Thread: Tell me about going on a cruise

This summer I'm supposed to go on a cruise with my family. I'm already thinking about getting a three bed room all for myself, and stashing my own liquor...but other than that, I'm in the dark. You see, I've never gone on a cruise and I don't know what to expect. Tell me what should I bring beyond the essentials. Tell me about your adventures, and tell me what you would change about them.

Though I've only been on one I would say that the biggest thing is to make friends asap. Most people on a cruise are there to relax and have fun so if you keep the same mentality you should have no problem meeting some new faces. Also, don't buy any unnecessary things on the cruise such as jewelry/clothing since they are absurdly overpriced. I can't quite recall the rules about alcohol but if you can find a way to bring your own, do it. I think my family (of 4) spent a total of about 1000 dollars on drinks, and me and my sister don't even drink!

Originally Posted by Burke

Though I've only been on one I would say that the biggest thing is to make friends asap. Most people on a cruise are there to relax and have fun so if you keep the same mentality you should have no problem meeting some new faces. Also, don't buy any unnecessary things on the cruise such as jewelry/clothing since they are absurdly overpriced. I can't quite recall the rules about alcohol but if you can find a way to bring your own, do it. I think my family (of 4) spent a total of about 1000 dollars on drinks, and me and my sister don't even drink!

Oh man.....a freaking K on alcohol....I'm thinking about bringing multiple bottles. Maybe a few "water bottles" or something.

Originally Posted by Auron

Oh man.....a freaking K on alcohol....I'm thinking about bringing multiple bottles. Maybe a few "water bottles" or something.

definitely a good idea.
I've done it before, just go get some ice and pop and your good to go .. just stick to 1 bottle and don't overdue it. Don't want to be sick on a cruise ship

I went on one over the summer. I wasn't drinking (under 18 haha), but my VERY generous grandparents got my cousins and I soda cards, so for the fixed price, we could get as much as we want. Without them, we would have racked up a LOT of money on my parents credit card... I don't think there's much to prepare for, I was eating the entire time, and loved every bit of it. My adventures? Not much, went to a lot of shows, stayed in the elevator with a fart noise maker (teenage humor). Although we had to leave Bermuda early because of hurricane Irene, in hopes of beating it back to NY. Halfway back they decided we couldn't beat it, and had to go in circles for a whole day and night on the edge of the hurricane while it passed. I personally enjoyed the extra day of rough seas and unlimited food, can't say the same for others... Overall it was a really great!

Ah yes unlimited food supply. Best part about the cruise and it's delicious too! We had soda cards too but since I'm not a heavy soda drinker, I used my younger cousin soda card instead (stingy ). I really wanted a peaceful time on the cruise but it wasn't allowed because I always get dragged by my cousins to play games with them. Fortunately there was a card room. There is life show on every night and my whole family will catch it, I hate singing and dancing the most, I prefer if it's just dancing alone, there's magic show and aerobics, etc.

Curfew for kids under 18 so imagine the horror on my face when I was caught with 2 younger cousins out on the deck after 1am. I was 19 at that time though but I was so freaking shocked I forgot my age and told the guard I was 18. Then it became an avoid the guard game and we were jumpy as we disregard the guard and headed for our supper. It was fun and funny!

Other than that, I really like the gym. Nice and new, makes my lazy butt work out considering how unhealthy I am. Pools are crowded most of the time though. It's hard to swim with all the people around, to add on the fact that I can still drown.

Originally Posted by Carrot

Curfew for kids under 18 so imagine the horror on my face when I was caught with 2 younger cousins out on the deck after 1am. I was 19 at that time though but I was so freaking shocked I forgot my age and told the guard I was 18. Then it became an avoid the guard game and we were jumpy as we disregard the guard and headed for our supper. It was fun and funny!

Haha we went out on deck at night too when they closed it off because of the wind. And we played see how long we can stay in the adult pool before getting sent to the overcrowded nasty kid pool. We also "snuck" into an "adult" hypnosis show, THAT was interesting! I suppose it wasn't a good idea to bring the younger cousin (5th grade) into that one, he had some questions for his mom the next day... So BA aren't I?

Definitely spring for a large room. I went on an Alaskan cruise first and our cabin was so cramped it was terrible (but the cruise itself was still pretty amazing). Several years later we went on a Baltic cruise and sprung for a large room. The trip was so much more enjoyable.
I grew up middle class, married poor, divorced, married a Doctor. I always check the price of food before ordering. Even when married, I think it's rude to get really expensive stuff. I was absolutely blown away that there were no prices on the menus on the cruises lol.
It's silly how little things like that amaze me. I remember that more than the excursions.... but, if you have the money, I highly recommend going on a few. The excursions can be really fun. The only one I didn't care for was a train ride to Berlin. The seats grossed me out and my feet stuck to the floor. If I recall correctly, though, we ended up going to a restaurant, and oooooohh, the food made the ride worth it

Originally Posted by Zhaylin

I was absolutely blown away that there were no prices on the menus on the cruises lol.

You know what happen when people like me go to such places? I will have a few plates in front of me when everyone only has one plate.

Don't let your cruise ship sink. I was on a cruise in high school when it ran into the shore of a certain island. Several people died. I was a few minutes away from drowning as well. It was pretty fucked up, honestly, and I'll never go on one again.

Just be careful is all. I like you, Auron, so don't die.

Other than that, it was really fun. Nothing beats drinking on the ocean on a luxury cruise.

Oh that's horrible Grod! That really sucks you had to experience that! Yeah the rooms ARE small (We had 4 people in the smallest room). Yeah they had lobster, with no price tag! And then they came out later on in the dinner with left over lobster! For an excursion We went kayaking which was fun, saw turtles and scenery while doing so. We were supposed to go snorkeling, but we got cut short so we just went to the beach and walked around on the second (the last) day. As you can probably tell, my favorite part of all this was food, welcome to my life!

Rooms are very small and sometimes there are no windows so you can't tell if its dark out or light when u wake up. If u want to bring liquor I would consider buying a BOX of water bottles because you are allowed to take those i think.. fill several water bottles with clear liquor, and re-glue the box closed. Voila! My friends parents do that, its where I got the idea.

Make sure you do fun things when you go ashore, sometimes its just fun to explore the location.

I went on a cruise last December and it was amazing. Unlimited food all day every day. The pools on my cruise closed at around 10pm I think. During the day I would wander around the ship with my cousin and at night we would normally go to one of the clubs that always had either singing or comedy every night. Before supper every night (we had an 8:00 supper) our whole group, 17 of us, would get together and get ready to go eat. We took up two tables and I think the other tables thought of us as kinda obnoxious but I don't care. When I was looking at the menus and couldn't decide the waiter would just tell me have everything on there that you want. Needless to say most of us would often get several different dishes and we would all try eachothers as well.

My typical day on the ocean was waking up and meeting the whole family at this one part of the boat for breakfast. Then I would walk around for a while exploring the ship or just talking to people. Then I would go back to the place where I got breakfast for a lunch, normally pizza or hamburgers. After eating I would explore some more and spend some time with different sub-groups of our group. At about 6pm we would all get together and dress for supper and hang out until we go to eat. After eating my cousin and I would go and listen to singing or comedy. That would normally end at about midnight and then my cousin and I would go eat again. After eating my midnight meal I would go out to as far to the front of the ship as was possible for non crew members to reach. At night it was completely dark at that part of the ship and nobody was out there. After sitting outside for a while I would finally go in and sleep between 1 and 2 am.


Also while typing this I am looking at an ad at the bottom of the page for a cruise.