What do you do to prepare for a cruise?

Question

I am going on a cruise on Sunday and I have no clue how to prepare for this. This will be the first time I am going on a vacation so I need help!

Answer 1

One thing that I learned that I wish I would've brought more of are jackets. It gets pretty windy and cold on the top deck at night and I honestly wasn't expecting that. You may also want to buy some motion sickness medicine. I was fine my mom was feeling the motion one night and it was good that she had something to take for it. Have a great time!!!

Answer 2

Sunday is only a few days away but I assume you are going down the day that the cruise leaves so the night before and day of check the airlines website and see if your flight is on time delayed early etc, and then double check everything the night before, dresses etc for 2 formal night, 2 informal like dresy but not casual, and then 3 casual like slacks or khakis and a polo or something like that, if your going on a shorter cruise then it will be different not as many formal, informal, casual,  but the same idea applys. Then make sure you have passports, birth certificates and ID, for EVERYONE, is you dont have a passport, and make sure you have sunscreen and all the other essentials. Also make sure that you have travelers checks, credit cards, money, and extra room or luggage for all your stuff that you are going to bring back, and make sure you have different types of shoes, and if you have booked your shore excursions have all that information and have all your paperwork as it makes it go faster, and dont forget your tickets and etc. Just double check everything and think about everything. Dont forget to have people feed your pets, water your plants, or whatever. Have fun.

Answer 3

Put out all the clothes you plan on taking, then put half of them at least away.   Formal attire if you plan on attending the Captain's dinner or if you like dressing for dinner.....according to where you are going.....less is best!  We just got back, loved it, can't wait to go again and will only take half of what I took this time.   Have fun!

Answer 4

How long is the cruise?  Where to?  Bon Voyage!

GO to the bookstore and get "Caribbean Ports Of Call".  Some nice information there and will be useful for future cruises.

Pack one pair of formal attire.  Bring plenty of sunscreen, drammamine (if you are prone to motion sickness), advil/aleve.  Pack at least two swimsuits.  

Pack a carryon bag with at least one pair of clothes and a swimsuit.  If you pack like me you'll have one carryon and one checked in bag, sometimes the bags don't get to your stateroom until late at night, so use the carryon for anything you might need that night.

Get to the port early.  They say checkin around 2pm, but fiance and I got there around noon and it was steady but busy.

If you let us know more in advance, I'd say to really look at the cruisecritic site someone above mentioned.  I'd also look into excursions (have you picked any yet?).

Cash is not used on board.  Your seapass card is your stateroom key and credit card on ship (it is tied into your credit card).  If you are at sea for more than a day, get the soda coupon ($6 day on the ship I was on, well worth it for days at sea).

Eat ANYTHING.  If you want one of each entree, go for it!  Its FREE!

Let anyone take pictures of you.  You are not obligated to buy them.

Answer 5

There are many, many things you need to do but I would say the main thing to do is to learn how to yawn without anybody noticing.

Simply turn away and face a wall and pretend you are blowing your nose.

You'll be doing this quite a lot on your cruise.

I would say the second most important thing to learn is how to stop yourself from throwing your arms up in the air and shouting, "YES YES YES" as you leave the ship for the last time  upon your arrival back home.

One good thing about going on a cruise is that you will not need to take any sleeping tablets with you.

Enjoy

Answer 6

Start by throwing out your expectations.  Some people have negative responses to cruises and others have positive responses to cruises.  I have found that most of the negative ones went on a cruise with higher then normal expectations and didn’t let the experience evolve on its own.

First visit the website for the cruise line and check your cruise documents, they will have a lot of good information in them and will also list the must haves.  Find out how formal the cruise is, most cruise lines have gone over to very informal atmospheres but will have one or more “formal nights” where you will have the option of dressing up.  If you choose not to dress up then you may not be able to dine in the formal dining room for that evening.  Most other nights are rather informal and when it comes to meals follow the basic rule, no shoes, no shirt, no service.  Formal nights do not mean that you have to wear a Tux and formal gown, a nice suit and dress will do the job.

Pack your bags taking into account that you may not be able to wash your clothes, most cruise ships do not provide a do it yourself laundry room although you can pay for laundry service it won’t be cheap.  Make sure that you have swimsuits if you plan on soaking in one of the pools or hot tubs.

When you originally check into the ship you and your baggage will be separated and it will not be delivered to your stateroom for several hours.  So make sure that you have anything that you absolutely need like medicines packed into a separate carry-on bag.  You might even throw your swimsuits there if you want to grab a quick soak in the hot tub that evening.  Do not check anything expensive or fragile with your baggage, carry those on yourself.  And this is the same when you are getting ready to depart the night before; I made the mistake of packing my PDA in my suitcase and discovered it gone when we unpacked.  This does not necessarily reflect negatively on the ship personnel as I suspect that a roving teenage passenger probably snagged it since the bags sit in the hallway until they are collected by ships personnel.

Make sure you have your passport or birth certificate and ID packed in your carry-on luggage, you won’t be able to board without them.

Are you an occasional soda drinker?  I personally only drink soda every other day or so, so I threw a six pack into my luggage.  There is nothing wrong with this and it will save you an outrageous charge.  If you drink soda regularly then get the soda pass if the cruise line has one.

Enjoy yourself, if you go without unreasonable expectations you will have a lot of fun and may even find that you have found a form of vacationing that you want to experience more.  My family and I had never been on a cruise vacation until 2 years ago, since then we have been on 2 more cruises, have 1 more booked, and are looking for another.

So, Enjoy!

Answer 7

Go on-line to the cruise line's website.  You'll find all kinds of good info there and you can fill out your boarding materials as well to save time on check in.  You will need a picture ID or passport to board and a credit card (if you intend to make on board purchases)  You will want to bring the proper attire and all that will be listed on the website.  Cruising is a great way to spend your vacation- be prepared and you will have a great time.  If you think you may get sea sick, go to the drug store and buy sea sick patches, you'll be happy you did.

Answer 8

The way I prepare for my cruises is to visit cruise websites, and not just for the cruise line you are traveling on.  Check out cruiscritic.com.  They have everything you need to know about cruising.  They even have forums for each cruise line so that you can get specific info on that line.

Just relax and have a good time.  Bon voyage!

Answer 9

my wife and I have been on countless cruises(she's a travel agent), so, pack for easy going(shorts, t-shirts, etc), swim suits, then pack dress clothes for casual dinner's, then pack suit, tie, dress shirts, formals, tuxedo(not really required, but if you sit at the captains table, it's nice to be sharp as a tack)...take cameras, dramamine(for sea sickness..usually the ship has these), and above all eat, eat, eat...there's ton's of delicious food on cruise ships.....OH YEAH....Take only money to the gambling that you can afford to lose........GOOD LUCK AND SMOOTH SAILING....

Answer 10

Find out how formal the cruise is. Some cruise lines are more formal than others and may require you dressing up to eat in the main dining room. Also find out what sort of activities there are on board that will interest you--swimming, dance club, etc. Then choose your clothing based on what you've found out. Also take into consideration where the cruise is going and what ports it will go into. Are you participating in any shore excursions that require special items? (ie:swimming, etc.) There isn't much preperation needed besides packing. One of the nice things about cruises is that things are largely taken care of all in one booking.

   Besides the packing you need to make sure you know how to reach the cruise ship and what time you are expected to check in. Find out if you need a passport or birth certificate for ID. Have fun!

Answer 11

Just get your credit card and passport. Have fun without thinking too much.