To cruise or not to cruise? This is a question I’ve had for years.
So, I finally plucked up the courage and booked a cruise to Alaska. And I’m about to hop on board my first cruise ever tomorrow.
Even though I’m really looking forward to the cruise, I’m still a bit apprehensive about it. I’ve done a lot of research, read many, many reviews, spoken to many friends and family but none of this compares to experiencing it for yourself. So here are 10 questions niggling on the back of my mind about the cruise:
1. Embarkation and disembarkation – is this going to be a pain?
Apparently, it can take anything from 10 minutes up to 2 hours to check in and out of your cruise. On embarkation day when you eventually get on the ship you can’t access your room until it’s ready. On disembarkation day you have to leave you room early, but need to hang around until they let you off the ship. I understand that this is the case as they have only a few hours to turn around several hundred rooms. Is this going to bother me?
2. Crowds – I’m not a fan of crowds. How well will I cope with being on a ship with 2000 other people?
3. The room – Am I going to like it? This 7 day cruise will be the longest period I’ve spent in the same room on a holiday. Of course, I’ve been on holidays longer than 7 days but I’ve never stayed in a single hotel for more than 5 days so this is going to be interesting. Granted the “hotel” is going to be on the move.
4. Cost – We’ve already paid a small fortune for the cruise. How much will we have to fork out onboard in order to have a nice time?
5. Food – Is the food included in the prices going to be good enough? Is there going to be sufficient variety? Or are we going to have to go to the speciality restaurants? Given the amount of speciality dining packages they try to sell you on top of your cruise price, this has got me a bit worried.
6. Excursions – I’ve booked some excursions with the ship. Are these going to be good value for money?
7. Dress code – Cruise ships have formal nights, where dress code is compulsory. I’m not keen on this idea. Is this going to be a problem?
8. Am I going to get ill? We’ve all heard the horror stories of flu bugs and noro-virus taking down everyone on the ship. I really hope this is not the case.
9. Am I going to get sea sick? Apparently, you never know if you are prone to being sea sick until you are on the ship. We’ve paid extra for a mid-ship cabin, where it is more stable. So we’ll see.
10. Am I going to cope with the lack of internet? Cruise ships are notorious for slow and expensive internet. A part if me is looking forward to shutting down and disconnecting with the outside world for a week, but a part if me is filled with dread at the prospect.
In theory, cruising sound the ideal was to combine comfort and good food, whilst enjoying many new places. So, I really hope I like it.
See you in a week when I will have answers to all these questions. Au revoir!
Diary of a Tourist 