Recently one of our agents, Joanne, traveled aboard Princess Star for a 4 day Coastal Re-positioning Cruise from LA to Vancouver. Joanne has come up with a list of tips to help you prepare for your next cruise voyage!
1. Expect the unexpected. With any trip there is always a fine balance between being relaxed and getting the service you paid for. Things happen; don’t let your entire trip be affected by an unexpected hiccup.
2. Especially for a more expensive or non-refundable cruise, it is worth the peace of mind to arrive the day before and stay the night prior to the embarkation day. It allows for room for any disruption in getting to the cruise ship prior to departure and makes for a less stressful trip.
3. Try as many of the restaurants on board as possible. Even if they serve the same menu, you never know what a difference in setting, servers or fellow diners could do to enhance your dining experience even further.
4. Check out any drink packages offered. They can be quite worth the cost especially if you enjoy the barista coffees (espressos, lattes) or juices and sodas. It’s amazing how quickly drinks add up on a cruise. For $49/day it was worth it for us to enjoy a number of special coffees during the day, a pre-dinner cocktail, wine with dinner and perhaps even an aperitif or specialty coffee after dinner while relaxing to the music in the piano bar.
5. Make the most of the available entertainment. Always try to catch the Theatre show at least once. Cruise ships have very talented entertainment staff who obviously love what they do and that definitely comes out in their performance.
6. Try to take in all the local talent on board. The comedians are generally quite entertaining and some lounge singers can definitely make your evening! We spent the end of each day at the piano bar enjoying an extremely talented singer and pianist.
7. Partake in some of the group activities that interest you. Many people enjoy the daily bingo on board. We personally enjoy joining the trivia challenges in the afternoon. It’s a great way to spend an hour or two and is nice to leave having met and connected with other travellers on the ship.
8. Make an effort to meet others. It will only enhance your trip to meet other people and learn about them and their experiences. You never know, you may even learn about your next trip by hearing about the past experiences of fellow passengers!
9. Anytime dining may be more suitable to some. Sometimes it is nice to be flexible with your daily routine. Some days in the late afternoon we enjoy putting together a plate of yummy appetizers (shrimp, cheese and crackers..) and enjoying them with a pre-dinner cocktail thereby making a late seating dinner that day more feasible. Other times you may want to catch the Theatre Show and do not want to be rushed straight off to the show after a late seating dinner. On those days it’s nice to dine earlier and head to the show at a more leisurely pace.
10. On shorter cruises I highly recommend using only carry on luggage if possible. Disembarking is simpler and much less crowded using the ‘walk off’ option available to those with carry-ons only.