First Time Cruise Tips – Planning a Cruise

Even after you’ve decided what cruise you’re taking, you’re not done with your planning. You have a number of decisions to make and it is my hope that this guide will help you know what questions to ask.

Table of contents: (Hide)

• Shore Excursions
  • Know Your Ports
  • Booking Through the Cruise Line
  • Booking A Different Tour or Exploring On Your Own
  • Tendering
• Dress Code
• Internet
• Airplane reservations
• Hotel reservations
• Special Activities
• Tipping
• Getting to the Cruise Ship
• Rollcall
• Questions

Shore Excursions

If you want to get your choice of shore excursions, you should not wait till you get on the ship to book them. Your cruise company will have a brochure of shore excursions available for your specific cruise. It will list the price of these excursions.

Before planning your short excursions, I find it helpful to get a view of the overall cruise schedule. When I took a Holland America cruise to the Western Mediterranean, I created a schedule for the cruise and put it into a spreadsheet.

I wanted to know:

• What ports would we be visiting
• On what days
• When we were scheduled to arrive
• When we were scheduled to depart
• Would we tender in or tie up to a dock

The schedule is helpful to know because the tighter the schedule, the more likely I am to use one of the shore excursions booked through the cruise line or to take a pre-packaged tour. If the cruise ship leaves at 5 pm, I’m less likely to venture off on my own past the port city itself than I would be if the ship does not leave until 11 pm.

Know Your Ports

Once you know the basics, schedule the next useful thing to know is what the port is where the ship will dock, and then separately, what is nearby. It’s helpful to research what is available and the highlights in the various port cities. Still, it’s also helpful to know if this is my opportunity to visit a nearby major attraction, such as Seville, Florence, or Rome. The cruise line will have some information on the ports. Additionally, consider other resources, such as Amateur Traveler.

For instance, our first port of call was Cadiz, Spain, and it would be pretty easy to walk from the ship into the old town of Cadiz. However, Cadiz is also near Seville, where, in this case, “near” is a 1.5-hour drive by bus. If I had wanted to see Seville, I might have booked a shore excursion. However, in my case, I had previously visited Seville but not Cadiz, so this was a day to explore on my own.

Booking Through the Cruise Line

Read through the list of shore excursions from the cruise line. The first pass through is to see what strikes your fancy. What about the activities in that port sound interesting? Is it the wine tasting, the kayaking, that particular castle, or just shopping?

Make a second pass through and decide if you’re going to do one of the shore excursions, which one is the most interesting. Add the chosen option and its cost to your spreadsheet column.

Add up the cost of the various tours you plan to take and compare that to your budget.  For cruise lines that do not include shore excursions, I typically budget approximately 50% of the cruise cost as the additional expense I plan to allocate to shore excursions. However, you will need to determine your own budget.

Some ocean cruise lines, such as Viking Ocean, and most river cruise lines, offer one shore excursion included in the price for every port, with some additional excursions available at an extra cost.

Booking A Different Tour or Exploring On Your Own

If the cost exceeds your budget, consider which activities you can do independently or which ones you could find an alternative tour for. Sites like viator.com and shoretrips.com are a good resource for these. Does the city you’re visiting offer a free walking tour led by locals? Can you find a self-guided tour or even an audio tour online for some of these destinations?

If you book through the cruise company and something goes wrong (as happened when I was in Costa Rica, where one shore excursion was caught on the wrong side of a mudslide from the ship), they will be responsible for getting you to the ship on time. So think twice about booking your own tour if the timing in the port is tight.

If you’re eager to try something different from traditional large ship cruises, river cruising provides a more intimate and adventurous alternative. One particularly unique option is a luxury Amazon cruise, which allows you to explore the heart of the Amazon Rainforest in comfort and style. These cruises offer opportunities for wildlife encounters, guided excursions into pristine jungle, and immersive cultural experiences along the river—all with upscale amenities and personalized service. Consider this for a truly memorable first-time cruise if you’re looking for an experience beyond the typical Caribbean or Mediterranean itineraries.

It may be easier to save money by visiting the port city itself than it is to take an excursion that heads to a nearby city.

Also, consider the style of the tour. Do you like walking tours? Are you and are able to keep up? Do you like bus tours or smaller group tours? It is my rule of thumb that the more adventurous the activity, the more adventurous the traveler. On an easy bus tour, you’re more likely to find someone complaining that it’s raining on their visit to the rainforest (yes, this really happened to us on a bus tour in Panama).

Tendering

One last thing to consider with shore excursions is that your ship may dock in some ports and tender (ferry people to and from shore in smaller boats) at other ports. Tendering will take longer and is subject to weather conditions. When we were in the Falklands, the winds picked up, and if they had gotten any worse, the captain would have had to leave some people on shore overnight because it would have been unsafe to tender in that weather. This can happen.

Dress Code

Many cruise ships are getting more casual, as is much of society, but some still have formal nights. You need to determine the options available. As this will affect your packing.

Refer to the Ultimate Cruise Packing List for guidance on packing.

If your ship has formal nights, you can either pack appropriate attire, rent appropriate attire from the ship, including a tuxedo, or go to the more casual dining option.

I don’t recommend opting out of formal night if it’s offered, because the food is generally better in the main dining room than in the cafeteria-style Lido deck dining room, and because you’re missing a part of the experience. However, consider your personal style and the cruise line’s style before booking. Some cruise lines, like Canard, are big into formal dining, while others, like Viking Ocean, have done away with it.

Internet

I remember when I was on a cruise on Holland America, “around the Horn” in South America. I was on a shore excursion, and someone in the group realized the restaurant we were eating at had internet. All conversation stopped as we all got on our devices, starved for internet access. That has been the typical experience with ship internet for years. It has been slow and expensive. There are some changes in this, as faster internet is being introduced to cruise ships. As more cruise ships install new satellite internet, such as StarLink, we are seeing significantly faster connections. We are even seeing ships include internet for free in some cases. Some cruise lines are realizing that people sending off their TikTok or Instagram photos from the ship is free marketing. Keep an eye on this space as better things are coming.

As of this writing, Viking, Celebrity Cruises, Silversea Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises offer unlimited internet access as part of their base cost.

Airplane reservations

When embarking on a long cruise, I recommend arriving at the cruise port early. If you have problems with your flight, you don’t want to miss the boat and spend the next few days trying to find it. Most cruises leave from someplace interesting. Take a day and explore that city before boarding your boat.

On average, booking about six weeks in advance will get you the best airfare deals. If you’re booking using miles, book at least 6 to 12 months in advance.

Hotel reservations

Will you need hotel reservations before or after the ship? If so, count in the cost of getting to the ship in the cost of the hotel night. You can book a hotel night through the cruise line at their preferred hotel and sometimes get the transfer to the ship included. See 25+ Websites for Booking Accommodations.

Special Activities

You won’t need to book tickets for the evening shows in advance of your sailing, as no tickets are needed, but there may be special activities on your ship. The Holland America cruise I took included some special America’s Test Kitchen cooking demonstrations. This sort of activity may fill up quickly, so you may want to book it in advance when available.

Tipping

On many cruise lines, especially ocean-going cruise lines, your crew will likely be from Indonesia, the Philippines, or another developing country. The pay is not fantastic, so the crew relies on tips. The cruise line will have tipping guidelines, often something like 10% of the cost of your cruise. We typically find that the crew provides us with excellent service, and we want to tip within the guidelines provided. You should budget for that amount.

Getting to the Cruise Ship

For most medium to larger boats, you won’t carry your own luggage all the way to your stateroom. As you check in onshore, your luggage will get tagged with the correct cabin and will show up sometime later on.

That does mean you should have anything you will need before you get your luggage, like medication or your expensive electronics, with you in something like a small backpack.

The easiest way to plan your transportation to the cruise ship is to purchase a transfer from the airport or from your hotel to the ship. For some cruise ports located near downtown, a taxi or Uber can be a suitable option. The cruise ports where you can arrive via public transportation are, in my experience, few and far between.

See Cruise Departure Day – What to Expect on Your First Cruise.

Rollcall

If you are traveling with a large group of friends or family, you will have a community on board from the start. However, if you aren’t, you can participate in a “roll call” for your cruise. Many cruise lines have a Facebook group or a similar platform for each individual cruise, allowing people to meet their shipmates in advance of their sailing. If they don’t, you can probably find one on CruiseCritic.com. This is a good way, especially for extroverts, to make some friends early.

Questions

If you are planning your first cruise, what questions do you still have?

If you have cruised before, what do you think someone should plan before their first cruise?