Cruises are a great vacation option for those of you looking for relaxation and adventure. While it can be hard to mess up a cruise vacation (unless you forget to pack something), there are a few common mistakes you want to avoid while on your trip. Here are The Worst Mistakes to Make on a Cruise.
The Worst Mistakes to Make on a Cruise
Not tipping enough
Many of the popular cruise lines automatically charge daily gratuity and service charges to your room based on the type of room and the length of the cruise. While you can have these charges removed or adjusted by going to the guest service desk, I advise against it. You shouldn’t go to a restaurant unless you can afford to tip the wait staff, and a cruise is no exception. If you can’t afford to tip, you shouldn’t go.
I think that once you’re on a cruise and experience the pampering from the staff, you’ll have no question that they deserve to be tipped. On our Disney Cruise, they all went above and beyond what we expected or could have hoped for. When it came time to tip the staff, we were thrilled to be able to give back a little after a week of being catered to!
Not getting on the ship in time
When the captain says that the ship is leaving at 5 pm or embarking at 3 pm, they mean it. They won’t hesitate to leave people behind and aren’t going to wait for you to come back on board. If you are left at a port, it’s up to you to get back home or find your way to the next port. Depending on where you are traveling, this could cost thousands of dollars, or even leave you stranded for days while waiting for a rushed passport. Make sure you leave yourself at least an hour or two to get back on the ship before it leaves.
Typically if it’s an excursion that’s booked through the cruise line you will not have any problems. They time these so that you will be back in time, of course, things do happen and if it’s an excursion through the cruise line they do wait for you. This doesn’t happen often though!
Booking a late flight on embarkation day
If you want a sure way to miss the boat, book a late flight on embarkation day. It’s not always possible to be there a day early, but if you can, you should get there early. As we mentioned earlier, the ship will not wait for you to get on board.
Flying out of Iowa isn’t the easiest, there aren’t a lot of flights if one gets canceled. For us, we always fly in a day early and just relax until it’s time to head to the ship. Especially since we tend to cruise during the winter months and you never know what will happen with the weather!
Forgetting to turn off your data
When the ship starts to leave, turn off data roaming or turn off your whole phone altogether. While you’re at sea and in international destinations, you’ll rack up hefty fees from your phone even if you’re not using it. Put your phone on airplane mode if you must use it, and rely on your cruise lines services such as free apps and other features for contacting the people you’re traveling with.
Disney has an amazing app that allows you to message each other on the boat. It’s very reliable and you get messages right away. My sister and I used this for our entire cruise. We also had a phone in our room that would send and receive messages as well, this is a great option for kids to use if they don’t have a phone!
Plan on going on vacation when you book a cruise, working is difficult as the WiFi is not fast. I highly suggest taking this time to enjoy your family instead of stressing out about phones and work! This is actually one of the worst mistakes to make on a cruise!
As long as you avoid these mistakes, you can enjoy smooth sailing while on your trip! We’ve only brushed the surface here, but these are the most common mistakes people make while on a cruise.
All these identical points should be remembered while traveling on cruise specially a point about tipping. But as per my information now all standard cruise lines covered waiter or any kind of tips in traveler’s tickets. But, I’m not 100% sure about it.