Making sure you have a great first cruise!

[Trip]

Working for Cruisemates, for so long now, and being immersed with all things cruising, its easy to forget that there are so many millions that have absolutley no idea of what cruising is all about.

One of the authors I follow, recently blogged about her latest cruise,and a reader posterd that, "she would want to bring a life jacket, to have one in my room too."

First timers, if you have any questions, ask away...If you are lurking, and reading, please post....there is no such thing as a silly question. There is an abundance of people, with a wealth of cruises under their belts, willing to share.

Let's get some questions going,and pay it forward.

[Paul Motter]

That is a good one - bringing your own life jacket, as if the ship is not going to have that covered.

But of course, many non-cruisers see cruises as being like having a room on a cargo vessel, like you have to fend for yourself and fight the crewmembers for scraps of food.

It is amazing how convulted some visions of cruising can be.

But the more amazing thing is that there are more and more people who have now experienced cruises and know more about it now. It seems like there are fewer first-time cruiser questions than there used to be.

But still, like Trip said - if you have ANY questions, please ask away, we promise to give you the best advice possible...

[Henry43]

My first cruise was in 1973 .The internet did not exist .Research consisted of going to libraries or buying travel books .There were no such things as shore excursions either .

[Golden1]

After my first cruise, I wasnt really sure if I liked it or not. I mean, I guess couldnt really complain. However, I am more accustomed to road trips. I found myself a little out of sorts. There were too many people around all of the time and I thought everything was loud. Also, it was October and the sease were rough. Looking back, I think I just needed to relax and go more with the flow. I also cruised solo.

[Trip]

Golden, I understand exactly what you mean, I felt that way after my first cruise. It was a Carnival, in the fun ship heyday, we had a booth for the 3 of us, so it was like dining at home, & we missed a port..I thought, should we do it again????

I'm glad we did..the 2nd cruise was the right fit for us, and, all went well...we're still cruising,, over 20 years later. I'm glad we did a do-over

[johnthed0g]

We just loved our 1st one & never looked back. We do feel a bit like some weird cult members sometimes though, trying to indoctrinate others into something they don't believe nor understand!! Apart fro the "Stuck on a ship" view the biggest thing I encounter is "if you are going to XXXXX why spend days getting there when you can fly??" accompanied by sidelong looks that say ''these folks are stupid'', I try to explain that the ship IS THE HOLIDAY the ports are side trips, but people can't get this into their heads.

[anniegb]

Originally Posted by Golden1

After my first cruise, I wasnt really sure if I liked it or not. I mean, I guess couldnt really complain. However, I am more accustomed to road trips. I found myself a little out of sorts. There were too many people around all of the time and I thought everything was loud. Also, it was October and the sease were rough. Looking back, I think I just needed to relax and go more with the flow. I also cruised solo.

Golden,my first cruise was a TA on the Az Journey and I travelled solo too. It was a perfect match -my mistake was to cruise Azamara first - they were brilliant and I had always wanted to do a TA. I had a minor accident on board but that didn't spoil anything.

I know some folks same the ship is the holiday and not the itinerary ; but for me both are equally important. I also do a lot of land trips. My head can't get round those who cruise but never get off - itinerary is too important to me. Whatever floats your boat as they say

My advice is select the ship best suited to your personality but do pay as much attention to the itinerary.

Some areas of a ship are too loud even for me but I have always managed to find a quiet spot.

My future vacation plans will be a mixture of say 2 land trips to 1 cruise but that could change as I age

Annie

[Kamloops Cruiser]

My first cruise in 1977 on the SS Ithaca . It was an old Greek cruise ship

poorly organized compared to cruises today. They advertised morning

coffee would be available every day only if you talked a crew member

nicely could you find one. The cost was $1500 for 14 days including

airfare to/from the cruise. That was the year that horrendous accident

occurred in Tenerife . Two 747's collided on the runway . The reason I

remember I was considering on taking the cruise but the cost was to

high ($2000 USD incl AF).

[ani_chd]

times have changed so is the excitement of crusing in seas

[Paul Motter]

a text message from India?

[johnthed0g]

My first cruise in 1977 on the SS Ithaca . It was an old Greek cruise ship

It wasn't "Chandris lines" was it? if so they evolved into Celebrity.

[Kamloops Cruiser]

No was chartered by a TA that soldcruise packages to Canadians.