First cruise--what should we know?

[gomomgo]

We are going on our first cruise on the Grand Princess in early April (Costa Maya, Roatan, Belize, Cozumel). What tips can you give us that you wish you had known for your first cruise? Anything ship-related or excursion-related is appreciated.

[cynbar]

Try this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=214933. It will give you tons of great info!!

[tequilasunrise]

Just a few things: If you want to do something popular, like swim with the dolphins, reserve it early on your cruise personalizer on princess.com. Also, you can reserve spa appointments there too, as well if you want them. Make reservations early if you plan specialty dining.

 

Now for some free stuff: In Costa Maya, there is a nice pool area that is free, or was as of my last cruise that stopped there. They built an area just for cruise tourists, and while it's VERY touristy, it is a nice place to cool off after a day's excursion. They even had people hired to play with the tourists--they started water volleyball games, etc.

 

One more thing---don't miss the parties like island night and the champagne waterfall. If you want to dance, go to the bottom deck having the island night party. If you prefer to sit and watch, the upper tiers provide a better view. The parties are a lot of fun!

 

Have a great time, can't see how you'd miss.

[willysgrandma]

Pack a bathing suit in your carry on because you won't get your bags in your room for several hours. If you decide you'd like to avail yourself to the pools while they are not too crowded, you can do it if you have a suit in your carry on.

 

Also if you are traveling with someone, pack some clothes in their suitcase and have them pack some in yours. If one of your bags gets delayed or lost, neither of you will be totally without clothing until your bag can be found. (And the liability by the airlines is doubled if you have more than one persons clothing in your bag).

[Alexisn'Texas]

Take lots of photos so that when you are back in the daily grind, you can look at your wonderful cruise photos and take a mental vacation back there. Once you go on a cruise, you'll be hooked! Relax and have a great time. ;)

Alexisn'Texas

[FuzzyMelton]

We are going on our first cruise on the Grand Princess in early April (Costa Maya, Roatan, Belize, Cozumel). What tips can you give us that you wish you had known for your first cruise? Anything ship-related or excursion-related is appreciated.

 

First of all, use these boards for all your information, but remember they are opinions from their point of view.

 

Something will go wrong, just repeat after me "IM ON VACATION". That is our famous mantra and it works for us, we have always had a wonderful time even when the circumstances weren't perfect.

 

Costa Maya is one of our favorite ports- I wouldn't waste my time at the end of the pier, just walk outside and take the bus/taxi into town ($5 roundtrip Jan 2006). Find a table on the beach side of the road and sit down, a waiter from the resterant across the street will come over to ensure your stay on the beach is fantastic. You can go snorkeling (We did and it was fantastic), get a massage (not really worth it, they are not professional massueses) and just lay out on the beach. There are plenty of street vendors, so you can do all you purchasing there and skip the expensive vendors at the cruise pier. This is a wonderful beach day, with no excursions required.

 

Belieze- go cave tubing, we loved it. Find a good tour guide and sign up with them. Try X-Stream cave tubing, small groups, extra cave, very personal, and much cheaper than the ship. We have also done the Lamani trip but it was long, well worth it though. Belieze isn't a touristy place unless you have an excursion, I would stay away from the areas outside the pier unless you are on an excursion. If you SCUBA this is a great place for it, well known, or even snorkeling.

 

Cozumel- good shoppin, great snorkeling and wonderful people. I love this little island. You will have a great time no matter what you decide to do. Great SCUBA and snorkeling!

 

Roatan- great memories from our visit to Roatan. Should be some great scuba diving or snorkeling. 3 year ago we had some great luck with the vendors right ouside the pier. Make sure you get a good deal!

 

On board is as busy or laid back as you want it to be. You can do everything (trivia, games, dance lessons, tours, ets) or nothing but layout on the deck if you want.

 

Tips for first timers-

Pack an extra duffle/gymn bag for dirty clothes so you will have a room in your suitcase for the stuff you are going to buy.

Don't over pack! I always seem to do that. You can do a load of laundry if needed, and the ship has laundry services.

Take lots of pictures!

Attitude is everything

The ship provides soap, shampoo and conditioner in the shower so you don't really need to pack that if you're not to particular.

Bring a power strip for the room, there is usually only one accessible plug

The pursers desk has seasickness pills and patches if you need them

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR ONBOARD PURCHAES these can add up quickly

If you want a tux- rent it on board, they are good priced and you don't have to pack in or out.

No need to bring towels, the ship will provide them and you can take them to the beach with you (just don't leave them there) and they are good size and nice.

Make reservations for the alternative dining resterants, there are fantastic and do it early

you can store your luggage under your bed

Ask your room steward for the mattress pad (egg carton) it helps make 3 twins into a queen and remove the spit inbetween the mattresses.

 

HAVE FUN, hoped this helped and remember it is just my opinions.

[chris2597]

We are going on our first cruise on the Grand Princess in early April (Costa Maya, Roatan, Belize, Cozumel). What tips can you give us that you wish you had known for your first cruise? Anything ship-related or excursion-related is appreciated.

 

 

We have sailed The Grand twice and love the ship. The biggest tip I can give ship activity related would be to check your daily Patter that is placed in the mailbox at your cabin each morning. The Patter will give you all of the daily activities. We scheduled our dinner so that we could attend most of the nightly entertainment, which is really good. We did afternoon tea twice. We enjoyed the culinary demonstration and galley tour that was help the last sea day. The comedians are very good, be sure to go to Princess Pop Star, Island Night is a blast, Newlywed/notso Newlywed game is a riot, 50's sock hop is fun. We also went to 2 of the daily art auctions that are held in the afternoon. We didnt buy anything but it was fun to watch the bidding and you get free champagne....be sure to show up a few minutes early to get a seat. The cabins have hairdryers but they are not very powerful. I bring a power strip and my own hair appliances. i also bring my own shampoo and conditioner. My hair cant take the products provided. Be sure to bring a shawl or sweater...the dining rooms and show rooms are very cool at night. Dont overpack....The best place for adults is the Aft pool, our favorite spot on the ship. There is also a hot tub and pool on the upper deck by the spa that is never busy. You can always find a table in Horizon court by the doors, near the aft pool. There is free ice cream (and it is very good) everyday at 330.

Ports.....

Costa Maya- We took a taxi to Majahaul $5 rt and layed on the beachat Pez Quadro. We decided on PQ because of reviews on CC. The drinks and food are reasonable, they have a working restroom (i think the only one in town), and loungers were $5 a piece. I read somewhere that the lounger fee is credited to your food/beverage bill....we didnt ask for the credit and they didnt offer, which was fine. We shopped in some of the little shops in the fishing village...they are willing to bargain. My dd18 bought a bracelet for $5 that was originally offered for $12.. Majahaul is pretty primative, with a main dirt road, dilapidated buildings, but it has a charm that is very appealing. Some of the people that we were with went on a ruins tour in Costa Maya and said they liked it better than Tulum.

 

Belize- We hung out in the secured port area. There are lots of shops, bars, music and restaurants in the port. Our friends did the cave tubing excursion with Yhonny. If you choose to leave the port area do so with a reputable tour agent. Belize is a third world country and there have been crimes against tourist reported. Go to the Belize board for more info. The state dept also has a warning listed for the country. That said, Belize is beautiful and I hope that the awful poverty will lessen with development and tourism.

 

Roatan- We did a city tour with Bodden tours (Boddentours.com). Victor met us at the dock, loaded all of us (37) into 3 a/c buses and took us all over the island. We went to Fantasy Island to see the spider monkeys. They come right down out of the trees and sit on your shoulder, Iguana Farm ($5 entry fee), some of our group went ziplining, others snorkeled, shopped and lastly we had lunch on the beach. It was a perfect day. I cant say enough good things about Victor Bodden. The cost was $25.00 pp for the day....A real bargain.

 

Cozumel- We shopped, others in our group did the Atlantis sub, snorkled in a Cenote (sp?).

 

Be sure to check to see if your cruise has a Roll Call. Go to Roll Call Princess, then go to Grand and look for the date. Our Roll Call numbered 97, with approx 65 attending the Meet and Greet. The 37 that went on the Roatan tour were all in our roll call.

[madelinerose]

Costa Maya - Walk through the cruiseline-contructed Americanized mall of trinkets and deafening noise, grab a taxi and go to Pez Quadro in the fishing village for a fabulous day at a clean, quiet beach.

 

Cozumel - Go to Passion Island. When you return, have a drink outdoors at one of the restaurants. We found great cappucino at an off-the-wall place.

 

Have a great time! ;)

[emdia43]

Buy a Sea-safe,they have them for sale in the 'shop' section of cruise critic... it's a little plastic holder that you wear on a lanyard around your neck,it holds your seapass/visacard/driving licence while you are swimming. It's not waterproof but doesn't need to be unless you want to carry cash into the pool with you,but so that you don't have to leave those things sitting on the sand while you're in the sea etc it's great.:)

Put MUTS at the top of your to-do list. Wonderful.

[Jacqueline]

Its a great ship- I have done this itinerary on her as well. Its your vacation. So learn as much as you can about your options so that you can plan - or not plan your week. Different activities work for different people. I never go to the casino for example.

The ships have lots of amentities - go to that section of cruisecritic and read up. Don't get put off by some of the negativity on the reviews. You are in for a wonderful trip !

[julieds]

The best cruising advice I've received is to RELAX! Don't try to do everything on your first cruise (unless you're the type of person who enjoys rushing from one activity to another). Try not to wear yourself out so much that you'll need another vacation just to recover from your cruise!

 

We found one great way to really relax on a cruise is to stay onboard (at least for half the day) during a port day. The ship generally empties out, and you have what are often crowded facilities on sea days (pools, the spa, etc.) all to yourself.

 

Enjoy!

[muffydawg]

What we did RIGHT the first time was:

 

1. Take a short 4 day cruise from our hometown port. The benefit was to see if DH would enjoy vacationing this way...and he does.

 

2. Book the second seating for dinner. We prefer to be around more "adults" for dinner.

 

3. Didn't buy a tux for DH until after he found he likes cruises.

 

4. Went with 2 other people, namely my MIL and her sister. Gave us the chance to sit at a table for 4 at dinner (in case DH didn't like the cruise).

 

5. Get to the port way in advance of sailing time, but not too early. People were still dis-embarking from the prior voyage and the long term parking lots had emptied out a bit.

 

6. Prepared for the "bar bill" and "casino charges" as we budgeted for the vacation.

 

7. Did not overpack.

 

What we learned and now do on each cruise:

 

1. Avoid cruising during school breaks. It's just our preference to NOT be on a ship with 700-1000 kids. Going on 10 day + cruises helps too.

 

2. Bought a small package of lanyards for the hole in the cruise card at an office supply store so we don't overpay for them on the ship.

 

3. If leaving from a port other than our hometown, FLY IN THE DAY BEFORE.

 

4. Be nice to all the cabin and dining room staff. You get more with honey than with vinegar. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

 

5. To go to the Horizon Court for lunch after boarding

 

6. Watch for price drops prior to final payment

 

7. Give the booking ID's for others travelling with us so we can be seated at the same table

 

8. Bought a tux for DH. it has now paid for itself.

 

9. Get a balcony or better (our preference).

 

10. Get to know the Wheelhouse bartenders.

 

MOST IMPORTANT...attend the Cruise Critic sailaway!!!!

[fdwt994]

The best cruising advice I've received is to RELAX! Don't try to do everything on your first cruise (unless you're the type of person who enjoys rushing from one activity to another). Try not to wear yourself out so much that you'll need another vacation just to recover from your cruise!

 

I could not agree more! :)