{"id":229,"date":"2015-01-21T19:41:54","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T19:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awaywego-origin.carnival.com\/?p=229"},"modified":"2019-02-20T16:44:51","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T16:44:51","slug":"10-things-wish-id-known-cruise-rookie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carnival.com\/awaywego\/cruising-fun\/what-to-expect\/10-things-wish-id-known-cruise-rookie","title":{"rendered":"10 Things I Wish I’d Known as a Cruise Rookie"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

10 Best Tips for Cruise Rookies<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Seasickness<\/li>\n
  2. Specialty Restaurants<\/li>\n
  3. Beverages<\/li>\n
  4. Water Bottles<\/li>\n
  5. Complimentary Child Care<\/li>\n
  6. You Can Make Special Requests In the Dining Room<\/li>\n
  7. Tipping<\/li>\n
  8. Room Service<\/li>\n
  9. Free Onboard Activities<\/li>\n
  10. Staying Connected<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Trying to prepare for your first cruise can be overwhelming. There were plenty of times that I wished someone had written down some of the little things that can make your first cruise less intimidating. Now,\u00a0after 12+ years of cruising, sailing is almost like second nature to me. But, I always wondered, \u201cWhat If\u2026?\u201d someone had been nice enough to share some frequent cruiser advice with me.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Here are the 10 things I wished I\u2019d known as a cruise rookie:<\/p>\n

    1. Seasickness <\/strong>\u2013 I often hear that the fear of seasickness is the reason many people choose not to cruise. I, too, get seasick when I am in a small boat with choppy seas. But, when it comes to cruising, I have never had a problem. Large cruise ships are equipped with stabilizers that make it hard to tell that you\u2019re moving at all, let alone sailing at speeds of 21 to 24 knots. There are rare occasions when seas can be rough\u2014 to combat this, I always put together a little bag of everyday medications, from headache pills, to Band-Aids and even anti-nausea medication. Chances are you\u2019ll never touch the bag, but it\u2019s there if you need it.<\/p>\n

    2. Specialty Restaurants<\/strong> \u2013 Most, if not all, cruise ships have some form of specialty dining with an additional fee, usually ranging from $10-$35 a person. It\u2019s easy to pass up on these as a first timer because so much food is already included with the price of your cruise. But I can tell you from experience that these meals are not to be missed! Some of my best meals EVER have been at cruise ship specialty restaurants. Two that come to mind are Ji Ji Asian Kitchen on Carnival Sunshine, and ANY of the steakhouses on Carnival Cruise Lines<\/a> (they all have the same menu and it\u2019s an incredible meal every single time!). So take the splurge and make a date night out of one of the specialty dining restaurants on board \u2013 I promise you won\u2019t regret it!<\/p>\n

    \"test\"3. Beverages<\/strong> \u2013 If you\u2019re like me, you want to have a good time while you\u2019re cruising \u2014 it\u2019s a vacation after all! For me this includes a few frosty alcoholic beverages during the day and most evenings. If you\u2019re not careful, drink prices can really add up over the course of a week. If this is something that you can relate to, make sure to look into the beverage packages that are available during your sailing. There are usually several to choose from \u2014 from non-alcoholic soda & drink packages, to ones that cover wine, beer and liquor. It\u2019s not too hard to calculate and see if they will be a value to you.<\/p>\n

    4. Water Bottles<\/strong> \u2013 Time and time again I see people lugging cases of water on board the ship on embarkation day \u2026 I may even be guilty of doing this myself on a few occasions. But you can really save the stress on your back (and a little cash) by drinking the complimentary water on the ship. The water in the dining rooms and Lido stations has been filtered and is perfectly safe to drink. Because I like to drink water before bed, and take a bottle while I go ashore, I bring reusable water bottles that also have filters for each member of my family. I just fill up every time I pass by a water station so I have it when I\u2019m thirsty.<\/p>\n

    5. Complimentary Child Care<\/strong> \u2013 I\u2019m not going to lie. The complimentary childcare is one of the best perks of taking a cruise vacation. My daughter loves it. My husband and I love it. It\u2019s a win-win for my family. Though, it\u2019s important to be aware of the minimum age and requirements if you\u2019re traveling with young children\u2014 you don\u2019t want to start your trip with any surprises! For Carnival Cruise Lines, the minimum age for Camp Ocean<\/a>\u00a0is 2 years old, and children at this age do not need to be potty-trained. However, children who aren\u2019t toilet trained are not allowed in any of the pools or water facilities. Other cruise lines have different policies and I know many require children to be potty-trained to attend camp.<\/p>\n

    \"test\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n

    Plan a getaway<\/h2>\n

    10. Staying Connected <\/strong>\u2013 Even though you’re miles and miles out at sea, you can still stay connected to loved ones back home. This may not be an issue for families traveling together, but for couples who sail for an anniversary, or just a romantic getaway, and have children at home, connectivity is very important. Most cruise ships are equipped with Wi-Fi and offer packages at a discount making it easy to keep in touch. You can use this Wi-Fi on your smartphone while keeping it in airplane mode to avoid charges from your carrier. If you plan on using your phone during your sailing, be sure to check out my list of 8 Super-Helpful Apps for Cruisers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Of course this list is not the end all be all\u2014 But it’s a great start and will definitely come in handy for anyone who is thinking about cruising for the first time.<\/p>\n

    This post was created as part of our collaboration with\u00a0Carnival<\/a>. As always, all of the opinions, thoughts, and ideas in this post are our own.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"10 Best Tips for Cruise Rookies Seasickness Specialty Restaurants Beverages Water Bottles Complimentary Child Care You Can Make Special Requests … read more<\/a>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,77],"tags":[21,22,60],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cruising-fun","category-what-to-expect","tag-planning","tag-tips","tag-travel"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n10 Things I Wish I'd Known as a Cruise Rookie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.carnival.com\/awaywego\/cruising-fun\/what-to-expect\/10-things-wish-id-known-cruise-rookie\" \/>\n<meta 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