Cruise ship travel hacks
We just completed a 15-day Disney cruise from Sydney, Australia to Honolulu, Hawaii. Here are a few things we learned during our two weeks that we would do differently for next time.
1. Don’t skimp on the room
There are a few ways to save money on a cruise ship, and selecting your stateroom is one of them. You can choose to have an interior room, which means you may not have a window. You could choose to have a window, but no balcony. Or a room with a balcony. Your cost will also be influenced based on where your room is located. Typically, rooms in the middle of the ship are more desirable, while a room in the aft or forward (back or front) are less expensive. This is important to avoid seasickness, which I will address later.
To save a buck, I chose to not have a balcony and selected a room in the front of the ship with a window. About two days into the cruise, I was questioning my cheap-ass decision making (this is a familiar regret) by not springing for a more expensive stateroom.
We were the second cabin from the front of the ship on the second floor, which means we were in the bottom of the ship. We hit rough seas for about five days and felt and heard everything. The ship rocked up and down, side to side, pressing my body into the mattress as I attempted to rest. Hearing the waves smash into the ship, and watching the water devour my window as it navigated through 18-foot swells sent my anxiety through the roof. It also kept me a little nauseous. While many of us on the boat were sick, including the staff, I had to believe that those of us whose cabins were in the middle of the ship were having a more tolerable time.
(I went to Disney’s Guest Services in the middle of the night and asked about disembarkation at our next port. I hadn’t slept in days, or I was sleeping outside to get some relief with the fresh air. Every step on the boat felt like a struggle as I pinball-machined my way up the long hallways to get my meals. It was a tiring few days and I very much wanted off. Sensing my lunacy, and in true Disney fashion, they sent us a bottle of wine two days later to win us back. And win us back they did.)
2. Study the layout of the ship before you select your stateroom
Most evenings we were exhausted before bed. We’d finally crawl into bed, clean and craving sleep, to be greeted with the thumping of a bass. Sometimes it sounded like techno music. Other times it sounded like classic rock. What we learned is directly above our room was the adult-only bar, which was open until 11pm. It wasn’t terribly bothersome, but I would have made a different choice had I known. So before you commit to a room, study the layout of the ship to ensure you are not surrounded by an area where people commune.
3. Bring a medicine bag
Our youngest son got really sick on the third day of our five days at sea. He developed a 104-105 degree fever, and I was very grateful that I had packed a thermometer and medicine bag. Simple things like Band-Aids, a thermometer, Pepto, and Tylenol were super useful. I’d also recommend bringing Ibuprofen so you can alternate acetaminophen and ibuprofen if a fever requires round-the-clock attention. We were able to visit the clinic on ship, and the cost was somewhere in the ballpark of $200. This covered his antibiotics and doctor visit. Disney also had Pedialyte popsicles, which was a pleasant surprise.
I’d also recommend bringing different types of Dramamine. I took the “less drowsy” version during those first few days of the cruise, and slept until 2:30 the following day. I slept on lunch tables, lounge chairs. Anywhere I was stationary, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. This sucked. I broke my pill into smaller sizes, and that helped keep the fatigue at bay, but I’d recommend bringing various types of motion sickness remedies to see what works for you.
Zackary was super confident in his lack of seasickness until it snuck up on him one night. He ran to the bathroom to vomit, only to find the toilet seat was down. He proceeded to vomit on top of the closed toilet seat, which caused vomit to spray on every surface of the tiny bathroom. At the same time, I was feeling nauseous, and slept outside on the 9th deck until they kicked me off the lounge chair around 2am. Bert cleaned the bathroom between rests as he fought off nausea himself. (A balcony room could have been useful to allow the breeze to ease our seasickness).
4. Pay attention to the ports themselves
The itinerary of a cruise always looks appealing. Our ports were
Noumea, New Caledonia,
Suva, Fiji,
Pago Pago, American Samoa,
Nawiliwili, Hawaii
All of this sounds wonderful! Fiji! American Samoa! I couldn’t book the trip quick enough. It was weeks or months before I started looking into the port adventures and I realized what I had signed us up for. New Caledonia hadn’t had a cruise ship stop there for the past year due to political unrest in the country. That sounds scary. Suva is NOT what you think of when you think of Fiji. When I think of Fiji, I think of crystal-clear ocean, snorkeling, and open landscapes. Suva is a city without a beach to be found. You can’t even charter a boat from this location to visit another island, and in our case, we only had a few hours on the island to find something to do, so doing much more than walking around the port was out of the question. We were also swarmed by Fijians trying to take us to “waterfalls” during our one mile walk to a museum. Noticing that we were not from the area, Fijians would literally stop their car in the middle of the road and ask if we wanted a ride. So our time off the boat was spent walking to a museum, and back to the boat. American Samoa was nice, but it was the rainy season, so we spent our time on an open-air bus with the plastic windows pulled up as the tropical rain soaked our bus…and eventually soaked us on our walk back to the boat.
All of this is to say that I will be more selective with the port itself on our next cruise.
5. What time of year are you sailing?
The time of year could tell you about the type of port adventures you could enjoy, as well as the sea conditions. Rainy season on a tropical island could make for a wet and unpleasant beach day, for example. Just pay attention to what other cruisers have said about their cruise for the same itinerary. Facebook has cruise groups for your specific cruise, so hop on there and see what folks are saying.
6. Colorful bags are your friend
We accidentally left a small hygiene bag in the room after we disembarked, which isn’t a huge deal, but if we had colorful or neon bags, it may not have happened. A navy blue bag that matches all of the accents on a Disney cruise was not a good choice.
7. Organization for your stateroom will keep you sane
A hotel room feels like a mansion compared to a cruise ship room. (Well, unless you sprung for a more expensive room than I did.) Our Disney cruise ship had about three hooks for towels, bags, wet clothes, etc. It did have a clothes line in the shower, but it wasn’t super helpful if we were using the shower.
Here’s what I’d recommend bringing to keep your room organized….
Suction cup hooks, or magnet hooks. Our doors were metal, so magnet hooks would have worked perfectly. This will allow you to hang your bags, hats, clothes, towels, etc.
A small closet organizer to hang from your closet rack and/or back of the door.
Toothbrush holder to keep your stuff off the counters. I used water glasses that were complimentary in our room to store Q-tips, cotton swabs, floss, and our toothbrushes. But bringing these things may be nice to do.
8. Laundry
We brought laundry sheets instead of pods for the cruise and we loved this. It is impossible for them to make a mess in your bag, and they’re super lightweight. Also, be sure to bring a laundry bag to tote your clothes to and from the laundry room.
9. Research the cruise line and activities
On our very first Disney cruise, we boarded the boat and were shocked with all the things we did not prepare for. Disney is a particular breed of crazy, and the guests coordinate a lot of activities before even getting on the boat. This all happens on Facebook or WhatsApp. For example, there were 15 different groups on WhatsApp specific for our cruise for things like fitness, veteran meetups, fish extenders, book exchange, candy exchange, sea life spotters, pixie dusters, board gamers, etc. There are themed nights on the ship that the cruise line coordinates, and we were astonished with the lengths that people go to be festive on the boat. A quick Google search could help you prepare for your specific cruise line.
I hope this was helpful to you and highly recommend a short cruise if you’re a first-timer! Expect to have emotional ups and downs, and stay positive! Having fun is the goal, so do your best to do just that!