First time cruising questions/seeking advice

mla973

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 18, 2004
We're thinking about cruising for April 2019. Probably not DCL due to cost, but perhaps RCL.

What should I be thinking about when deciding on itinerary and pricing? What advice would you give a first time cruiser? Are there "hidden" costs we should be aware of or watching for?

I am an experienced WDW traveler, but have not done a cruise before. It will be me, DH and DS8. We are not super adventurous food-wise, but love the water and new experiences.

I'm also wondering how important the balcony room is. Should we do it if we can afford it? Since we have no cruised before, we're not sure what to expect regarding motion sickness.

TIA!
 
First suggestion would be to use a TA. They can get you good deals on most cruise lines, and probably give you some extra something or others. In that respect it's a little different than booking, well, any other travel. You may still want to book your flights (if needed) on your own.

What should I be thinking about when deciding on itinerary and pricing? What advice would you give a first time cruiser? Are there "hidden" costs we should be aware of or watching for?
For me, itinerary isn't as important in the Caribbean as it might be on the Mediterranean. Not to disparage the history of the Caribbean ports of call, but for my family (and more specifically, my kids), it's about the beach and one could consider them interchangeable. The Mediterranean ports obviously have that rich old world history, so if there's a specific place you want to see, find a cruise that goes there.

Also, Mediterranean cruises have a lot of port days, so a megaship like Oasis might sound like a good idea, but my suspicion is that you won't be able to take as much advantage of their facilities as you might like. Conversely, it's roughly 50/50 on port/sea days in the Caribbean, so you would be able to enjoy a larger ship like Harmony or Carnival Vista.

A final thing about itinerary - the shorter (3/4 day) cruises tend to be more of a "booze cruise". In the DCL forum one poster noted that their Norwegian Cruise had a bunch of drunk folk on the first night, then it settled down afterwards. I've no issue with people drinking, and in my younger days I was known to have drank somewhat past excess on occasion (cough), but if that were my first cruise, and I had drunks all around me, I'd probably swear off of cruising for life. 7 days may seem like a long cruise, but I think it's the better option.

I'm not sure about hidden costs. There are, of course, extra costs and "upsells", but they're certainly not hidden within the cost of the cruise. You should be aware that gratuities are not included in your cruise price, will cost somewhere around $14/day per person, and will be billed to your room unless you ask them to stop it. I usually leave it as is, and tip extra as warranted.

Food-wise, there should be more than enough to handle whatever eating limitations you might have, whatever cruise line you might end up taking. The buffet is usually a good option in this case, as you can get what you like, and try something different as well. For dinners, the main dining room (MDR) has some daily offerings as well as standards, so again there should be no issue finding something you like. If not, ask!

I'm also wondering how important the balcony room is. Should we do it if we can afford it? Since we have no cruised before, we're not sure what to expect regarding motion sickness.
This is an interesting one. I think everyone should try a balcony room at least once. But that said, my first two cruises were outside with portholes, and the rooms were fine on the second one (the first one was in 1987-88 and I almost never speak of it) so I guess I recommend a balcony, but it's not a necessity.

If you're concerned with motion sickness, I would make sure you get some pills or those wristband thingies just in case. On the megaships it's usually smooth enough that you probably won't notice you're on the water, but better safe than sorry I say.
 
i would start with what port do you want to sail out of. that will narrow down which ships and itineraries. keep in mind transfer fees between airport and port or car rental or car service. try to get an idea of the size of ship you would like. I don't think you can go wrong with any size, they are all great. I haven't had a balcony yet, but I have a couple booked, and am sure it will be great. however, the inside cabins have served their purpose well for my family. there is plenty of room for the 3 of you and your luggage. as far as motion sickness, I would say if any of you experience it in parks on rides, or in cars, I would go to dr for a patch. many ppl on cruises have these on, or if you think you'll be all right and discover once on ship you are not ok, there is a first aid station that will help and they will give you green apples and such to try to help. the closer to the middle of the ship usually helps for cabin choice if youre worried. we have been through the outskirts of I think 3 hurricanes, and some of us got queasy and some didn't mind a bit. don't forget the gratuities, you will have to look it up to see how much to expect per day per person. but the cruise can definitely be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be, once onboard, you need not spend money to have a great time. do some research on ports of call on the cruises you may be interested in, there are usually beaches within walking distance.
 
"hidden fees"
Daily Service Charge or Gratuity: I always prepay mine so that they are paid off with the cruise. It's a personal preferene
Soda, alcohol, specialty coffee: Included beverages will be water, tea, coffee, juices, milk. If you want anything else you can purchase a package to cover all you can drink or pay by the drink.
Specialty restaurants: The main dining room, buffet and depending on ship other places will be included. All ships offer special dining areas. Personally I have never paid for a meal on the ship. I've always found plenty to eat in the included places.

motion sickness - We brought bonine with us on our first cruise. Never cracked the bottle. I guess we are super lucky!

balcony - If you can afford it without breaking the bank then I say go for it. I have only cruised in oceanview or balcony rooms and love the natural light.

Islands/ports - Some are better than others! Nassau, HATE! My favorite port has been San Juan followed closely by Philippsburg, St Maarten.

I would start with what ship type you want and then see what ports they visit.
 


One thing to think about re: room choice and motion sickness...the higher decks will feel more motion, as will the very front and very back ends of the ship. In addition, the newer/bigger ships have better stabilizers so there is less motion. I personally have been on 15 cruises, and never had a balcony. I did try an interior once and I cannot do that, I need some natural light, but an ocean view has always been fine.

Since you are water people I would try and stay with Freedom class or newer as they have the better pools/slides/etc on board. Also look for ports that offer a good beach close to the port. Both of RCCL's private islands have good swimming beaches so that is fine either way.

"Hidden Fees" are as described above. If you prepay your gratuities, you can certainly spend a week on board and not spend another dime. The other charges are all optional: Specialty restaurants, drink packages, photos, souvenirs, bingo, casino, arcade, etc.

Whatever you choose, be prepared to love it!
 
I'm a first time cruiser - going on a DCL cruise in a couple weeks - and for us, having never cruised before, we decided to try a 4 night cruise to test our "sea legs".

I'm not sure we can stomach the upcharge versus other cruise lines on the longer trips with DCL, so if we like it, we will probably try other lines. But we decided that we know we like Disney... so even if it turns out that we don't love cruising, at least we should enjoy the Disney parts. And if we end up loving cruising, then we'll try something longer next time.

Not sure if that's sound logic, but that's how we decided to do it. So we're doing a few park days at WDW first, then catching the cruise.
 
I mentioned before that a 3-4 day cruise tends to be more of a "booze cruise", but I should modify that as I don't think it applies to DCL, given that they cater more to families than the other lines would on these short cruises.

So with that in mind, I think your logic checks out. :)
 


For us, cruising is almost more about the ship than the ports, and we'd be happy with any Caribbean itinerary. Royal has tons of ships so I'd look through the various features and pick one good for an 8 year old. Also think about what size of ship you'd like. The Oasis class is amazing. They are large, but for us, that was not an issue (and a bonus!). We have been on Allure with our kids and have Symphony booked. They are super kid friendly and the entertainment is amazing. If you want waterslides, then you can stick with Harmony or Symphony. If you want Dreamworks Symphony won't have them but many ships do. If you want something a big smaller, then Freedom class is good choice. Or Quantum class is supposed to be amazing too. Depends as well where you want to sail out of. There are smaller ships with slides too...Adventure, Liberty of the Seas and Mariner is getting them.

We have never had balcony (but have Boardwalk balcony booked to try on Symphony next year) and have been fine in interiors. On Allure we sailed in a Promenade which has a bay window open to the Promenade area. That was fun.

As for "hidden" costs....soda is extra (can buy package or buy each glass as you go),and there are other drink packages. There are many restaurants included (especially on Oasis class) and then there are specialty that are extra if you want to try one. Character meal is a small fee if your ship has one. But mots activities are included (odd exception may be 'cup cake decorating, or jewelry making)

I'm a Disney park fun but for cruising, I'm a Royal fan.
 
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We're thinking about cruising for April 2019. Probably not DCL due to cost, but perhaps RCL.

What should I be thinking about when deciding on itinerary and pricing? What advice would you give a first time cruiser? Are there "hidden" costs we should be aware of or watching for?

I am an experienced WDW traveler, but have not done a cruise before. It will be me, DH and DS8. We are not super adventurous food-wise, but love the water and new experiences.

I'm also wondering how important the balcony room is. Should we do it if we can afford it? Since we have no cruised before, we're not sure what to expect regarding motion sickness.

TIA!

We did our second cruise on Oasis last Spring, but had treated it like our first cruise because it had been 10 years since our first. Things were different.

No "hidden" costs with RCL that we found, but a lot of things are optional and its easy to get caught up in the upgrades. We purchased optional drink packages, internet package, and did specialty dining package. We felt it was all worth it. You can get by without purchasing specialty dining or dining room upgrades, but you may find some are worth it. I would add extra to your budget for things like this. There is a lot of up-selling on board.

Like WDW, we found that the Oasis required some planning. Other ships maybe not so much. But we did My Time Dining so we booked dinner reservations that worked for us many nights and tried scheduling shows around that. I also researched shore excursions and planned our in port days, and tried to align them with My Time Dining and show reservations as well.

IMO, the balcony cabin is worth it depending on the ship you will be on. For us on Oasis, we only had ocean view and were happy with that. We were rarely in our cabin since there were so many things to see and do on the ship. I can see the benefit of the balcony if you will have breakfast in your room or if you have sleeping kids you want separation from. Other than those instances, think about whether the three of you would spend time sitting on the balcony. Its just DH and me, and we would be bored doing that except for maybe breakfast or a drink out there.
 
On our last cruise, the Oceanview balcony proved beneficial as my wife had to work while on board and sitting on the balcony is a pretty good way to do that, all things considered. It's also very relaxing on sea days - instead of finding a secluded public spot to read, relax and watch the waves you've got one outside your cabin.

For our next cruise we have a Central Park balcony, so we won't be able to do that.
 

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