7 surprising things I learned when booking a cruise for the first time
- I'm going on my first cruise in a few weeks on the world's largest cruise ship, Wonder of the Seas.
- When booking the Royal Caribbean cruise, I learned surprising things, like when to schedule flights.
I recently booked a cruise for the first time on Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas — the largest cruise ship in the world.
Royal Caribbean's new ship, Wonder of the Seas, is the biggest of its kind, as Insider previously reported. In just a few weeks, I'll be on board for a seven-day Caribbean adventure.
Since it's my first cruise, I'm learning a lot about how cruises work, and I've been surprised by some of my findings even just while booking the trip.
There's so much you have to know about cruising before embarking on your trip that I wasn't expecting.
Cruisers recommend booking your flight for the day before the ship leaves.
Since my cruise ship leaves from Florida and I live in New York, I have to fly there. When I started searching for flights, I looked for reservations on the same day as my cruise departure.
But after a little research on Cruise Critic, a cruise review site, seasoned cruisers recommend flying in at least one day before your cruise ship departs to leave room for potential delays.
Similarly, when choosing my flight home, I learned that the scheduled port arrival time isn't exactly when I'll be off the ship.
As Insider previously reported, a cruise ship's scheduled arrival time is when the ship docks at the port. Before passengers can get off, there's an inspection that can take "anywhere between 20 minutes to an hour or more," according to the article.
Just to be safe, I booked a night flight, since I'd rather wait at the airport all day than miss my flight home.
I thought cruises would be priced like hotels — per room. But when booking my Royal Caribbean cruise, I found that each person costs extra.
When booking a cruise with Royal Caribbean, I found that the price varies depending on how many people are staying in the room. I'm cruising solo, but this is good to know for future reference.
While there are many included meals and activities on cruise ships, excursions and some restaurants and amenities cost extra.
I was previously under the impression that cruises were all-inclusive.
But while some restaurants and activities come with the price of the room on my Royal Caribbean cruise, like the buffet and the waterslides, things like spa treatments, port excursions, and select restaurants on the ship cost extra.
Some rooms on cruise ships don't have windows.
When booking my Royal Caribbean cruise, I noticed that the least expensive room option had no windows in it. I couldn't imagine living without a window for a week. Luckily, my room will have a small window.
You can add gratuity during the booking process.
When I was getting ready to purchase my cruise, I noticed that I had the option to add gratuity in advance, which I thought made things easier.
Once you're booked, you can reserve food on the ship and excursions at each port.
As soon as I received my confirmation email for my booking, I learned that I already had the option of planning out my whole trip, from restaurant reservations to excursions.
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