Cruising - What to expect on a cruise for those newbies!

What to expect on a cruise for those newbies!

I will be specifically giving you my experiences on these three cruise lines: Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line.

Carnival Cruise Lines are known as the fun ships as they are have much more interesting planned events in the evening than the other 2 ships, late night adult only comedy shows, vegas style shows (no, not nudity but slightly more risque type costumes, pg18 would be a more accurate description).

Norwegian Cruise Lines are known for their freestyle dinning, which means you can eat at any time you want without a schedule than that of Carnival and Royal Caribbean have set in place.  I would recommend this if you are a foodie and just want to do your own thing and just want to relax.  The food choices are much better on NCL than the other two. 

Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines are known to be more expensive and the ships are a bit more impressive than both Carnival and Norwegian in that Royal Caribbean would have their are themes throughout the ship such as a Central Park in the middle of ship, the main area of the ship is set up in a way where it feels like you are in the middle of a mall, they also have british pubs, johny rockets, rock climbing wall, a more luxurious setup gym and spa, an adult only pool which looks like you are in Rome.  With that said, Royal Caribbean will always be more expensive than Carnival and NCL. 

Cruising with any cruise lines will have all inclusive food with the exception of these coffee stands where you will need to pay for cappucinos, lattes and sweets (this is a new thing they started doing in the last 2 years), however, you can always go to the food deck and get them for free (the sweets not the cappucinos and lattes).

Drinks: Juices are included, Sodas are extra, you can either pay for it by the can or get a soda card for the duration of your stay on the ship, it is about $50 for 3 nights on Carnival, these details can be found on the Cruise Ship websites as well (Carnival.com, RoyalCaribbean.com, NCL.com).

Royal Caribbean Soda card plan:

Q:	How am I identified as having purchased the Fountain Soda package?
A:	A complimentary Coca-Cola® souvenir cup will be delivered to your stateroom. Upon embarkation, an icon will be placed on your SeaPass Card which indicates your participation in the unlimited fountain soda package.

Pre-planned activities on Carnival and Royal Caribbean, trivia contests, kids camp, couples games, bingo, hairy chest contest at the pool, mixology contest, cards, poker tournaments, tea time for those who enjoys a conversation over piano music and delicious pastries (e.g., scones, cakes, cucumber sandwiches, smoked salmon, and more).  Nightly vegas style shows (on the Carnival Cruise Ships, Royal Caribbean is a bit more family style), family comedy time and adult comedy time at midnight (again, the adult comedy is on Carnival, Royal Caribbean is more family style), karaoke, night club, casino, midbight buffet, miniature golf, shuffle board.

Cruising is really perfect for an entire family, there are activities for all ages, even for folks with kids. Carnival cruise line have a kids camp carnival, there is something similar on the Royal Caribbean as well (so you can leave your kids with the cruise staff as there are plenty of activities for them to enjoy while you go to the spa or sit by the pool or have a couple of cocktails or test your luck at the casino). 

Cost of a 4 days cruise is typically $280 - $350 for an inside room or for less, try a bunk bed inside room that has a pretty decent layout (I was really surprised), I would recommend this if you want to cruise ultra cheap, I typically do not spend that much time in the room on a 3-5 nights cruise but if you are going for 7 days or  more, I would recommend getting a balcony room.  Nevertheless, a weekend of eating out for two would cost the same and comparable to a nice 4 stars restaurant as going on a cruise for 3-5 nights.

Alchohol is not included, you can bring 1 bottle of wine on board per person and drink in your room or pour it and walk around the ship or if you want them to serve it to you at dinner, a corkage fee of $10 for Carnival Cruise lines,$15 with NCL, $25 for Royal Caribbean Cruise lines, (you can also search on the particular cruise line for pricing) will be charged to your sail and sign card (which is a card that you should keep very close to you as it acts as your credit card on the ship, this card is tied to either a credit card that you registered upon coming on the ship or if you opted to pay in cash upon coming on ship) and they will store it for you until your next dinner.  If you want to save some money, then just pour yourself a big glass and bring it with you for dinner.  No one will question it as you could have gotten from the bar before coming to dinner, so this is not something you need to worry about.

Additionally, if you wanted to bring 2 bottles per person, I would suggest leaving one bottle in your checked in bag and carrying one on with you (so if there are 2 of you, put one in each of your bag, make sure your bags are not labeled with the same name, otherwise your bottles will be taken or if you checked both bottles in the same bag, they will keep both bottles till your last night on the ship before returning).  So keep them in separate bags with separate names (doesn't matter if you have the same last name, as long as your first name is different).

Purchasing alcohol at port or on ship.

As soon as you board the ship, you will see that they have all these liquor tasting on their itinerary and you can buy them for half the price of what you will see in our stores, (for example: 2 bottles of Crown is $35), however, you will not get these bottles until the last night of your cruise.

At port, most places will tag your bag, so that any alcohol you buy at port will be kept by the ship until the last night of your cruise, they will bring them to your room.  If for some reason, you wanted to bring it back to your room, that will not happen unless you transfer it into a water bottle or a soda bottle.

Dinner, there are multiple dinner seating times (this is only applicable to Carnival and Royal Caribbean), 5:15 being the earliest with 8:30 being the latest.  You will be assigned to a table and during your booking, you will need to pick a table of 4 or more to share, so if you wanted a private table for your family or if you are traveling with your spouse and you wanted a private table, you need to go to the Restaurant on the first night and request for a change with the Maidre D' or Hostess, this should not be a problem as they always accomodate.

Tipping:  You will be charged an automatic 15% with any drinks you buy from a bar or restaurants on the ship, so you do not need to add more if you don't want to.  Additionally, at the end of your cruise, you will be charged $12 a day automatically to your sail and sign card, unless you go the customer service desk and have this changed, you can opt to not tip with the sail and sign and give the cruise members that you thought deserved the tips most, Cash.  I typically change this day 1 as I prefer to give my room stewards and my servers cash for their hard work.

Here is Royal Caribbean Tip policy: To simplify the service recognition process, Royal Caribbean automatically adds a $12.00 USD gratuity ($14.25 USD for Suite Guests) to each guest’s SeaPass® account on a daily basis. This gratuity is shared by Dining Services Staff, Stateroom Attendants other Housekeeping Services Personnel that work to enhance your cruise. The daily automatic gratuity amounts are recommended and are based on customary industry standards.

Happy Cruising, any questions, send me a comment and I will be happy to assist you as I have gone on a dozen cruises so far.