r/Cruise

Hello everybody. I have my first cruise in a month from now. It’s a 7 day voyage from Vancouver to Alaska I’m real nervous about getting sea sick. I’ve only ever been on a boat 4 times and it was the Catalina flyer from Newport Beach to Catalina. I didn’t get sea sick on it any of those times and it’s a pretty small rocky ship. I’m also kinda freaked out by being on a boat for 7 days

I am packing for my first cruise and formal night is stressing me out more than it should. I am not a fancy dress person. My normal wardrobe is leggings and hiking pants and maybe a nice sweater if I am trying hard. I do not own anything that could be called evening wear and I really do not want to buy a dress I will never wear again just for one dinner.
But I also do not want to be the person sticking out in the dining room or getting turned away for wearing the wrong thing. I have read that formal night is more relaxed on some lines than others but the advice is all over the place. Some people say wear whatever you want. Others say you will feel out of place if you skip the dress code entirely.
For people who also hate formal wear, what do you actually do? Do you pack one nicer top and call it good? Skip the dining room that night and hit the buffet? Or did you give in and bring something fancy and end up being glad you did? I want to enjoy my vacation without spending money on clothes that feel like a costume.

Going on a family cruise and want to get my adult nieces something to go in a beach bag that I got for each of them, anyone have any ideas on what to put in it? I have a lanyard for their card, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, and the bag itself.

Philippine passport holder with valid multiple-entry US B1/B2 visa here.
I’m looking at a closed-loop Carnival cruise from Miami to Bahamas, Jamaica, and Grand Cayman (Sept 2026).
Since the cruise starts and ends in Miami, do I need separate visas for:
Bahamas
Jamaica
Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands)
Has anyone with a Philippine passport + US visa done this exact itinerary recently? Were you allowed to board and enter the ports without additional visas?
Would really appreciate recent firsthand experiences. Thanks!

Hi there,
Is it worth doing an excursion in Ketchikan? Or can you just depart the ship and go into town and do things? I appreciate any info.

Be sure to only pay the deposit on your next cruise. Keep checking back to see if the price lowers on the remaining balance and call to get it adjusted. I recently did this and saved over $350.

So decided as a graduation gift to myself I am going to go on a cruise solo, never been on a cruise. I plan to go on the celiac cruise in march and I'm excited to eat without worry. Plus I will have time away from the kids

Hi, my wife and I are sailing the Norwegian Fjords with P&O Iona in September. It's my wife's first cruise and my first one since I was 18 (now pushing 40).

We are looking at the option of the drinks package but from research most folks seem to be saying it's not worth it. I could easily have a good handful of beers a day when on holidays but my wife would maybe have only a smaller amount like a couple of rum and pepsi and a few cocktails.

Has anyone been on it recently that they could advise if it is worth it or not? The 4 port days assuming it does dock we will be off the boat in the morning and not back until after lunch anyway so it will be more afternoon/evenings drinks and then the days at sea that we would be using alcohol before 4pm. We also probably won't need soft drinks and special coffees (which I believe fall inside the package or pay extra for) until back from our day off the boat too.

My siblings and I want to do something special for our parents' anniversary, and we tossed around the idea of gifting them a cruise. We definitely want something more relaxed than a big ocean cruise with all the chaos, especially since they’re more into exploring culture and local food than casinos and kids’ clubs.

I started digging into options and discovered how different river cruising is compared to the traditional bigger ships. The itineraries seem focused on the destination rather than sea days, which sounds way more their speed. I came across cele͏brity river during my research and noticed they also include city stays before or after your cruise in cities like Budapest and Amsterdam. That actually fits perfectly since my mom keeps mentioning wanting to see the rijksmuseum.

I’m still figuring out if this kind of cruise might be too slow-paced, though, or if they’d miss the amenities of a bigger ship. Would love to hear from anyone who switched from ocean to river, or who’s done one of these for a special occasion. Did it feel more personal? Was the onboard vibe more relaxed like I expect it to be?

We’re going on the Disney Wonder soon to Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan (like REALLY soon, a few days from now), and I have a mix of buyer’s remorse and FOMO for shore excursions.

This is our first Alaskan cruise (done plenty from Florida) and we’re beyond excited. I don’t believe this will be a once-in-a-lifetime for us.

Currently our plan is for the White Pass Scenic Railway in Skagway, Juneau we have something through the cruise line of “Mendenhall glacier and whale quest”, and for Ketchikan we didn’t book anything.

My thought was to cancel the Juneau excursion and just rent a car to drive up to the glacier, maybe hike it, and then potentially find a local whale watching boat trip in the afternoon or around lunch. I’m pretty happy with Skagway, unless we’re just missing the mark with it. Ketchikan just didn’t have any excursions that caught our eye.

We are typically a family that just wanders off the boat and never does an excursion, but rather enjoy the local culture ourselves and explore what we can. 2 kiddos in elementary school if that helps the calculus. In 5 cruises we’ve done 1 excursion and we’re really disappointed with it (Baths at Tortola, BVI). Not saying we’d be automatically disappointed in the Alaskan ones, but we usually lean towards self-guided stuff.

What are we missing? Is the railway worth the $650 for the 2 hour ride, or are we better off hiking somewhere? Is $200 normal for a car rental in Juneau or should we cab/bus to the glacier (I’ve heard by the time the bus gets there its already packed)?

Sorry for the somewhat disjointed post. Going through a super busy season in life right now and the cruise planning is adding more stress than excitement.

Hi all, was wondering if there are any worth while all day, all inclusive passes like Mr. Sanchos in Cozumel but in Roatan? Planning a trip there for December. Any ideas and comments on past experiences if you have been to any. Thanks!

We booked three rooms for eight people in November 2025 to cruise to Belize and Honduras in July 2026. We found out yesterday that the itinerary had changed and instead of Honduras and Belize, we would be going to their personal island. When we called, we were told that they informed us by email in February (they did not) and that the only thing anyone could do about it was to read us the cancellation policy.

If we had been notified in February, we would have cancelled and forfeited our deposit or paid a transfer fee to switch ships. Now our only option is to cancel and lose 50% of our total vacation cost or suck it up and travel with a company who clearly doesn’t care to destinations that we don’t want to go.

It genuinely seems that Royal Caribbean falsely advertised an itinerary they had no intention of delivering, changed that itinerary without notice to divert people back to their personal island to maximize their own profit, and treats their customers like dirt in hopes they will cancel with a 50% cancellation fee and Royal Caribbean can rebook their rooms and further increase their profit.

I would highly recommend to stay away!! I have had better experience with Carnival!

Are balconies all they’re cracked up to be and worth the dough- or - have you regretted spending the money because you didn’t really use it (or any other reason)?

Would you consider $4300 (incl. tax/gratuity) a good deal for the RC "Icon of the seas" 7 nights cruise leaving Miami in Sept first week? 2 adults, 2 kids. Ocean view suite cabin. Edit: Western Caribbean & Perfect Day cruise

Just got back from a 7-day Alaska cruise from Seattle on the Norwegian Encore with 3 friends who are all pretty experienced cruisers, and I wanted to get some opinions from people here because our group had very different takes on the experience.

For context, this was my very first cruise ever, while my friends have cruised multiple times before, mostly with Princess.

Overall, as a first-timer, I honestly loved the trip. Alaska was incredible, the excursions were amazing, the staff was great, and I genuinely had a really good time. We also had the Premium Drink Package (not Premium Plus), which basically covered cheaper liquor/wine, but honestly that was perfectly fine for us.

What really surprised us, though, was how many extra/convenience fees there were for things that already felt included. For example:

• If we wanted room service, they were willing to bring food that was already included in our package… but there was still an $11 convenience fee.
• If the ship was docked at a port, we would get charged tax on drinks/items that were otherwise included in the package.
• It felt like almost every little thing had some kind of added fee attached to it.

Individually, none of these charges were huge, but together it started to feel a bit “nickel-and-dimey.”

My friends kept comparing it to their experiences on Princess and said they had never really experienced this level of constant add-on charges there. They also said Princess food quality was significantly better overall than what we had on Norwegian.

That’s where I wanted some honest feedback from more experienced cruisers here:

• Is Norwegian generally considered a downgrade compared to Princess?
• Is the “nickel and diming” normal on Norwegian specifically, or is this just how cruising is nowadays?
• For people who’ve done both, is Princess really that much better food-wise?
• Or were our expectations maybe just unrealistic?

For ratings:

• Me (first-time cruiser): probably a 7/10 overall because I still had a blast.
• My friends who cruise often: around 4–5/10.

I’m mainly asking because I want to show my friends the responses and see if other cruisers noticed the same differences we did.

Disney Cruise Line has Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point. Royal Caribbean has Perfect Day at Coco Cay (and not so much Labadee anymore). NCL has Great Stirrup Cay. Other cruise lines have them as well. Which is your favorite and why? If you could create the perfect cruise day island, what would it have?