Got my docs! I have a few questions...

[just_me]

We leave June 5th and received our documents yesterday! Ok, now I'm excited. I would recommend buycruises. No problems, great customer service, great price.

I have a few questions

1. What are the first things I should do as soon as I board. What can wait? What should we sign up for right away?

2. Do I really need tickets for the shows? How early do I need to show up for good seats?

3. How early do I need to make reservations for Chops? How can I view the dining theme nights for this cruise?

4. The airline carry-on size limit is 9x15x25. Will this be the same for the x-ray machine on the ship?

5. The only suit I own is medium grey. Will I stand out on formal nights?

6. The excursions on Coco Cay don't seem like anything out of the ordinary, waverunner, water trampoline, etc. Do I need to book these or just wait until we're there?

7. Boarding starts at noon for a 5:00 trip. When would be a good time to arrive?

8. We are bringing birth certificates. Do I need to carry these in ports?

9. Which restaurant has the best breakfast?

10. Will two 128mb memory cards be enough for a week?

11. What am I leaving out? Please feel free to include any other advice to help make the most of our first cruise (yes, I will avoid the ranch steak) and please don't flame me for being a first timer.

Thanks

First one....
NOS 6/5/2004

?

[geo_traveler]

I've only cruised twice (both RCI) and posted on cruisecritic about twice, so here goes [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img]

1. Dump your stuff off in your room, bring your camera and explore the ship. You can take pictures of yourselves on the theater stage, or lay on top of the bar in the disco. I have a great picture of my friend laying in a "modeling" pose on top of the bar in the Vault disco on Voyager.

2. You don't need tickets for shows. I don't know what ship your on, if it's a Voyager class ship they will announce the times that tickets for the ice shows are available and they're free. I think they just do the ticket thing to avoid having 3,000 people try to cram in there for one show and all the other shows be empty. Arrive 10-20 minutes early. If you're in a big group arrive early, if it's just two of you, you should have no problem finding good seats any time before showtime. Again, if you're on a Voyager class ship, arrive 20 minutes or so before the show. On those ships, they have the Krooze Komics to entertain you before shows and you don't want to miss them!

3. I dunno. My guess is to make reservations for Chops right after you get on the ship and explore it...although I don't know if they start taking reservations that early. Some people may remember which night is themed what. On both my 7 night cruises, I think they had the same menu and themes in the same order.

4. I think so.

5. No. Not everyone dresses up anyway. You won't look weird in a stuffy suit, you won't look weird in casual (no tank tops or shorts as any night though).

6. If you've ever wanted to go waterskiing, parasailing, or whatever is offered, I would suggest booking it sooner. They will probably sell out. I'm pretty sure they did when I was in Labadee. The first session of the water park thing wasn't full. We (two 24 year olds) were in there with an older couple, and a family of four. That was good because us big kids could then rule the place [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

7. Both cruises I took listed 2 pm as boarding time. I got there around 11-noon, and in 15 minutes I was on board.

8. I would keep them in the safe in your room. I did that my first cruise, the second I had my passport and took it with me on land as photo ID. (They kept saying take photo ID with you as well as your seapass card which is like your cruise ship ID, but I never needed the photo ID to get back on the ship. I think it's a "just in case" thing).

9. Both cruises I just ate breakfast in the Windjammer. Both the Windjammer and main dining rooms have the exact same thing at breakfast, one is buffet, the other is waiter-service. Room service is available too.

10. Maybe just barely. It depends on if you take a zillion photos of the same thing, just slightly different, like me. I used up a 256 and a little of another on my last cruise.

11. Hmmm. I just noticed you put your on Navigator. Don't miss the parades in the Royal Promenade. When the ship leaves port, go to the front of the ship, the "king of the world" spot. Just to say you've been there. I think you go outside on deck 5, then take outdoor stairs to deck 6, the helipad.
Don't hesitate to make weird requests at dinner. Like skip the entree and order 2 desserts. My friend and I shared a table with a married couple on the last cruise. All three of us women ordered 2 desserts each one night, and the husband didn't order anything. It was hilarious.
Have fun!

[dianfarmer]

I have a group of 76pp on the same sailing. Seems like you got your documents but the person you booked it with didn't imform you very well with all the questions you have .Feel free to email me directly and I will help you. One good hint I gave to my group is that when in CoCo Cay they will rent you a water float for $10 to use for the day. We are getting a blow up one at walmart for $1.50 and taking it with us. When we finish with it .we'll just toss it in the trash can. There is nothing on this cruise that you can not book when you get on the ship. We normally don't book excursions with the cruise line unless its something we can not do on our own. We booked the Dolphin Encounter with the cruise line because that tends to sell out. In St Thomas we are taking a private tour of the island ,going shopping for jewerly and going to the beach. San Juan is my least favorite place. I just assume stay on the ship there but it you want an island tour just get a cab out front

[BLUEICE]

Things not to be missed are
1) The Quest Game
2) The Love and Marriage Game
3) Ice skating show
4) Ice skating yourself (they provide skates for your use at no charge - the only thing is that you need to wear long pants). Even if you don't know how to skate, you should try this. Not many people can say they were ice skating on a cruise ship.
5) Make reservations for specialty restaurants as soon as possible.
6) Make spa or hair appointments as soon as possible as well.
7) Don't worry about formal nights - people wear all kinds of clothing. If you don't want to dress up formal, there is always the Windjammer.
8) Do not over pack (you probally won't wear half the stuff anyway)
9) We did not need to bring our id when we went to shore, all we needed was our seapass card. However, if you do want to bring your ID, I would only take photocopies with you and leave the originals in the safe in the cabin. When we were on the VOS last Sept all non US Citizens passports were held by the cruise line so we had no ID to bring to shore anyway.
10) Not sure about if your memory card is big enough. Don't sweat it though, I am sure if it is not big enough you can purchase one at any of the ports. We saw them everywhere.
11) If you plan on doing any water activities, I would definately bring a waterproof camera.

So many questions, I hope I answered a few of them for you.

Enjoy your cruise and remember you are on vacation so relax and enjoy.

What cabin are you in? If you are in a suite, with the exception of JS, the Conceirge (spelling) will arrange alot of this for you so you do not even have to worry about it. Nice perk - only trouble is once you had the service, you want it all the time.

Another thing is, get to the pier as early as possible and see about a pier upgrade. You check into your cabin that is booked now, get your seapass card and then ask for the pier co-ordinators desk. When you get to the front, see if there is anything available for upgrades. I can assure you, it will be money well spent.

Grand Princess - Sept 2002
Voyager - Sept 2003
Explorer [img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=9400d3&cdt=2004;09;19;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]
until EOS with friends from the VOS
- Sept 2004

[just_me]

Thanks, geo_traveler. Good response.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dianfarmer:
Seems like you got your documents but the person you booked it with didn't imform you very well with all the questions you have .<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually they were pretty good at answering the many questions I could think of at the time. I'm not one to keep calling every time I have a question. Maybe I should. I feel lucky they spent so much time with me and had the patience for first timer questions. I'm sure they get alot of business.
I've had three months to think about our trip and I've been reading some of these boards but the search function doesn't work well enough to be useful when one has a limited amount of time to spend on the computer.
Already I am thinking of what to do differently on the next one. Like overnight stays at good ports, maybe a smaller ship. Navigator seems like a good ship to start with though. And while I don't think we got an outstanding rate, I am happy with it. (It went up $300 after I booked.)
See you there. I'll be the one wearing shorts and a smile!
I was thinking of staying on the ship at San Juan. I have never been there, but that's ok.

Blueice, We are on deck nine, aft, category M. I don't think the concierge will be able to find us. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

First one....
NOS 6/5/2004

?