HELP! Planning first cruise

[Tigger7570]

Hi Everyone:
I'm trying to plan our first cruise. I am looking at either a 3 or 4 day. It's the first time for us and DH is skeptical so I need some help. What's better the 3 or 4 day. Also, I'm planning it for the spring, flexible on dates, looking towards April beginning of May. Also, was looking at the Category with outside room and window. I think 8 or 9, can't remember. Is it better to have outside room? Also, since DH is nervous about seasickness, need to know which category is best for least amount of motion and which cabins. Thanks so much for your help.

 

[PoohJen]

Just to share - everyone that i've met who have done 4 day say that it just wasn't enough - that next time they'll do 7 days! There's just so much to do on the ship, you may feel rushed on the 3 day, or feel like you are trying to squeeze too much in to a short time so there's no time left to just relax.

Heck, I don't think 7 days will be enough!! Can't I just live on the ship???!!!

Happy Planning!

 

[Zandy595]

Our first DCL cruise was a 3 night, to "try" it out. By the end we wished we had booked a 7 night instead.

I've stayed in a category 9, on deck 2. If you book a cat. 9 make sure it's on deck 2 and not deck 1. They have two very small portholes in the deck 1 cabins. Deck 2 cabins have one HUGE porthole, which is much nicer. I also wouldn't book a cat. 8. It costs more and is the same exact room as a cat. 9 (just a different location).

Our very first cruise was in an inside cabin on Carnival. I hated it. I'll never book another inside cabin. It's always pitch black, unless you have lights on. Makes it very hard to get up in the morning without some sunlight. JMO

As for seasickness - I don't know if this is true, but people say that you should try to get a cabin on a low deck, in the middle of the ship. Also, be prepared, pack Bonine or Dramamine.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

The 4 day cruise is a good length of time to get your feet wet with cruising. The 4 day cruises do go by fast (so I can't imagine going through the hassle for only a 3 day).

As for where to stay on the ship, I don't think it really matters. Yes, even in calm seas, the ship rocks, and the amount of movement you experience is different based on where on the ship you are.

But the reality (for me anyway) is that I don't get sick in my cabin. I get sick when I'm in a large open area where I can't see the motion of the boat.

While I'm sure it's different for different people, one of the ways you get sea sick is when your body feels something different than what your eyes are seeing. So if you are inside the movie theater where there are no windows, your eyes will tell you nothing is moving. But after a while, your body will realize that indeed you are moving. It's the argument between your eyes and your body (really the fluid moving around inside your ears) that causes the sea sickness.

For some reason, it's not as bad in a confined space like your cabin. I can only guess it's because even though my eyes don't see any motion inside the cabin (just like in the theater), my mind seems to know that small spaces can be moving even if they don't appear to be. But a large open space isn't supposed to move (obviously it does when it's on a ship, but the reality of your bodies experience is going to be that large things don't move).

You also don't tend to get sea sick if you can see the motion. For example, if you are eating lunch in one of the reasurants, even though it's a large open space, you can see the water line moving relative to the window and you don't get sick. But you go back for dinner after sunset and sit in the same place and this time you do get sick because it's dark outside and you no longer see any movement out the window.

 

[Tigger7570]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'm a little concerned about the sea sickness. HooKooDooKu did you experience a lot of sea sickness or was it minimal. Thanks for the tips about that as well.

 

[westjones]

The one thing I do like about the 3 day cruise is that it allows us to do the WDW parks before the cruise during week days. We fly in on Sunday and stay onsite through Wednesday, then head over on Thursday morning for the cruise. That completes our 1 week of vacation (DH does take the following Monday off so we have Sunday and Monday to drive back home--17 hours drive).

Aside from that, I prefer the 4 day to the 3 day, and the 7 day is best of all.

DJ

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Tigger,

I've gotten sea-sick on every cruise we've been on, but it's usually only for the first day. I know that on our last cruise, rough seas caused both my wife and I to leave dinner before we could get to dessert. But after spending the rest of the evening in bed, I was fine for the rest of the cruise.

In the past, we've used dramamine. We'd make the mistake of not using it until we'd start feeling sea-sick that first night. Then we'd do two dramamine to get over the initial sickness, then decrease to only one over the recomended interval for the next day or two before we'd drop using it all together. The only thing I don't like about it is that it makes me sleepy and I'll find my self unable to stay away while we go to a movie or something.

I think for our next cruise, I'll try to take some dramamine (one pill) around the time of the life boat drill, them MAYBE one the next morning and see if I can to fine without it for the rest of the trip. I've never had to continue using dramamine thru an entire cruise and usually don't after the first two days unless we encounter unusually high seas.

But again, sea-sickness has never spoiled our cruise. It's usually caused a head-ache (never vomited from sea-sickness). The only time I was misirable from sea-sickness was during an excursion. We were on a boat taking us to snorkel at some spot that was in open sea water with rought waves. The boat was tossed around enought that I was thrilled to get off of it and in the water to snorkel. But after about 15 -20 minutes, the water was rought enought that I had had enought of even that. I spend the rest of the hour snorkel time spralled out on the deck, eyes closed, chomping down some dramamine (again, starting it AFTER I needed it, not before) and prayed that I didn't vomit.

Just plan on taking along some dramamine and asprin and expect to feel a little woozy the first day until you get your sea legs, then enjoy the rest of the trip.

In terms of giving you an idea how much you should worry about sea sickness, I'm prone to motion sickness when I'm in any vehical (boat, plane, car) unless I'm the driver. I've had sea-sickness on EVERY cruise we've ever taken (about 5 Disney Cruises). But the sea-sickness is minor enough that we leave for a 7 day in two months, we're booked on a 14 day repositioning cruise, and fully expect to rebook another 7 day cruise while on board. Keep in mind, this isn't a small ship that gets tossed around (like the excursion boat where I did almost vomit on). It slowly rocks and you have to give your self a little time to get used to it.