Some Excellent Cruise Tips For Your Caribbean Cruise Vacation
by Mary Hanna
The first day of your Caribbean cruise vacation is here. Most
of the day will be spent getting to know your cruise ship,
making spa appointments, booking tours on the Caribbean Islands
and trying to get cruise tips from your fellow passengers.
The first night of your Caribbean cruise vacation is always
a casual night since most people have traveled a good portion
of the day. It's also the night you meet your table mates.
Here is another cruise tip, be a few minutes late on the first
night (only on the first night-be prompt from then on). There
is usually a crush of people when the dinner bell rings and
everyone is trying to find their table.
If you are eating in the traditional cruise style, always
ask for a large table for several reasons. You have a better
chance of meeting a mix of people, and the more people you
meet during your cruise travel, the merrier. One thing to do
is change seats every night at the table so everyone gets to
talk to everyone else during the course of your cruise vacation.
It's much more fun. And a round table is ideal since rectangular
ones make it difficult to talk to the guy at the other end.
However, if you find that you are unhappy with your table,
absolutely go to the maitre d' and asked to be moved. He or
she will accommodate you as best they can. There are people
who chose to dine alone and the ships have tables for two but
they fill up fast.
Freestyle Dining and Choice Dining are available on some Cruise
Lines for those who want to eat on their own or don't want
to be delegated to a specific dining time. Your travel agent
will be able to set this up when booking your Caribbean cruise
vacation.
Now you are on day two, and usually that means it's a day
at sea. You are just itching to put into your bathing suit
and get out in the sun. Listen to this, it is the most valuable
of all the cruises tips here, do not try to get a tan on your
first day of your Caribbean cruise vacation. You will spend
days of your precious cruise trying to recover from very bad
sunburn. The Caribbean sun is very intense and is even more
so in the summer months.
Get waterproof sun block and use it liberally if you are swimming
or snorkeling. Don't forget the tops of your feet, your ears
and lips, this can be extremely painful. Wear a hat so you
don't burn your scalp.
To avoid injury follow these tips. Be careful if the decks
are wet, they become very slippery. Watch for the raised lips
in some doorways especially between your cabins sleeping area
and the bathroom. Never sit on the railings as you may fall.
Wearing high heels could be hazardous in bumpy weather. When
tendering to shore keep your arms and legs within the tender.
These are all very good cruise tips
All of the newer cruise ships have an internet cafe; some
even have an internet connection in your room. So if you want
to bring your lap top with you, by all means do. There are
some small luxury cruise ships that have lap tops available
for your use. Check with your cruise travel agent, he or she
will know. Most people won't want to be bothered with their
computers, but it is nice to check your email if you are going
to be away for awhile, and ship to shore phone calls are very
expensive on the cruise lines.
The last evening will also be a casual night since you have
packed your bags and put them outside your cruise cabin. Tomorrow
will be an early morning and the end of your enchanting Caribbean
cruise vacation.
There always seem to be many questions about tipping while
taking a Caribbean cruise vacation. These questions come up
on European cruise vacations too, but we'll stick to the Caribbean.
Some cruise lines will absolutely not let you tip. These are
the very high end cruise lines. Some automatically add it to
your bill. If you do not like this arrangement tell the purser
that you will tip on your own. Tipping on a cruise ship is
very important since the room steward, waiter and busboy all
make their living on tips. They work very hard to keep you
happy during your Caribbean cruise vacation so please tip them.
You may want to figure out the amount of tips you will be paying
at the beginning of the cruise vacation and separate that from
your spending money. You won't get caught short.
If a Maitre d' does something special, like crepe suzettes
at your table, you should tip him. When you order wine or drinks
there is already a 15% tip on the charge, so it is not necessary
to tip here. If you find a special bar and frequent it, give
the bartender a bit extra on the last night. As I said tipping
policies are different on all ships so find out ahead of time.
Holland American has changed their tipping policy. It used
to be "no tipping necessary". That policy is no longer
in place. On NCL Hawaii a $10.00 per day per person is added
to your bill and it is not optional.
A nice gesture on a two week cruise is to give half the tip
after the first week, the cruise staff will appreciate this.
On almost all of the cruise ships, the general rule for tipping
is $3.00 per day, per person for the waiter and the room steward
and $1.50 per person per day for the bus boy. If you're not
sure the Cruise Line will usually give you guidelines. If your
room steward or waiter showed you excellent services tip them
more.
Alcoholic beverages on board are expensive. All cruise ships
have there own policy if you bring your own, some confiscate
it and return at the end of the cruise, others allow you to
buy bottles on board, and others will allow you to purchase
it but won't deliver it until the end of the cruise. Each cruise
line has different policies so check with your cruise travel
agent. In many cases you can bring wine and champagne on board.
Here's just a small note about seasickness. On the really
huge ships it should not be a problem. If you are prone to
it and are taking a smaller ship, there are over the counter
remedies. Dramamine and Bonine are in tablet forms and can
make some people drowsy. Because of the size and the stability
of the current fleet of cruise ships only 3% of cruise passengers
are affected by this.
There are wrist bands that you can purchase that act on the
theory of acupuncture. Then there is also the Patch that you
wear behind your ear. If you do not purchase one of these before
the cruise and find yourself getting a little green, the purser's
office will provide you with them. Go out on the open decks,
eat saltines, green apples and drink ginger ale. Do not do
anything that requires you to look down, like reading or writing.
In health food stores you can buy powdered ginger caplets
which are the natural remedy. That should take care of it.
Stay away from greasy foods. This is no longer a huge problem
since most ships today have stabilizers that keep the ship
from pitching to and fro. If you do have a problem with "mal
de mar", it is not wise to take a sailing cruise or a
small ship in notoriously rough seas like the South China Sea.
It is so shallow it is always a little rough. The waves bounce
off the seabed and come back up making it a bit choppy.
Here
again the size of the ship matters and having a little information
will be helpful. This is where a really knowledgeable cruise
travel agent comes in.
All cruise ships have a policy on smoking. On one ship they
had an absolutely no smoking policy anywhere, they have since
changed that rule. There is never any smoking allowed in the
showrooms or the dining rooms. In many cases they designate
one side of the ship in the bars as the smoking section while
the other side is smoke free.
You can smoke in the bars and in the casino. Never, ever,
toss a lit cigarette overboard, it can blow back on deck and
start a fire. Please be considerate of the other passengers
and follow the rules. And be aware that you will encounter
many more smokers on a European cruise vacation and on European
cruise ships that winter in the USA.
These are just some sensible cruise tips for you to follow
on you Caribbean cruise vacation.
Happy Cruising!
About the Author
Mary Hanna has traveled the world by Air and Ship. Visit her
websites at: Cruising Tips Cruise Travel and Cruise Reviews
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