As a first-timer, which mistakes did you make?

[johneeo]

Not realizing the main dining room (MDR) is all-you-can-eat. My first cruise I only ordered one starter and one entree for dinner. Bummer.

 

Yep.

 

And I suggest if you want 3 appetizers and 2 entres, order them all at once.

 

If you decide you want the second dinner (app) after you finish the first, that can be a bit disruptive to the wait staff.

[dustyroad]

Not realizing the main dining room (MDR) is all-you-can-eat. My first cruise I only ordered one starter and one entree for dinner. Bummer.

 

now that is a bummer :(.

[jennmaybe]

Not knowing that Cruise Critic existed!:D:)

[wellfocused]

Not doing enough research on Cruise Critic (especially about the different ports):mad:

 

Not reading the "fun times" on carnival. I had no idea there were shows and all sorts of fun things to participate in. Stupid I know!:confused:

 

Not wearing a hat or enough sun screen. I sat in the shade 95% of the time in Cozumel and somehow my lips ended up blistered something fierce!

 

Not paying attention in Spanish class in High School.:rolleyes:

 

Not booking more ports instead of more sea days. We only went to Cozumel and had 2 days at sea. It was too much for me because I ended up getting "sea sick" on the last day.:cool:

 

Booking a cruise during hurricane season so the weather was awful. We had 50 ft. swells going through a tropical storm last labor day weekend.

But it does make for a fun story now.:eek:

 

And not realizing I could go to the casino to get a lanyard and my sail and sign card punched.

[bplazo]

Did not realize that you dressed up for dinner and that you could book fun excursions.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Clothing bring less...

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

My mistake was not bringing any formal clothing, as our travel agent at the time had not advised us of the need for it. My parents had their formal clothing luckily as they brought it a long to every trip, but I looked surly out of place... this was in the day when every man brought a smart black tuxedo... back in the days when a business suit looked out of place !

[Bluekat74]

For the cruise I just went on Dubai - Singapore my mistakes were:

 

*Not taking enough T-shirts (could have left a couple of pants at home). Pants easily worn multiple times t-shirts were a once only thing!

*We received a discounted laundry bag which I thought had to be used straight away, I should have saved it a few extra days and thrown in extra t-shirts!

*Worrying too much about what they were serving on board before I boarded. Honestly when it came down to it, I decided if I ate in the MDR over Windjammer by if I felt like getting dressed up a bit or not. Mostly I couldn't be bothered, and they had something for everyone, so I never went hungry.

*11 day cruise, and I only used hot tub once, and never went in the pool ... I went into full on holiday mode and just couldn't be bothered!

*Tried using the ships internet ... very slow and it adds up very quickly

*I should have at least tried the iceskating, inline skating and climbing wall once - I put it down to it was too hot to be exercising - honestly was just too lazy! you get little stamps on your card when you do these activities so would have been fun to have them!

[johneeo]

My mistake was not bringing any formal clothing, as our travel agent at the time had not advised us of the need for it. My parents had their formal clothing luckily as they brought it a long to every trip, but I looked surly out of place... this was in the day when every man brought a smart black tuxedo... back in the days when a business suit looked out of place !

 

Were you on the Titanic?:eek:

[Naps]

We didn't know the suitcases fit under the bed. We spent the time moving them here and there; luckily was just a 4 day cruise.

[Waihekean]

Had been researching a lot here on CC before cruise, so was mostly prepared.

The only thing that I thought was a bit of a mistake that only went to the pool one day on a 12 day itinerary. Was going to go more on the last couple of days which were sea days, but the weather turned bad and had to stay inside.

Now I understand why some people spend time at the pool first thing when they board!

[sail7seas]

When we first started cruising, there was no internet and we hardly knew anyone who had cruised.

 

Our TA picked the ship, the itinerary but seeing she was long distance from us and we only had telephone relationship (we did lots of air/land vacations all over the Caribbean and Europe/USA), I didn't even know what questiosn to ask re: cruising.

 

You know what?

We flew to FLL, we were met at the airport and taken to the ship, we checked in, boarded, were taken to our cabin, found our way to Buffet, had lunch and the day proceeded.

 

We didn't need any of the piles of info we share here daily :D to sail successfully, have a wonderful time and decide we love cruising.

 

RELAX!!! Some people stress so much it's almost painful.

It's a VACATION; it isn't a life and death circumstance.

You'll either love it or not.

The worst that will happen is you may decide cruising isn't for you.

The best and most likely is you'll decide you can't wait to cruise again.

You'll manage just fine and if there is one thing you forget to do or don't remember, so what!!!!! It's not a big deal.

 

Travel safely and enjoy.

 

[bigmohes]

I discovered CC so I was pretty prepared, however, we did not know until midway through our second cruise that the MDR was open for breakfast. We love eating breakfast in the MDR. Lots of opportunities to meet fellow cruisers. We have made many friends over breakfast!

[LynnTTT]

Don't overpack. Take comfortable shoes on shore, not those new cute little sandals (which will kill you after 3 hours of walking over uneven pavements and up and down rocks).

Being afraid of the MDR. Relax. It may look like a fancy place you avoid at home, but no one cares. It may seem like fussier food, but those sauces are good. And you're not paying anything for it, so try it! If you really hate it, the buffet is right around the corner.

Use sunscreen... the sun in the Caribbean is much stronger than at the pool at home.

[SailBadtheSinner]

On my first cruise ever I tried to pay cash in a gift shop, and was surprised they only want my key card :o

 

Of course it was way before Cruise Critic :)

 

 

Mistakes made first cruise: none; since: none.

The only mistake I made was eating the sushi :rolleyes:.

 

 

SBtS