Category Archives: Cruises

Info & Tips

Types of Cruises

The cruise you take depends on your vacation style and preference.

To figure out what kind of cruise to take, you should know the main types of cruise. There are three main types: a touring cruise, a weekend cruise, and a repositioning cruise.

Touring Cruise

Touring cruises usually last about a week, and they have a new stop each day plus a day with no stop (a “sea day”). These are the most common, and they are a lot of fun.

These are amazing cruises because you see a lot of variety! You can visit several different places in one week, and you can have many excellent experiences at each place. The cruise line offers a variety of excursions at each stop.

Touring cruises have two types of excursions: sightseeing and adventure. Common sightseeing excursions include a walking tour o

f a city or a bus tour to nature or historic sites. Of course, there will be many selfie-sights:

Adventure excursions typically involve something active, such as zip-lining, snorkeling, hiking, or bicycling. Often they combine hiking or climbing to historic sights:

Weekend Cruise

Weekend cruises, also called “booze cruises,” are popular with the younger crowds. They’re typically open-bar weekend cruises to the Bahamas. The cruises stop for a day or two at the cruise company’s private beach for some more shenanigans. If you just want a weekend of decompression or partying, then it would be a great option. I honestly haven’t been on one of these cruises, but I know they exist and are enjoyed by many.

Repositioning Cruise

Repositioning cruises allow cruise ships to change home ports, such as when the Norwegian Bliss goes from Alaska in the summer to the Caribbean in the winter.

When a ship repositions along land, there are a lot of ports along the way. For instance, when a ship goes from being an Alaskan cruise, based in Seattle, to a Caribbean cruise, based in Miami, it might stop in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Columbia, and Panama.

Repositioning can take place in any area in the world, but cruises that cross the Atlantic are so distinct that they’re specially called transatlantic cruises. A transatlantic cruise might have a port or two on either side of the journey, but they are notable for having about seven sea days. These cruises are all about the ship.

I love cruising on Norwegian because they have a jam-packed itinerary. For me, transatlantic cruises are the best opportunity to experience the ship you’ve paid for instead of spending most of your time on the ship sleeping.

Transatlantic cruises are about the ship and about the party:

 

 

 

Info & Tips

Embarkment Day and Boarding: What to Expect

The Cruise Terminal

In my most recent trip on the Norwegian Getaway, as part of the check-in process, Norwegian asked that I make a reservation to arrive at the cruise terminal. So, naturally, I chose one of the earlier time slots, about 10:00 a.m.

When I got there, it was a mess of people. The check-in time didn’t matter. Everyone was sent to a waiting area designated by their cabin class or location until their area was called to board the ship.

I learned that, instead of waiting in the terminal with a lot of confused, impatient cruisers, it is better to arrive after everyone has figured out what is what and has boarded the ship. No one should come early to wait in line. I’ve talked to others, and the consensus is to come two hours before you have to for no line. 

Some cruise terminals are simple, like in NYC, and you just arrive and go to your cruise because there’s only one ship. It took a little more time when I was in Barcelona because I needed to take a bus to the right ship. It was my first cruise, but per usual, asking random people where to go worked like a charm!

Luggage

You can drop your luggage with the cruise, and they will take it to your room. On my first cruise, I was a little unsure about this, but it works fine. They have a system. Just make sure your luggage is tagged with your name and cabin number.

On my first cruise, I just took it myself, figuring that if my luggage was misplaced, it would throw a wrench in my vacation. Now I just bring my separate airplane carry-on, which holds anything delicate or irreplaceable, like my computer, camera, and whatever else I could fit.

Ship Room Card

When you check into the cruise terminal, you’ll get your cruise card. You’ll need to show your passport and cruise ticket to get this. Your card is linked to your onboard account to make all spending super easy, of course. They will also take your picture.

Your card will also serve as your way to leave and reboard the ship. While I bring my passport with me at all ports, I’ve never once had to show it to anyone after the initial check-in. Crew members scan your room card to check you out of the ship and again to check you in.

Your card will also act as a credit card, letting you buy any items in the ship’s fairly extensive stores. While most items in the ship store are overpriced, over-the-counter medications are reasonably priced, as the ship has a vested interest in keeping everyone as healthy as possible.

International Safety Drill

It’s always exciting to board the ship, look around, and get a drink. You can do some exploring, but in my experience, not much is open until the ship, crew, and captain lead the muster drill. The muster drill is required to be reviewed with all cruise passengers within 24 hours in accordance with the International Convention of Safety of Life at Sea regulations and tells cruisers what to do in an emergency. It’s just like the flight attendants’ presentation before your plane takes off, but louder, as they usually sound the emergency horn as an example. You will have a specific area to check in for the drill, which will be designated on your room card.

The drill takes place about 30 minutes prior to sailing. Some cruise lines won’t even let you enter your room until the drill is complete. Either way, they scan your key card at the drill, and if you miss it, they’ll find you to go over it.

After the muster drill, the rest of the ship and its services will be open.

Go have fun—your cruise has finally started!

 

Ships

Ships

My theory on ships is simple–the bigger the ship, the bigger the budget for entertainment, activities, and staff.

Bigger ships have more restaurants, bars, classes, and fun facilities.

The facilities part is easy to conceive. The smaller ship I took in the Caribbean was the Carnival Splendor, which has a capacity of 3,006 passengers plus 1,150 crew. The Norwegian Bliss is more like the typical giant ship I take, which has a capacity of 4,002 passengers plus 1,700 crew.

3,000 passengers at $800 per passenger = $2.4 million as a base on which to base a budget
4,000 passengers at $800 per passenger = $3.2 million as a base on which to base a budget

For my transatlantic cruises, I love the huge ships. A transatlantic cruise is all about the ship!

I’ll detail each ship separately. Variety is always best–to give you the option to do something that fits your mood.

Cruises

Cruises (a brief overview)

Cruises are incredibly fun, and they’re really like no other vacation. Cruises may not be right for everyone, but for most people, there is probably a cruise that works.

See the World

The first thing someone might notice when they look at the ship itinerary is all the stops. This is great because you’ll get to see all those places!

The caveat is that you only get to see them for ten hours or so.

In this way, I see cruises as a vacation sampler, where I get to see a lot of places and decide to where I’d like to return. For instance, my ten hours in Florence convinced me that I will definitely return! There are other locations where returning is less of a priority.

A cruise is a great opportunity to see some places you may not choose for a standalone vacation. For instance, it’s often hard to visit Marseilles, France, and without knowing enough about it, there wouldn’t be as much reason to go there. But after ten hour visits to several places, I may decide to make a 10-day holiday out of Marseilles, Nice, and Monaco.

Big Ship

Most people don’t know how big cruise ships are. I’m sure you’ve heard that they’re floating cities, and that’s true. I tend to prefer the largest of the giant ships because they have the revenue base to offer a larger variety of activities.

The bigger ships by default have more dining options, more entertainment, and more amenities. For instance, the biggest ship I’ve taken had laser tag and go-karts, whereas the smaller one had only a climbing wall.

And yes, that wasn’t fair, since there is only one ship has go-karts and a laser tag arena.

Amenities

Besides luxurious rooms, which depend on your purchase, there are amenities available for everyone. Each ship has several restaurants. Knowing that variety is key, the menus change daily for dinner, and each restaurant, bar, or lounge has a different menu for your palate and a different atmosphere for your mood.

There are duty-free stores on every ship. They sell souvenirs and necessities (often at inflated prices, though medicine is usually reasonably priced because they need you to stay healthy), and there are jewelers, clothiers, and technology vendors as well.

If you like variety, you wouldn’t believe how happy you could be on one ship.

Entertainment

Cruise ships have a wide assortment of entertainment. From art presentations to Zorro movies (A to Z), there is something for everyone.

For the knowledge-seeking type of person, there are many opportunities to learn. I haven’t been on a ship that doesn’t have an art gallery that sells, auctions, and educates about art. These events are always free to attend, and often they’ll string you in by offering free mimosas. Or perhaps you would enjoy wine pairing demonstrations or wine tastings. They have those, too.

For those of you who love live music, in the evening, there are always one to three soloists or small groups performing on a stage, in a piano bar, or in one of the restaurants or lounges. Sometimes people dance, even when I’m not there.

Ships show movies most evenings as well. If the weather is nice, the movies will play outside. If not, they play indoors in a large, open atrium.

The pinnacle presentations, the most enhanced, excellent entertainment, are the evening headliner shows performed in the ship’s large theater. These are often big-name Broadway musicals, usually abridged to about 90 minutes.

To bridge the gap between the watcher and doer, the cruise may have a nightly game show. While the vast majority of people will be content to watch, those bold enough to risk embarrassment in front of 200+ people can enter their name to be a contestant. On my last cruise, there was only one time when my name was not drawn. I’m guessing your odds of being chosen are pretty good if you’re a guy. Or if you’re me.

Activities

If you’re the kind of person who likes to keep your hands occupied, cruises have so many options that you will never get bored. There are constant activities for the doer.

If you’re afraid that the bottomless food and beverage will cause you to become a little out of shape, you can try limiting your indulgences, or you can go to the daily yoga, exercise, or other fitness classes. While those all tend to be held in the morning, the ship’s gym is open for about 20 hours each day, and there’s a running track, too.

In addition to fitness centers, many ships have waterslides, climbing walls, zip-lines, or other fun features. Low-intensity activities include card tournaments, either poker in the casino or bridge, and karaoke, dance classes, and dancing. In fact, there is awesome dancing almost every night.

Excursions & Adventures

At each stop, called a port, you will have the opportunity to take a cruise-designated excursion. These are cruise-line-endorsed outings that you will attend with fellow passengers. You’ll have a large menu of items to see or experience, depending on your preferences. Some excursions are content-focused, to see a site or city in a traditional tour-guide sort of way, whereas some focus on an experience, such as snorkeling, hiking, or shopping. In my experience, most cruise-designated excursions are experience-focused, and I’ve been pretty happy with them.

Excursions are also perfect if you haven’t had a chance to research a stop. Just hop on an excursion to get a taste of that port!

Excursions often range in price from $50 to $150. The more unique or intense ones (scuba diving, rock climbing, etc.) will cost more. They are priced to seem reasonable, and individually, no one excursion is expensive. However, $100 here and $150 there, over an eight-day cruise, doubled if you’re traveling with someone, can add up fast!

In many ports, you also have the option of hiring a driver and seeing what you want to see without the group holding you up. This may be the best option if you know exactly what you want to see. You may also find third-party excursions on discount websites. These can often save money, but you are responsible for returning to the ship on time. The advantage of a cruise-designated excursion is that the ship will wait for you, and there is usually a crew member with the group to communicate. It’s also nice because if the ship skips a port due to bad weather, as happened to me in George Town, Cayman Islands, you don’t have to deal with refunds or other hassles.

You also have the option of just getting off the ship and walking around. If none of the excursions sound particularly worth the money, or if it’s a small, cute town and you just want to wander, this is a perfectly wonderful option. I really wanted to explore the neat town of Ponta Delgada in the Azores instead of checking out the volcanic springs, which I’ve left for a future trip.

Exploring on your own is also the default option if you were dancing too late the night before, didn’t book any excursions, and accidentally sleep-in, such as when I arrived in Naples after a day at sea.

Enjoying the Ship

You paid a lot of money for a large, luxurious ship. Do you want to spend the majority of your time on the ship just sleeping?

On a typical day, you will be wake-up, breakfast, go out on a port, come back to the ship, have an hour or two of R&R when few activities are happening, eat dinner, see a show, and do a little dancing. Then on the next day, you do it all again!

If you want to actually enjoy the amenities of a ship, there’s only one option: transatlantic cruising. It’s a two-week vacation. I took it so I couldn’t run around and see things.

Don’t worry, you won’t feel trapped on these monstrous ships! If you take a transatlantic, you may make a few good friends and some wonderful memories.

Cruise Market

Generally, longer cruises have mostly retired passengers. This is, of course, because people who work are afraid to take all their vacation at once. The PTO arrangement is restricting and the number-one reason to be self-employed.

Those who are not retired are either successful, on disability of some kind, or, like me, absolutely ridiculous.

Shorter cruises, especially those during spring break and summer or that advertise “free unlimited beverages for everyone,” are likely to be full of only the most mature young people. I’ve heard these trips referred to as “booze cruises.”

There are also different cruise lines for different markets. You can expect to see more families on a Disney Cruise than on a Norwegian Cruise.

Cruises should be more popular with younger travelers, but that will depend on whether the cruise lines continue to adjust their offerings to a younger, single market.

Overall

Cruises make for a great vacation. A cruise ship is a huge, floating city offering tons of amenities, many kinds of entertainment, a lot of ways to stay active and engaged, and a great, easy way to see the world. In fact, there is so much to do on a ship that you may not be able to see it all on a regular, destination-based cruise; you might want to schedule a longer cruise with more days at sea in order to see the ship.

Of course, to take in the full cruise experience, variety is best. Take several to learn your preferences in activities, cruise line, and destinations so you can consistently take the best cruise possible.