cruise first timer..

[DizNee143]

so me and my fiance are going on a cruise for part of our honeymoon. we are doing a 4 day royal carribean cruise on there soverign of the seas ship..
i have been going on looking at the crusiecritic website..ever since wendy at magical journeys told me about it (she booked my whole honeymoon for me)..
and it has been helpful..
but can you guys give any tips about what to expect..
and i really wanna know how i should pack..or what i should pack..anything i should know that i wouldnt since i have never done a cruise before..
thanx for the help and advice in advance

[Tick-Tock]

Cruise Critic has a whole section for first-time cruisers. I think all your questions likely will be answered there.

Have a great trip!

[DizNee143]

Cruise Critic has a whole section for first-time cruisers. I think all your questions likely will be answered there.

Have a great trip!

yes i know that...as i wrote in my orginal post that i have been going there and looking..
figured it wouldnt hurt to ask here on what people may have to say here about packing for a cruise...
but it seems no one goes on cruises here and can help me out......

[Tick-Tock]

Yes, I saw your comment that you'd been on Cruise Critic. I just didn't know if you'd seen the first-time section. And there are a lot of threads about packing in the CC message boards.

As far as what to pack, don't overpack. There's not much space in the room for storing stuff, plus baggage fees are bad and getting worse! We've found it helpful to use duffel bags, since they go flat and we can slide them right under the bed when they're unpacked.

Is this for the Caribbean? Shorts or capris, t-shirts, Tevas or sandals for day.

A pair of khakis or nicer capris or a casual skirt for non-formal nights in the dining room.

Maybe something dressier for formal night if there is one (or plan to eat in the buffet or with room service rather than the dining room) - don't forget shoes (I had to find a shoe store in San Juan once because I forgot my black dressy shoes).

A light sweater or jacket for evening (can get chilly up on deck or in the air-conditioned dining room).

A hat and comfortable shoes for port stops (can be the aforementioned Tevas or sandals). Think about what excursions you're going to want to do - I haven't tried it, but I imagine that flip flops probably would be a bad choice for ziplining, for example.

Swimsuit (or two if you plan a lot of swimming and don't like pulling on a wet suit).

A backpack or tote bag to carry a towel or a book if you're hitting the beach (Carnival provided beach towels we could take into port, so we didn't need to pack one) and carry purchases back to ship. If RCCL doesn't provide beach towels, you might want to bring one or plan to buy one in port.

Sunglasses, sunscreen.

Basic medical stuff (bandaids, aspirin)

Wet wipes and stain remover (like Shout wipes).

[jax86]

cruise critic also saved me, there are some great tips on the message boards. i hear the SOS is one of the smaller royal carib. ships with very small staterooms. what really saved me was one of those over the door shoe racks, for things like brushes, hair clips, make up, razors, socks, etc. we traveled with 2 teenagers so for us it was a life saver. there is very little room in the bathroom for anything.

another surprise for us is how it really isn't "all inclusive" tipping at the end of the week cost us an additional $450 (for 4 of us) between the waiters stateroom attendants, taxi drivers, people who ran the excursions etc. drinks were of course extra and aren't cheap. soda, extra, icecream, extra, specialty coffee extra,
you get the picture. with four of us on a seven day cruise we were forced to have our laundry done mid week and it was very expensive.

so just allow for all that and you'll be fine. royal carib service is outstanding and you'll have a blast.

if they have the "love &marriage" and "quest" show don't miss it. its hysterical.

[Piglet822]

My boyfriend and I just got back last Friday from Soverign of the Seas. It was also our first time cruising. We had a blast and can't wait to plan another cruise
The staterooms are small, but I didn't have any storage problems. We carried small travel size toiletries and there were 3 shelves in the bathroom to store things on. All our clothes (except underthings) got hung up and there are hangers provided. There are also shelves in the closet and I utilized these for my shoes.
I nested as many suitcases together as could fit and they got shoved under the bed. Another suitcase was between the foot of the bed and the vanity and another was next to the bed between the bed and the little storage cupboard that was there.
You will be expected to tip at the end of the cruise as mentioned above but this is normal with any cruise, not just RCI. We also purchased the souvenier soda cups for $24 each but got unlimited sodas from wherever we wanted. They'll put a little stamp on your SeaPass Card (room key). Otherwise a can of soda was $1.95. We're Pepsi drinkers and we also brought a 12 pack and went thru that as well. We brought a case of water and didn't drink that much of it but we should have
I can't think of anything else right now but I'm sure I will later.
One more question, do you know your stateroom number? You can go to RCI's website and look it up and see an illustration of your cabin.
Oh, one more thing. The shower. Tiny, tiny, tiny. I'm a plus sized lady and did fine though. Just had to fight with the shower curtain every morning while it billowed into the shower with me, lol.