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What is the one valuable lesson you learned on your first cruise 🚢

Mommawo

By Mommawo,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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queenpailhead

queenpailhead

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Bookster99 said:

My favorite drink deal is the free champagne at the art auctions. I always enjoy the presentation, and on my last cruise even won a bottle of champagne to take back to my room!

Yes we did that too. I realize how cheap I sound but I'm really NOT that cheap and we did buy several pieces of art. Due to our purchases we got invited back to a second private auction- more champagne. My husband actually won a bottle at EACH auction and our concierge gave us a bottle, as well as guest services (the latter 2 were due to a very, very, very minor room issue they rectified immediately and honestly we didn't need any compensation for it). We had so much champagne we returned with 2 unopened bottles. 

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Bookster99

Bookster99

Posted
Posted

Make sure your ship is in port. On a cruise last year, the fog prevented our ship from docking for hours. We had already taken all of our luggage to be amongsth the first on: No ship! And nowhere to stow the luggage so we could just explore the town! We wound up sitting with our luggage almost 6 hours waiting for the fog to clear, the ship to get in, and the departing passengers to get off of the ship. Now, if I don't know the ship is there, I rest in the hotel lobby!

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Bookster99

Bookster99

Posted
Posted
Just now, queenpailhead said:

Yes we did that too. I realize how cheap I sound but I'm really NOT that cheap and we did buy several pieces of art. Due to our purchases we got invited back to a second private auction- more champagne. My husband actually won a bottle at EACH auction and our concierge gave us a bottle, as well as guest services (the latter 2 were due to a very, very, very minor room issue they rectified immediately and honestly we didn't need any compensation for it). We had so much champagne we returned with 2 unopened bottles. 

Awesome! I have no problem paying for drinks on board: It's comparable to restaurant pricing. But if I can get a freebie, i won't pass it up! I think there's a Captain's Reception, too. We won some art: I'm embarrassed to say it's still in the tube, waiting for us to get creative!

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WorkerBee74

WorkerBee74

Posted
Posted
40 minutes ago, MAKINGWAVES said:

Don't pack heavy beach towels in your luggage.  I didn't know the ship would furnish you with beach towels.  OH the space that took up.

 

We bought these for the port beaches - they are huge towels but they pack very small.  You could also get a microfibre camping towel.  On our first cruise we bought Carnival towels to be delivered to our room and we used those, but this next one we're taking these.

 

https://dockandbay.com/ca/

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momof3cruisers

momof3cruisers

Posted
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8 hours ago, WorkerBee74 said:

 

We bought these for the port beaches - they are huge towels but they pack very small.  You could also get a microfibre camping towel.  On our first cruise we bought Carnival towels to be delivered to our room and we used those, but this next one we're taking these.

 

https://dockandbay.com/ca/

We got microfiber towels too. I like one to lay on and one to dry off with and carrying two beach towels per person is too heavy. 

 

But but your link won't work for me and I am curious about those towels.

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Mommawo

Mommawo

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  • Author
Posted
2 hours ago, Athankfulheart said:

Carefully choose with whom you cruise :classic_unsure:

Lol um yeah I can see that is a big piece of advice there. I have a feeling there is a huge story here 😂.  I will be going w my hubby. On our honeymoon/28 year anniversary and my birthday celebration cruise 😂.   First trip we have ever been able to take just the two of us in all theses years.  

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NebraskaSatellite

NebraskaSatellite

Posted
Posted

1) If you have teens, have them go to the Club O2/Circle C ice breaker the first night.

2) The Cuchina del Capitano restaurant is uncrowded for lunch on embarkation day and has really good food, but get there before it closes (was 2:30 on the Breeze out of Galveston).  Good light to medium pasta dishes.

 

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Silent Penguin Excellent Advice! Rare

Silent Penguin

Posted
Posted
On 11/28/2018 at 9:11 AM, MommytoAsquared said:

Never separate when heading out to your excursions...

 

We were in Halifax, Canada.  I packed a backpack with everything we needed for the day, including money and credit cards.  We were waiting in the queuing area and my oldest daughter needed to use the restroom right as they were calling people.  Mistake #1 - I allowed her to go the restroom.  Mistake #2 - I handed my mom the backpack and told her to take my younger child and save us a seat on the bus.  We would just be a minute.  I didn't realize this excursion had MULTIPLE buses.  When my daughter and I got outside (I swear only about two minutes later), we couldn't find which bus my mom and younger child had boarded.  Then I looked up to see a bus with my mom and younger child pulling away.  My older daughter and I took another bus that took a completely different route and was never intercepted my mom's bus.  We had no $$$ for lunch or anything.  It was kind of scary to be in a foreign country with no money and no identification and no foreign cell phone service.

 

So my lesson learned was #1 - Do not let your child go the restroom and #2 - Do not separate from your party

 

OMG, I was not expecting anything like this.  Note taken! 

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WorkerBee74

WorkerBee74

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, momof3cruisers said:

We got microfiber towels too. I like one to lay on and one to dry off with and carrying two beach towels per person is too heavy. 

 

But but your link won't work for me and I am curious about those towels.

 

Try this maybe?  http://dockandbay.com

 

Otherwise just google "Dock and Bay towels"

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Doggielover68

Doggielover68

Posted
Posted
On 11/28/2018 at 8:30 AM, Mommawo said:

Just curious what you all learned in your first cruise that you left saying “I won’t make that mistake again “. Let us learn from you lol

Don't eat too much on the first day. The food doesn't vary much and there's no need to make yourself sick attempting to try everything!

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Cruise Cat

Cruise Cat

Posted
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If an inside cabin bring/set an alarm or at least plug in a nightlight.  It will be extremely dark and you might sleep till noon the next day because you will sleep so good.

 

The cabin stewards cannot read your mind - talk to them as if they were your friends (goes a long way)

 

Relax and don't try to do everything.

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richstowe Great Review Rare

richstowe

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Posted (edited)

After booking our first cruise I discovered Cruise Critic ,and other resources but mostly CC. A wealth of fabulous info and tips . So much good advice . I did become a little , OK a lot obsessed . Truly there almost no , "darn I wished I'd known that" moments . We were very well coached and made no newbie mistakes .

Except one . I followed CC advice and avoided the hordes of people arriving at the same time for a midday check in . Made sense . So we arrived at 2:15 and yes there were no lines at all . But in retrospect we love the craziness and excitement of arriving at 11 or so not to mention another couple of hours onboard . 

Edited by richstowe
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ontheweb Holiday Sharing Rare

ontheweb

Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

The crew love it if you are nice to them (many seem to think they are slaves) and if You tell the boss how great they are the service only gets better.

On our last cruise. I told one of the servers in the buffet that I wanted to write her up as an employee who made my cruise extra special but needed to know her name (without staring at her chest where she had a name tag. She was extremely happy to give me that information and kept making sure that I knew how to spell her name correctly. And my lemonade kept getting refilled even faster than before, and her huge smile stayed the same.

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