What To Know Before You Go: Cruise

Greetings from the Baltic Sea!  My family and I are currently embarking on an 11-day cruise sailing the Baltic Sea – Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Sweden, Germany, Finland, and Russia.  Even though I have cruised a few times before this is our first cruise as a family.

Although it’s been 10 years since my last cruise not much as changed.  However, I did learn a few things that I wish someone had told me before taking this cruise. Please keep in mind that most cruises are available during the summer months.  If you want to cruise South America or New Zealand/Australia they are only available between December and end of February.

So, here’s a list of 10 things to consider before giving them your credit card number.

SEASICK

You will not feel a thing because the big ship moves slower than a turtle.  However, if you are prone to seasickness you may want to choose a higher cabin, but not too high.  My recommendation is between decks 9 and 12.  If you need to be medicated you may want to consult your doctor.

CABINS

Not every cabin has portholes.   If you are traveling with a family of four like us you may consider booking a cabin with a porthole or balcony.  Trust me, you will need to stay in a cabin that has some sort of view so that you know if it is day or night. With the subtle rocking of the ship, you could be oversleeping for more than 12 hours like us.  We found a cabin with a balcony at a discount price thanks to Costco Travel.

DRESS CODES

The ship is extremely cold. They blast the AC just like the Vegas casinos.  Bring clothes that you can layer on including a jacket/cardigan. The restaurants are still old school so men are required to wear long pants and ladies should look nice.  On our first day of dining, hubby wore shorts and I had ripped jeans on. They gave us a look and immediately let us know about the dress code but did allow us to dine that night.   There is also a formal night so you may want to pack accordingly. 

INTERNET

The internet access on the ship has definitely changed and improved.  You no longer need to wait in line for an available station at the Internet Cafe.  They still have these stations but you hardly see anyone sitting there checking their emails and Facebook.  The Princess Cruise line, which is the one that we are on, offers free internet connection for Facebook access.  If you want a full blown internet access you pay as little as $9.99 a day for one device and you can access from your stateroom or anywhere else. The connection speed is similar to the DSL back in the day but at least you have access to the internet 24/7.

SHORE EXCURSIONS

The cruise line will never tell you not to book the shore excursions – that’s how they make their money.  Our family prefers to walk and explore these cities on our own.  However, the only shore excursion that we really had no choice but to purchase is the St. Petersburg, Russia excursion.  The reason is that you need a visa to visit this country.  In order for you to obtain the visa (it’s not cheap either) you need an invite from a sponsor in Russia. However, if you book the tour through the cruise line you will not need to obtain a visa as long as you stick with the group.  It turns out to be a lot cheaper than buying the visa for the four of us.

FOOD AND DRINKS ON BOARD

The buffet and the restaurants are always free.  If you want to reserve a specialty restaurant you will have to pay a fee (usually $20 per person).  Specialty pastry and drinks (espresso, smoothie, etc.), alcohol, and bottled water are not free. However, you can bring one bottle of wine with no corkage fee per adult for the duration of the cruise.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out the price of alcohol on the ship.  It’s not as expensive as I thought.  You can get a good glass of wine for $8 a glass – and they fill it up too.  You can also pre-order (highly recommended) bottled water not only are they cheaper but they will be delivered to your stateroom before check-in.

ACTIVITIES

There’s a lot of activities catering to adults as well as kids.  I have to say though, I think we will cruise from here on out. Princess Cruise has a youth program that you can send your kids to.  They are broken into two separate age groups – 3 to 7 years old and 8 to 12 years old. The hours of operation are from 9 am to 10 pm closed for lunch and dinner.  If you want your kids to stay after 10 pm then you will need to pay a fee for after-hours babysitting. 

The kids are supervised by two adults per group and are not allowed to leave the area until we pick them up. We are also required to carry a pager with us in the event of an emergency.  We got paged once and it was because one of the twins spilled chocolate milk all over and needed a change of clothing.

My twins absolutely love their youth program. All they want to do every day is eat ice cream, play at the pool, and spend time at Camp Discovery.

Both hubby and I got to spend a lot of couple time because of Camp Discovery.  So if you and your partner are looking to spend some alone quality time without the kids while on vacation cruising is the way to go.

GYM

There’s a gym that you can use and it is completely free.  However, if you want a private fitness instructor or other fitness related services they do have those available for a fee.

LAUNDROMAT

The cruise ship has a laundromat on every floor.  You have to pay for the detergent, and the use of washer and dryer.  We pay $7.50 for each load.

TIPPING

Even though you have already paid for your cruise you still have to pay tips after the trip is over.  The fee is $15 per passenger per day. So be prepared to have the amount available on your credit card.

We didn’t know what to expect when we first booked this cruise.  However, so far it has been a blessing. We no longer have to worry about what food/snacks to feed our kids because the ship has everything that you can think of.  We also don’t have to worry about babysitting because there’s Camp Discovery at our disposal.  

We just wrapped up Oslo, Norway (stay tuned for an upcoming post) and on our way to Warnemunde, Germany.