mrsgoggins

Disney mugs are not allowed.

How strange (to me!) - anyone know the reason? These are mugs from the resorts and not Disney cruise line (if they have such a thing).

I just returned from a 49 day on the Lido deck. Suggest cabin number lower than 300 as lots of traffic between elevator and open air deck. .......

Just checked, and the cabin I booked is 243 :)

Thanks again to everyone for the input. All the posts have all been very interesting to me.

Just as general advice, bring a few days' supply of all the nonprescription medication you think you might need. They will be more expensive on board ship, and if you use more than a few days' worth, it's time to go to the medical center. And almost anything nonprescription in the US is available (often cheaper) at non-US pharmacies. And often your prescribed drug is cheaper and nonprescription in foreign lands.

 

Consider a lightweight travel mug. Some swear by reusable bottles, I don't like them because you really can't wash something like that very well. I'm one of those who takes a case of water aboard. On a warm weather cruise, you might want to consider it too.

 

If you have minibar items in your refrigerator, it's OK to ask the cabin attendant to get rid of them, if you have no interest.

I would not have thought to take lightweight travel mugs (I have a good supply of Disney ones :)) so a good tip, as is the case of water. Thanks.

We'll definitely be travelling with all of our prescription medication and since we're Brits, and over 60, it will have been free anyway. Quite happy to pay out for the travel sickness pills though ;)

My wife was susceptible to sea sickness. Unfortunately, sea sick pills made her drowsy. That's a common problem with sea sick meds.

 

Ginger capsules came to the rescue. The only side effect was ginger breath. She'd start them a couple days before the cruise.

You will find them in most health food stores. Check your local Walgreen, too.

 

 

http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?Find=Find&_refineresult=true&ic=16_0&search_constraint=0&search_query=ginger+capsules&facet=form%3ACapsules

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll pack some of those too ..... and hope I don't need either :)

Every time we've cruised out of Fort Lauderdale, for one reason or another (usually price), we've ended up staying in the same hotel...

 

The Marriott SpringHill Suites in Dania Beach...

 

This may not be of use to the OP, but it is to me, so thank you for posting it. We try to use Marriott whenever we can and will need somewhere to stay before our January cruise from FL.

Well thank you everyone for so much good advice - things I had never thought of. I will be sure to buy some Bonine before our Disney cruise (August so fingers crossed for no hurricane). I think once I've done that, I'll be in a better position to know how I feel about the motion on board and whether I need to change deck for the January Princess cruise.

Thanks again :)

Bonus for Lido Deck rooms include just a short walk for pizza, hamburgers,hot dogs and the pools, just beyond that is the buffet. Also you are a quick elevator ride to the Casino, theater and piazza which includes the International Cafe. I would check it out if you are not under the treadmills, but that's just one cruisers opinion.

Ken

That's a good tip about the treadmills and if I don't change, I will check that. Thanks.

Thanks for your response and pleased to hear that it's your favourite location. It appealed to me because it's close to outdoor areas (even though we've booked a balcony) and great views. I'm hoping that because we're headed to the Caribbean, and it's not hurricane season, that I may be okay.

I've yet to take my first cruise (a 3 day Disney from Port Canaveral in August) but I also have 2 others booked with Princess, a 5 day Caribbean in January and an Alaskan cruise tour in May. I booked each of them 'blind' knowing nothing about cruise ships or cruise critic forums!

The cabin I am most bothered about is the one on Lido deck on the 5-day Caribbean. Am I likely to feel a lot more motion so high? The cost has gone up since I booked, but I am still thinking about making a change.

Anyone here like the higher decks? Might it be okay given that I don't have a good record sailing rough waters?

I'm still quite new here so apologies if this sort of question is asked all the time.

We rented from Avis. They gave us instructions to walk to the Blue Iguana Shop and someone picked us up there and took us to the airport where we got our Jeep. It was very easy. If you are used to the driving, I would say go for it! It was really easy to drive around the island, we just had a hard time in the "city". On the other side of the island there are some beautiful public beaches and Rum point is very pretty.

Thanks for that information. We will definitely be doing this :)

I booked the Homelands cruise for 1st May 2016 last year - 2-and-a-half-years in advance! Being from the UK, we took advantage of the 'gratuities included' offer if booked by end of 2013. I'll be keen to see others' reviews of their experiences with the new ship next year. It certainly looks promising :)

Again, thank you for that information.

Last night I contacted a USA TA to get a quote and she got back to me immediately telling me that they are not allowed to book for UK guests. This is unlike Disney, who do accept bookings from US TAs for UK guests.

Today I will give Princess a call to see if an offer of $350 on board credit I have seen would apply to my cruise tour (the small print was very small ;))

I am a lot wiser thanks to this thread :)

That is great information, thank you.

I will definitely take your comments on board since I've been ill crossing the Irish Sea (between Liverpool and the Isle of Man), North Sea en route to Denmark and even on a very short Channel crossing to France!

What a good forum this is :)

I've already booked our May 2015 Alaskan cruisetour. You can still Keep an eye on dropping prices and have these passed onto you. You'll have a better choice re cabins.

Thanks for the reassurance - I've talked myself into it ;). However choosing cabins is another minefield when you are new to cruising! I am thinking that a balcony cabin at the rear (stern?) might be a good choice, but will there be engine fumes I wonder! I'll do a search and maybe another thread if I can't find the answer. So much to learn ...... :)

Thanks to both of you for your advice.

Tomorrow I am going to contact a TA, which is something I don't normally do as I'm in the UK and like to book everything myself separately (we travel to the US/Canada 2 or 3 times a year), but I am already learning that cruising is a bit different :)

Background: We are new to cruising, having only done 1 river cruise so far, but I have booked a 5 night Caribbean Princess cruise in January to experience a big ship.

My question: I have seen an Alaska cruisetour I would like to do in 2015. The price for May 2015 online is almost the same as May 2014 currently. I believe there may be an advantage to waiting until I am on my first cruise before booking the second. Is that right? Or is the advantage likely to be only a reduced deposit requirement? Any discount/incentive offered on board?

I was originally planning on leaving the booking until after the January cruise, but see that the first sailing for May 2014 is totally sold out - and the equivalent for 2015 is my preferred date so maybe I should book sooner rather than later.

Any advice would be most welcome.

Hope you don't mind if I join in with this thread OP. We're British so driving on the left and roundabouts are what we do ;), but would be glad to know if the process of getting the car (thinking Avis online?) from the rental depot is easy.

We have never cruised before and our itinerary (for Jan 2015) shows the duration at Grand Cayman to be from 7 am to 4 pm and we are early risers so could be off the boat asap. Is it that easy? Would we really have up to 9 hours ashore?

Thanks.