{"id":1220,"date":"2007-05-07T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2007-05-07T12:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/?p=1220"},"modified":"2011-02-27T21:24:05","modified_gmt":"2011-02-28T02:24:05","slug":"a-guide-to-first-time-cruising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/a-guide-to-first-time-cruising\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to First Time Cruising"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>By Carol Garcia<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2007\/images\/cruise\/ship.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"235\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Recently, my family and I had the opportunity to take our  first  cruise. We sailed from Ft. Lauderdale  on the Radiance of the Seas, a  ship in the Royal Caribbean Line. Our itinerary called for stops in Key  West, Cozumel (Mexico),  Georgetown (Grand Cayman) and Montego Bay  (Jamaica). For the most part, my family is new to  cruising. And we  didn&#8217;t exactly book  early \u2013 it was a spur of the moment change in  plans. Although we used many online resources  available to us,  including our own Magic Cruises for Less Yahoo Group as well  as chats  about cruising, we learned a lot from our first experience. It&#8217;s  impossible to cover all the information     you&#8217;ll need as a first-time   cruiser, but I&#8217;ll include sections on  the     essentials and highlights.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why not Disney?<\/strong> As an editor of a newsletter  devoted to  Disney, many people were surprised to hear we booked on  Royal Caribbean. So, I will explain our thoughts a bit. We had certain  time constraints on us and  really weren&#8217;t booking early. Between   availability and price, Royal Caribbean worked out best for our trip.  Would I sail on the Disney Cruise Line? Yes, in a heartbeat. Do I regret  our choice to trip RCL  first? Not at all and given the chance,  we  would be please to sail with them again, too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Checking in,  security, etc.<\/strong> We chose to stay in  Ft. Lauderdale  the night before we sailed. This helped  us avoid  worrying about flight delays.  This worked well. We checked out  of the  hotel a bit early, the first shuttle to the port was early and we took   it. We arrived at port around 11 am, way  earlier than most ships board.  We had to  wait somewhere and experienced cruisers at the hotel told us  that going early  and waiting at the port wasn&#8217;t a bad choice.  It  turned out that we didn&#8217;t wait all that long before we were able to   check in. We had time to explore the  ship and eat lunch before the  masses arrived.  It did make for a bit of a long day, as there weren&#8217;t a  lot of organized  activities that day, but we could swim and sit in the  sun.<\/p>\n<p>When checking in, we were given a SeaPass card. They took our photo  and this was used to  identify when either leaving or boarding the ship  at any port. This was our room charge, our ID, our key:  basically our  lifeline on the ship.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Food, food, food!<\/strong> We would never go hungry onboard.  The offerings weren&#8217;t as in-your-face and I  had anticipated, but it  was more than adequate.  We could always find something, no matter the  time. We found the buffet to our children&#8217;s liking  with several options  including hamburgers, pizza, pasta and a large salad  bar. We were also  impressed with the ship&#8217;s  dining room which served all sorts of  options for them. They were very willing to accommodate picky  eaters.  My son had his chicken strips  cut by an attentive waiter every night!   By the second day, the wait staff knew what we liked to drink and was   anticipating our every need.<\/p>\n<p>As we are soda drinkers, we chose to buy the soda package up  front.  It was easy for the kids to show  the sticker on their SeaPass card to  get a drink without having to charge everything. I didn&#8217;t try to figure  out if we were better  off cost-wise (we probably were), but the  convenience couldn&#8217;t be beat.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Activities.<\/strong> I&#8217;m not going to even try to list what  is  available on the ship. This would move  from an article to a novel.  Suffice it  to say, there is something for everyone.  There are smaller,  intimate activities, there are shows, pool-side  games, mixers,  lounges, dancing, family activities, and the list goes on. The ship&#8217;s  crew will prepare a  guide with the next days&#8217; activities each night.  Just take a look and see what&#8217;s happening.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Size matters.<\/strong> My perspective on size was thrown way  off  when cruising. Yes, I&#8217;ve seen all of the  pictures and watched the  360 movies online, but it doesn&#8217;t compare to being  there. When we  arrived in port, I was  struck at just how big the ships are. I  wasn&#8217;t  expecting row boats, but they are mighty big! In Cozumel,  we docked  right next to Freedom of the Seas, which is the largest cruise ship  in  the world. Talk about big! It made our little Radiance of the Seas look   puny!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2007\/images\/cruise\/freedomsize.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"175\" \/><br \/>\n<em>The Freedom of the Seas (left), which can carry over 3600  passengers, next to our Radiance of the Seas, which can carry just over  2500 passengers.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>After getting over the awe of the size of the ship, I was a  little  surprised by the size of the rooms.  Yes, I was expecting small, but  perhaps not that small. My family had two connecting rooms (there are   five of us) and we had plenty of space.  We also had balconies. Although   the balcony wasn&#8217;t exactly spacious, it was perfect for two chairs and  a  table. It really helped the feeling of  being in a small space to be  able to step out of the room for a bit.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2007\/images\/cruise\/roomsize.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"263\" \/><br \/>\n<em>The kids&#8217; room, with the berth open above the bed, wasn&#8217;t always successful at keeping the clutter from creeping in.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On the plus side, I was truly amazed by the amount of  storage in  these little rooms. We didn&#8217;t  exactly pack light. With clothes for   dressing for dinner, clothes for playing in the sun, beach clothes and  all of  the other things that we had to bring, we had lots of stuff. But  we found places to comfortably store it  all away. There were plenty of  hangers  for the nicer items. As with any small  space, we had to  remember to put things away to avoid being over run, but with  a little  attention, it worked out fine.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2007\/images\/cruise\/shower.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"183\" height=\"350\" \/><br \/>\n<em>The shower.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Then, there was the bathroom. Yes, again, it was small. But there  was \u201cmedicine cabinet\u201d type space  as well as some hooks for hanging  items.  The shower was fine, as long as you didn&#8217;t need to move your  arms. It took three days, but I managed to figure  out how to shower  without flooding the bathroom floor (there was a drain in the  shower,  but also one in the other section of the bath). Leg shaving was a bit  tricky, and I will  spare you the details, but with some planning, this  can be done. We chose to bring a few smaller sized  toiletries, and this  probably was a good choice.<a name=\"more\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The motion of the  ocean.<\/strong> I really didn&#8217;t think  that  cruising in the Caribbean would be rough,  sea-wise. And for the  first two days, I  was right. Then we left Cozumel, and the fun started.  The wind was strong and the ship was always  moving (and not always in a  forward direction).  It was a bit unnerving at times, but I figured as  long as the crew  wasn&#8217;t looking worried, I shouldn&#8217;t be either.  In  retrospect, we weren&#8217;t in any danger; it was just a new experience as  a  first time cruiser. I was getting a  pedicure during all of this and I  mentioned to the nail tech that I didn&#8217;t know  how she could apply nail  polish with all of the movement of the ship. She looked at me with a  very serious face and  said, \u201cIs there a lot of movement. I  don&#8217;t  notice anything..\u201d \u2018Nuf said!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shore excursions.<\/strong> This was a source of much thought  before we  actually got on the ship. Do we book  ahead? Do we just wing  it? Well, there are as many opinions as there are  options. We finally  decided to book some  excursions. But we waited so long, we  had to book  them when we arrived on the ship.  Which, for my non-planning friends,  works fine. We tried to choose things that didn&#8217;t take  all day. That  way we could get a little  flavor of the location and still have time to  do some things at the spur of the  moment.<\/p>\n<p>What we found difficult in planning ahead is that we really  didn&#8217;t  know exact times. The amount of  time and even arrival time varies by  port and we really didn&#8217;t have a good feel  for times while we were  still at home.  Once on board, we found the information readily  available the night  before arriving in a port. So we had varying  amounts of free time in each  location. It also mattered if we were   docked (just walked off the ship on to the pier), or if we tendered (had  to  take a smaller boat to the pier). As you  might suspect, tendering  takes a bit of time.  In our case, the sea was very rough on the day we  tendered, so we  planned accordingly.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2007\/images\/cruise\/tendering.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"209\" \/><br \/>\n<em>A nearby ship is tendering in Grand Cayman using their lifeboats.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In a nutshell, these are our experiences at each port. Of course, this will vary depending on many  different factors.<\/p>\n<p><em>Key   West<\/em> \u2013 We took a trolley tour through Key West.  It  took about an hour and we saw quite a few of the highlights. Since our  tour was short, we had time to  visit the aquarium and browse around  before we returned to the ship. This is one of the easiest ports to dock  in,  and one on of the easiest to explore on your own. We didn&#8217;t need a  planned excursion here, but  we very much enjoyed our brief overview of  the area.<\/p>\n<p><em>Cozumel<\/em><em>, Mexico<\/em> \u2013 This was our next favorite port.   Again, in was an easy place to dock and a short walk to shops and   taxis. We had booked a four hour island  tour that also involved a visit  to one of the beaches. It was great for us to see a lot of the  island,  and probably parts we wouldn&#8217;t have seen on our own. Our tour guide was  amazingly friendly and  made us feel at home. I&#8217;ve traveled to Mexico  before  and knew that there is some bartering and a bit of a different  style in shopping  there, but overall, the people were very friendly.  There are some amazing ruins in Mexico, but they really aren&#8217;t in  Cozumel. We felt,  for the ages and abilities in our family, we were  best to stay on the  island. We could have easily shopped,  gone to the  beach, or explored a bit without a tour. It&#8217;s not really conducive to do  more than  that on your own in the short time you are in port.<\/p>\n<p><em>Georgetown<\/em><em>, Grand Cayman<\/em> \u2013 We had booked a Pirate  Cruise for this day.  The seas were very rough and the captain actually  had to move the ship  in order to find a nice enough spot to tender.   There are no docks in Grand Cayman, so  tendering is it. We sort of had  to ride  the waves and use assistance to get into the bobbing tender  boat. Not for the faint of heart, but we didn&#8217;t  feel in peril, either.  From what we were  told, this isn&#8217;t an unusual experience, but we always  felt our safety was a  priority for all involved.<\/p>\n<p>Once on shore, we had some time to explore before our  scheduled  excursion. We didn&#8217;t find this  area quite as easy to explore on our  own, and had a couple of false starts, but  we did find a few  interesting places.  The real problem was that there were seven cruise  ships in port that  day. That was something like 22,000  people arriving  in port. It was beyond  crowded in Georgetown  and quite toasty.<\/p>\n<p>Then it was time for the Pirate cruise. I can honestly say that the  woman operating  the tour was the most unpleasant person I have ever  met. After being yelled at (collectively) and  pushed, I took a quick  poll of our family.  We decided that between the rough seas and bad  treatment, this wasn&#8217;t  something we wanted to spend our time on, so we  abandoned the idea before we  got onboard. We had a nice lunch and  went  back onboard our ship to swim.<\/p>\n<p>We were very happy with our decision. I would like to go back and  find something  away from the crowds of Georgetown. There are many  opportunities for this, we  just weren&#8217;t prepared to shift gears once  onshore.<\/p>\n<p><em>Montego Bay<\/em><em>, Jamaica<\/em> \u2013 I&#8217;ll be honest here. I&#8217;m  not a big fan  of Jamaica. I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s the most family-friendly   locale. But, we were there, so we thought  we should just get off the  ship, even if it was to just let the kids say we were there  (my husband  and I have been there before).  The problem is that there is really  nothing that can be done at the port  itself. There isn&#8217;t anything  within  walking distance of the port. We decided  to pay $5 per person  and go downtown. So  we shopped for a bit, trying to avoid some of the  more inappropriate souvenir  choices for our brood. That was  enough.  Back to the ship.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the shore excursions from Montego   Bay are several hours  long.  We weren&#8217;t interested in spending that much time. But, Jamaica is  a beautiful place. Montego Bay  just isn&#8217;t the place to find that.  Given  the choice (which of course being on a ship, we aren&#8217;t), Ocho  Rios would be a  better place to stop, as there are more points of  interest closer that that  area. I won&#8217;t be repeating our Montego Bay  adventure again; I would just go ahead a book  one of the longer  excursions if we went again or stay on the ship.<\/p>\n<p>A side note for the adult travelers: this seemed to be the  locale  where most passengers got caught up in the more adult activities   available in Jamaica. When they say the ship is leaving at 4 pm,  they  mean it. There was quite a bit of  paging missing passengers before we  left.  Unless you are on an organized shore excursion that is running  late (and  some of them did in Jamaica),  the ship waits for no one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kids&#8217; Programs.<\/strong> I would be remiss if I didn&#8217;t  mention my  children&#8217;s favorite part of the cruise: Adventure Ocean.  This is Royal Caribbean&#8217;s kids program. The staff goes out of there way  to keep this  program fun and educational for the kids.  There are cool  science experiments (the first night, at orientation,  they created a  fizzing volcano out on deck), fun games, and new friends. Each afternoon  and evening had a theme and  lots of related activities. The kids could   arrive or leave as the family&#8217;s schedule fit.  My kids, though, really  wanted to stay all night. If we had any sign of one of those inevitable   vacation melt-downs, we just had to mention not attending that evening  and all  behavior was good again.<\/p>\n<p>This, of course, had the added benefit of giving Mom and Dad  some  time to explore the ships offerings on our own. We really didn&#8217;t expect  this, but some down  time was wonderful for all of us.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/tripplanning\/news\/ms\/2007\/images\/cruise\/facepainting.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"263\" height=\"350\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Face painting night was a hit!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now that we have been back for a few weeks, and had time to settle   back into normal life, I find us all missing the cruise. It was a great  way to travel: a fun mix of  relaxation with plenty to do if we wanted  to get out. We are now dreaming of our next cruising  adventure. And we  found that is  something that can be fun about cruising: trying new  ships, new itineraries and  shore excursions and even a changing crew,  will always keep repeat cruising  interesting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Carol Garcia Recently, my family and I had the opportunity to take our first cruise. We sailed from Ft. Lauderdale on the Radiance of the Seas, a ship in the Royal Caribbean Line. Our itinerary called for stops in Key West, Cozumel (Mexico), Georgetown (Grand Cayman) and Montego Bay (Jamaica). For the most part, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[355,197,66,36,198],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Guide to First Time Cruising<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Carol Garcia Recently, my family and I had the opportunity to take our first cruise. We sailed from Ft. 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Lauderdale on the Radiance of the Seas, a ship","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Webmaster","Est. reading time":"13 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/a-guide-to-first-time-cruising\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/a-guide-to-first-time-cruising\/"},"author":{"name":"Webmaster","@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#\/schema\/person\/54c7cac23e856b7b8a8acd1819e5ccc6"},"headline":"A Guide to First Time Cruising","datePublished":"2007-05-07T12:00:17+00:00","dateModified":"2011-02-28T02:24:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/a-guide-to-first-time-cruising\/"},"wordCount":2652,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#organization"},"keywords":["Carol Garcia","Cruising","Disney Cruise Line","News","Royal Caribbean Cruise Line"],"articleSection":["Featured Article"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/a-guide-to-first-time-cruising\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/a-guide-to-first-time-cruising\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/news\/featured-article\/a-guide-to-first-time-cruising\/","name":"A Guide to First Time Cruising","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-05-07T12:00:17+00:00","dateModified":"2011-02-28T02:24:05+00:00","description":"By Carol Garcia Recently, my family and I had the opportunity to take our first cruise. We sailed from Ft. 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