Freighter Travel

Cruise Ship Tips

I suggest also to take a minute and talk to the staff taking care of you. They are from all over the world and are really very interesting people and will go out of their way to assist you with every need. We particularly enjoyed our head waiter and steward. A little gratuity for them at the end of the cruise is highly appreciated.

It is especially convenient to sign up using the sign and sail card. This is where you use your credit card for all your purchases including drinks and they give you a bill at the end of the trip. You can request a copy of your bill at any time which I highly recommend if you like to drink. It can add up pretty quickly if you aren't paying attention.

Debarkation by Self Assist

A tip for disembarking is, if you can, use the self assist gangway. You take your luggage yourself and then go through customs. We waited in our stateroom and they announced that the self assist gangway would close in 10 min. (we waited there because all the other people had crowded the stairwells to wait in line) We grabbed our bags headed out and were off the ship within 10 minutes. If you can, try to bring only enough luggage so that you have one free hand and they will let you take an escalator down instead of having to wait for the elevator. The wait for the elevator looked a little tedious. Customs was very easy for us as we did not have to declare much.

Our ship was the Inspiration with Carnival and I am definitely inspired to cruise again.

Prices On Board A Cruise Liner

They don't take too much advantage of your captive status. The food is included in the price of course, but drinks are not too badly priced. For example, $4.50 for a screwdriver. plus 68c gratuity.

Staff friendliness, ordained as it is. A million miles from care. Need more power outlets in cabins.

Seasickness

This is not really a problem, as the stabilizers, which are fins on cruise ships, mean that any choppiness is barely noticeable. However we were not on the open sea, which will be choppier compared to the Caribbean.