I love taking cruises, I think they offer the best value among all types of vacations. I have cruised all around the world on over 15 different cruise lines.
After taking nearly 80 cruises, here are eight things that I’ve done on cruises that I’ll never do again.
Wait Until Boarding the Ship to Book Dining
Most cruise lines will now allow you to book specialty restaurants before you board the ship.
I once booked a cruise fare that included four dining at specialty restaurants but I figured I would just wait until I boarded the ship to book them.
Unfortunately for me, most of the time slots were full by the time I got on the ship. The few restaurants that had openings were very late dining times (9:00, 9:30 pm etc.). I was only able to use two of the four free nights that came with my cruise.
Some cruise lines will reserve time slots for guests to book on embarkation day. I recommend doing that as soon as you get on the ship so you can take advantage of any dining packages that may come with your cruise fare.
Spa Raffles
On embarkation day, the spa will have a raffle for a free massage or something along the lines of a $100 credit to use in the spa on your cruise.
I tried going to them but they always turn into long sales pitches. Also, you have to return to the spa at the time of the raffle in order to win.
Sometimes I’d forget to return to the raffle and it always ended up being a waste of time. Now I just avoid them all together and it makes embarkation day so much more enjoyable.
Inside Cabin
In an effort to save money, I once booked an inside cabin on a cruise. I figured, it couldn’t be that bad not having a window, right?
I love to wake up to the sunrise and in an inside cabin, I literally had no idea if the sun was up or down. I felt like I was trapped inside a small closet for four days.
One thing I love about ocean view or balcony cabins is that you have a window so you can always see where you are, even if you are just out at sea. In the inside cabin, I felt like I wasn’t even on a ship.
I know some people love inside cabins but I learned that they just aren’t for me.
Upgrading to a Suite on Embarkation Day
On one of my short cruises, they had a sign up during check-in that said paid upgrades to suites were available. I decided to pay the extra amount to get a suite for a change.
However, since it was a short cruise, I was really only in the suite to sleep. While the extra space was nice, I would not do it again on a short cruise since I wasn’t able to really take advantage of the suite.
If it was a longer cruise and had several sea days, then I could consider it. For a short cruise, no thanks.
Free Souvenirs in Port
During port talks, cruise lines will tell you about certain stores you can visit the next day where you can get a free souvenir.
On my first cruise, I fell for this trap and started going from store to store to get my freebie. I ended up wasting a good chunk of my day visiting these stores only to get a hard sell at each one of them.
It was a complete waste of time that would have been better spent doing other things.
Art Auctions
I went to an art auction once to see what the big deal was. Most of the mainstream cruise lines have these auctions and they even offer free champagne to those who attend.
First of all, it wasn’t really an auction. If you bid on an item, you pretty much won it since so few people bid on anything at them.
Most of the items received no bids at all and ended with “Give a hand to the artist” before they brought out the next item.
I thought I was going to watch people get into bidding wars and unfortunately, that rarely happens at ship art auctions.
Visit Guest Services on Last Day
I once needed to visit Guest Services to take care of something and decided that I would just wait until the last evening to do it.
Unfortunately, the line for guest services was long and slow due to people asking to take their daily gratuities off of their account. It wasn’t what I was there for but there were many in line for that reason. But that’s a hot topic issue for another day.
I’ve learned to avoid Guest Services on the first and last day of cruises to avoid long lines.
Rent Scooters in Port
I tend to go back and forth between booking shore excursions through the cruise line and through 3rd party websites. I find value in both and which one I use depends on the port and excursion.
However, one thing that I’ll never do is rent a scooter in port. My brother, who runs Cruise Fever with me, rented a scooter to drive the loop in Cozumel.
He said the scooter was in such bad shape that it almost got them killed a few times.
I once rented a car to drive the loop and a scooter lost control around a corner and almost slammed right into my car. Something broke on it but thankfully she was able to avoid my car.
Seriously, avoid these things.