First ever cruise

We have booked on Britannia in Sep 2016 for our honeymoon. It will be our first ever cruise. We're really looking forward to it, but obviously have absolutely zero experience of cruising. We have picked up lots of tips from reading the forums and reviews on this terrific site and intend to carry on researching as much as possible. Could anyone offer any more advice for first timers please?

Go to the threads for new cruisers and read, read, read. Most of your questions have probably been answered. Here is the link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=97

Join the roll call for your cruise. If you don't know how to get there, post the specific cruise and someone will give you the link. You can meet others on your cruise beforehand to join tours or go to the beach together. They often plan activities to meet on board.

Ask specific questions.

You can search by putting a word into the search forum box. It is located towards the top of the page in the right hand side of the blue ribbon.

If you have questions about the ship and onboard routines, visit the P&O-UK board here at CC. EM

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Visit the P&O board at this link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=38

Scroll down this link to find the date of your Roll Call:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=945

nothing that different than a very nice hotel....

With great food

Good company

Lots to see and do

The likelihood you will make memories that will last a lifetime.

Seriously, yes, do some planning and research but don't forget to just relax and enjoy soaking in the ambiance and atmosphere of your first ever cruise and honeymoon. Sometimes you can over plan and over worry and become lost in 'what if...what should...'.

Sincere best wishes to you both for your cruise and your future lives together.

Relax and enjoy!

I was really nervous about my first cruise, many, many moons ago (I'm at over 35 cruises now) and what I did was to purchase some informational cruise books and they gave me some really good information about the ship I was going on and cruising in general. Hopefully, like me, you will be hooked on cruising after your first cruise. Hope you enjoy it!

I was really nervous about my first cruise, many, many moons ago (I'm at over 35 cruises now) and what I did was to purchase some informational cruise books and they gave me some really good information about the ship I was going on and cruising in general. Hopefully, like me, you will be hooked on cruising after your first cruise. Hope you enjoy it!

If you have access to a Kindle or even a Kindle app...there are lots of ebooks on Amazon about cruising...most very inexpensive. Some are short and others a bit longer. Not all are written all that well (these are self-published books), but when we were prepping for our first cruise nearly 4 years ago, I got scads of these and learned something useful from each. (And many of them offer free previews...so you can see if the style of the book is to your liking before dropping 1.99 or 0.99). Also, youtube has scads and scads of "cruising tips" videos. Again, quality is spotty, but I watched (and still watch) oodles of those. You should be able to find a bunch of videos specific to your ship too. Those are certainly helpful.

Google .. beyond ships dot com .. find your ship and get pages of info. happy cruising

If you have access to a Kindle or even a Kindle app...there are lots of ebooks on Amazon about cruising...most very inexpensive. Some are short and others a bit longer. Not all are written all that well (these are self-published books), but when we were prepping for our first cruise nearly 4 years ago, I got scads of these and learned something useful from each. (And many of them offer free previews...so you can see if the style of the book is to your liking before dropping 1.99 or 0.99). Also, youtube has scads and scads of "cruising tips" videos. Again, quality is spotty, but I watched (and still watch) oodles of those. You should be able to find a bunch of videos specific to your ship too. Those are certainly helpful.

When I first started cruising there was no kindles, so I just went to the book store and bought a few of the ones that looked good.

My advice

Go with the flow, don't over plan

Relax and enjoy

Prepare to be addicted.

Simple really.

I'm not up on that line, but usually the cruise line's all have a website with lots of great info.

My biggest piece of advice for anyone going on a cruise: if traveling to your ship's embarkation port, make sure to get to that city at least a day ahead. That way if there's a problem with flights, etc., you'll be there and not be stressing out. Especially as I imagine planning for your wedding was stressful enough. The only time we don't, is when we're leaving from our home port, which is an hour's drive away, and even then we're leaving our house by 10am at the latest.

If you have access to a Kindle or even a Kindle app...there are lots of ebooks on Amazon about cruising...most very inexpensive. Some are short and others a bit longer. Not all are written all that well (these are self-published books), but when we were prepping for our first cruise nearly 4 years ago, I got scads of these and learned something useful from each. (And many of them offer free previews...so you can see if the style of the book is to your liking before dropping 1.99 or 0.99). Also, youtube has scads and scads of "cruising tips" videos. Again, quality is spotty, but I watched (and still watch) oodles of those. You should be able to find a bunch of videos specific to your ship too. Those are certainly helpful.

I was going to say the same...kindle and YouTube have fed my cruise addiction quite nicely, thanks!

I'm not up on that line' date=' but usually the cruise line's all have a website with lots of great info.

 

My biggest piece of advice for anyone going on a cruise: if traveling to your ship's embarkation port, make sure to get to that city at least a day ahead. That way if there's a problem with flights, etc., you'll be there and not be stressing out. Especially as I imagine planning for your wedding was stressful enough. The only time we don't, is when we're leaving from our home port, which is an hour's drive away, and even then we're leaving our house by 10am at the latest.[/quote']

 

Getting there the day before is grat advice, my normal Port is also close (2 hours) and I still usually go the night before.

Thanks for all the advice folks. Very helpful and much appreciated :)