As a cruise expert that shares travel advice every day, I encounter a lot of first time cruisers and some of their concerns aren't worth the angst.
I've run Royal Caribbean Blog for 15 years and I love helping everyone have a better cruise experience through tips, advice, anecdotes and recommendations. I love learning new things from about cruising as much as newbies do.
Because everyone vacations differently, it's understandable why people have their own approach to cruising. But I've found new cruisers tend to sometimes get hyper focused on things that aren't as worth the concern as they think it warrants.
I'm sure we've all experienced things like this in life where we go in worried about an aspect of an experience only to realize later on it wasn't a big deal at all.
While there are problems you should always be vigilant about (like when to fly in for your cruise), here's my list 6 things new cruisers worry about that aren't worth the anxiety.
Negative cruise reviews
One of pet peeves are people that seriously want to change their cruise plans because of bad reviews they read online.
The power of the internet is such that you can share your opinion with the world, and while this can sometimes be helpful, the reality is negative reviews aren't very trustworthy.
The reason why you really shouldn't be that concerned with negative reviews of a cruise ship is because those people are not professional reviewers by any means. In most cases, they let a singular issue dominate their review. Or they have a personal preference that they convey as being indicative of being problematic for everyone.
To illustrate my point, find a negative review of a film, restaurant, or place you've been that you love. You'll read them and probably roll your eyes because the complaint is either baseless or completely different from anything you've ever had.
Plus, cruising is such a personalized experience. Everyone on the ship is not doing the same thing. One person could stay in their stateroom and only order room service for an entire week, while someone else is a party animal and is out and about from for 18-20 hours per day.
I enjoy reading cruise reviews for recommendations and entertainment. But never use them as a basis for which ship to sail on (or not).
Theme nights and dress code
Frankly, I think new cruisers get hung up on what they "need" to wear on a cruise ship more than they ought to.
Yes, there are theme nights and dress recommendations, but they're just that: recommendations.
You will not be ostracized or kicked out if you don't dress for Caribbean night or white night. It's an optional choice for how you might indulge the theme.
The Main Dining Room dress code is another area where I think too much emphasis is placed on what you can and cannot wear. This is especially true of what to wear on formal night.
The reality is Royal Caribbean rarely, if ever, enforces their dress codes in the Main Dining Room. I probably would prefer they would clamp down a bit more than they do, but there's really no fashion police at all.
As a new cruiser, I'd say to use the theme nights and dress codes as suggestions, in the same way there's afternoon trivia at 4pm you could attend or not at all. Don't place too much emphasis on what you wear in the evening being critiqued by the cruise line for approval.
Check-in times
Ever since Royal Caribbean restarted cruising in 2021, they put a huge emphasis on adhering to check-in times at the cruise terminal. While check-in times matter, it's not nearly as critical as they used to be.
As part of the check-in process, you can select a check-in time and some cruisers get really worried about checking in exactly at midnight when check-in opens to get it.
In reality, it's not a big deal if you don't have the first check-in window time as much as it might seem.
While no one wants a 2pm check-in time, my point is there is far less emphasis and restrictions on check-in times at the terminal as there was a few years ago.
My recommendation is to do your online check-in time, but don't sweat it if you get an 11am or noon check-in time.
Parking off site to save money
My "sorry, not sorry" part of this article is here: the amount of money you save parking off site isn't worth the hassle or extra time needed.
Yes, parking off site will save a little bit of money. But it's not going to be a lot, and worse, the shuttle services are frustrating.
Because you're at the mercy of a shuttle to get you to and from the terminal, you're inevitably going to waste time waiting for a shuttle. And in many cases, there are lots of other people who want to do the same thing and that makes the waits worse.
Waiting for a shuttle is worse after the cruise is over when everyone else is competing with you at the same time to get back to their car.
Parking at the cruise terminal will cost you more, but I think the convenience is well-worth it.
If it will rain during the cruise
Rain or shine, you'll have a fun time on the cruise. More importantly, you shouldn't get worked up because it could rain.
Caribbean cruises sail through the tropics where it's not a question of it will rain, but when and for how long. But unlike rain storms at home, rain in the Caribbean is usually short lived.
If you look at a weather forecast for a Caribbean cruise, it's not unusual to see rain predicted for every day. But that doesn't mean it will be a rained out vacation.
Thunderstorms and passing showers are very common, and there are not nearly as many weather stations around Central America and the Caribbean as there are in the United States. So forecasts generally fall under the, "it will probably rain, but we're not sure" umbrella.
In fact, it's common to be in port and have rain in one spot but not another.
You should certainly look up the weather forecast to get an idea of temperatures, but don't plan around rain because it's impossible to know with any certainty what to expect.
The Key
Over the years, I've found Royal Caribbean's VIP add-on a nice perk, but not as critical as some new cruisers think.
I think newbies read what's included and over value what it offers, compared to how useful it really is.
It's ironic that as someone who hates waiting in lines for things, I'm not a fan of a program that gives you priority boarding to the ship. But I think the problem is you can get similar results without paying for it.
I won't turn this into a full review of The Key, so I'll simply say as a new cruiser, you won't be at a disadvantage without The Key as you might think.
