for most of the day - even between meals…!
Let’s start talking about what’s INCLUDED - in other words, what you won’t need to pay any extra for. It’s always worth researching for your specific cruise line and ship, but most will have the following as INCLUDED dining offerings:
A buffet restaurant
A Main Dining room (or multiple of these, depending on the size of the ship)
Poolside eateries - these can take really different forms. I’ve seen pizza counters, Mexican take-outs, Burger grills - all sorts, but there’s usually something poolside for you to enjoy without needing to go inside!
Speciality restaurants (these are the ones you pay extra for - this will always be made clear before you dine there, as you’ll need to make a specific table reservation).
So, how do you find out when restaurants will be open on your cruise? EASY!
Each night, you’ll receive a ‘daily schedule’ to your cabin once onboard the ship (or it’ll be updated in your mobile app, if you’re more tech-savvy than me). In here, you’ll find very clear times for each dining venue onboard - this document is worth its’ weight in gold, so be sure to give yourself some time reading this to get comfortable and familiar with your ship!
Finally, what are the ‘meals’ onboard a cruise ship? Well, you’re going to find the usual meals apply on here. In other words, 'breakfast’, ‘lunch’ and ‘dinner’ are the bare minimum. In addition, you’ll usually find ‘brunch’ options, sometimes an ‘afternoon tea’, and then usually a ‘late night snacks’ option, too. Some ships operate buffet-style options all night, but I find that most close down about 11pm/midnight, and then it’s over to the Room Service team to satisfy any rumbling tummies after this point! Don’t worry though - you’re not going to go hungry on your cruise!
I really hope this list of 5 things I wish someone had told me before has been useful for you.
If you want one final tip from me, it’s that you need to be sure to RELAX and enjoy your trip. I really hope that what happens to me also happens to you - I had one of the best weeks of my entire life on my first cruise, and was IMMEDIATELY hooked on cruising as my favourite way to see the world!
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Thanks a lot for being here today - HAPPY CRUISING!
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