European Cruises: 5 Handy Tips for First Time Cruisers

In 2017, there were 25.8 million cruise ship passengers.

If you’re going to be one of the millions of cruise ship passengers for the first time, you may be wondering what to expect.

Are you going on a European cruise for the first time? You’re in for a major treat. Here are helpful tips for first time cruisers.

1. Pick Where Your Cabin Is

You should realize that when you’re picking your cruise cabin, location is important.

You should try not to have a cabin that’s near the front of the ship or on deck. If you’re directly under the deck, you’ll also just hear chairs being moved around all the time.

Being on a higher floor will also give you easier access to everything on the boat.

You should make sure that you try to book a cruise with a balcony though because this will make a world of difference on your cruise.

You want to make sure you book the right cruise because European cruises are the perfect way to learn about other cultures.

2. Research A Port In Advance

You should always do research before you book a cruise, but you should also make sure you research the port you’ll be going to.

You really want to do that for a European cruise, because you can feel really overwhelmed when it comes time to port and you’re not prepared for what’s going to happen for the next few hours.

Cruise lines will likely only hand you a map of where to go for the next few hours, and you’ll have to figure it out from there.

You’ll only have a limited amount of time at the port, so you want to make sure that you can get the most out of your time there.

3. Don’t Tip Double On Alcohol

You’ll likely be drinking a good amount of alcohol on the trip, and it can get expensive.

However, you can save some money by realizing that you don’ need to tip the bartenders. The cost of the drinks already includes the gratuities, so you’d just be double-tipping.

You can tip to be generous, but if you want to save a little bit of money, there’s no other reason to tip.

4. Call Your Bank

Before you go on a European cruise, you should make sure that you call your bank.

You need to let them know that you’ll be traveling so that they don’t cancel your debit or credit card. This will also help them be able to better detect fraud on your card.

5. Know What To Pack

You should also make sure that you know what to pack for your cruise. You don’t want to overpack, but there are some things you should bring with to ensure you don’t have to overpay for stuff on the cruise.

You can normally bring an allowed two bottles of wine, water, and soft drinks, so you’ll need to make sure you bring those.

Also, make sure you check with your cruise line to see what you can bring on board before you pack it all into your suitcase.

Learn More Tips For First Time Cruisers

These are just a few tips for first time cruisers, but there are so many more.

As long as you do your research and just enjoy yourself, you should be okay.

To read more on topics like this, check out the Travel category.