Vacations On A Ship

Valentines Day has already passed which means it is the perfect time to start planning a romantic cruise vacation for next Valentines Day.

Linda Garrison has written a review of the 4 best luxury cruise lines for romantic cruises.

Photo by tiarescott

According the the review, it seems like one of the key features for a romantic cruise is to stay with the smaller ships.

Not to be outdone by the smaller cruise ships, the larger ships are also providing features to cater to the more romantic crowd.

17 of the 21 Royal Caribbean ships have adults-only pools.

Some of the Celebrity Cruises’ ships have adult only private steam rooms and saunas.

Disney Cruise Line ships provide adults with their own cove pool area, cafe, spa, nightclubs and restaurants and Disney’s private island, Castaway Bay, has set aside an adult only beach a mile from all of the others.

The two newest Princess cruise ships have an outdoor spa on the uppermost deck.

It looks like the cruise lines are realizing that whether couples travel with or without their kids, they are going to want an area where just the two of them can get away for a romantic dinner or day at the pool.

Your exciting vacation cruise has left the port and headed into the open sea. It is not time to eat, yet, and you have already wandered around the ship to start to learn where everything is.

What should you do next?

Here are 5 things that you should do on the first night of your vacation cruise.

Photo by gailf548

Unpack

As soon as your luggage shows up in your cabin, unpack everything. Pay special attention to where you put the suntan lotion so that you do not forget it when you wake up late and are rushed trying to get off the boat for your day of fun.

It will also help keep your formal clothes from getting wrinkled and in general just help you feel more settled.

One you are unpacked, toss your suitcases under your bed so they are completely out of your way. Most of the cabins are pretty small and the fewer things that are on the floor the better.

Go to gym

If you are planning on exercising, finding and using the gym the first night is a great way to keep yourself on track. During most of the rest of the trip, your legs will be tired from walking around all day. Plus, if you spend all day drinking margaritas on the beach or by the pool, you probably will not be able to use the gym very often during your cruise.

Order shore excursions

If you did not order your shore excursions when you scheduled your cruise take a few minutes and flip through the offerings and place your orders. Excursions will fill up quickly and your best chance of getting what you want is to make sure that you have everything scheduled before you go to bed the first night.

Ask for dinner time change

If your cruise has two dinner times and you would prefer to eat during the other one, talk to your waiter during dinner the first night. If there is space available during the other dinner, they will usually switch you to the other time slot for the rest of the cruise.

Crack open the safe

Put all of your important travel documents, and most of your cash and jewelry in the safe in your room. It might seem obvious but if you do not take care if it on the first night, you might have trouble locating the items later in the trip if your room gets a little cluttered.

People have been getting married for a while now on cruise ships or at exotic locations during the trip. It’s romantic, exotic and highly memorable. Plus, everything is catered by the ship.

Royal Caribbean is offering something for those of you looking for a more exciting venue. You can now get married while surfing on their Royal Caribbean FlowRiders.

Photo by arjenvr

Considering I’ve never seen anybody to stay upright for more than a couple seconds, that must be a very quick ceremony.

Talk about taking the plunge.

Vacation cruise ships departing from the Port of Miami are a spectacle to behold. There are so many people, cars, buses, taxis and ships. Since the vacation is just beginning it is hard for the chaos to be anything other than exciting.

Photo by alexdecarvalho

If you happen to return on a Sunday, however, things are a little different. All of those people need to get through customs, find their luggage, find their transportation and manage their way out of the port area.

It is a complete zoo.

Then, almost all of those people head to one of the nearby airports where they wait in line for up to a few hours to check their luggage and make it through security before their airplane departs.

My advice for anybody taking a cruise vacation that will return to Miami on Sunday is to schedule one more vacation night, book a hotel room in advance, enjoy a night on the town in Miami and head to the airport on Monday.