First time cruisers!

Hi,

As the title says my husband and I will be first time cruisers, we have chosen to go on a smaller ship as it we hope to fall in love with cruising and go bigger next time! It is also taking us to St Petersburg, a place where my husband has been wanting to go for some time.

I booked our cruise through an agent, and Cruise & Maritime have now sent through all the information regarding trips and things.

I do have a couple of things I would like an answer to

1. We have a GT601 as our cabin number, I had expected a number beginning with either 1 or 2 at the beginning, does this mean the room has an upgrade on it? Does it also mean that the cabin won't now change or is it still likely to go back to a 1 or 2?

2. I am particularly scared of getting seasickness, and due to taking other medication, I am reluctant to taking another pill, especially if I am not sure it will affect my other medication, any ideas?

3. I have chosen the first seating in the restaurant, as I wasn't sure if the late sitting would mean missing some of the entertainment, is this a good idea?

Thanks

Which ship/cruiseline? That will help with our answer about the cabin!! Upgrades are rare....have you looked at the deckplans for you ship?

Your doctor is the one to tell you about motion medications....call your doctor!!

Most cruiselines schedule the entertainment around the 2 traditional seating times so you should be able to see every show, if that's your wish!!!

I thought I put the name of the ship in the countdown clock, it is the Marco Polo, with Cruise and Maritime.

I did look at the deck plan which showed the cabin grade in the lower decks, and with the number I said in my original post, but the info I have now received says the GT601, we did book this very early and they have had a couple of deals on since then so didn't understand what was going on.

As for the seasickness, I was hoping for non medicated things, as I have heard some say that there are some things you can eat or wear that may help prevent it, I am ok on ferries that cross the English Channel, but have never spent more than 7 hours on one.

Thanks

Hi,

As the title says my husband and I will be first time cruisers, we have chosen to go on a smaller ship as it we hope to fall in love with cruising and go bigger next time! It is also taking us to St Petersburg, a place where my husband has been wanting to go for some time.

 

I booked our cruise through an agent, and Cruise & Maritime have now sent through all the information regarding trips and things.

 

I do have a couple of things I would like an answer to

1. We have a GT601 as our cabin number, I had expected a number beginning with either 1 or 2 at the beginning, does this mean the room has an upgrade on it? Does it also mean that the cabin won't now change or is it still likely to go back to a 1 or 2? I believe GT stands for Guaranteed...which means you booked a guaranteed category but you could be put anywhere on the ship.

2. I am particularly scared of getting seasickness, and due to taking other medication, I am reluctant to taking another pill, especially if I am not sure it will affect my other medication, any ideas?

 

Have you thought about the scoplamine (sp) patch? It's a patch that goes behind your ear to help with motion sickness. No pills involved. It does have it's own side affects though.:confused:

 

 

3. I have chosen the first seating in the restaurant, as I wasn't sure if the late sitting would mean missing some of the entertainment, is this a good idea?

 

The shows are scheduled around both dining times. If you have early seating you will see the show after dinner and if you have late seating you will see the show before dinner. And the comedy is always later with multiple shows. So it really just depends on what time you like to eat.

 

Thanks

Hope this helps. :)

Posters here have the ability to turn off the feature seeing other people's signature, where your future cruise is listed.

I thought I put the name of the ship in the countdown clock, it is the Marco Polo, with Cruise and Maritime.

 

I did look at the deck plan which showed the cabin grade in the lower decks, and with the number I said in my original post, but the info I have now received says the GT601, we did book this very early and they have had a couple of deals on since then so didn't understand what was going on.

 

As for the seasickness, I was hoping for non medicated things, as I have heard some say that there are some things you can eat or wear that may help prevent it, I am ok on ferries that cross the English Channel, but have never spent more than 7 hours on one.

 

Thanks

You can take ginger chews, tablets or gingerale. Also the crew has told me in the past that green apples help with sea sickness. All of that is natural

Green apple helped me last time. I didn't take my meds because we had calm seas and then boom...one of the staff must have seen the funny look on my face and gave me 2 apples. Worked instantly. Next time going to take my meds :)

I thought I put the name of the ship in the countdown clock, it is the Marco Polo, with Cruise and Maritime.

 

I did look at the deck plan which showed the cabin grade in the lower decks, and with the number I said in my original post, but the info I have now received says the GT601, we did book this very early and they have had a couple of deals on since then so didn't understand what was going on.

 

As for the seasickness, I was hoping for non medicated things, as I have heard some say that there are some things you can eat or wear that may help prevent it, I am ok on ferries that cross the English Channel, but have never spent more than 7 hours on one.

Thanks

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :)

You did put the information on your countdown clock. (There's an option for showing signatures so if someone has it cut off ... they don't see it.)

Try not to worry about being seasick. You've crossed the English Channel without becoming ill. Happily, most people never get seasick.

Enjoy St. Petersburg! :)

LuLu

~~~

Thank you for your replies, it gives me food for thought!

The only thing I don't know is if I am wrong as regards my cabin grade but I can live with that.

I have another question, my OH drinks a lot of water, would we be able to take a supply of bottled water for the offshore trips? Or would it be frowned upon?....maybe I should add green apples to that also!

Try sea-bands from Boots, that may be what you're thinking of, they are wrist bands with a pressure point button on and work for motion sickness.

I would use the sea bands for preventing motion sickness. Don't wait until you are sick to put them on. I haven't sailed on this line so I can't answer your question about your cabin choice. We chose earlier dinner in order to enjoy the shows and to be able to have our evening free to enjoy other activities (such as the casino, if your ship has one).

I would definitely check with your doctor if you are on prescriptions. They take vacations too (in fact my gynecologist and I often share notes on our latest cruises when I go in for my annual exam) and can often give you ideas. Try out any pills, etc. ahead of your cruise to make sure you don't get any side effects and then take a few remedies with you. It could be that you won't feel any sickness but it's good to be prepared.

As for your other questions (entertainment, cabin numbers, dining times), it's best to find the board for that cruiseline (if there isn't one for Marco Polo, look for the one that handles "other cruiselines") and ask your questions there. Many times someone will answer what is usual for their cruiseline (like the one above about Carnival -- which isn't relevant for you -- maybe your cruise line has just one show a night while Carnival will repeat the big production shows to accommodate those dining at different times).

Chelly- there's not usually a problem with taking water on board, but a cruise ship, unlike some of the ferries, always has good, clean drinking water coming from the taps in your shower room. It's easy to refill bottles from there, but I'm sure you'll be able to purchase water on board.

About seasickness....if you're fine on the ferries, then there's not much problem on a stable little "real" ship such as M.P.....I quote from Berlitz: "...with its deep draft, rides well in unkind seas." The ginger/ginger beer/green apples are a good stand-by.

There's a posting in this section about queasy beads, an alternative to the wrist bands. If I'm doing it right (relatively new poster), the link is at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2000148

There are some cynics in that discussion and what works for some may not work for others but I'd be tempted to try them. We do have the sea bands and they seem to work for light sea sickness and vertigo induced nausea for us.

In pregnancy shops, the ones that sell clothes, they sell lollipops for queasiness. I have heard that they work for seasickness.

Thankyou all for your comments, I am seeing my GP on Wednesday to discuss options for the potential sea sickness so I will update then....

I have another question regarding currency, how much currency do you recommend taking on the excursions and for just the wandering around the town/cities? In some places we are only there for 4-5 hours so I don't think there will be the need to worry about taking a lot to those places, as we are on trips, but an idea of what potential costs we may encounter would be good; such as coffee and cake, or a beer, or the cost of a city tour?