First ever cruise

[PersephoneParlormaid]

Just booked my first ever cruise with a friend, she has been on one before.
What do I need? Do I need posh frocks for the evening, I’m not a posh frock person?
Ive seen TikToks about metal hooks and beach towel clips, but what do I really need?

If your friend has been on one before, why not ask her?

Which cruise line are you going on? There are usually some nights which are supposed to be more dressy than others, but it may not be strictly enforced depending on the cruise line. Some people take magnetic hooks and things as the walls are made of magnetic metal, but you don’t need to. I guess the towel clips are for the loungers by the pool again it’s not that necessary.

Have a look at the cruise critic forums for your cruise line where you will find loads of information.

I love cruising and done quite a few now. You get to see several cities/countries in only a week or 2 without having to move much lol. Where are you going? And what company?

Because she did the fjords which she said was very casual and occasionally chilly, this time It’s the Med. But thanks for your reply.

It’s P&O, the Mediterranean

There’s lots of TikToks about cruising but they often contradict what others have said, so it’s hard to know what you really need.
I know a drink package would be a waste for me, I’ll PAYG. I know to get specialist travel insurance.
Some people say buy a clear pass holder that goes round your neck, but I think I’ll feel like a toddler on a nursery trip out with that round my neck!
It’s just finding out what others have actually found helpful, and what was a waste.

Op, quite interested in responses to this too as considering a cruise for the first time. Have I got sea legs? I don’t know!
And to the PP saying ask your friend, it is reasonable that you ask for a general consensus elsewhere, ie MN, as others can offer different perspectives? We are looking at Norwegian fjords and so this response about it being “occasionally chilly” is quite helpful!

Your luggage usually arrives at the cabin later in the afternoon, so carry on anything you’ll need like a swimsuit if you want to hit the pool straight away

theres usually one or two formal
nights but they are optional. I usually take a long dress for those nights but don’t do anything more fancy.

tips are really important - the mandatory gratuities are the salary for your cabin steward and wait staff so if you want to tip then you need to give more. It should be the best service you’ve ever had in your life and they work unbelievably hard so I always give an extra cash tip.

I like to have my room key on a lanyard round my neck so it’s easily accessible but it’s your choice

researxh the ports and plan your excursions. Ship excursions are super expensive so better to do your own thing but be aware if you have any tender ports that theres usually a wait for tenders in the morning so take that into account if you’re planning anything

We didn’t bother with the drinks package, I barely touch alcohol. Mr ViciousCurrentBun does however like nice wine so ended up spending £700 on wine in 2 weeks which he and DS who was 18 enjoyed very much. It was the good stuff so not as much as it sounds volume wise.

Nothing would make me wear a bloody lanyard on holiday. You don’t have to formally dine at the black tie evening, I enjoyed it and bought along 2 full length gowns, they do nkt have to be full length either, but I had one already. I did a lot of the classes, we tried ballroom and ended up having a years worth of lessons on our return home, stopped only because of covid. We went to the shows.

When we dined we had a table to ourselves for half the time but also shared a table which we liked but we are very sociable types. We shared a table with another couple with a teenager so had dinner and the boys hung out together a couple of times. What I did enjoy was going down alone very early for the table service breakfast and letting my two pile up their plates at the buffet. There was a small library on board and that was always quiet. I enjoyed sitting on our balcony, saw dolphins and turtles. This was a med cruise.

If going on shore you must be back on time, the boat will leave without you.

For P&O pack one or two ‘posh’ dresses.. Re the card holder I use a tiny cross body bag for my key card, phone, lip balm etc.

One tip is suitcases fit under the beds, I had been on about 15 before I realised this!

I’ve sailed with p&o, were did a Barbados cruise. We did take dress up clothes but tbh we didn’t bother going to any of the formal nights. It was nice to sit and watch everybody else dressed up but that’s not really our thing at all. We’re still ate lunch at the Epicurean so it felt a bit fancy but without the dress code. I really liked p&o Britannia, off on Ventura next in November.

What’s in port is a useful website for making independent plans for going on shore. The cruise line will want you to pay for their excursions which are easier and they guarantee the ship won’t leave without you but they are much more expensive, and at some ports you can just walk off the ship and be in the town or get on a train etc, whereas others are a bit more complicated. I organised a private taxi tour from my party to exactly where I wanted to go in Pisa, Florence and another town (for a parkrun) and it was cheaper than if we had done the standard ship tour in a bus.

I've been on a few cruises now.

Take a shawl for the evenings, I find they blast the air con too much!
Warmer clothes if there is a sea day.
Something magnetic for your door so when you are walking down a really long corridor you can spot your room more easily.

A pack of playing cards.

I tried doing the lanyard thing with my key card but didn't get on with it so I have a light cross body bag with a front pocket I can slip my card into but can grab it quickly when I see a waiter to order a drink!

I took towel clips for the sunloungers, glad I did as it was very windy at times, I've seen lots of people using elastic bands now so I've brought some of them for my next trip.

I tend to go to warm location so taking a hand fan is a good idea.

Next cruise I'm going to take a metal straw as I hate the paper ones they use with cocktails!
For evenings, I like to get dressed up - I favour a cocktail dress or jumpsuit, I was on a Marella this year and found it was casual and no black tie, people making an effort, men in shirts but no ties but not OTT.

A tote bag for the end of cruise, they take your suitcase on the evening before leaving so you'll need to carry around a few bits like toiletries until you are reunited with your suitcase.

Have fun!

I’ve been on P&O, there is usually one formal night per week on a cruise - you don’t have to attend though - the dress code only applies if you are going to one of the main dining rooms or speciality restaurants on these nights - you can choose to go more casual and attend the buffet or take away area instead. You don’t need to wear a dress though - a skirt and blouse, or tailored trousers and a top would still be acceptable. Some people like to get dressed up every evening, but it’s a personal choice.

We took packing cubes, which was very handy, as our cabin did not have drawers, only cupboards with shelves, but there was plenty hanging space in the wardrobe as well. Suitcases fit under the bed, where we put our dirty washing - there are washing machines and dryers on every floor which are free to use - this was great as it meant I didn’t have to do all my washing when I got home - take your own detergent (I used the laundry leaves by Dr Beckman).

Book entertainment before you go - I think the bookings opened up a couple of weeks before - we booked the Limelight Club and other entertainment before we went - they sell out pretty quickly. We never managed to go to the small live music venue at all (can’t remember the name - the 778 club or something) as it was always sold out - it’s very popular, it seemed to have only midnight availability which was too late for us if we had an excursion the next day.

if you attend the Limelight Club, head down to the entrance at least 1/2 hour before, as people start queuing early - tables are allocated nearer the stage for the first ones in the queue.

We enjoyed sitting in the bar beside the library, as it was much quieter and relaxing to have a drink than other places, which could get very noisy and busy.

We didn’t get the drinks package, as we didn’t feel it was worth our while. You are able to take a bottle of wine or champagne each on board - you can also order a bottle of spirits from room service, which isn’t expensive - you can ask for that to be delivered with an ice bucket - you’re allowed to take soft drinks on board with you, which you can keep in the fridge, so it was nice to be able to have a gin and tonic in the room while getting ready, or a cool drink after a hot day offshore.

if you have Facebook, there will be a cruise group set up for the cruise you are going on - search for the cruise ID and you will find it. It can be useful, but also contains a lot of things we weren’t interested in, like people wanting to hide ducks for people to find etc.

If I think of any other tips, I’ll let you know. Happy cruising!

We’ve just come back from a cruise in the East Mediterranean (MSC).
The things I regret not taking are:

more tops for the bottoms I brought
a lanyard for my keycard during the day
a clutch for the evenings
cute sparkly sandals that I’d dismissed as uncomfortable (not much walking from the cabin to the dining room!)

I had dresses bought for other occasions, so for 9 nights I took
a hi-low midi wrap dress
a wide-sleeved African print dress
a knife pleated satin skirt that I paired with a poofy blouse, a one-shoulder body with a camelia brooch and a leotard top.
a Greek toga-style dress with gold belt and hair accessories (white night)
a long floral dress with shirring top and sleeves that could be pulled down Bardot-style.
a tube wrap dress with fancy belt and necklace.

Spaghetti straps or strapless at the dining table aren’t great etiquette (you’re only visible from the waist up) so maybe a bolero or pashmina. I’m 57 and don’t do spaghetti straps anyway!

There were all levels of elegant in the dining room and nobody was turned away. Holiday casual by day. Don’t forget a beach cover-up for swimming and sunglasses for the wind as well as the sun.

Bon Voyage!

Magnetic hooks, yes, yes, yes! There are never enough hooks in the cabins. Cheap to buy from Amazon and small to pack. We take Stugeron anti travel sick tablets. They see us through the first couple of days, by then we are used to the motion and feel fine.

P&o will have one or two formal nights (short or long smart dresses or trousers and blouse) and you’ll be expected to wear decent clothes on other nights in the main dining room eg a summer dress. Bring a cardigan in case the aircon is harsh and a waterproof/windproof jacket for on deck at sea in case it’s inclement.

No need for lanyards, I tuck my cruise card in my bra

I just remembered the name - the 710 Club - this one you can only book once you are aboard, so do it straight away if you enjoy live music.

When you board, access My Cruise, which is the booking system for restaurants and entertainment (some people refer to it as an app, but it is actually a web page) - once you have accessed it initially and downloaded, it is available for you to use throughout the cruise, even if you don’t have a WiFi package.

You can book the speciality restaurants in advance - I think if you do, there is a discount of 20%. If you have on board cruise credit, a good way to use it is on the speciality restaurants - we really enjoyed Sindhu, which is the modern Indian restaurant.

You don’t need to take your own towels, as blue towels are supplied at the outdoor areas. The pools and hot tubs can get very busy - we were only able to use them on one port day when we decided to stay on the ship rather than go offshore as we had been to that destination before - it was a lot quieter.

We didn’t use lanyards - the cruise card is fine in a pocket or bag. If you book through a travel agent, they will usually provide plastic sleeves to put your luggage labels in, if not, you can buy them cheaply on Amazon. So many people on our cruise didn’t use these and the paper labels came off, which meant that they took ages to locate their luggage.

You may not get access to your cabin after you board for some time (depending on your embarkation time) and your cases may not arrive until later on, so it is a good idea to ensure you have essentials with you like medication, change of clothes / swimwear etc if you want to sunbathe straight away. We took small trolly cases as hand luggage, but you don’t want anything too cumbersome as you are stuck with it until you can get into your cabin.

We opted to take our own luggage off on the day of disembarkation as we are both physically able to and liked the flexibility of taking them off when we were ready and then just go straight to our car. It also meant that we didn’t have to pack everything and leave our cases outside the door the night before.

Excursions - booking excursions through the cruise can be more expensive than booking them independently, however, if you are stopping at ports such as Rome and Florence / Pisa, the journey from the cruise terminal to the centre can actually be anything up to 2 hours by bus and people can be caught out if they make their own way and misjudge the time it takes - the real advantage of booking via the cruise line is if there are any issues with traffic hold ups etc, the ship will wait until the excursion returns - if you book your own trips and are late back, the ship will sail without you.

Would you like to dress up? If so, don’t even bother finding out if casual or not… dress up! You’re on holiday!

and if you don’t want to dress up, again - don’t even both finding out. Just throw in a couple of outfits that you’d wear out to dinner (which presumably would naturally dressier than shirts and a t shirt!)

You get the best of all worlds on P&O. On formal nights if you want to dress up really fancy in a long gown, fine, if you want to go medium smart in a cocktsil dress, fine, if you want to wear black trousers and a nice blouse, also fine. Men wear either black tie or normal suit and tie. The good bit about formal/captains night is the free drinks that are handed out quite generously. Personally if im going on a cruise and there is more than one formal night I tend to only dress up for the first one and go to the buffet for the second one (im usually sunburnt and frizzy by then anyway).

The bars have very different vibes, I loved the one that had a pianist playing.

I heard some one once say “half the clothes and twice the money”

I wear a “nice” midi dress in formal night and other night wear a dress/skirt/jeans/ linen trousers and a top. I wear each evening outfit three times.

I’ve taken the magnetic hook but they are heavy to cart and we didn’t really used them.

Definitely get the cruise luggage tag holder from Amazon. Are you going from Southampton? if so I checked one medium and once cabin case in and carried a tiny backpack with passport and medication only. I have AirTags in my bags so I can locate them. I find a small backpack good for days out and have Nike packable one from Vinted. Towel clips are a good idea and a few regular peg to peg out your swim stuff. I took a canvas tote instead of a beach bag. Laundry is free in PO so maybe take a few dr Beckmann detergent sheets and bring back clean clothes!

tips are included on PO but I think £10 is nice for room attendant. A small consolation for cleaning my toilet!!

a decent medicine kit is essential as it’s super expensive onboard. I’ve done 16 cruise and for sea sick (just felt queasy not actually sick) for the first time on cruise no 16! But the med is a millpond usually.

so take sturgeon and sea bands. Also cold and flu tablets and tissues. Strepsil. Blister plasters. This is what I have used often but also take and sometimes bring back unused Imodium, antihistamines, hydrocortisone cream, bonjela. Sudocreme. My skin always gets really dry and sore so a decent face cream. I use Dr Jart (££) after scrambling around in San Diego as my usually cream was just not working!

most med ports are quite interesting themselves without trips but can be a trek from port so need a shuttle bus.