Cruise To-Do List

After cruising last June 2022, I reflected on my solo trip. In the future, whenever I go on another cruise, I will make sure I do the following:

· Pack travel sized aloe vera gel –

I cannot believe I forgot to pack this on my recent cruise in the Caribbean Sea when I had specifically looked this up on Amazon to buy before my cruise! I had a feeling I would get a sunburn, so I figured I should at least bring some aloe vera gel to soothe the burn. I did get a slight sunburn, but I forgot to pack the gel, so I used hand lotion instead, which surprisingly worked pretty well!

· Print off the details and descriptions of the shore excursions I book and put them on my itinerary –

When I booked my shore excursions for the Caribbean Princess in June 2022, I noted the start and end times, but that was it. When I was on my cruise, I would wake up in the morning and know a general outline of my day, but I couldn’t remember the details of what the shore excursion would entail. For instance, on the island of Turks and Caicos, I knew I had booked the Bajari Beach Escape All Inclusive shore excursion and that it would include food and drinks, but when I got there, I was happily surprised to find out that it also included a lounge chair and an umbrella! Maybe those details were on the shore excursion description? I am just glad that I got the lounge chair and umbrella because it was incredibly hot and sunny out! It was such a sweet surprise and made my time there so much better!

The next day on the Dominican Republic, I knew I was going on the Heritage Puerto Plata with Lunch excursion, but I had no clue what the tour was going to include. I had completely forgotten since booking it back in April 2022, which was 2 months earlier. I ended up seeing the town of Puerto Plata, getting a tour of a museum which was a house owned by a general’s daughter, eating lunch, seeing a church, and tasting hot chocolate. I also toured the Spanish fortress, Fortaleza San Felipe, as well as a rum factory, where we tried at least 8 different samples of rum! It was a bit fun to be in the dark and not know what would happen next, but I tend to be the type of person who wants to know every detail, so it was sometimes annoying to not know. Thankfully, the fort and rum factory were nice surprises!

In the future, I plan to print the descriptions of the shore excursions on my itinerary so I am better prepared and know what will happen.

· Make sure the cruise stops at all or most of its ports without the use of water shuttles –

When I went on a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea several years ago with my family, we were supposed to stop at Mykonos, Greece. However, due to the high winds, we could not, because there was no actual dock there. The ship would have had to anchor off the coast, and then passengers would have had to take a water shuttle between the ship to the coast. Because of the high winds, it was not safe to do this. So, we had to sail past Mykonos.

A similar thing happened when I was on my recent cruise in the Caribbean last year. Our first stop was to be at the Princess cruise line’s port in the Bahamas. I was scheduled to partake in a stingray beach encounter. Tropical Storm Alex had blown in the day before, and the winds and waves were still too high and treacherous for us to safely anchor and take a water shuttle to shore. I had to miss my stingray experience, but I would rather be safe! At least I received a check for reimbursement from Princess about a month later.

In the future, I would try to select a cruise that had no or very few stops at a place that needs a water shuttle. That way, there is less of a chance for missing a port!

· Pack Ziploc bags –

Next time I vacation, I plan to pack Ziploc bags. This would help if I wanted to save food and put in my room’s refrigerator to keep for later. I cannot remember why else I wrote down that I wanted to pack Ziploc bags, but I bet it was for a good reason!

· Bring more dollar bills for tipping –

On future cruises and vacations, I need to remember to bring more dollar bills. I am so used to paying for things with my credit card that I forget that sometimes cash is needed. Thankfully, I barely had enough cash to tip people like the tour guide, bus driver, and the worker who dug a hole in the sand and put up an umbrella next to my chair on the beach in Grand Turk. I just need to make sure that I bring plenty of cash and in dollar bills so I can properly tip individuals for their hard work.

On a side note, I do wish we could do away with tipping and just pay everyone a livable wage. I would be fine with paying extra for a dinner, etc. as long as I didn’t have to tip the waiter, etc.

Do you have any tips for cruising?