How to plan your first cruise?
By: Manishaa Dubey
Tags: Cruises, Travel, Blogger, Vacation, Traveling

Think about a cruise and it feels like a spectacular fantasy dream, especially when you are planning for your first cruise. Experiencing the different kinds of spa treatment every day and exploring the fascinating port cities all around the world, getting pampered in that luxury voyage feels too good, doesn’t it?

How to plan your first-ever cruise vacation?

But along with all these fantasies, many questions arise such as — When and where should I go? What will I experience on that floating resort? What is the right time to sail? What should I pack as luggage, what are the expenses and how long will the trip last?

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

Here are a few suggestions when you plan your first cruise.

What is the best time of the year to sail on a Cruise?

Sailing out on a cruise completely depends on your plan of vacation, what time of year it is, and also whether you are going to travel with kids or not. If you are going with kids, then summer vacations are the best time, keeping in mind the school and extracurricular activities. Now that we are confined to our homes due to covid-19, many of the cruise services would have their own terms to onboard new customers. Many of them won’t even be operating. You can take a look at the Indian Cruise providers just in case you get too tempted to beat the summer heat on a cruise.

On the other hand, if it is just you and your partner, then sailing out in the month of February and opting for a Caribbean cruise would be just awesome. You need to keep in mind that sailing out to the northern port in winters can be a bit difficult because you would be facing the cold weather and the rough seas due to which fatigue can clench you, thus, making your heartfelt trip a daymare.

Sailing out in August or September may save you a few bucks because it’s a peak time due to hurricanes. But, you don’t need to worry about it because the sailors and the crew know what they are doing given their years of expertise in sailing troubled waters. You may face some titanic storms though, but if you can take it, you will remember the experience of the scary sail all your life.

Sailing in summer means more crowd and sailing in winter means lesser crowd. Now, it’s completely your choice when you want to sail. Do keep some meds with you as most people are prone to nausea due to motion sickness or most commonly referred to as Seasickness. The most common ailments that one encounters while on a ship are cold sweats, pale or greenish skin color, and headaches. You can prevent them if you eat light, hydrate well, avoid alcohol, and say these words often- “Keep Calm, I’m on a Cruise”.

If you still feel the urge to puke violently despite these precautions, look straight ahead to the horizon so that your brain is not misled by a load of information coming through and help it focus on static imagery, thus, helping it relax.

What should be your destination?

The best thing is that cruise ships go almost everywhere, you need to consider the travel as per your budget and schedule it.

For your first-ever cruise, you might want to stick with something simple. For instance, if you’re on the east coast of the United States then you have a lot of options for Canada, Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Mexico.

Decide your destination

If you are on the west coast side, you would probably consider Alaska, Mexico, and Canada. There are different types of cruises. Some are “repositioning” cruises, which are one-way trips. The other options are “transatlantic” cruises and “Panama Canal” cruises. These are expensive and long trips, but they are some of the most amazing, adrenaline-pumping ferries you can ever experience.

Choose a perfect cruise line.

The destination where you wish to travel may be in parts, so you need to decide to cruise with which company. You can check on the websites of the individual cruise, different cruise lines have different models such as Holland America caters to an older and more affluent crowd, Disney and Carnival cater to kids and families.

Choose the perfect cruise line

Be wise while picking your line as it should match your expectations. If you’re bringing your kids along with you, then you need to check if that cruise even allows kids onboard, and if it does, are there kid activities on offer or not. Some Cruises do have a ‘kids club’ for activities but most of them do not, and you do not want to get stuck with children adamant about jumping off the ledge due to being too mischievous. So make sure that you’ve done your research prior to onboarding a Cruise with the right safety precautions and if it has ample life-saving equipment or not.

You need to search major cruise lines but do check with the small ones as well. In the past few years, some cruise lines have updated their offerings with specialty services and unique options.

Here are some suggestions for a few cruise lines.

Royal Caribbean International. Holland America Line. Norwegian Cruise Line. Costa Cruises. Celebrity Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line.

How many days will you stay on the Cruise?

Generally, a cruise lasts from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. Considering vacation time, you should plan for at least a week so that you can experience the leisure of being surrounded by the ocean beneath the blue sky for quite some time.

Choose your cabin.

Now, this is also one of the important questions about which kind of stateroom you want. You have many options like:

Inside cabins (they have no windows)

Cabins with a window or porthole

Balcony cabins

Various suites range from slightly larger than regular cabins that are huge and expensive.

The best advice is to choose the highest-level chamber you are comfortable paying for. I prefer going to a balcony cabin so that when I get up in the daylight, I can enjoy my breakfast with the sunrise and that spectacular view.

Choose your cabin

If you are willing to save some money, you can choose the inside cabins as they are the cheapest and usually people stay less in their rooms. The other important thing to take note of is your steward. A steward is basically an attendant who is responsible for maintaining and cleaning your stateroom while you’re out. Make sure to not leave your valuable belongings lying around making it easier to be lost or ending up in someone else’s pockets.

Plan transportation to and from the port.

One of the important things to plan is your transportation to and from the pier. You may require flying to the port you’re sailing from, so consider the price of the airline tickets at your convenience. Then you need to figure out how to get from the airport to the pier.

Plan your transportation to reach the cruise

Some cruise lines also have some packages where, through them, you can arrange transport to and from the airport. Be sure to check them and see what they have to offer you and the kinds of deals you can get.

The Buzz of Pre-Cruise.

Once you have planned your cruise and scheduled it, you’ve still got a lot of work to do. Remember which clothes you need to pack, make sure your passports and relevant documents are updated, what other items you may need, and never forget to pack some good medicines in case you feel nausea, headaches, or even fever.

Get excited about your cruise journey

Don’t let your excitement wither because ‘you’re going on a cruise’!