Sunday, 23 December 2012
Caribbean Villa Rentals - Some Excellent Cruise Tips For Your Caribbean Cruise Vacation
Booking tours on the Caribbean Islands and trying to get cruise tips from your fellow passengers, making spa appointments, most of the day will be spent getting to know your cruise ship. The first day of your Caribbean cruise vacation is here.
There is usually a crush of people when the dinner bell rings and everyone is trying to find their table. Be a few minutes late on the first night (only on the first night-be prompt from then on), here is another cruise tip. It's also the night you meet your table mates. The first night of your Caribbean cruise vacation is always a casual night since most people have traveled a good portion of the day.
There are people who chose to dine alone and the ships have tables for two but they fill up fast. He or she will accommodate you as best they can. Absolutely go to the maitre d' and asked to be moved, if you find that you are unhappy with your table, however. And a round table is ideal since rectangular ones make it difficult to talk to the guy at the other end. It's much more fun. One thing to do is change seats every night at the table so everyone gets to talk to everyone else during the course of your cruise vacation. The merrier, and the more people you meet during your cruise travel, you have a better chance of meeting a mix of people. Always ask for a large table for several reasons, if you are eating in the traditional cruise style.
Your travel agent will be able to set this up when booking your Caribbean cruise vacation. Freestyle Dining and Choice Dining are available on some Cruise Lines for those who want to eat on their own or don't want to be delegated to a specific dining time.
The Caribbean sun is very intense and is even more so in the summer months. You will spend days of your precious cruise trying to recover from very bad sunburn. Do not try to get a tan on your first day of your Caribbean cruise vacation, it is the most valuable of all the cruises tips here, listen to this. You are just itching to put into your bathing suit and get out in the sun. And usually that means it's a day at sea, now you are on day two.
Wear a hat so you don't burn your scalp. This can be extremely painful, your ears and lips, don't forget the tops of your feet. Get waterproof sun block and use it liberally if you are swimming or snorkeling.
These are all very good cruise tips When tendering to shore keep your arms and legs within the tender. Wearing high heels could be hazardous in bumpy weather. Never sit on the railings as you may fall. Watch for the raised lips in some doorways especially between your cabins sleeping area and the bathroom. They become very slippery, be careful if the decks are wet. To avoid injury follow these tips.
And ship to shore phone calls are very expensive on the cruise lines, but it is nice to check your email if you are going to be away for awhile, most people won't want to be bothered with their computers. He or she will know, check with your cruise travel agent. There are some small luxury cruise ships that have lap tops available for your use. By all means do, so if you want to bring your lap top with you. Some even have an internet connection in your room; ; all of the newer cruise ships have an internet café.
Tomorrow will be an early morning and the end of your enchanting Caribbean cruise vacation. The last evening will also be a casual night since you have packed your bags and put them outside your cruise cabin.
You won't get caught short. You may want to figure out the amount of tips you will be paying at the beginning of the cruise vacation and separate that from your spending money. They work very hard to keep you happy during your Caribbean cruise vacation so please tip them. Waiter and busboy all make their living on tips, tipping on a cruise ship is very important since the room steward. If you do not like this arrangement tell the purser that you will tip on your own. Some automatically add it to your bill. These are the very high end cruise lines. Some cruise lines will absolutely not let you tip. But we'll stick to the Caribbean, these questions come up on European cruise vacations too. There always seem to be many questions about tipping while taking a Caribbean cruise vacation.
On NCL Hawaii a $10.00 per day per person is added to your bill and it is not optional. That policy is no longer in place. It used to be "no tipping necessary". Holland American has changed their tipping policy. As I said tipping policies are different on all ships so find out ahead of time. Give the bartender a bit extra on the last night, if you find a special bar and frequent it. So it is not necessary to tip here, when you order wine or drinks there is already a 15% tip on the charge. You should tip him, like crepe suzettes at your table, if a Maitre d' does something special.
If your room steward or waiter showed you excellent services tip them more. If you're not sure the Cruise Line will usually give you guidelines. Per person for the waiter and the room steward and $1.50 per person per day for the bus boy, the general rule for tipping is $3.00 per day, on almost all of the cruise ships. The cruise staff will appreciate this, a nice gesture on a two week cruise is to give half the tip after the first week.
In many cases you can bring wine and champagne on board. Each cruise line has different policies so check with your cruise travel agent. And others will allow you to purchase it but won't deliver it until the end of the cruise, others allow you to buy bottles on board, some confiscate it and return at the end of the cruise, all cruise ships have there own policy if you bring your own. Alcoholic beverages on board are expensive.
Because of the size and the stability of the current fleet of cruise ships only 3% of cruise passengers are affected by this. Dramamine and Bonine are in tablet forms and can make some people drowsy. There are over the counter remedies, if you are prone to it and are taking a smaller ship. On the really huge ships it should not be a problem. Here's just a small note about seasickness.
Like reading or writing, do not do anything that requires you to look down. Green apples and drink ginger ale, eat saltines, go out on the open decks. The purser's office will provide you with them, if you do not purchase one of these before the cruise and find yourself getting a little green. Then there is also the Patch that you wear behind your ear. There are wrist bands that you can purchase that act on the theory of acupuncture.
This is where a really knowledgeable cruise travel agent comes in. Here again the size of the ship matters and having a little information will be helpful. The waves bounce off the seabed and come back up making it a bit choppy. It is so shallow it is always a little rough. It is not wise to take a sailing cruise or a small ship in notoriously rough seas like the South China Sea, if you do have a problem with "mal de mar". This is no longer a huge problem since most ships today have stabilizers that keep the ship from pitching to and fro. Stay away from greasy foods. That should take care of it. In health food stores you can buy powdered ginger caplets which are the natural remedy.
In many cases they designate one side of the ship in the bars as the smoking section while the other side is smoke free. There is never any smoking allowed in the showrooms or the dining rooms. They have since changed that rule, on one ship they had an absolutely no smoking policy anywhere. All cruise ships have a policy on smoking.
And be aware that you will encounter many more smokers on a European cruise vacation and on European cruise ships that winter in the USA. Please be considerate of the other passengers and follow the rules. It can blow back on deck and start a fire, toss a lit cigarette overboard, ever, never. You can smoke in the bars and in the casino.
These are just some sensible cruise tips for you to follow on you Caribbean cruise vacation.
Happy Cruising!
All Rights Reserved; mary Hanna, copyright ©.
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