I Put 8 Underrated Cruise Tips To The Test

I’m just back from a 7-night Sky Princess Scandinavian cruise where I challenged myself to test out eight cruise tips I think cruisers massively under-estimate, including one that I have seen totally wreck entire trips – and almost created a massive problem for me.

The first underrated tip is for any of you that post about your cruise adventures on social media. A lesson I learnt the hard way the day I boarded this trip, despite having just been reminded about the perils.

Underrated: Social Media Risk

A week before boarding Sky Princess, I read about Tiffany Banks from Kentucky USA, whose $15,000 Presidential Suite cruise on Carnival Celebration was cancelled two days before departure.

She had excitedly been posting on social media about her cruise and had shown her booking documentation. Someone spiteful had zoomed in, noted down the booking reference, and used it to log in to the booking and cancel the trip.

Tiffany lost her entire $15,000 as Carnival would not accept any responsibility as the cruise was cancelled with the relevant booking number and due to the timing meant 100% of the fare was forfeited.

The day I boarded Sky Princess I posted a YouTube video where I showed a demo of how to use an e-SIM on a mobile phone. Having been reminded by Tiffany’s experience of the risk of sharing personal information, I had blanked out my personal mobile phone number. But not realised that in the transition to the next shot, the blurring lifted slightly just enough to reveal my number.

Luckily minutes after posting, a loyal follower spotted it and messaged me using my number he had seen, and I was able to go in and quickly blur it out. However, due to the risk that less well-meaning people has seen my number too, I decided to change my number, which has been a real hassle.

If you ever post about your cruise, flight, hotel, or any travel plans, an underrated tip is to never include any documentation, tickets, or anything with personal information on even if you are covering up part of it. It could slip through and be used to ruin your trip.

Now on to other underrated tips that are more positive and should significantly improve your trip!

Underrated: Embarkation Day

The second of those that I put to the test successfully, is not going to the buffet on embarkation day.

When I embarked Sky Princess in Southampton it was packed and busy. I knew the buffet was going to be frantic, so I checked for alternatives. One of the main dining rooms was open, and instead of the packed buffet where it was hard to find a table, I had a calm, tasty and leisurely lunch, making a great start to my cruise.

I could also have gone to Alfredo’s Pizza restaurant, which was also less manic and frantic.

Looking for an alternative dining venue to the buffet is an underrated tip for embarkation day.

Once underway on the cruise, I put another underrated tip to the test, also with great success.

Underrated: Staying On Board

On this Sky Princess cruise, we called at three ports I’ve been to before: Kristiansand, Oslo and Copenhagen. So, I decided to use the underrated tip of staying on board during the last two as I had been to both recently.

It meant I could have a leisurely breakfast in the Main Dining Room, which was quiet as everyone else was rushing ashore to explore or go on tours. I took advantage of Port-day Spa offers which had up to 50% off, went to the quiet fitness centre to work out with no wait to use any equipment, got a lounger and swam in the pool alone, used the hot tubs without being full, went to Alfredo’s Pizza for lunch which is heaving on sea days, and enjoyed other facilities like speaking to the Future Cruise Team who were not rushing to get through waiting guests.

And, of course, saved some money by not paying for excursions.

Staying on board on port days is very underrated, especially if on large ships with lots of facilities which are packed and hard to access on sea days.

Underrated: Self Disembarking

For me, another of the most underrated tips is being able to self-disembark at the end of the cruise by packing smart and taking a smaller suitcase.

If you can carry all your own luggage, you can be the first to get off the ship on disembarkation day instead of waiting for an allocated time once luggage has been taken off and put in the terminal.

On large ships like Sky Princess, the disembarkation slots on my cruise stretched to 10:30am.

I was reminded of how valuable this was on this cruise as I was able to get off the ship when disembarkation started at 7:30am. I was in my car parked at the cruise terminal and home within 2 hours.

However, if I had to wait for an allocated slot, it would have been much later. I know some on my cruise who had disembarkation slots got caught in the morning traffic, and others were held on the ship longer than planned after an issue developed getting luggage off the ship which delayed some disembarkation slots by an hour, with some passengers missing flights.

I find self-disembarking when doing fly cruises even better, like my next cruise on Sun Princess. I’m going to ensure I am going to pack to be able to do self-disembarking as it meant I could book the 11am flight home from Naples instead of the evening one.

I try and pack the minimum and use the guest laundry room on ships like Sky Princess that have one.

But whatever you do, another big, underrated packing tip is if you’re cruising with someone, split your clothes between cases if you are flying to join the cruise, so even if your case does not make your flight, you will still have some clothes.

Underrated: First Aid

Another underrated packing tip, and one I did for this trip, is to bring a personalised first aid kit.

It costs a lot to go to the Medical Centre. On Sky Princess it was around $100 / £75 for a visit. But by bringing my own first aid kit often means avoiding a visit.

In mine I have treatments including for headaches, cuts, mouth ulcers, and upset stomach or diarrhoea. Did you know you cannot buy antidiarrheals, like Imodium, from the shops on board, and can only get them from the Medical Centre as one of symptoms of Norovirus or COVID is that? So, if you need them, you may also be assessed and required to quarantine.

I created my first aid kit by always buying any extra of any items I buy across the year to treat any ailment I have. It also means not having to navigate Pharmacies in ports where English isn’t a first language if I need something.

One of the valuable items in my kit is a tooth repair kit. It has helped me, my partner and others I’ve been travelling with, when a crown or filling comes loose to tide over until can see a dentist in port or back home as ships do not have dentists on board, and the Medical Centre can only help with pain relief.

Having watched many of the 3,600 passengers pouring off Sky Princess in the ports wandering about aimlessly and having no idea of what the cities offered or what to do, reminded me of another underrated tip.

Underrated: Researching Ports

This is the importance of researching ports before boarding and knowing the best things to do and how to do them, be that cruise excursions, independent ones, hop-on hop-off bus or just walking to the sights.

And once you’re on board, going to the Port Talks, if they have them like they did on Sky Princess which were given by an independent speaker.

It’s much better than just getting off the ship with no idea and relying on the local tourist authorities who often, like in these ports, had a small stand with maps.

My go to site to sound out options before a cruise is WhatsInPort.com as they give a good overview but also searching on YouTube for port overviews I use a lot too.

Underrated: Regional Ports

The first did not work out for this Sky Princess cruise, but one I always try and look at.

If you cruise from regional or non-major port, fares will often be lower.

This Sky Princess cruise departed from Southampton, the biggest port in the UK. But close to me from London are Tilbury, Portsmouth, and Dover.

Southampton is a busy port and the day we left MSC Virtuosa, Celebrity Apex, and P&O Iona were also leaving and so as well as fares being higher, staying the night before in Southampton was expensive because the hotels were basically rammed full, and traffic made getting to the cruise terminal slow.

But in regional ports, not only are fares often lower, pre- or post-stay hotels cheaper but it is less busy and more hassle-free getting in and out the port.

In the USA, cruise lines are constantly adding new regional ports to sail from and worth looking at versus the major Miami, Port Everglades and Port Canaveral ports.

But this Sky Princess cruise did allow me to test out another underrated cost saving tip.

Underrated: “Shoulder” Periods

And that is cruising in shoulder periods. This cruise took place in May, weeks after the April school holidays, where cruises were full and more costly, and the week before the school half term holidays where demand and fares were higher. Which again will be the case in the peak summer holiday months of July and August.

Shoulder periods are at the start and end of a cruise season, like May and September in Alaska and the Mediterranean, and November and March in the Caribbean. They usually mean weather is pretty good, but fares are lower.

I also have tips about the best cruises to go on and why. Take a look at this article about the best bucket list cruises you should have on your to do list and why.

 

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