Fess Up! Share stories of mistakes you've made while cruising.

[DesertPesce7751]

My neighbor had this happen on one of her HAL cruises:

Last night, suitcase open on bed, fully packed.

Goes in to shower.

Comes out and..

Her husband has zipped up the bag and put it in the hall for pickup.

The next morning she realizes that she hasn't laid out any clothes for the arrival!

 

Guess what she had to do?

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I almost did that a few times.

 

Evidently, she "bought" the cabin-use robe? Or did she go down to the emporium and find a jogging suit?

[trinaM]

I carried too much luggage on two cruises back to back . I was staying in the city only for a day in between.

 

On Princess I missed the production shows. Strange since they shortened them , I miss the old formats and variety.

[karenlovesparis]

Just a few months ago, I was getting on a cruise at the San Francisco Port. We were standing in line and they said to get all our paperwork out. I pulled out my passport and boarding pass and opened the passport and it was my sons!! I almost passed out. I grabbed his instead of mine. Luckily I was able to get on. I live in Colorado and there was no way I could have gotten it in time.

[trinaM]

Wow that's amazing. How did that work.

[AZ Ocean Lover]

I'm going to tell on a fellow cruiser. On disembarkation day I was getting some yummy pastries from the International Café and a woman that was walking by asked me how much they cost. I said nothing, they are free. The look on her face was priceless when she said, "You mean I could have had these all week?"

[Marseydotes]

My SIL told me that on one of her cruises, she bumped into a sweet young couple who had never eaten in The main dining room, thinking that all but the buffet were extra cost! The cruise lines do not seem to make this clear in literature, I believe!

[wishIweretravelling]

Drinking too many of those refreshing but unidentified pink drinks at sailaway. Then going parasailing the next morning.

[4boysnana]

This is a returning airport story. My DD and I were at the London airport years ago while it was under construction. We were having fun shopping in the shops and decided we should start towards the gates to board. We thought we had lots of time but as we entered the passage way to the gates there was a sign that said it was about a 45 minute walk to the gates! We picked up the pace and it was a long walk.

It was at least 45 minutes dashing and by the time we got to our gate the door was closing on the plane and we leaped on and the door slammed behind us. Why is our gate always the last gate?

They should let you know how long the walk will be before you enter the passage way or is it the panic way.

 

4boysnana

[searoses]

Traveled to Seattle on the way to alaska....I put the cruise luggage tags on a day early flying to anchorage for the night....luggage went to the cruise line....spent hours figuring that was what happened and airlines ASSUMED the one huge bag would arrive at the ship..

Waited,waited and waited....spent A lot of money picking out basic clothing just in case...boarded in Skagway and by dinner no bag...

I was getting frustrated and weepy....bed time no bag....up late and finally at 11:30 there was a knock on the door.....very happy steward!...lesson learned...we cross pack and try to only do carry on!.... have no idea why I placed those tags on prematurely . ....

[vacation luvver]

The biggest mistake I ever made actually took place before the cruise, when I foolishly mentioned at my gym that my friend "Jane" (who also went to that gym) and I were going on a cruise, and "Ellen" immediately said, "Oooh, can I go, too?" Not knowing what else to do, I looked at the floor and muttered "okay." The cruise was open to everyone who had the money to pay for it, and I couldn't think of a single reason to give to Ellen why she wouldn't want to go.

 

When I reported this on cruisecritic at the time that it happened, people were quick to tell me that it was all my fault for discussing my plans. They all said that I should have waited until the day before we left to say that we were going on a cruise.

 

We hardly ever ran into Ellen and her cabinmate "Fran" on the ship. We saw them on the first day as we were heading to dinner in the MDR(it was an NCL ship, so there were no assigned times for meals), and we asked them if they wanted to eat with us, but they said no, because they had boarded the ship several hours after we did, and they had eaten a late lunch and weren't hungry.

 

Another time, as we headed into the MDR, we saw Fran and asked if she was waiting for Ellen to join her for dinner. If so, we were willing to wait for them. Fran said that she didn't know where Ellen was.

 

After we got home from the cruise, we found out that Ellen and Fran had thought that all meals that weren't at the buffet cost extra, and they hadn't eaten in the MDR even once. We were shocked. They obviously didn't ask us what the cost was (remember, they knew that we had eaten in the MDR on the first night, and Fran saw us walk into the MDR the other night), or we would have told them that there was no extra charge. And they obviously could have asked at Guest Relations how much it would cost. They had booked their cruise with a TA, and I'm surprised that the TA didn't tell them about the MDR being included.

 

And there was another cruise when I had to tell someone that meals in the MDR were included, because she didn't know that.

 

I guess some people don't know how to read. At least I've learned to keep my mouth shut about cruise plans.

[CruisingSince2012]

This is a great thread. I laughed at some of the stories. Some people have good tips for future cruises.

 

Here are my cruise mistakes:

 

First cruise: Because it was a three-night Carnival cruise and supposed to go to the Bahamas, I assumed a short sleeve tropical blouse and black cotton skirt on formal night would be good enough. Wrong! When I got out of the elevator and waited for the MDR to open, most of the women were wearing prom dresses.

 

Second cruise: I didn't think about asking tablemates for their email addresses. About a week after the cruise, a deadly tornado hit a town near Oklahoma City, where they live. I wished I could ask them how they were doing.

 

Hope I don't make a big mistake on my third cruise!

[CruisingSince2012]

I read an article in Reader's Digest years ago called "Dumbocracy" about stupid mistakes some people made. Readers were asked to vote for the stupidest one. If it would not offend or upset anybody maybe we should do that in this thread. What do you think of that idea?

[Danni3ll3]

I read an article in Reader's Digest years ago called "Dumbocracy" about stupid mistakes some people made. Readers were asked to vote for the stupidest one. If it would not offend or upset anybody maybe we should do that in this thread. What do you think of that idea?

 

 

What would be the point? I enjoy reading the stories without rating them. Thanks, but no thanks!

[JimAOk1945]

This thread was started on April 29th, 2014, 01:25 PM, and then resurfaced a few days ago but it is entertaining and informative.

 

Happy cruising to all!

[notalandlover]

This is the dumbest thing I ever heard about

 

"You can't fix stupid."

 

Ron White

 

 

 

[cruznjan]

Packing WAY too many clothes! :o

 

I resemble that remark!

[NCCruzQueen]

Inviting a friend who drinks too much on an all-inclusive cruise. We hadn't left port the first night and she was hugging the walls walking back to our suite. She claimed that the ship was really rocking. She outdrank me 3 to 1 on that cruise and hugged many walls. A few people on all-inclusive cruises think they need to drink their money's worth.

[GUT2407]

Mine was on my first cruise. I didn't realize that you were to give the cabin steward their tip the last night, I figured I would give it to him the next morning before I left for the ship. Well, much to my surprise, when I returned to my cabin that night, I had no towels or pillows. That was a hard lesson to learn, had to dry off with the sheet (thank goodness he did leave those on the bed).

 

 

Your big mistake was not calling the head of housekeeping.

[GUT2407]

Packing WAY too many clothes! :o

 

 

We still make that one, every cruise we say "Next time we'll pack less" and we do, but it is still too much.

[BeagleOne]

I am prone to seasickness so I use the patch. It lasts about a week for me with no side effects. On a ten-day cruise I forgot to change patches after a week and got quite seasick in the rough weather that night. So I skipped dinner, put on a new patch, and crawled into bed, knowing I would feel better in about three hours.

 

In came the steward to turn down the beds. He asked after my health and I told him what was going on. He said, "Oh, yes, when the ship goes UP and DOWN and BACK and FORTH and the walls are moving and the floor is moving...you are lucky to be in an inside cabin so you can't see the big waves out the window!" He went on and on and I almost threw up on him!

 

Now if I'm lucky enough to be on a cruise longer than a week, I change patches after a week, even if I still feel fine.

[Amandah1987]

I am yet to go on my first cruise, I am booked to go on my first cruise in February next year.

If I was not going with friends who have cruised before, I would have arrived at the time it gives for departure.... I have been looking into flights, and was confused as to why they wanted to get the 6am flight, when I was looking at the 5pm flights lol.

Thank god lol.

Well I'm sure I will make some mistakes when I go (bringing my then 3 year old, by myself might be a mistake, but I'm sure she will do great)

I'm very OCD about research, and I've already applied for passports, hopefully they arrive in 2 weeks.

Have accommodation sorted (for after)

Getting our suitcases tomorrow. Already have packing lists printed out.

I think I should be ok, but reading threads like this is helpful.

 

But I guess we are making one mistake that everyone says not to do- fly in on the day of the cruise.

I kinda am not worried about it though, it's a 2 hour flight from Adelaide to Sydney. Only half an hour time difference, plenty of other flights that day at early times. And the airport is only 20 mins drive from the dock. We should get into Sydney around 8.30am so plenty of time to work out something if anything goes wrong, but it will be summer, so chances of crazy weather is slim to none (plus Australia doesn't tend to have crazy weather that delays flights), like tornados, hurricanes, blizzards etc)

[trinaM]

Not realizing that the taxes can and do sometimes get adjusted after final payment.

and you have to shell out more money..

[legaljen1969]

Not realizing that the taxes can and do sometimes get adjusted after final payment.

and you have to shell out more money..

 

I suppose maybe I am lucky, but I have never had that happen. It seems like final payment should be just that-- FINAL. I have never had taxes change. If you change something after your "final" payment- then yes I would expect taxes to change.

[legaljen1969]

One of my biggest cruise mistakes was reading too many Cruise Critic reviews about a cruise that had been booked for a family vacation. I was not particularly thrilled with what I had been reading, and was wishing I could opt out.

 

I went and ended up having a great cruise. I learned that you just have to know that you really don't know any of the other writers on it. What may be the best thing ever to them could be a disaster to you, or the other way around.

[Floridiana]

Our mistake was to book a booze cruise for our first. Never again and never again with the same cruise line and drunken (non) sailors.