Matt 10,200 Posted December 4, 2019 Report Share Posted December 4, 2019 Alright friends, time to fess up to the worst rookie mistake you made on a cruise, even if you aren't a first time cruiser! Please share the single mistake/slip up/fail you made on a cruise, so that we can all learn from these mistakes! djm619 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Zacharius 206 Posted December 4, 2019 Report Share Posted December 4, 2019 Eating in the MDR as much as possible the first cruise. Then realizing we really don't ever want to eat there again for future cruises HawkeyeFan 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
coneyraven 1,866 Posted December 4, 2019 Report Share Posted December 4, 2019 Our biggest mistake was not looking at the holiday calendar before we booked a cruise. In other words, we booked Brilliance over the Easter holiday this past April. Way too many young kids for our liking. Our kids are older so when we like to cruise, we like it a little more settled down, a little more mature. Had we known it was going to be Easter, we would not have booked that date. We tend to gravitate more towards holiday's that are more "adult oriented", as opposed to "Family Oriented", like Halloween and New Years Eve. Now, you may ask, why didn't we just move the date..... one word answer...non-refundable. At the end of the day, we still had a GREAT time, met some awesome folks and were able to cruise with old friends, what's not to love about being on a cruise, but, it just wasn't what we tend to go towards in having a fantastic cruise experience for the two of us. djm619, Mark B, raahc and 3 others 3 1 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
panda123 21 Posted December 4, 2019 Report Share Posted December 4, 2019 My first cruise was on a 50 person plus group cruise for a wedding: I did no research on the ship, beverage options, shore excursions, (didn't know cruise planner existed, as everything but drinks and shopping was taken care of)......I just did what my in-laws said/suggested. 3 night Bahamas cruise, my husband and I racked up a $450+ bar tab (didn't include the extra juice, coffee, bottled waters, we also had), got stuck doing activities we didn't like because we didn't know other options existed. Only plus; over half of the group went snorkeling in cold rough water and had a terrible time, while we chose to sit on the beach with an all you can drink $20 coconut and go shopping (had a blast!) coneyraven and Mark B 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MikeSD 53 Posted December 4, 2019 Report Share Posted December 4, 2019 Renting a Jeep for a self excursion in Cozumel. Finding a nice secludes spot for some snorkeling only to come back to find all our stuff including jeep stolen. Boy was that stupid, but we were young, in love, and CLUELESS, LOLing at myself. Melodyjn, RWDW1204, PRebecca and 6 others 2 7 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dan Curtis 166 Posted December 4, 2019 Report Share Posted December 4, 2019 20 minutes ago, coneyraven said: Our biggest mistake was not looking at the holiday calendar before we booked a cruise. In other words, we booked Brilliance over the Easter holiday this past April. Way too many young kids for our liking. Our kids are older so when we like to cruise, we like it a little more settled down, a little more mature. Had we known it was going to be Easter, we would not have booked that date. We tend to gravitate more towards holiday's that are more "adult oriented", as opposed to "Family Oriented", like Halloween and New Years Eve. Now, you may ask, why didn't we just move the date..... one word answer...non-refundable. At the end of the day, we still had a GREAT time, met some awesome folks and were able to cruise with old friends, what's not to love about being on a cruise, but, it just wasn't what we tend to go towards in having a fantastic cruise experience for the two of us. Not checking the calendar or should I say not knowing when the super bowl was, cruised out of Miami on super bowl weekend, starting calling motels a month or so in advance for a pre cruise stay, the Holiday in we had stayed before and paid around 160 bucks was 400 bucks for one night, called other motels, either no vacancy or outrages prices, final ask one motel and said super bowl weekend, we even paid double for the cab ride to port, finally found the dumb for 250 a night and regretted that after we arrived, rookie mistake for sure. coneyraven, RWDW1204, djm619 and 1 other 2 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Geoff P 38 Posted December 4, 2019 Report Share Posted December 4, 2019 The first cruise we went on I didn't do a lot of research at all, ship, itinerary, excursions, none of it...we had a good time of course, but learned my lesson to do more research to really get the most out of our experience. For our second cruise and now our third on upcoming have done much more research and planning ahead of time and its been so much better. Dan Curtis 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SteveinSC 1,187 Posted December 4, 2019 Report Share Posted December 4, 2019 My first couple of cruises, at our stops, I just got off the boat and walked around the port area. BIG MISTAKE. I wasnt taking advantage of all the stop had to offer!!! In my other cruises, I started booking excursions and taking taxis and really venturing out. COMPLETELY changed how I viewed, not only the itinerary, but the whole cruise. Denikaye and Hoski 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewPunch 53 Posted December 4, 2019 Report Share Posted December 4, 2019 See Below: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Va4fam 203 Posted December 4, 2019 Report Share Posted December 4, 2019 About 15 years ago, a friend booked a cruise for all of us going from Philadelphia to Bermuda.....in APRIL. Rough seas, bad weather, expensive cruise fare =big time rookie mistakes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RockerDom31 34 Posted December 4, 2019 Report Share Posted December 4, 2019 Biggest mistake - waiting so long to go on my first cruise!! Otherwise...getting to the port at 9am was a mistake. Next time, we are aiming for 11! ddmcruiser, Neesa, Ogilthorpe and 1 other 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ditchdoc 211 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 Exiting the ship, a cross wind blew my $50 Tilly hat off my head into the drink between the ship and the dock. Mark B, wllm1969, Neesa and 2 others 2 2 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rjac 2,505 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 1 hour ago, RockerDom31 said: Biggest mistake - waiting so long to go on my first cruise!! Amen to that Brother!! FManke and Big Tule 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CruiseGus 141 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 and then not booking another cruise immediately Quote Link to post Share on other sites
KaydenDeen 69 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 Booking a trip at the end of hurricane season thinking it would be IMPOSSIBLE for a storm to affect my trip. There ended up being a storm out at sea and the ship was rocking and rolling. I am prone to getting sea sickness, but thought that over the counter medicine would be sufficient. There wasn’t enough Bonine on that ship to get me through that vacation. It was such a horrible experience that I *almost* gave up cruising for good. Melodyjn and SpeedNoodles 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WanderPam 57 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 The worst thing I did was consider cancelling our Explorer cruise because I took negative reviews too seriously. So glad I didn't because we had the most amazing 2 week cruise ever ! coneyraven and sk8erguy1978 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
melski94 808 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 Biggest mistake: Taking a Carnival cruise! That was our first cruise for our honeymoon! It took 15 years to try cruising again! Biggest RC mistake: Not double checking dates and being one week off for a 3rd party shore excursion. 6 ships were in port and there was no chance of getting on another excursion! Luckily, the company was great and refunded my deposit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
melmar02 1,073 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 Trying to do it all. I'm all for seeing and experiencing everything, but DH wants a laid back relaxing vacation...big fights may have broken out on our second cruise. I'm much more "go with the flow" now. Fairlynew 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
KWofPerth 277 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 Letting my sister-in-law convince me that we shouldn't drink the water onboard and needed a bottled water package. And waiting till boarding day to buy it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wllm1969 18 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 8 hours ago, Ditchdoc said: Exiting the ship, a cross wind blew my $50 Tilly hat off my head into the drink between the ship and the dock. Thank you for sharing. I will have to watch my hat when I get off ship. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Buzzard05 67 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 Paying for a balcony room...then forcing myself not to miss anything on the ship, that I never gave myself the time to just sit and enjoy the balcony I paid for. Neesa, Kathleen, mdgwow and 2 others 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
berkeleykel 61 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 Lost my Set Sail Pass while at port in Corfu. Didn't realize it was missing until we went to go through security at the terminal to re-board the ship approximately 30 mins before last call. Thankfully I had my passport with me to use as an alternative ID - don't know what they would have done if I hadn't had it. But even with the passport they made me wait until they had cleared the full line of people at the terminal before letting me through. Then we were shuttled in a port vehicle directly to the ship, where the port employee confirmed my identity with Royal. Maybe we just looked like VIPs getting a special car ride direct to the ship rather than having to make the 5 min walk. But we felt embarrassed! In the rush and the stress my husband dropped our son's iPod getting out of the car and the screen completely shattered . So...keep a special eye on your Set Sail Pass while off the ship! Honestly I haven't the slightest clue what happened to mine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neesa 767 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 #1 My biggest mistake was not researching my stateroom type on my first sailing. I opened the door and gasped, 3 of us had to share this space? It took two days to get acclimated as I get physically affected by tight spaces. Now I research everything before plunking down my money! #2 Doing a B2B thinking I was well aware of the on/off procedure from the previous years B2B. Picture security inside the terminal chasing a woman who is oblivious to the fact they were coming after her, oh that was a hoot! I was pretty much horrified, as for my family they of course stood back and laughed their you know what's off. SpeedNoodles, Ogilthorpe and mworkman 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ellcee 1,503 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 Same as some others have posted - not doing my research before my first RC cruise. I did a little but didn't understand how to. I was shocked at all of the extra charges. Now I get it and understand it's a business. A year and a half later I found this site and now there are no huge surprises anymore. Neesa 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JasonL 194 Posted December 5, 2019 Report Share Posted December 5, 2019 Didn't use to pre-purchase as much as possible before the cruise. Also didn't pre-book activities. Of course I didn't have any money for extras back then, but still it's a very common rookie mistake Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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