Cruising for people in their 20’s

Aug 9

8 min read

So I’ve been on 3 cruises in the past 3 years so far and I absolutely LOVE IT. Like, I’m OBSESSED. It’s something about having an all inclusive resort on the boat that makes it the perfect trip. First off, you get to visit all of these islands and different countries without having to fly (perfect as ya girl is terribly afraid) and since it’s prepaid it’s like you don’t have to worry about nothingggggg! If you’re using girl math, it’s technically a free trip. Pair that with being able to choose how long and choose whichever itineraries sounds good to you, I’m making a pledge from now til the next 10 years I’m going on at least one cruise a year. This post I’ll give you the run down, it’ll be different from the typical TikTok’s and other blog posts that you’ve seen because instead of copying from the next, I’ll give you things I’ve learned and seen for myself!

Rooming:
First, when you’re booking a cruise you need to find out whether or not you’re going for a balcony or an insider cabin. There are one’s with an”view” aka a window, but in my opinion, either you’re going to go all the way or not at all. Because the price you pay for a window, add a little bit on and you can get a balcony. Now as I’ve said, I’ve only been on 3 cruise and the more I do my research for the one’s I have upcoming I see some cruise lines (not most) have the option of a floor to ceiling window in the cabin. Now it is cute and it’s better than the port windows in my opinion but to me personally-I would still prefer the balcony to a large window. But to each their own. The best advice I could give is to choose what you want based off how you are on trips. If you know you’re going to be out in those streets on water day and night, and you have enough energy to only see your room when it’s time to sleep? Then choose the interior, but if you’re more of a person where you are split between enjoying the amenities and activities but you also want to be able to have a nice and quiet view of the water without fighting for good seats or hearing kids/music and other things going on-then a balcony room is worth the splurge. I’m personally the second option, BUT if it’s a shorter cruise i.e. 4-5 days and less then get the interior. But if you are opting for a longer cruise I.e. 5 or more days then a balcony room may be more comfortable. Of course the interior cabins are less expensive, like wayyyy less expensive so all in all don’t feel any pressure to get a balcony if you can’t make it work for you, the trip is enough trust me!

Itineraries:
I love that when you’re in the process of booking or even looking and comparing different cruises, anyone is able to view the itinerary. The itinerary will show you what islands and places the ship will be visiting and on which days. It’ll let you know the time the ship will be arriving, and what time it will be leaving, it’ll also show you the at sea days as well. This is a perfect tool to utilize if you are celebrating a special occasion like a birthday, me personally, I would like to make sure I’m somewhere on an Island for my birthday and not on the ship the whole day. But make no mistake if there’s a great itinerary, the spots are great, the ship has good reviews and more it’s ok to be on the boat during the one day in particular. The ship itself already has great things to do and partake in from the early morning to midnight and beyond, so you’ll never be bored.

Cruiselines:

This one just comes with research. If y’all remember, I said I’ve only been on 3 cruises and 2 cruise lines. 1 being MSC and the other Carnival. Now, just off those two I would be perfectly fine being loyalty members to both because they satisfy my 2 different moods and occasions I would use them for besides my curiosity I wouldn’t have any other reason to try the other cruise lines, but that’s just me. MSC is a European based cruise line and you could definitely tell. It was different in their decor, their food choices, the demographic and more. MSC had great activities, pretty similar to Carnival’s however they were not as busy as Carnival is if that makes sense. On their 5 day cruises the buffet was amazing fresh fish, fruit, out of the box desserts and more. I would love to go on MSC again if I’m in the relaxing mood.

Carnival is where I took my other vacations and the experiences were very different. One thing about Carnival that upholds is it is a party ship! The activities, the people, the cruise directors and all, they’re all about keeping the party upbeat and going. It’s also very crowded on Carnival, but I mean that’s expected. Carnival’s prices are lower than other cruise lines and with lower prices comes more people, that’s just the way it works out. On the 7 day cruise I took with Carnival, the food was wayyyyyy better than the 5 day cruise. The options were fresh selections, out of the box and definitely not ordinary. On the 5 day cruise I took with Carnival however, the food was very mid. I was so irritated that the buffet was full of stuff I could make at home after a grocery trip, I lived off guy’s burgers for that cruise. Which brings me to another point! Carnival had way more independent food options that wasn’t the buffet but that was also still free. From Guy’s burgers, to the Street Food Joint, to the Pizzeria and more and one’s that were an extra cost but something different than the buffet including many different restaurants like Hibachi, a Steakhouse, Italian etc. , MSC is just not able to compare when it comes to that aspect.

Pricing:
Ok. So like I said in the introduction, when it comes to cruises, you prepay for the whole thing up front. If you book it out further enough, I.e. 4 months or longer, the cruise line will allow you to pay a deposit (usually $100 per person), and then you’ll be able to pay the rest at a later date. I will admit that I am a procrastinator, so I’ll spend months shopping around to find a good price, itinerary etc. and usually by the time I’m ready to book it’ll be pretty close to the planned dates so I’d just pay for it outright. Cruise prices don’t usually fluctuate from my personal experience. The price I find before I begin shopping around is usually the same price once I’m done looking around, and even booking with months later, so that’s a pro. I have found it best to book with the cruise lines directly. Not only is it the same price in the end as 3rd party sites such as Expedia, Southwest Airlines, etc. but it’s easier if something goes wrong to reach out to the customer service directly. Of course the interior cabins will be the cheapest than say a balcony or ocean view (window) cabins, usually 1/2 of the balcony price I will say. Other than that, once you pay for the initial price, your cruise is good to go! I will say I’ve been on cruises where I spent absolutely no extra money besides for the booking and it is definitely possible. While there’s other cruises I’ve been on where I’ve spent an extra $500-$1,000 on the excursions, food, etc. Whichever one is your situation at the time, you’ll have fun either way-trust me.

On the cruise where I’ve spent no extra money what so ever, was with MSC cruise line, for their 5 day Seashore cruise with stops to their private island and Nassau. Now I will say, it’s easier to not spend extra money with an itinerary like this, because on the cruise line’s private island, they usually have food (buffet or food truck) that you’d be able to get that’s included at no extra charge. It would also be easier to do other things on the island that don’t require you to book an excursion. For example, me and my sister haven’t been to beach I want to say at all before our first cruise. So we were perfectly content finding a secluded part of the beach and staying there all day just playing in the water, taking pictures, playing on our iPad’s and reading books. Shid even my most recent cruise, I was still excited to do this on every port we visited. I mean, whoever gets tired of the beach? ESPECIALLY when you don’t live near one. And then when we visited Nassau, we just walked around. We bought one drink and a shirt at the port, which the temptation was not strong here, especially with the prices of things at this port so it was easy for us to just walk around, take pictures and go back on the boat. Like I said, with MSC they didn’t really have a lot of food shacks and things on the boat (unlike carnival) where it was an extra charge, plus the buffet received no complaints from us so that wasn’t an issue.

Now, on my most recent cruise, we went to Celebration key (Carnival’s private island), Amber Cove, and Turks and Caico’s. Not to mention it was me and my mans birthday cruise so we definitely were not holding back, but the type of people we are, we don’t do much anyway. So we spent money on things like the spa for a hot stone couples massage on his birthday, money on specialty foods we wanted to try, like the wing bar, hibachi restaurant and the seafood shack, and maybe 2 alcohol drinks when we went to a comedy show or something. That’s it, you may want to spend a little money on something like this or you may not. The point is, it’s easy to still have fun spending no money and vice versa.

Which brings me to my last point for this subject, GRATUITIES. Pre-pay those gratuities yall! You do not want to press pay later, go on that sip and spend all that money and then on the night before debarkation you’re looking at a $200+ tab on your account that you have to pay before getting off. You also do not want to be a rude and low down person that wait’s 2+ hours in the line for customer service with everyone else who is requesting that the gratuities be removed “because you are paying them in cash”. These employees on this ship literally waits on hand and foot for your every need. From your attendant who cleans your room and makes your bed every single day your on that cruise, to the waiters and waitresses in the restaurants that are free and not and especially those that hosts all of the comedy shoes, workshops seminars and whatever else. Just calculate and pay for the gratuities when you’re paying for your booking and forget about it so you can enjoy your trip.

Meeting new people: The great thing about cruising is that you know that you will never see these people again. People are coming from all over the world the U.S. and don’t get mw wrong, it provides for an amazing experience for those 4+ days but it’s also very irritating. People have different habits, not everyone has common sense and manners are either a hit or a miss. There’ kids running around with no damn parent in site while there’s also adults who are experiencing their first day on Earth. It can be frustrating at times being on a ship for 4+ days with 5,000+ people. But it could also be extremely fun! You’ll have a few that you’ll constantly see them around the ship but like I said once you leave that ship? Girl it’s like their face is going to be wiped from your memory. Now don’t use this as an excuse to act a fool, but use it as an excuse to not be a Debby downer! Be open, laugh more, ask questions or even make small talk trust me it’ll make your experience more fun. You’ll develop “cruise friends” which are those you meet and eventually you all will start going out together, eating together and more, but you both know that on debarkation day you will not know each other. And that’s fiiiiiiine, it’s vacation!