Turns out we're going on a cruise! We booked the cruise yesterday! Since neither of us had the time to plan flights, accommodations, rental cars, excursions, etc.-- as we are both bogged down with school-- we decided to go the lazy route and just book a cruise.
We're going on a Norwegian cruise...
We leave out of New Orleans, Louisiana...
...then we go to Costa Maya, Mexico
... then we go to Belize
....then to Coxen Hole, Honduras
....then Cozumel, Mexico
Exciting right? Have any of you guys ever been on a cruise??
I have never been on a cruise, so I really have no idea what to expect.
I have two main questions for you guys.
1. Am I right in thinking I am supposed to bring some type of "formal attire" for the dinners? I feel like whenever I have seen friends' cruise pictures, they're always wearing something fancy. Is that right? If so, how fancy is it supposed to be?
2. If you have been on a cruise, have you ever paid the extra money for the excursions? Is it worth it?
If you have ANY cruise advice, that would be so fabulous.
OR if you just want to tell me about a cruise you've been on, I'd love that to. Unless you hated it. Don't tell me that, because we already paid the money and we can't back out now.
24 comments:
oh man. i've never been on a cruise, but bring lots of elastic clothing. lol. i see lots of peanut butter desserts in your future! :)
Ah I LOVE cruises!!! I just went on one with my family to the caribbean. First, be prepared to eat lots and lots of food, and then when you think you can't eat anymore food, be ready to eat more food. And it's awesome.
To answer your questions
1. Yes there are formal nights. People wear anything from cocktail dresses to full on prom looks with the tiara, gloves, and everything.
2. Don't do the excursions through the boat if you want to save money. They're a huge rip off. Especially when you're in countries where you can barter the prices. That being said, excursions will save you time and are pretty reliable.
One more thing, take me with?
Oh my god, that's so weird... I just went on the SAME EXACT CRUISE over Christmas vacation! Email me if you want specific details! We can talk excursions and stuff :)
miranda.mowbray@gmail.com
Haha, I just booked the exact same cruise as well! Funny. I have been on one other cruise before, and for me the highlight was the frozen yogurt stand which was open all day and always had three flavors and had new flavors every time I walked by it. I never said no to a new frozen yogurt flavor and I did not regret it.
Also, yes, there is always one or two nights that are considered fancy nights and everyone dresses up and gets their picture taken. Though the best part of a cruise is you can really do whatever you want. So you could dress up every single night like that, or you could ditch that night and just order room service, or eat at the burger place by the pool, or just eat frozen yogurt. :)
Barter for the excursions once you are off the boat. We did that and saved a ton of money, granted our horseback ride on the beach consisted of driving to a cement wall that had spray painted on it horses for rent, but we still had fun and we felt that it made it more "authentic".
Dork and I went on this exact cruise for our honeymoon! We loved it.
If it's a "freestyle" cruise, then you can bring fancy dinner outfits and choose when you have a fancy meal--there's no specific dinning area or time. On our cruise, we had a lot of restaurants to choose from and could pick whatever we wanted when we felt like it.
If you do an excursion, zip lining is INCREDIBLE! I've done it both in Belize and Guatemala, and it's one of the funnest things ever.
Also, be careful about eating food in other countries. Dork and I had a less-quality-than-Taco-Bell meal in Mexico that made us both sick. (That's not fun on a moving boat!)
Y'all will have a blast and make sure to post pictures when you get back!
Typically there are certain nights that are formal (although some people always seem to show up in jeans and a shirt anyway, sigh), if you look online or at your cruise itenerary it should tell you how many to plan for.
The only one fo those places I have been is Cozumel and you have to do a Tulum excursion!! It is awesome and yes, totally worth the money. ti is also just fun to get off the boat and walk around on you own. Usually we plan an excursion for 1 or 2 ports and then just do our own thing at the others. I would say ONLY book excursions through the cruise line, it might be more expensive then you can find elsewhere, but you don't have to worry about something going wrong. Example: when we docked in Jamaica our whole tour was late getting back, but the ship had to wait for us, there was a family that was another family that was not so lucky because they had booked an excursion through an independent company and got left behind. They had to figure out how to meet the boat at the next port on their own.
I would offer my advice if I had any cruising experience, but sadly the closest I've ever gotten is going on the ferry around the Statue of Liberty. But have fun, lady!
Awesome! I would say look at what the cruise has to offer but then go do it on your own when you leave the ship. You will pay half the price for the same thing- especially if you haggle! Just be careful and use common seance. Have fun!
We just went on basically that exact same cruise in January except with Carnival.
Here are my suggestions:
Cozumel: We rented a scooter ($20 with gas included) and drove around the island and just stopped wherever we felt like. There aren't a lot of nice beaches (at least I thought so). We found one, but I can't remember the name and we took a snorkel tour out to the reef. That was pretty incredible and I would recommend it. Getting a scooter is the only way to go! Also we already have our own snorkel gear and it's nice not to have to rent/buy from the ship or the city so maybe invest in some before you head out.
Costa Maya: We were supposed to go to Belize, but they traded ours for Costa Maya instead :( Costa Maya was fun though. We went with a large group and played volleyball on the beach. We got a bus to drop us off about 5 minutes away at a beach because we were a large group so we could get some good deals. If you want to walk in the water there, make certain to bring some water shoes!
Roatan, Honduras: Our port was Mahogany Bay, but I'm sure you can find the same type of deals. We were able to get a tour guide with us all day, a van to take us around, and a zip lining tour in Coxen Hole for $25 a person. This was our favorite stop and I would make sure you go do the zip lining in Coxen Hole! There were far more platforms than any other tour and you are up in the hills. It was incredible. At the end out zip lining they had a bunch of monkeys you can play with and feed for free. It is very low key and easy going. The rest of our time there was spent on the West End Beach. We took a boat tour out snorkeling there as well.
We didn't end up going to Belize, and our last port was the Cayman Islands. Roatan was our very favorite. We also didn't book any excursions from the ship. They are way too expensive. If you or your husband speak spanish, then you will be just fine finding deals at the port for excursions. They are MUCH cheaper and you can barter for the best deal.
I have a bunch of pictures and more about our trip on my blog. It's www.randalandkirsten.blogspot.com
As far as cruising goes, it was my first time as well and I liked it, but definitely had some problems with it too. I have a post on my blog about that as well.
Hope you have fun and I hope this is helpful!!
I cruised down the west coast of Mexico last winter and we did not spring for the excursions. I found that with just a little research we could do essentially the same thing for nearly half the cost. It took a little leg work, but was worth it. Take a lot of small American bills and be prepared to negotiate with vendors, you'll be amazed at how much you save.
xox
haha at first i thought he booked you a cruise to norway, i thought man that sucks, i would way rather have gone to jamaica!
Definitely book excursions once you get off the boat. Often you can get better deals and do more if you book on shore. Many ports will have tons of little private stands at the port where you can walk around and decide what you want to do and its waaay cheaper! I would also suggest just researching quickly your ports in google to see what the common activities are to do there that way you can kind of plan ahead of time what you want to do in each spot.
As far as formal night goes you would be totally fine just wearing church clothes! Some people are super fancy and some just wear simple dresses so its totally up to you!
I LOVE cruises!!!!! SO jealous you are going! I've been on that same cruise (with a different company) and you are sooooo going to love it!!! I say that it is absolutely worth it to pay extra for the excursions!!! We have been on 2 cruises, and have booked excursions for every single stop except for I think 1 stop...maaaaaybe 2 stops.
We have: swam with dolphins, swam with stingrays (do it!), went tube caving (so fun!), went snorkeling (amazing), did scuba diving (you don't have to be certified to go in Mexico...it was crazy, scary, but super cool to say I've done it!), zip-lining, horse back riding on the beach, atv-ing on the beach, dune buggies, and kayaking....whew, I think that's it. But seriously, you've got to do excursions!!! We decided to book all our excursions through the cruise people, because that way, we knew before hand what we were doing, and they have meeting places for you, and you go with a group...some people choose to wait to get off the ship and go find excursions a little bit cheaper, to save money, but I think it's worth it to pay a little bit extra for the peace of mind of knowing what you have planned, and having the security of it being booked through the cruise.
I brought a really fun fancy dress for the specific 2 formal nights each cruise. I just did my hair different the 2 nights. Otherwise, we just wore regular clothes to dinner...well, one of the ships said it had to be like business casual dress. Try and book your dinners around 6-7 o-clock. Especially if you're doing excursions, you are going to be sooo hungry by that time!!
The other extremely important advice I have ;) is, don't be afraid to order more than one appetizer/entree/dessert!!! There were some nights when we just couldn't decide what we wanted to eat for dinner because so many things sounded good, and we would each order 2 entree's or whatever it was we wanted, and your server totally doesn't care! (at least ours didn't!).
Ahhh, I'm so excited for you!!!! If I wasn't pregnant, we would totally be going on one asap!!! If you have any more questions, I'd be happy to answer them! (aejamba@hotmail.com)
Crazy...We are going on the same cruise in April.
What I have done in the past with the dinners; one night we dress up fancy tux and prom-like dress. The other dress up night its more "church" attire and then we just ate outside of the dining room the other nights.
Be prepared to eat an ice cream (or a couple) a day.
Do not do the automatic tipping preferences, choose to pay your servers/maids how you feel they performed.
Barter for everything!
I love cruises! you will probably have 2 formal nights and you can just wear a bit fancier of a dress than you'll wear on the other nights. You will eat a lot and mmm is it good! On boat excursions are a rip off so def. look into booking things on site for a way better deal. I am jealous!
i am so jealous! you are going to have so much fun.
And you HAVE to do excursions--they are the best part! unless you guys are just wanting to walk around at the ports, which gets old. make sure you research them beforehand- read the reviews!
We went on the Norweigan Sun in November! We saw the Pearl docked in Jamaica while we were there! Of the ports on your cruise I have only been to Cozumel...my advice? Stay on the ship! It was our least favorite as the locals are very pushy! I also didn't feel safe booking any excursions and we later found out that several of the companies that offer excursions had lost their insurance and had to cancel at the last minute. A few guests we ran into had gone snorkeling and really like it. I can advise you that you should always book through the cruise line for any excursion you wish to go on...it's just safer and you will be with a group from your ship. I have heard from friends that Belize and Honduras are amazing! Enjoy!
Oh yeah! Water shoes! That coral will kill your feet!
I love cruising! It's so nice not to have to worry about hotel rooms, transportation, etc. Of all your stops, I have only been to Cozumel and Belize. I second the scooter suggestion for Cozumel, and snorkeling. It's a pretty small island, even on a scooter you'll probably be able to see the whole thing. All we did in Belize was the market that the boat drops you off at, but our dinner table-mates did a cave tubing tour and loved it.
You'll definitely see all kinds of dress at dinner time. Get yourself a black convertible dress (American Apparel sells them, I'm sure you could find a cheaper alternative) and just take lots of accessories. Save the room in your suitcase for souvenirs.
Girl I have so many opinions and tons of advice about cruises. And my inlaws got back from this exact cruise on this exact boat and exact cruise ship line last month. If you wanna talk about it, call me.
Went on practically this same crusie for our honeymoon! We went through NCL and went to Belize and Costa Maya. It was awesome! You don't need fancy attire, this cruise line is all about the casual evenings. Call me and we can talk about Belize (we went cave tubing and it was amazing!) and in Costa Maya we took a cab to a beach and ate awesome shrimp tacos on the side of the road.
yyyayyy a cruise!! I went on one for my honeymoon to the Mexican Riviera and loved it. Make sure to bring some Dramamine even if you don't usually get motion sickness. Our particular cruise line had 2 very fancy nights, so I would take at least one back up fancyish dress just in case. Have so much fun!!!! oh and CONGRATS on being preggers Whitney!!
The House of Shoes
I went on this EXACT cruise last year and it was AMAZING!
Do Cave Tubing in Belize (I think the group was called Bums Up) we booked it online ahead of time and you don't pay any money until you get on the bus.
Honduras was our FAVORITE, I still dream about that island. Do the zip line tour there and you can just book it when you get off the boat, there are several booths just down the dock. After zip lining they'll take you to the beach for a few hours and you can do anything else you want or just lounge around.
Costa Maya we saw some Mayan Ruins, that was pretty cool
Cozumel we just took it easy and walked around
Have Fun, this cruise is amazing!
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