Couples CruisingThere are many different travel options for couples. I recently got back from a cruise with my boyfriend. We had an amazing time...well mostly, there were a few things I would change or knowledge I wish I had before hand. Let me share with you what I learned and it will help you to make the most out of your cruise vacation. Cruise Things to ConsiderSome things you should consider when planning your cruise are:
Price RangeThis will impact your entire trip! Just because you don't have a lot of money doesn't mean you can't have a fantastic vacation. You will just need to plan carefully. Here are some things you will need to pay for depending on your stay:
That's the majority of what you have to pay for, again depending on what you plan on doing. If you plan to lie on the beach then you might not pay for shore excursions. If you book in advance you can save a lot of money. My boyfriend and I booked 8 months in advance and saved over $400.00 each on the cruise. We got a balcony room, which was only $50.00 more than a room with a window when we booked, it went up about $400.00 by the time we left. The cruise line, amount of days at sea, room, packages, etc. Will all effect your budget. Talk to a travel agent they can give you a good price range and a cruise ship with people in your age category. A lot of people go on these cruises for the shopping, meaning the loose gemstones they can bring back. We went to Diamonds International just to look, and their signature diamond, 1 ct was around $10,000.00 needless to say we didn't leave with one. But it is nice to look. But all of those jewelry places are a little on the pushy side. Shore ExcursionsThe next big consideration is shore excursions. This can add heavily to the bill, but can be so much fun! We went to 4 countries (Cayman Islands, Cozumel & Playa del Carman Mexico, Belize, and Roatan Honduras) and in each place we did a shore excursion and this added about $400 to the trip for each of us. We weren't disappointed with any of the excursions, they were all fantastic!You can either book the excursions through the cruise line, which is a little more expensive, but these tours are recommended by the cruise line. Or you can book on your own for cheaper and take your chances. The bonus with booking with the cruise line is less research on your part, they help you get to your tour and the ship won't leave without you...definitely a bonus! Plus they have some tours that go to multiple places which would be hard to coordinate on your own. If you want to shop mostly, assume the shore excursions will run late by an hour or so, we had very little time to shop. So plan that in. If you are interested I'll tell you what excursions we did (if not skip down to the next heading). In Cayman Islands we went to the Turtle Farm, then to Hell and then Swimming with the Stingrays in Stingray City. Now there are obviously time restraints...the ship does have to leave, so you are hurried around a bit, but I looked at everything as a sampler, what do I want to do/go to again on my next vacation. I loved all of these excursions. You get to hold a turtle at the farm and look at the baby turtles...you might get wet! In hell it's rock formations that well, look like hell! Very cool though. Our tour guide dressed up as the devil even! Stingray City was amazing. You get to snorkel if you want and touch the stingrays, get a back rub and even kiss them if you want! In Cozumel/Playa del Carmen we went to Xcaret which is a zoo and activities park. It was fantastic, they have a 2 day pass and for good reason. There is so much to do, and far too much to do then can get done in 5 hours. We were there for 4 hrs I think. We started off with a ride down the underground river which was amazing! It lasted about 45 min. Wear water shoes though, there are pointy rocks. Then we were on our own to explore. We looked at the animals and some of the ruins. It just wasn't enough time. But that's where we are planning our next vacation! In Belize we went on the Wallace River tour and got to see the wildlife and nature. It was beautiful. Then we went on a tour of Altun Ha which is Mayan ruins, very neat and our tour guide was very informative. We also got a tour of the island by bus. In Roatan, we went to the Gumbalimba Park. It was a nature reserve, we got to see lots of wildlife and plants. Lots of lizards, birds, flowers, monkeys. We even got to hold two macaws and a monkey! The beach there was picture perfect, it had the golden sands and blue ocean. It was very nice. Now I'm not saying that these are the tours you should do. These are what we did and had an amazing time at. But look over your options, there are lots! RomanceHow important is romance to you? A lot of ships have a fancy restaurant (usually included in the price) and it can be romantic with a bottle of wine. On our cruise you got to sit with another couple to chat and make friends with. So you're not eating alone unless one couple doesn't show up. But if you are alone you can make the most of it.Are you thinking about hot passionate sex at night? What you do during the day might change that plan. I know it did for us! While the shore excursions are really amazing they are also really exhausting. I could have gone to bed early every night. Instead we had a nap most days after getting back on the ship, and I never nap. Still you end up exhausted. So if you really want to go for romance don't do exhausting shore excursions. Plus with your layers of sunscreen, sweat and dirt after the excursion you will feel anything but sexy! No candles are allowed, fire is the biggest safety hazard on a ship. Also there isn't much for mood lighting in the rooms, so don't count on it. You are usually allowed to bring one bottle of wine per person on board. But if you buy alcohol on shore they take it away until after the cruise so you buy their alcohol at inflated prices. We brought wine and were happy we did. But they will charge you a corking fee if you open it anywhere other then your room. Ship ActivitiesThe activities on the ship may impact your choice. Each ship will cater to a certain crowd. The cruise line we used was Carnival, and as someone put it they have the age range from Newly Wed to Nearly Dead.They had the casino, which we weren't interested in. They had dancing and lounges, which by the end of the evening we were too tired to take part in. Their shows weren't as we expected, they said Vegas style entertainment, including show girls. Not so much, it's a ship, if these were amazing entertainers then they wouldn't be working on a cruise ship. They also had some stuff that really didn't interest us, like bean bag toss. And the hairiest guy on the ship competition. So plan carefully, we had 2 full days at sea and not much to do. Dinning This is something you have to think about. They have restaurant dinning and buffet for supper. Buffet is any time during a certain time frame. But for the restaurant there are two time options, the early at 6:00 pm and the late at 8:15 pm. We thought it would be too much of a scramble between getting back on the ship from the shore to getting to supper at 6, so we chose the 8:15. We felt that the 8:15 was too late and were always super hungry. You are missing the early shows and some activities, which means you have to stay up late for the 10pm shows. All you really need to do is shower and go to supper, except on the formal nights. We ended up using the extra time between shore and supper to have a nap. We would go with the 6pm supper option next time. Photography Be ready to be photographed at every turn! They have photographers everywhere. And to buy the photos is really expensive! $22.00 for an 8x10. We bought one. Sea SicknessIf someone says to you "don't worry if you don't get car sick you won't get sea sick." don't listen to them! They are not the same thing.First they can't pull the ship over! Our first full day at sea was spent in bed because we were sick. It was also our anniversary, not a good start to the trip. Here's some tips about sea sickness. Laying down is the best position for sea sickness, it distributes your body mass and disperses some of that awful lurching feeling. Sea Sickness Patches are prescription only The ship probably won't have any on board so see your doctor ahead of time. Bring extra motion sickness pills you need to keep taking them consistently, don't miss any doses. The ship may not have what you need. Have a light breakfast is really good if you are experiencing sea sickness. A banana and toast worked best for us. Pepto Bismol is good for all the symptoms they list. Bring a liquid one for your room and pill form for on shore. The Best FIX FOR MOTION SICKNESS is alcohol. Now I'm not recommending you drink alcohol or saying it works for sure. But it worked for me. I only found out 3 days in by a fellow passenger. I wish I had known sooner. You have to drink consistently while you are awake. As soon as I felt a little ill, I would have another drink. But don't drink too much or you'll still end up sick. I definitely felt like an alcoholic drinking at 9am...there is a reason they have drink specials in the morning.
Extra Tips for the LadiesHere are some extra things I learned from my experience.What to bring There are lots of obvious things to bring but here are some suggestions. Bring zip lock bags, they are needed for liquids on the flights, they are good for dirty laundry or wet laundry and for putting the unexpected into them. Hand sanitizer is a must! You never know if you might be touching a monkey! Aqua socks, you never know what you will step in or on. Bring refillable water bottles, you will get thirsty on shore. Fill with mostly ice and then water, it will keep it cold longer. Packing Do you really need to pack that much? Probably not, I over packed and could have used that room for souvenirs. Bring dresses, they are nice for on the ship. Bring a couple pairs of shorts for on shore. You will probably wear your bathing suit under your clothes, it's easier then finding a changing room, trust me. Bring one or 2 formal outfits, they do have fancy evenings on the ships. Bringing stuff back Check your countries rules, you may not be allowed to bring certain things back. For example if you bring wood back it has to be lacquered or painted. Alcohol can be cheap to bring back. Feeling Self Conscious? Don't! Most of the women on board had very normal bodies only like 10 out of 1000 women had amazing bodies. It made me feel less self conscious. And no one is looking at you, trust me. Compromise When you are planning your activities, make compromises and pick stuff you will both enjoy or trade off. My boyfriend didn't want to swim with stingrays, but he did just for me. And he loved it! So you never know what you're going to like. And please try everything new that you can, you want to get the most out of this. You went all that way, you might as well do it!
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