As a long-time travel journalist, I didn’t expect much to surprise me about my first cruise.
I’d spent years learning about the industry: touring ships in port, sleeping on a few vessels that were docked overnight, even hopping on a 2-night “cruise to nowhere” for media and travel advisors.
During my tenure as the top editor at a travel publication, I’d overseen a three-person cruise team that published lists of essential items and tips for first-time cruisers.
I knew the playbook. Pick the right ship for your personality and needs. Pack smart. Plan shore excursions in advance.
So before boarding Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas—one of the largest ships in the world, carrying more than 7,000 passengers during a peak spring break week—I thought I was ready. Ready for the crowds, the lines, the cornucopia of food and drinks.
My family even followed the advice of cruise die-hards and packed magnetic hooks for our stateroom walls in order to increase storage space.
We never used them.
It turns out that for all I thought I knew about cruising, there was much more to learn.
Here’s what I wish someone had told me before I stepped on board. And a few things I’m still trying to figure out.
11 things every first-time cruiser should know
Many onboard activities, even the free ones, require reservations.
And they aren’t available every day. For instance, ice skating was only offered on the first, second, and seventh days of our cruise and was fully booked before we realized we needed a reservation.
Reservations for specialty restaurants are hard to come by.
I knew that. But when we decided to cancel our plans for the main dining room one night, none of the ship’s dozen-plus specialty restaurants had even a table for two available.
If a show is fully booked, there is a standby line.
And chances are good you’ll get in when others fail to show up for their reservations. We noticed one night that most people on the standby line for a comedy show managed to get seats. Another night, my wife and I were able to grab a table at the ship’s sushi restaurant simply by showing up and asking nicely.
So even when something is fully booked, all is not lost.
You spend a lot of time using the cruise line’s app for activities, shows, and dining reservations.
It reminded me of Walt Disney World, where using the app has become an indispensable part of the day.
The casino charges everybody but high rollers for drinks.
If doesn’t matter if you’re gambling. Unless you’re a heavy-duty casino user, you’ll still need to pay for drinks.
The time on the ship doesn’t always match the time at the destination.
There’s ship time and then there’s actual time time—and they’re not always the same. One night we were given a note telling us to ignore the time on our phones; they might automatically update to the local time, but that wasn’t the time the ship would follow.
Don’t expect to sleep in late on port days.
When the ship docks early in the morning, thrusters send vibrations through the entire vessel. Another morning at 7:15, the local tourism board had dancers and drummers on the dock to welcome us to Honduras.
There are events with themed attire, almost nightly.
I knew there would be a formal night and some casual nights. I didn’t know there would also be themed nights, like one with Caribbean attire and another Latin-themed one.
These were listed ahead of time in the app—I just didn’t know to look for themes when packing.
Wi-Fi plans can be shared.
We paid for internet on one device but were able to switch from one phone, laptop, and iPad to another. The plan name just means one device at a time.
We didn’t show our passports—or get stamps—when getting off in foreign ports.
Our ship’s key card was all we needed for identification.
Suite guests get special treatment beyond the room.
This really stood out to me at the pool. Passengers must tap their room cards to borrow towels and then register that card again when returning towels. Otherwise, they face a $25 fee. That’s common at some Caribbean resorts, too.
However, Icon of the Seas passengers in any type of suite only have to flash their cards and don’t have to record how many towels they borrowed. I guess the assumption is, if you paid enough for a suite you aren’t going to steal the towels?
Maybe knowing about these surprises ahead of time will help first-time cruisers minimize onboard hassles by removing some of the mystery.
One mystery from my cruise, though, seems destined to remain unsolved: How can you name a soft-serve ice cream stand “Sprinkles” if you don’t, in fact, offer sprinkles?
