What are some tips and recommendations for a first-time cruiser to ensure a smooth and enjoyable experience?
We will be on the cruise for 6 days.
What to take on board?
Things to do at Norfolk Island? Tours?
Booking restaurants and Experiences?
And everything else?
Old ship, tick, I saw plenty of rust.
Entertainment, ok what I saw, in my normal life I don't go out much for shows or whatever so not much difference to me.
I must have low standards for food, I enjoyed my food on the ship, if the cruise was any longer I would of probably ate myself to death.
I don't like fancy restaurants or generally (fancy restaurant) expensive food, I had a large meal pretty much every meal.
Would I go again, not sure.
my goto is royal for family cruise, cant go past their drink packages….. food is pretty good and entertainment is also.
carnival has better selection of food and do comedy better, but there crowd on their ships is not the best
On the cruise I went on, the people all seemed to be fine. Everyone seemed to be well behaved, no one really rude. Maybe one Karen.
When you say "crowd on their ships is not the best", do you have examples of this?
@fredk1000: Just a rougher crowd, lower social economic areas, ect, that's what I found.
CARNIVAL had a best mullet comp one night, the winner did a shoey and skulked the bottle of champagne….
@dono2: Ok, thanks for the example. I guess it could be luck of the draw who you would be cruising with or without.
Embarkation photos cost $40 for 2 included digital, printed and an USB drive. It's only available first 24 hours
All other photos taken costs about $210 for 10 printed or around $240 printed and digital.
They have LIFE studio. Price is not known upfront. It will cost you thousands for all pictures. But you may be able to negotiate a deal for all digital photos at heavily discounted price.
Go for free restaurants for dinning if possible. Pantry (buffet) food quality was average.
Don't worry about Verifly. I noticed most of people do not have Verify prior to check in at the port.
Bring a laneyard.
Some of the free restaurants serve same food as pantry. First hand experience few months back. Went to restaurant dint like food so went to pantry and found same food.YMMV
Pantry buffet is very crowded during peak time and not easy to find a table. The beauty of Angelo's/Dragon Lady/Waterfront is no crowd and guarantee a table.
The food on the Pacific Encounter was pretty woeful - would recommend the pizzas from 400 Gradi / Pronto Gradi though.
We ended up with $700 on board credit which was fun, $100 a day to use on drinks and pizza.
How did you get $700 on board credit?
we booked a couple of years ago. I think it was $150 OBC per person (excluding our baby) when we booked, then we got an extra $100 each (including our baby) when the cruise was delayed by a year, then we got another $100 after having to move cabins due to a very strong odour which stopped us being able to use our balcony.
Thanks for sharing.
Any thoughts on the wifi on Pacific Encounter?
Each cabin has a Aruba Wireless Access Point on the ceiling. Wifi coverage is very good. I didn't purchase Internet package, so can't tell how the satellite Internet performs.
the thing that was best for us…
you can book into the restraunts before the cruise starts, online. we prebooked for every night in advance, rotating between them all. at 5PM (the earliest I think) and it made it so much easier, and the food was great. then you can go to the buffet if you wish as that closes at 9.
also bring some lanyards, they charge more onboard. Also download the
And download the P&O app as you can use it to message anyone onboard, and you dont need to pay for their internet to use it, as it is free.
Went on a cruise once and will never do it again. Motion sickness. I didn't throw up. I couldn't throw up. I just felt like death. Meds didn't help.
But that's not the worst that can happen when it comes to motion sickness. I was fine after a couple of days on land. It's rare but some people never get over it. Look up "mal de débarquement". It didn't go that far for my wife but it took many weeks to recover. She'd go again. Me? I'm done!
I got a bit land sick after my first cruise, the ground stopped moving after about a week unless I was sleeping. I woke up disorientated for a few months thinking I was still on the boat and had to re-orientate. Did a 3 day cruise out of Singapore on a much much bigger boat, no after effects at all.
I love the motion, helps me sleep. Best experience was storms in alaska and the edge of typhoon in japan. Whats more the restaurants and facilities on the ship are really empty as half the ship are seasick. The alaska storm was so strong a few people broke bones being tossed around and i watched practically half a bar fall to the floor in one particularly bad swell one evening.
Breaking news a man overboard around 11PM in the Pacific Ocean during a cruise. A major search is going on . I wasn't too far wrong with my previous contribution to this thread .
Def look into whether you need travel insurance - being sick on a cruise can get expensive
Don't book p&o they are the caravan park option of the cruise companies.
Old ships, poor food and entertainment