What "rookie" mistakes did you learn from?

[KULPN]

Thank you Cruise Critic for teaching me more everyday about how to get the best bang for our buck. We are now cruising once a year because we can afford to with the Cruise Critic Cruises & all we have learned here!

[krys10andmatt]

On our first cruise, just after embarkation, we were sitting on the lido deck eating lunch...laughing at all the people walking around with their life vests in tow...little did we know we were the stupid ones not going to the muster drill!!! Boy did we feel stupid!

[floodcasso2]

I fell for the flushing the cabin toilet while seated scam :o

Fred

 

HAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yea I fell for that one too. That thing can literally scare the poop out of you if you're not ready for it.

[floodcasso2]

i made the same mistake. 1st day was sunday in nassau and the camera shops were closed. had to wait till st thomas to buy more memory. i bet on a 7 day cruise, i take 1000 pictures, you know, just to see what they look like. most times, i take the same picture twice, just in case. also i didnt think that carnival is a "coca cola" company and i'm a diet mtn dew freak. now i always pack enough dew to get me thru.

 

Just so you know, Carnival sells camera memory and small digital cameras on board the ships now near the photos. The memory cards are a little on the expensive side, if youre used to buying them at a discount, but not really any worse than your local CVS or supermarket.

 

The extra memory was a lifesaver on my last cruise :)

[michelle1836]

Read from beginning to end. thanks for posting your mistakes so hopefully i wont make them!!

[McDebbie]

Mistake 1 - thinking I had to have EACH of the different DOD glasses (this was back in the day when each day's glass was a different shape) Then deciding no sense having only one, I need a set and since DH won't drink foo-foo drinks... well, that was a lot of DOD's to get all those matching sets of glasses. :)

 

Mistake 2 - NOT buying something I wanted. The Carnival scrapbooking pages, the AK cruise watch. I HAD to book another cruise to go back and get them. And I am still regretting not getting the Funnel drink glass/bank, DH loves the funnel.

 

Mistake 3 - taking 7 suitcases for a 7 day cruise - no lie. This was after I found cruise critic and thought I needed all those things in the super duper packing list.

 

Mistake 4 - not having small bills for shore excursions. We ended up tipping some guy with a donkey $5 for taking our picture in St Thomas because that was all we had. Which also leads to mistake 5 - We thought he was being 'nice' to offer to take our picture until he held out his hand and asked for a donation.

[Morebeer]

I'm booked on both the Inspiratation this June 29th and the new Dream next July 3rd both times in inside cabins way at the front of each ship on the next to lowest deck these will be our 3rd and fourth cruises with Carnival but the first time in cabins so far forward. Any thoughts coming back my way about those forward cabins? Thanks.

[LadyLuc361]

Rookie Question -

 

I am hearing that you can board before the scheduled time, is this correct? If so, what time can you board? We are leaving from Baltimore which says they won't let us board until 2pm. Thanks for all the help. I love this thread! :)

[LorrieB]

I will never admit this to my husband but.... I packed way too much clothing, shoes, and body lotions. Comfort is the word of the day!!!!!!! It's amazing how little you care what people think when you are on a cruise ship. At home, I won't wear short. I wore them everyday on the ship.... and guess what.... I was more comfortable on the ship than I am at home. I think they put something in the lunch buffet on the first day. Maybe VALIUM!!!!!!!!!

[LorrieB]

Rookie Question -

 

I am hearing that you can board before the scheduled time, is this correct? If so, what time can you board? We are leaving from Baltimore which says they won't let us board until 2pm. Thanks for all the help. I love this thread! :)

NO.... DON'T BOARD EARLY!!!!! You will have nothing to do, nothing to eat, nothing to drink..... wait until the time on your documents.... this way the line will be short when I arrive at 11:00 a.m. :rolleyes:

[LorrieB]

Mistake 1 - thinking I had to have EACH of the different DOD glasses (this was back in the day when each day's glass was a different shape) Then deciding no sense having only one, I need a set and since DH won't drink foo-foo drinks... well, that was a lot of DOD's to get all those matching sets of glasses. :)

 

Mistake 2 - NOT buying something I wanted. The Carnival scrapbooking pages, the AK cruise watch. I HAD to book another cruise to go back and get them. And I am still regretting not getting the Funnel drink glass/bank, DH loves the funnel.

 

Mistake 3 - taking 7 suitcases for a 7 day cruise - no lie. This was after I found cruise critic and thought I needed all those things in the super duper packing list.

 

Mistake 4 - not having small bills for shore excursions. We ended up tipping some guy with a donkey $5 for taking our picture in St Thomas because that was all we had. Which also leads to mistake 5 - We thought he was being 'nice' to offer to take our picture until he held out his hand and asked for a donation.

We have you beat.... we had 15 pieces of luggage between my husband and myself (counting carryon). When we left, we also had two hammocks from Cozumel. My poor husband. And to top it all off, we were diverted to a different debarkation port due to Hurricane Ike. So, no car. It was fun!!!!!!

[brooklynfc]

Er... will you please elaborate? I'm a "rookie" and I just booked a guaranteed cabin so any clarification would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks!

 

We did Guartd. and got a 4f Deck 8. Its a hit or miss.

[nccruiser24]

Same here. Booked a 1A gty, and got a 5A french door, obstructed cabin. LOVED it. It was a wonderful room located right about mid-ship, not far from the atrium.

 

You do take a risk, and you can get awful cabins. However, you can get really good cabins. If you don't like your cabin see if you can be put back into the waiting list for a cabin assignment. But once again, you take the risk of what they have.

 

 

Can someone elaborate on these cabins and does anyone have pictures. I would like to see what they look like. Also, is this a choice when choosing a stateroom? I have not seen this as a choice when picking a room. Thanks!

[Crusin6]

I believed the reviews about how nasty the stewards could be on the Victory to Canada and I had a bit of an attitude toward them even before meeting them........while they not have been warm and fuzzy (but I don't want that from a stranger anyway) they were efficient and hard working. Enough said....they were what they were supposed to be and the did what they were suppossed to do....who cares if they addressed me by name each and every time they saw me. As far as I am concerned....waiters..stewards et al.....on a cruise....the less they intrude on my trip the better.

[frito58]

On our last cruise a couple of weeks ago we had met our CC friends who had all the tours booked everyday it was a port intensive cruise. We warned them not to over due they would be wore out. Well by Wed. they found us on the lido deck and stayed on board the ship and lounged by the pool they were exausted by day 4. If we have learned anything its have fun go at your own pace, if we want to see an island we go hire a taxi, or we go find a beach and just enjoy the beautiful waters.

[Lady_Jag]

One thing is standing out that I really don't "get".

 

Room service.:confused:

 

What is the big appeal?

 

 

I've been on one previous cruise and it never occured to me to order room service. We were hardly in our cabin at all. (but then again, we have a balcony cabin this time; last time was in inside!)

 

For those of you who recommended it, why and when? What am I missin' here? :D

 

 

Thanks again for all the tips!!!

 

I liked starting my morning wrapped in a Carnival robe, watching the waves, and enjoying a nice hot cup of tea and toast (or bagel or croissant). Plus, it was a good gentle wake-up call instead of the loud phone ringing or our obnoxious alarm clock.

[sophiethd]

I had my daughter and granddaughter an anklet made from this "gold by the inch" and they have had and wore them for about 3 years and have not had any problems with them!!!I think its a wonderful deal and so do a lot of others or they wouldn't keep selling it.

 

I purchased a bracelet "gold by the inch" on our 1st and only cruise so far in 1999 and I still have it and it is in perfect shape. In my opinion it was a pretty good deal.

[sophiethd]

My first and only cruise in 1999, my husbands first trip anywhere, we made the biggest mistake to book our flights with the cruise ship company. Go figure that there would be a snow storm the day of our departure. We completely missed every connection and also the ship. This time booking again for Feb 2010 and I will booking my own flights and I will be there 1 day ahead and be able to enjoy the entire Cruise.

 

I have a question about the excursions, I hear many saying they book their own rather than booking onboard. Where do you book on your own, at the port ? or online prior?

 

I'm loving this site, wish I would of known of it prior to our 1st cruise.

[sandij]

We always book our tours through the cruiseline, we've been on buses that broke down and tours that were delayed and the ship always waited for us. Lots and lots of people swear by the ability to book their own through online or phone confirmations so it's really up to you and how daring you want to be. We only live an hours drive from at least one port and like to tell people that we leave the house at 10:00 and are eating lunch on deck at 11:30 and it happens but we are also platinum so we get on faster. So keep pluggin away and build up those cruise numbers and have a great time all the way. Remember there are no bad cruises, maybe some not as great as others but never a bad one.

[cruisdog]

For ginger, just go to your nearest Asian market and go to the candy isle. There will be 30-40 different types of giner candies and candied ginger. I love the lemon-giner or the pepermint ginger candy. One bag is about $3 and should be enough for the entire cruise. They also have inexpensive ginger tea, about $2 a box of 20 bags. If you are near a Trader Joe, they also have candied ginger for about $3 a bag. The giner candy and the candied ginger is probably easier to eat than the ginger pills, and it gets into your system right away.

[Andrew Bowden]

Worst "newby" story ever!! LOL We booked a New Year's Eve Carnival cruise out of Port Canaveral for the "1999" cruise. We were SO EXCITED. It was our first cruise. We were going to party "Like it was 1999."

 

Now, how stupid is this??? We had our TA rent a limo to take us to Hartsfield where we caught a plane to take us to Orlando where we took a bus (are you laughing, yet???) to the Carnival ship. We live in Middle Georgia and can drive it in 6 to 7 hours. Not to mention how much cheaper doing it ourselves would have been.

 

We didn't have too much trouble finding our bus and we finally got to the Port.

We stood in line for about an hour before we got checked in which was about 20 minutes before the Muster Drill. Once we got on the ship most everyone else had been there for several hours and they were having a wonderful time. We were about 3 drinks behind (and I think we stayed 3 drinks behind the entire cruise).

 

Then we went to see our room. We had the last room port side, aft, right next to the rudder on the 2nd floor. We could have helped the crew everytime they went in or out of that door if we had only brought our tool box. There is a lot of ship movement down there. Waves would wash up on our window.

It was only a 3 day cruise and it took us two days to figure out where we were and how to get where we thought we wanted to be. Just another reason to study the ship before you cruise.

 

To add insult to injury the first morning of our cruise I thought it would be great fun to eat breakfast outside on the Port side. We noticed that the server looked at us strangely but he took our food right out there where the toast immediately went flying off the ship but "Andrew" caught it as it went by. I don't know how fast the wind was blowing but let's just say we were the only ones out there trying to eat.

 

Then, of course we had to disembark. Well, while waiting in the lounge to have our ticket called they kept making announcements for certain passengers that needed to contact a Carnival rep. We finally realized that they were calling the names of some lovely young people we had met and we said "we think they are calling for you". And true they were. Unfortunately, their Mother had passed away and the family was trying to get in touch with them. Need I say more about how tragic that was.

 

We did finally disembark and this family was on the same bus as we were. We all tried to make them as comfortable as possible but it was really sad.

 

Then, we got to the Orlando airport only to find out that all flights had been delayed because there was a terrible winter storm all over the southeast. We waited at the airport for about 8 hours before we were finally cleared to fly to Atlanta. PS: They do not like for you to sleep on the couches at the Orlando airport. When we got to Atlanta it was freezing cold and the limo to take us home had been waiting for a "LONG" time with other passengers who to say the least were not happy campers. Our trip up had been just the two of us so we were equally not happy campers by having the additional company.

 

On the good side...we had a good time even though it was a few years before we were brave enought to try crusin' again. We now have 13 cruises under our belts. Absolutely none of this was Carnival's fault or ours. It is as Forrest Gump says: Life is a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get."

 

Happy crusin' to all.

[debkjw]

I think the saddest first cruise mistake I have seen was on the conquest. 2 mentally challenged young people were on their honeymoon. The travel agent and their family did all the arrangements. It was their first time flying and first cruise. The had carnival transfers and made it to the ship and found their room. I ran into them at the airport. 2 nights later I saw the, looking out their room door. I asked them how they were doing. She replied no one came and got us for dinner and we are out of cookies. The stayed in their room for 2 nights and didnt go out in eat. They thought someone would come and get them. I ended up showing them around and they had a great cruise.

 

debkjw

[icart]

the lesson I learned was to order anything you may like to drink with dinner on the first night b/c whatever you order that first night is going to be all you get the rest of the cruise.

 

Before our first cruise, I always read raves about waiters remembering what you ordered on the first night and automatically bringing it every night after that. Sounded cool. It never occurred to me that that meant that you can't really change your order after the first night. Okay, that's a bit strong, you can ask for something else, it just seems to really throw them off and you very well may not get it.

 

I just had water my first night. Dh ordered coffee after dinner, and I refrained. Two other nights, I tried to get a coffee or hot tea after my meal and they never came. Dh got his coffee like clockwork every night, whether he wanted it or not. Next time I'll order coffee on the first night and just not drink it if I'm not up for it.

[moncrystal]

On DW and mine first cruise (honeymoon), we learned that the toilet sounds like you're firing a torpedo when you flush it. I still remember hearing a loud noise from the restroom and my wife running out, saying we needed to call the "Front Desk" (purser's desk) and let them know that our toilet was broken. We laugh about that now 'till this very day!

[moncrystal]

debkjw,

 

I am a Special Needs teacher at the High School level (self contained, have my kids all year long for all of their High School years) and what you just wrote and did for that couple put a smile not only on their faces (I'm sure it did), but on mine as well! I know that I can speak for those who work with special needs people by saying Thank You for helping them on your cruise!