13 Cruising Tips

Everything you need to know before booking your cruise, packing, and boarding the boat.

Planning:

• Don't buy plane tickets for the day your boat leaves ~ If something happens and your plane gets delayed, that means you could miss your boat which would suck. Stay in a hotel the night before your cruise leaves so you have that extra time and cushion.

• Book Early ~ Check your cruise line for early bird specials because they are all different. Check for free upgrades on rooms and drink cards. If you feel you will be drinking a lot, not just alcoholic beverages, buying a drink card would be worth it so you don't have to worry about paying for every single drink on the boat. This all depends on you.

• Splurge on a room with a balcony ~ The cruising cabins can be pretty cramped especially with a full family of four so having that extra space can make a big difference. Also there is beautiful scenery to look at while you are on the boat and you want to be able to see it all from the comfort of your room.

Preparation:

• Pack Lanyards ~ This is a good way to carry around your key cards, which you will need to use a lot, without loosing them.

• Pack magnetic hooks ~ The walls of the cabin are usually magnetic so the hooks come very useful to keep things like hats and lanyards out of the way. The ship also passes out important papers like itineraries so this way you can display them.

• Pack a bungee cord ~ This is only handy if you have a balcony because you can use it to keep the door open. That way, you can let in some fresh air in that stuffy cabin.

• Pack Dramamine ~ The seas can sometimes get pretty rocky and even if you don't get motion sickness, that doesn't mean you won't get sea sick. We hit a rough part on my Alaskan Cruise and a lot of the boat got sea sick including most of my family. There were clean up crews running around left and right. Dramamine is a definite must pack.

• Pack a white board ~ Often times on the boat there is no phone service and the family is constantly running around the boat doing different things. The white board, or anything of that sort to write on, is a way to let your family know where you are. Another thing that people do is bring walkie-talkies if you feel that is an easier way to communicate.

• Pack an over the door shoe organizer ~ The cruise ship we went on (Holland America) did have a lot of organization space so we didn't really use this, but all cruise ships are different so this could be very useful to store small things and toiletries.

• Pack a small pack of cleaning wipes ~ There are a lot of people on the boat and the staff has to try to clean all the rooms within hours, so they could miss small things like remotes, light switches, and handles. Also sharing a small bathroom with a family can be hard especially when the boys, after years of peeing, haven't learned how to aim.

• Pack a charging outlet ~ Again, when sharing a small space with a lot of people, you are all having to share a lot of things like outlets. Pack an extra charging outlet so there is no fighting over who gets to charge their devices.

On the Boat:

• Don't drink the drinks provided in the cabin ~ When you first enter your cruising cabin, there is a mini fridge with drinks already inside it. These drinks cost extra money.

• Eat at off times ~ The line for food gets pretty long when the entire boat is trying to eat at the same time, so try to avoid these waits by eating when there is less likely to be people.

• Research ports before going ~ You have limited time in each port, so it is best to know what you want to do ahead of time.