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T&Dcruisers

By T&Dcruisers,
in First Time Cruisers

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denys222

denys222

Posted
Posted

Some port of calls usually have a free WiFi zone. Great place to contact your loved ones or minimal $. I used Skype and the calls cost around 2 or 3 cents a minute. Buying a calling card at one port of call means you need to use all the air time because they will not work outside that island (country) . When we still have time left on our calling card we just offer it to someone near a phone .Enjoy.

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bosslaydee

bosslaydee

Posted
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My 5.

-Theres never such a thing as bringing too much money.

-Try and eat EVERYWHERE. Theres so many choices id advise that if youve already had a dinner in the MDR try the other options for dinner for the rest of the week.

-Dont try and do everything in a day, budget your time accordingly. I tried to do 3 things in such a small frame that i tried to fit 2 things in at 2:30.. i ended up only getting to do half of one and completely missing the other because it started already.

-Get to games early. Cuz people WILL show up. And you might not get a chance to play.

-Wait for the sales. They will HAPPEN. I got a gold bracelet for like 20 bucks. cubic zirconia for like, 5. real gemstones for 50-80. 10 dollars for a watch set.

and an extra one

-DONT FORGET YOUR TOILETRIES! If you burn easily make SURE you brought your sunscreen cuz its REALLY expensive on the ships and in the ports..

 

 

Now i have to disagree with some peoples rules. since this is all subjective anyways..

-I over packed. but to ME thats regular packing. I value style. And if i have access to a change of clothes, i change 3 to four times a day. I get people dont always care about what you wear, but I DO. I like to look good. And i dont mind the heavy lifting to do so.

-Someone said use the ships shampoo cuz your hair will get wind blown anyways.. well its gonna matter when the wind blows and breaks off my brittle hair. i have curly hair. i need moisture.

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Jolake

Jolake

Posted
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Your port information should be printed on your boarding pass. It will also be shown in the cruise brochure. Your travel agent will be able to tell ou if you can't find te info on your cruise line's paperwork or website.

Thank you so much. I was just trying to plan an excursion that's closest to the ports.

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Shadowdancer604

Shadowdancer604

Posted
Posted
I always pack some powdered drink mix, i.e Gatorade, Crystal Lite.

 

I drink a lot of water especially on Caribbean cruises .:)

DW always packs the power strip for the computer so we can download the pictures we take from the digital camera.

 

Enjoy your cruise !!!!!

 

 

To continue this thought......visit Starbucks for a box of VIA and have great coffee for the trip anytime of day. also bring your own choice of Tea bags with you.

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kylenne

kylenne

Posted
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Re: coffee pots in the room, it depends on the cruise line and cabin. We had one in our JS on the Navigator.

 

The best piece of advice I got from CC prior to my first cruise was checking out the different sub-boards for various ports. While I am still a newbie to cruising, I travel a lot on land and love the planning and research aspect so my more seasoned folks left that to me. By reading the Rome board here, I scored a killer deal on a airport transfer (we loved our driver so much we kept his information for our post-Cruise stay in Rome!). I wanted to book a tour to Ephesus for our Kusadasi stop and booked a private tour with a local operator the folks here raved about. Not only was it a fraction of what the cattle call ship excursion cost, we had our own private comfy motorcoach and a fantastic guide. It was easily the highlight of the cruise. You really can't go wrong with the info provided by fellow CCers on the ports. I am even using that info to determine where I want to go next. :) (Yes, I got the bug!)

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Shadowdancer604

Shadowdancer604

Posted
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Great advice! How many cruises have you been on?

 

October will be my first cruise but I am a veteran traveler and many places we go either offer non-drinkable nabob/folgers style coffee or stale tea. Having a wife that works for Starbucks, I have grown accustomed to good coffee and now that Starbucks owns Teavana, well you get the point. While VIA is not the same as a good brewed coffee or Americano, it is a great alternative as long as you can obtain a free cup of hot to boiling water wherever you go. I also find the same with Tea. We like a variety of herbal teas that are never offered in restaurants and only in higher end hotels so we seal and pack our own and take a free pot of hot water to brew our own yummy tea.

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Shadowdancer604

Shadowdancer604

Posted
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Definitely take the Kindle! Take a ziploc bag that it will fit into, as well. Then you can shove the Kindle in the bag and read it poolside or at the beach and never worry about it getting wet or getting sand in it. :)

 

I would suggest if you enclose electronics in a ziploc in a tropical area, that you also put a little silica pack or two in with it. These are standard packing in a lot of items which are enclosed in plastic before being sold in a box.

 

A sealed ziploc will sweat in warmer and tropical areas and this could affect your electronics and technically void a warranty IF it turns the litimus paper colored on the battery.

 

Same advice for your cell phone, non-waterproof camera, ipods and specifically for flash memory cards. Slightest moisture in those will kill all the holiday photos you took and hoped to download later.

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Diaz

Diaz

Posted
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In key west, we had researched a lower cost bike rental shop a few blocks from the pier. The first Name Brand Hotel closest to the pier wanted 2x the cost of a shop just a few short blocks away. We rented nicer bikes, we a coupon, and were on our way quickly since we had made a reservation. We checked out Duval street, the garden club museum on the beach, then made a beach day of it after exploring the town on our own. Around 25$ apiece.

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kchesneylover

kchesneylover

Posted
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1. Take an over the door shoe holder for toilitries

2. Dont hog chairs with your towel. Its rude.

3. Do not forget hair conditioner, leave in conditioner

4. Some of The amenities at the spa are free. We go on embarkation day.

5. Buy water shoes with rubber soles for pool deck and spa.

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Greeneyelady

Greeneyelady

Posted
Posted

wow, I've been reading and will be back to read more.

My first cruise will be in April, and trying to find out alot before we go.

Thanks to so many that has posting, I'm learning and writting things down.

Got alot of questions too.

so do I ask them here or somewhere else? If it is somewhere else, please point me to that place.

thanks

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NoobCruise

NoobCruise

Posted
Posted (edited)
wow, I've been reading and will be back to read more.

My first cruise will be in April, and trying to find out alot before we go.

Thanks to so many that has posting, I'm learning and writting things down.

Got alot of questions too.

so do I ask them here or somewhere else? If it is somewhere else, please point me to that place.

thanks

 

There are lots of boards on CC that you can get great info. I see you're sailing on Carnival, so check out their board:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=215

 

There are also boards for the ports you'll be going to, just scroll down and find the ones you're interested in:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

 

You may want to join your roll call to meet people who will be sailing with you, just find your date and if one hasn't been started, then feel free to start one:

 

Carnival Magic: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=626

Edited by NoobCruise
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  • 2 weeks later...
Freetimecrafter

Freetimecrafter

Posted
Posted
wow, I've been reading and will be back to read more.

My first cruise will be in April, and trying to find out alot before we go.

Thanks to so many that has posting, I'm learning and writting things down.

Got alot of questions too.

so do I ask them here or somewhere else? If it is somewhere else, please point me to that place.

thanks

 

Greeneyelady, What cruise in April? Our first cruise is April 7th with RCL on the Mariner.

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kre8ivejen

kre8ivejen

Posted
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Just got back from our first cruise! :)

 

I will first say that this site was amazing and i thank everyone for their thoughts and 'most important' things! With that i will say - do not think that you need everything that people are saying are a must! Think a bit about YOU and your travel companions and if you really think that whatever it is might be something YOU would really want/need/use! :)

 

There were 2 of us on Adventure of the Seas in a balcony room -

 

We took an over the door shoe thing.... never put it up. We did see where it might have been useful, but things never got so out of control that we HAD to use it. And my boyfriend tends to be an organized freak so that is why i took it, but he never had any problems or complaints - there were lots of little cubbies and drawers and stuff!

 

We did not take an extension cord or power strip - never regretted not having it.

 

I take a million pics - we took a back up camera battery, charged them both every night! And an 8 gig memory card, a back up 8 gig and another 4 gig back-up... we used both of our main cards - took 14 gigs of pics (almost 3000!)! **Royal changes a floor tile in the elevators to state the day, so every morning i would take a pic of my toes and the day it was, makes organizing the pics easy!

 

We took window static clings for our door - LOVED it! Made it so easy to find our door when walking down the hallway! :)

 

We took two double-wall tumblers (with cover/straw) and some pink lemonade powder (and a small plastic pitcher we got at the dollar store - wide opening so i could pack clothes in it for transport and then if no room could just leave in the room without leaving a $5 pitcher behind!) to make drink in our room and drink about the ship. ((the rum runner flasks work and were wonderful!)) Mind you, We still bought some wonderful drinks on the ship (LOVED the pina colada's!) :)

 

BACK PACK... back pack... BACK PACK! We took this most days! The day we just went on shore for a few hours we took a cross the shoulder satchel and that worked fine, but when we were off the ship for more than a few hours the back pack held our towels/change of clothes/water/sunscreen/etc...

 

I took a few post cards from my state/area... when i wanted to leave a note for our attendant asking him to do something or just saying thanx for something i left it on a post card! He thanked me several times for them!

 

Lots of one dollar bills! We took $50 in ones and used every last one of them (plus some!) on random tips!

 

Highlighters - WORK GREAT! very helpful!

 

Sunscreen!

Lanyards! (for sea pass!)

Formal clothes - those dinners and the pics after are fun!

Journal for keeping track of it all!

 

:) This is all that i can think of right now... Sorry, i know it is a lot! Best of luck to all of you that are getting ready to cruise for the first time! I was so very nervous, but now realize there was no need for being nervous - it was amazing! :)

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