Your Best Quick Tips for Cruising, Please?

I would contact another travel agent. They have always been so much help when planning cruises for us.

Start with the dates you’d like to travel and any sights you really want to see. That will narrow it down a bit. Cruise lines have their own consultants who can help you plan. Always fly in the day before in case of any issues. Cruises offer cruise/flight deals but you don’t have much control over how they get you there so keep that in mind. We sail mainly with NCL (Norwegian) because we’ve worked up the ranks and get extra perks.

I’m not sure about that. I never use a travel agent so I’m no help there, sorry! Friends have booked through Costco and saved or got a gift card…I can’t remember which.

As a first time cruiser in May, I learned a lot.  

Buy magnetic hooks for your room.. they are great.. They stick to your walls.

Don't use their shampoo/conditioner if you are picky.. I didn't even try it but heard lots of bad reviews.

I went on Royal Caribbean and LOVED them.  The staff was outstanding.  

Scope out the boat, get a sense of it.. you get turned around quickly (well I did..lol)

I packed okay.. too many bottoms and not enough tops.  I went on a 7 day cruise.  I changed tops way more often.  Also didn't bring enough undies, but I washed in the sink and hung them in the closet to dry.  I brought maxi skirts too... so I should have done less shorts to offset the skirts.  I brought one sorta nicer outfit.  Some people dressed to the hilt, I didn't.  I didn't have the space to bring fancy dress clothes.  One of my couple friends, brought a suit jacket and nicer pants but no tie and his wife brought a fancy but not fancy fancy dress. 

I bought a passport holder that also held my Covid card.. that was nice. Didn't need either really after the cruise started so that just went into the safe.

I upgraded to a drink package.. soda/tea/juices type thing.. I am glad I did.  The booze package was really expensive.. I just bought those along the way.. spent less than $100 total.  

I'll probably think of something else... but that is what I can come up now.

As for the cruiseline, it depends on the "vibe" you want.
As another poster said, the New England cruises are not the party-ship vibe.  I went from NYC one way to Quebec in 2017 on Princess.  I think it was ten days. We were at the very end of their season and got a great price.  Their sort of last minute deals are called Drop and Go.

If you go by yourself you will almost pay as much as two people minus the port charges.
The price that they say when you first look online is not the final price.
The initial price is an inside stateroom--which is fine.  You can save a lot of money vs a balcony. Just depends what you want.  Plus there are port charges/taxes/tips. You can go and never pay for extra meals--or you can.   There's extra price dining options on all of them but the included food is usually fine.  Drinks are pricey and that's where they make $$$.

There are also the more expensive "non-mainstream" cruises.  But if it's your first, I would recommend you start with a mainstream one--Princess, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Holland America(but they tend to skew a little older demographic than the other three).  Carnival is good for families.  But we took a 3+ week transpacific on Carnival in 2019 from Long Beach to Singapore and it was mostly retired people.

We always book direct, sort of why I book flights only with the airline.  You know who to contact if there are questions/issues. 

I've been on a bunch, all sorts of different lines. Ask away with questions and have fun! 

I like princess.. middle of the road, and has laundry machines available.. so I always take few clothes and run a load midweek.. easy peasy.

and they have afternoon tea. we like going through a travel agent.. esp now. as she does all the problem solving and makes sure everything is in order.

fly into the departing port the day ahead of time. don't pack all clothes in checked baggage.

read reviews of cruises and ships on cruisecritic.com. we stay away from the buffet and just relax at a dining room. as a first time cruiser, I would take excursions through the ship, as you have protection against being left behind.  you can find small group experiences through the ship.. one excursion I took had 8 people.. just depends   don't try to do too much on any day..

We also cruise Carnival because it's cheapest. My DH gambles so we get great offers. On Carnival you can bring one 12 pack of soft drinks in cans. You can also bring one bottle of wine. Because we gamble, we usually end up getting free drinks in the casino so that helps. We love to use the spa on a cruise but don't sign up for it in advance. They always offer significantly reduced pricing on various spa items during the cruise, especially on days at ports. I agree with signing up for the rewards programs. They also offer good deals. Have fun!

thundergal. He went on the NE/Canada Fall cruise out of NYC on the Norwegian Breakaway..

I've cruised 11 times, ten using a TA and once directly with the cruise line. The last time we cruised was in 2019 and that's when we booked it ourselves.

Our TA always coordinated all air, ground transportation and hotel too. They also make sure get the best price AND make sure you have plenty of time to get from one part to the next. Our TA retired so in 2019 instead of looking for our own air and ground transportation, we just used the cruise lines. Since it was their package then they were responsible to get me to the next step. If I do it and there is an oopsie, then I have to get there on my own dime. KWIM? Since we always cruise with the same cruise line we got a really good deal on our cruise.

Oh and get the insurance! You never know what might happen and you have to cancel.

ETA: we did have an issue once where our flight was cancelled (we and our TA were never notified she just happened to check to see if the prices had changed) and the airline wanted to charge us like $500 each to rebook on a different flight. Our TA argued for us that it wasn't our fault it was cancelled and we had booked in plenty of time. She won and we didn't have to pay extra. We would never have known about the cancellation until we checked in if she wasn't checking on it for us.

Norwegian is NOT equal to Carnival. Norwegian and Royal Caribbean are about the same. 

We have cruised on that ship and really liked it. Not that cruise, we were on a Caribbean one out of Florida. It is a great ship, though.

We used a travel agent for our Alaska land and sea cruise package. She was extremely helpful. She asked so many questions about things we hadn't thought of.

I think it's worth the extra money for a balcony. We sat out there a lot. It was nice to have the privacy to relax.

Be prepared to spend extra money on dining. The food in the upcharged restaurants was much better than the basic dining.