New to Cruising, Forums, and Marriage // All Advice Welcome

[Amarella]

Hey everyone! I am new to cruising, the forums, and to being married!!
I just got married this past weekend to the coolest guy ever and we booked our honeymoon cruise a couple days ago. We are doing a 7 day cruise on Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston in October that goes to Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel. We both did the Jamaica, Cayman Islands, and Cozumel cruise back when we were teens but had little to do with planning (as most teens do) and payed very little attention to how things (like I said, typical teens). So we are counting this as our first experience planning a cruise vacation (We're n00bz). We are now 25 and 27.. its been a minute. We know very little about cruising aside from the fact that we get to eat lots of food. We would love any and all advice that you could throw our way!
Here are a few tidbits,

-What time should you be on the ship by? I know when it leaves the port but not sure when you can start boarding. (When I said n00bz, I meant it)
-We have a superior ocean view stateroom with a balcony. I was positive I wanted a balcony so I could drink coffee while sitting out on it in the mornings.
-We are on the fence about the deluxe drink package. I am a huge wine drinker, and he loves whiskey and coke, so I could see it definitely paying off on days at sea, however I don't see how we would drink that much on days at the ports. Am I wrong? It seems most people find that the drink package is worth it however I am not so sure.. Then again, I have no experience in this area.
-We haven't decided much in the way of excursions. I am more on the side of keeping them to a minimum so that we can relax and just spend time together, however my husband does want to see ruins. I figured this would be best done at Cozumel at the Chichen Itza Mayan ruins. Any suggestions?
-How soon do we figure out which Comedians will be on the ship? My Husband and I love stand up comedy and are really looking forward to this.
-We are on a budget. Any money saving tips that are easy to do without being a huge inconvenience?
-What cost effective things could we do that would add something special to our trip without being too huge. Looked into couples massages and they were pricey, however the First Night Done Right deal seems to be a good deal.
-I was looking at the Wines Around the World Tasting Class. Has anyone done this and what was your experience?
 

Thanks so much for any input or reply!
Counting down the days to our Honeymoon!

-Amy

[Guest toodle68]

We were on Liberty in Jan and boarded at 11am. We went through security and boarded in 15 minutes. It will be about another 15-20 minutes for the general boarding line (non, suite, new RC cruiser)

One of the things with the drinks packages if you don't think you will drink 5-7 a day is, are you ok with that?  Some people just like to prepare and not have to worry about the cost, I assume other will increase the amount they drink because they feel they have to get their monies worth.. Whilst I could imagine I might be able to make it worth my while on cruising days with juices, coffees, wine and cocktails, there is absolutely no way I can make it work on port days.. unless you decide to spend your days on the ship.. but we always do excursions and are off the ship most of the time.

On our trip we wanted to do 1 beach day from the 3 ports, 1 ruin and 1 misc.  We choose Cozumel for the beach day since they have some great all inclusive beach places. All the food and drinks you want for $50 each.  We also did couples massage here too (off the ship), it was cheaper, the best and on the beach. Amazing.

Costa Maya we did a Salsa excursion which is fun for couples. Learn how to make salsa and then learn how to dance salsa.. 

The main thing for us is to pre-pay for as much as possible. I love paying for everything over the 6 months up to the cruise and then having a small bill at the end.

Make sure you take plenty of cash for tips.. we ran out at the last port and was unable to buy a great picture of us taken at the beach in Cozumel. 

[coneyraven]

First of all --- CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Here are my thoughts on a couple of your items ....

First, how early can you board?  That number can change with every cruise, but for the most part, once they clear everyone off the prior cruise, they're real quick at letting the next group on ..... a general rule of thumb would be, get there around 10:00.  Even if you get an email giving you specific boarding times, THOSE ARE JUST SUGGESTIONS!!!  10:00 seems to be a good rule of thumb.  Why would you want to arrive any later?  The sooner you get there, the sooner your vacation begins.

Like Toodle said above, if you can drink 5-7 drinks a day, EVERY DAY!!!!   The drink package makes sense.  The real question to ask yourself is, CAN YOU KEEP UP THE PACE?  For my wife and I, it was an easy decision when we thought about a couple of Bloody Mary's in the morning, a little something, something with lunch, then with dinner and the evening, we were home free.  Always, remember, you CAN'T use the drink package off the ship (except at Coco Cay & Labadee). 

Also, when possible, always make purchases BEFORE the cruise, it's always less expensive to pre-purchase things like drink & internet packages, spa treatments and such.