Hi first time newbie to get on a cruise. it is 6 days travel along the Australian coast. can someone who have done cruise travel able to give me any tips and warnings etc. thanks.
What to Bring on a 6 Day Cruise? Tips Welcome
Diesmile on 07/04/2016 - 12:22
Last edited 08/04/2016 - 21:16 by 1 other user
Last edited 08/04/2016 - 21:16 by 1 other user
Comments
You mean I will get lucky with some hot chick?
Make sure its not a granny cruise
Ive heard there are some pretty debaucherous singles cruises around - sign up for one of them
I am going with my families, so…
Draw me like one of your french girls…
in saying that please bring canvas and some pencils.
Make sure you bring a power adapter. They either use the US powerpoint (two vertical prongs) or European (two circular holes).
Sea sickness tablets (you never know)
Some let you take on a certain amount of soft drink cans (which otherwise can cost a lot of money depending on the company)
Swimmers, snorkel
Smart clothes for some of the nice restaurant nights if you want to avoid the buffet
Agreed with snorkel if you have one, they charge you $50 to hire ones on board.
Cannot stress a snorkel enough, pretty sure I paid a stupidly low amount around the $10 mark for a snorkel + goggle set and as mentioned by cypher67, it can cost an arm and a leg to hire them, on one of the cruises I went on to the south pacific it was about $60 for an hour and a half..
do you have to wear suit like or just normal street smart, like shirt and jeans? thanks.
No suit, just a smart casual shirt.
There is formal nights, captains dinners. They wont let you in the formal dining room in jeans. Most people are suited and booted
Yeh some hydralite wouldn't be a bad idea
Take outfits for the theme nights! You can buy accessories on board but it's cheaper to go to the Reject Shop or something and get it before you go.
Thongs, swimmers, some sort of cover up. They'll have towels on board so don't bother with that.
Take fancier outfits for night time and make sure you have closed in shoes. The restaurants won't let you in with thongs and shorts on if you're a guy - if you're a girl, shorts are ok but not thongs.
A lanyard for your cruise card!
A jacket for the decks is not the worst idea as it gets surprisingly cold outside.
woo, you have to bring your own lanyard? i thought they give you one.
Which cruise line? P and O you have to buy it onboard if you don't have one! If you booked through a travel agent, they might give you one?
we booked from P&O directly, so i guess have to buy 2 lanyards tomorrow.
We did a NZ cruise and were required to show both our seapass card and photo id/license at several ports. I had a couple of work lanyards with plastic card holders like these http://www.aliexpress.com/item/10-Pcs-Lot-Horizontal-Rigid-H… which I found very useful because I could show either card quickly, and the cards are held securely but also able to be removed with one hand.
Also take a small tin of air freshener. On a 14 day cruise we had at least 2 failure-to-flush events because someone in another cabin had attempted to flush something they shouldn't.
Have never been on a cruise, but my wife has.
Take basic first aid kit (band aids, disinfectant, pain killers, etc). If anything happens to you and you want to see a doctor then you will have to see the ship's doctor, and if it's 'out of hours' then you will have to pay the surcharge. This won't be covered by travel insurance AFAIK. Cutting your foot could cost you a couple of hundred dollars if you're not prepared.
I don't know P&O but on RC a visit to the doctor was charged at USD160.00 just for the consultation. Limited medications were expensive but not stupidly so, however I'd still recommend taking some paracetamol etc.
My wife kicked a plant pot on deck and cut her foot, would have cost her that $160 for some band aids if not for someone else having them.
usually you can't bring booze on to a cruise ship and hence have to pay exorbitant ship prices. this is anti-ozbargain.
Step 1) buy some goon.
Step 2) drink the goon.
Step 3) wash out goon bag.
Step 4) fill goon bag with favourite alcohol/spirit (if your favourite alcohol is goon then skip steps 2,3,4).
Step 5) hide goon bag in checked in luggage.When we went on a princess cruise you have to drop off your baggage where it gets searched for booze (and other unimportant shit like bombs or firearms) then brought up to your room.
Yeah but if you hide it inside you clothing they wont find it. They have 1000s of passengers and pretty much just poke around for solid items, they wont find this if it is inside a jumper. I'd did this method aswell as using a fine blade to cut around the plastic on mouth waste bottles so u can tell its been replaced. Its a good money saver.
They don't physically search your bag without you present. It is scanned and they do find pouches of alcohol. They state they can throw you off the cruise however I have never heard of this happening. If you have something in your case they are concerned about you will receive a note in your cabin to go down so they can look through your bag.
we don't drink alcohol, only occasionally red wine. so we should be ok, do you have to pay for soft drinks too?
Yes, soft drinks you have to pay for.
Depends, on Carnival Soft Drinks are free from the dispensers in Buffet (obviously shitty homebrand) but option to buy Coke etc.
My trick is 2 bottles of Coke/Pepsi (whichever is the one they don't sell on the ship), empty 700ml of cola from one bottle, top up with a cheap scotch. Check the bottles into your luggage, if asked by security you're bringing Coke/Pepsi for your room because you don't like the Pepsi/Coke the ship sells. When on board, enjoy nipping back to your room and experimenting how much cola to mix in your 'cola'.
Or, when you're cruising the Mediterranean, fill an empty lemon sports drink bottle with limoncello, and put in your missus's handbag.
You're welcome.
Each cabin has only 1 powerpoint, so if you have devices you wish to charge or power, take a powerboard with you.
Take formal clothes, they have decent professional photographers and some nice its required to get into the main dining room.
Take any possible medication, sea sickness, panadol etc
Lanyard so you dont have to carry around your room key
Your fat pants, your going to eat so much its not funny
Gym clothes, see previous pointwoo, that's a good tip, but on second thought, we just need charge 2 phones, so might just have to share the power point.
Are you able to use your mobile phone on the ship? Or only when you get off?
Did you buy a special sim to use?Your phones etc dont work, but I used my to listen to music, play games and read books on the ipad whilst by the pool
To add to this, and maybe this is obvious, but just thought I'd mention it - seeing as there is no signal, turn your phone to flight mode to increase battery life. It will drain more rapidly if it is constantly trying to get a signal.
Even when in flight mode you can still turn back on things like GPS if you want to see where you are on the maps.
I recently went on a cruise and a powerboard was a necessity. However, I noticed at the end of the cruise a huge tub of power boards that had been confiscated and being returned to guests at the end of the cruise.
Correct hit it well, some ships dont allow them.
Royal Carribean doesn't allow power board. But I read online, some ships also do this. It caused fire on one ship a few years ago.
I can understand why they would be against it, however I always smuggle one on and it has never been taken off me even when its in plain view of the cabin staff. Given I travel with my 2 kids in the 1 cabin and our technology dependence, ill always at least try
We'll be doing the same. Worst thing to happen is they'll hold it for you til you disembark. We'll be trying our luck.
Most liners are banning power-boards now due to safety standard reasons - you can take it but it gets confiscated on boarding.
However you can just ask your cabin steward for one, have done this in the past no problem.
Take Travel Insurance (Within Australia) - the doctors/hospital/meds are not covered by medicare.
Check out David's webpage http://www.gdbucko1.magix.net/#Homepage
We used it and it was an excellent guide.
Seasick medication- Avomine. Chemist Warehouse has 30 tablets for under $10. When we cruised Pacific Ocean 4 years ago they sold packs of it for $20 onboard.
I also brought along a Korjo pegless washing line as helped dry our washing. There maybe be a clothes line in bathroom, but there will be better airflow in cabin area.i have got 1 box of sea sickness tablet, 1 anti womiting medication, 1 box antibiotic and some panadol.
Make sure you have enough to cover both of you, as if you were going to womit every day. Better to be prepared with more than get caught short.
can you use cash onboard?
No, everything is paid for using your cruise card.
Always check the menu for the main dining room. Food is usually good there. They may do formal nights where you need to dress nicely
No, it's all charged to your cruise card. When you get onboard either link it to your credit card/debit card or use cash.
Be warned though, if you use credit or debit, they'll put holds on your card for how much you spend everyday, and then at the end of the cruise, actually charge your card. Those daily holds can take a while to drop off so make sure you have enough money to cover it!
I use cash, it's easier.
Remember the long queues to pay the balance on the card on the last day.
Some cruises offer free credit to spend on board. I recommend you to check your balance on each of your cards, free credit is still money better used for yourself.
Just got back from my first cruise…
A larger pair of pants…cruises are just an excuse for gluttony - 24*7 buffet + pizza, burger ice cream bars
They were completely anal in the buffet, had to disinfect your hands each time before entering the food area and weren't allowed to touch anything or dish up anything yourself. I got reprimanded for picking up a whole orange in my hands
Ha! Sounds like a Celebrity cruise worth all that anti bacterial everywhere
Whole orange with you bare hands?
Bloody grubs ruining it for the rest of us.
Went with Carnival earlier this year and just some comments based on my own experience:
- There might be a soft drinks package, carnival had one for 7 dollars a day.
- You won't get sea sick unless the weather is terrible or you're very sensitive to motion sickness, in which case I'd recommend you get some ondansetron from your gp.
- some operators provide powerboards, if you bring your own and it's an American ship, you run the risk of shortting all your appliances cause they use 110v.
- antibiotics won't save you from food poisoning, usually they're viral or toxins from bacteria. If they are bacterial you'll only feel the effects after the cruise.
-you can bring cash to charge onto your on board account. - bring conditioner a toothbrush and toothpaste, carnival didn't provide us with any (not sure about p&o)
- earplugs if your sensitive to noise, some kids like to run around in the middle of the night.
Stubby cooler.
Also a glow stick or something. The rooms are pitch black. There is no light unless you have a room with a view. So something providing a bit of background light is nice.On Princess recently
- no power point in cabin
- drinks were quite reasonable. $7 per day for unlimited soft drink and mocktails. Beers $5-6. Decent Coffee $3.50 (unlimited free machine coffee). Plenty of places to fill up your water bottle with free iced water
- night light for the cabin would have been useful
- table tennis bats and ball if you are keen, the one ones they provide are rubbish
- travel insurance that specifically covers cruises and where you are going, have heard it can be very expensive if you get sick on board.How do you charge your battery if no power point in the cabin?
Phenergan for any bit more major sea sickness or any allergies or if you can't sleep. Best travel tablet companion. 3 in one :)
^This…so much this!!!
Make sure you take your Kwells/Travacalm etc as directed, but if you slip up & do get sick then Phenergan is your best bet for salvaging the cruise!
Or Valium. A ship's doctor once injected my wife with it and it worked like a charm.
Thanks, I wasn't aware of the vestibular effects of diaz…I did a bit of reading & you are indeed correct, it does make an effective anti-motion sickness drug! :)
A pocket organiser to hang over the bathroom door to put all sorts of stuff in (sunnies, the relentless paper notes the ship gives you, brushes, sunscreen, anything small really) keeps the cabin tidier.
Umbrella and/or plastic poncho you can pick up from reject shop.
Glen 20 I spray the vents and surfaces of the cabin when I get there, also for bathroom smells!
Depending on the ship an adaptor for the power plugs in the room.Go to Bunnings and buy a few Magnetic hooks so you can put them on your cabin wall to dry your swimmers and smalls or anything else otherwise the bathroom gets a bit crowded with the clothes drying
Lifts
Make a point of using the stairs rather than the lifts. A couple reasons:
* Walk off food quicker so you can eat your next meal sooner
* lifts can only fit 1 mobility scooter at a time, you may have to wait for several lifts before you can fit in one.Pool
Hot tub as much as possible in the adult pool areas, less screaming/splashing kids, way more enjoyable.
Activities
Go to as much of the free onboard entertainment as possible (magic show, comedian, stage shows, game shows, trivia, sport activities), create a daily itinerary, get to popular activities 5 minutes early as they can fill up and you can miss things.
Alternate food options
Look up all of the free food stalls on the ship, most of them have ice cream, patisserie, burger, bars that are not in the normal food areas but are included in the ticket.
There are also some restaurants that do not have a cover charge and are awesome. It is exactly like a restaurant rather than the main dining room or a buffet. Depending on how new the ship is, the buffet may not have been designed with sufficient capacity. Be prepared to wait in a long line for your buffet. If this is the case, check the line on the other side of the buffet, it is the same food but may have a much shorter line.
Excursions
If you are going to do any land excursions through the cruise company… you may want to think again and find a local company that does the same/better excursion for half the price. Just make sure that the excursion will get you back to the ship before it leaves without you :)
Deposits on future cruises
You will find that the purpose of this cruise is for the cruise company to entice you to book another cruise. The deal I got was put down a $150 deposit during the cruise you will get a free $150 on board credit on your next cruise. Also if you fail to book another cruise within a year they just send you a cheque for your deposit back. It was fully refunded. We ended up not booking another cruise in time and they just sent us back the money.
Water Bottle
Take a water bottle with you so you can fill it daily and take it on land at all of your ports. It will save you buying water everywhere you go. There is no shortage of ice water on the ship.
All the tips above are great, a few of mine below:
Walkie Talkies - makes it so much easier to coordinate
Entertainment for the kids if you're going to eat at the dining room - my young ones didn't have the patience to sit through a 3 course meal
Water bottles - although you can grab drinks all over the ship, sometimes it's just easier to have a bottle with you.
If you have shore excursions and your kids are young, tupperware containers. We grabbed a few pastries and boiled eggs in shell from breakfast so we'd have something on hand when the kids inevitably get hungry in the rare occasions you can't get food.
Based on my experience with Carnival (not sure if same with P&O)
- You cant take food from the cruise to Tasmania, dont bother with lunch boxes if going to Tassie
- Water bottles
- Enjoy the fancy but free restaurant, its the same food from the buffet. But better service.
- They give you a itinerary list of Activities available each day, have a look at what you like
- Lanyard + Keyring for your room card
- Check the Credit on your room card
- Wait for the last night to buy photos, cause you might get selected in their hall of fame (if selected its free)
- Have fun and enjoy
Bring snorkel and swimming gears.
If you do not have drink package, you can bring 1 slab of spring water.
Do not bring formal clothes. Smart casuals will do throughout your journey.
Bring some snacks and a torch. (Flashlight)
Do some internet study which shore tour to book. To decide if bookfrom the boat or book with locals.
Dutyfree items may be chraper on the first two days.
Bring your appetite
Bring ginger tablets if you are sea sickness.Good ideas. Marked down for my planned trip :-)
- Buy one litre of indian tonic water and one litre of ginger ale.
- Carefully open the bottle cap so that the bottle cap does not detach from the plastic strip.
- Pour contents of both down the sink (or drink them).
- Fill tonic water plastic bottle with Russian Standard Gold, and ginger ale bottle with Lagavulin 16 Year old (or any other spirit you may prefer).
- Put the caps (still attached to their respective strips) back on.
- Pack in a large piece of luggage along with crisps, biscuits and chocolate.
sea broadband is hit and miss, hopefully you can still get coverage seeing the boat is hugging the coast line.
If OP is still around, id like to ask which company you are cruising with. The company defines what sort of entertainment/level of service to expect. For example, P&O is more geared towards families with kids, whilst Princess Cruises is more geared towards 50's+. Entertainment like shows are geared for each age group.
e.g. P&O might have a laser light show, but that wouldnt happen on a Princess ship. Meanwhile, comedians and old sing/dance shows which might not be of interest to the younger generations.I'm off tomorrow on a P&O Cruise :D
Powerpoints on P&O Australia are Australian powerpoints
You will get phone coverage on and off as you get near Australian ports, don't worry about international.
P&O have drinks packages, water, soft drink, and the soft drink/ certain alcohol/coffee one. You can access that through Cruise control.
P&O will have an event for your cruise on facebook, always a good idea for advice.
Formal clothes are not compulsory, but most people make the effort to dress up.
if you have 2 android phones this app acts as a walkie talkie, no data required.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.remaller.a…The app description is confusing. It keeps referring to wifi. Is wifi required to run thus app? If yes then you are better off using viber.
Personal Potra potty's…
base first aid stuff is key. travel sickness stuff for stay wake. look at soft drinks and premium beavage packages. they can save you money if you enjoy a drink. if take kids UHF stuff work if need to find them.
Take a life jacket - remember what happed on the titanic