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Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
I am officially booked on a Royal Caribbean Cruise in December to St. Kitts, St. Maarten, Labadee and San Juan. This is my first cruise. I signed up for excursions at all locations including zip-lining, a difficult volcano hike, a walking tour and a downhill trek through the rainforest.
I have no clue about cruising and could use any advice or tips. Is there anything I should know or that you wish you knew before your cruise? Anything you learned after your cruise that would help you on your next cruise? It could be general information or about safety, packing, excursions, food... about anything really. Share here please!!
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Posted 10/17/11 4:03 PM  |
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jilliibabii
Mrs. O'Connor
Member since 6/10 12821 total posts
Name:
Jillian
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
#1. Get there EARLY! The line to board the ship is sooooo long, but if you get there early you can be onboard by 1 PM and relax on deck and have lunch and drink.  And the boat doesn't leave until usually around 4 PM.
#2. Pack light. Really, you wear no clothes on a cruise. Bring 1 formal dress and your beach wear. I overpack every.single.time. And I've been packing less and less and less and it's STILL too much! lol!
#3. Make sure you're up early on shore days. There's never enough hours for all the activities. Make sure the excursions you've planned will get you back to the ship on time for departure.
Enjoy it!!! I'm addicted to cruising. 
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| Posted 10/17/11 4:34 PM |
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Samira0407
Love being a Mom
Member since 6/08 4030 total posts
Name:
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Ditto on getting to the ship early. You can avoid some of the longer lines guaranteed later on and closer to departure!
Get on early have lunch and take a spa tour. Someone gave me this tip a few years ago. Just by taking the tour I got a free facial on a port day. Which was fine by me...just scheduled my facial at like 8:30 then got off the ship! Some how I ended up with TWO complimentary 30 min facials but can't remember how I got the second one.
Also if you're trying to avoid a massive bill at the end of the week. Another good tip is to avoid buying the drink of the day when they come around with it in souvenir cups. Instead just order it from the bar in the regular glass! The souvenir drink of the day cups I have either don't make it home cuz I have no room to pack them or are currently somewhere in the back of a kitchen cabinet. Save yourself $2-$3 per drink!
Also if you can't decide between steak and shrimp at dinner...get both! Typically they'll arrange both entrees on one plate for you.
If you can have breakfast in the dining room its nicer than the buffet. Same goes for when they offer lunch on sea days.
I also agree on not over packing! I always come home with 50%o of my clothes unworn.
You will love St Marten went there in September. Had a great time, beautiful beaches.
Make sure to account for tips at the end of your stay.
Enjoy yourself!
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| Posted 10/18/11 7:49 AM |
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hazeleyes33
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 13060 total posts
Name:
Ginger
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Cruises are addictive. The advice above is all great. Enjoy and just relax. You will have a ball either doing something or doing nothing!!!!
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| Posted 10/18/11 2:18 PM |
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jilliibabii
Mrs. O'Connor
Member since 6/10 12821 total posts
Name:
Jillian
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Posted by Samira0407
Also if you can't decide between steak and shrimp at dinner...get both! Typically they'll arrange both entrees on one plate for you.
Excellent tip! I hated doing this at first, feeling like a fatty, but now I order 2 appetizers, a salad, 2 entrees, and a dessert with no remorse. lol!
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| Posted 10/18/11 2:35 PM |
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neener1211
:-)
Member since 4/07 22952 total posts
Name:
J
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
All of what the other posters said.
As for the locations you're going to, in St. Maarten, if you can get to the French side, do it. We just went there and were on the Dutch side, but I would have liked to see the French side. If you do stay on the dutch side, there is a chocolatier there, makes the most delicious chocolates. The shop keeper gave our kids chocolates to munch on. We bought chocolates, and they held onto them and delivered them to our boat so they wouldn't melt while we were walking around. (They arrived to our room as the ship was departing port).
As for St. Kitts, make sure you do an excursion, we couldn't bc we had the kids with us, so we just stayed in the town that we docked in. Pretty boring. Although there is a homemade ice cream shop there that had the best ice cream I've ever had. mmm. We wanted to walk around the actual island, but once we walked out of the main shopping area and out onto the bustling city street, DH wanted to go back. He was not comfortable walking around-very sketchy.
Message edited 10/18/2011 3:21:49 PM.
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| Posted 10/18/11 3:16 PM |
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Blazesyth
*yawn*
Member since 5/05 8129 total posts
Name:
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Agree on packing. Try to go as minimal as possible.
We try to pack into 1 large and 1 small suitcase. I bring everything that you can mix and match. One pair of black dress pants, one pair of blue or khaki dress pants for dinner and then 5ish dressy tops.
Same with shorts - 3 pairs of shorts and a 6ish t-shirts. You'll spend most of your time in bathing suits; so you really don't need a dinner then regular shirt for every day. You'll wear a tshirt for 3 hours a day so rewearing it later in the week isn't a big deal to me. I'd rather rewear a shirt I wore for 3 hours instead of paying another fee to bring another bag on a plane.
1 pair of dressy shoes for dinner, 1 pair of flip flops and wear 1 pair of sneakers onto the ship.
Check out cruisecritic.com message boards, you'll find a lot of info there.
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| Posted 10/18/11 10:16 PM |
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MrsFrizzle
<3
Member since 9/09 4628 total posts
Name:
Kristin
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Definitely get on the ship as early as possible.
I tend to pack:
3 workout outfits
2-3 bathing suits
7 dresses for the evening - usually 2 on the dressy side and the rest more casual
for the day time - beach cover ups
And in the event of an excursion a couple of tanks and a pair or two of shorts
flip flops, sneakers and one pair of heels
That's like the bare minimum, and I cruise ALOT. Last cruise DH & I packed in one suitcase! And just had a small case for out toiletries.
If you have to choose a seating go later, it opens up your days so much more.
If you like to workout the best time usually tends to be 4-6 because most people are getting ready for dinner then. The gym is almost always empty.
Remember most cruiselines charge you the tips automatically, but you are allowed to go to the burser desk and change them to whatever you want them to be.
Don't rush off the ship on docking days unless you have to for an excursion, give it a few minutes and you wont have to deal with so many crowds.
If I think of more stuff, I'll add more.
ETA: I usually pack a few water bottles in my suitcase, water on the ship for purchase is expensive usually. We bring it onto the islands with us and then just refill them using cups of water from the buffet.
Bring sandwich baggies. On days you are on the island if you dont want to buy food or aren't sure where there will be food to purchase just take a sandwich from lunch the day in the buffet before and pack it in the baggies. You can store it in your fridge overnight.
Make sure you take motion sickness medication, benedryl, motrin, anti-diarhheals, neosporin, bandaids all that good stuff. If you have to buy an of it it will be expensive!
We usually buy little bottles of rum, vodka, kaluha etc and stash them in our suitcase and spike our own drinks so we dont have to buy as many too
Message edited 10/18/2011 10:45:02 PM.
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| Posted 10/18/11 10:39 PM |
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Blazesyth
*yawn*
Member since 5/05 8129 total posts
Name:
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Posted by jkfris09
Bring sandwich baggies. On days you are on the island if you dont want to buy food or aren't sure where there will be food to purchase just take a sandwich from lunch the day in the buffet before and pack it in the baggies. You can store it in your fridge overnight.
I dont recommend this. There are some countries that it is against the law to bring in food from outside sources. They are worried about disease and pests that might be coming along with the food. The last thing you want to do on vacation is break the law in a foreign country and then try dealing with that....
Which brings up another tip. Every day you will get a list of activities on it - on days you will be at a foreign country it will list the 'Port Agent' for that particular port. Bring this information with you!!!! The port agent is the go between for the country and the cruise line. If something goes wrong in the country (ie. you goto jail, you lose your passport, you are in a car accident) you would want to call them as an intermediary to either relay the message to the cruise line or they will help you with the problem.
We usually buy little bottles of rum, vodka, kaluha etc and stash them in our suitcase and spike our own drinks so we dont have to buy as many too
The cruise contract you sign states that the cruise line can kick you off if you smuggle liquor onto the ship. I've heard of them kicking off a few folks, if they're complete azzholes about it. But I think mostly people get their liquor confiscated and a slap on the wrist. So it's up to you again whether you want to take the risk or not.
Talking about alcohol; you can buy bottles of alcohol there in the gift shop. Lots of people think they will get it right away but in order to keep profits high they will keep the liquor until the last night of your cruise the give it back to you. If you buy liquor off the ship, when you get back on teh ship and go thru the detectors they will take the alcohol from you and again you will get it the last night of the cruise.
Message edited 10/19/2011 9:35:36 AM.
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| Posted 10/19/11 9:28 AM |
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jilliibabii
Mrs. O'Connor
Member since 6/10 12821 total posts
Name:
Jillian
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Posted by Blazesyth
We usually buy little bottles of rum, vodka, kaluha etc and stash them in our suitcase and spike our own drinks so we dont have to buy as many too
The cruise contract you sign states that the cruise line can kick you off if you smuggle liquor onto the ship. I've heard of them kicking off a few folks, if they're complete azzholes about it. But I think mostly people get their liquor confiscated and a slap on the wrist. So it's up to you again whether you want to take the risk or not.
Talking about alcohol; you can buy bottles of alcohol there in the gift shop. Lots of people think they will get it right away but in order to keep profits high they will keep the liquor until the last night of your cruise the give it back to you. If you buy liquor off the ship, when you get back on teh ship and go thru the detectors they will take the alcohol from you and again you will get it the last night of the cruise.
I've never attempted to bring liquor on board. Not worth it IMO. You are allowed to bring one bottle of wine with you (I believe) but they charge a corkage fee. I've always brought food onto the islands though and never run into an issue. Not much stuff- an apple, a box of cereal from the breakfast buffet, etc.
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| Posted 10/19/11 10:44 AM |
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Blazesyth
*yawn*
Member since 5/05 8129 total posts
Name:
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Posted by jilliibabii
You are allowed to bring one bottle of wine with you (I believe) but they charge a corkage fee.
Depends on which cruise line. Royal will not let you take on any alcohol.
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| Posted 10/19/11 11:57 AM |
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Samira0407
Love being a Mom
Member since 6/08 4030 total posts
Name:
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
I've been able to bring my own liquor on board NCL; RCL and Disney cruise lines. On my last RCL cruise I had a full bottle of Malibu Rum; in its original plastic bottle. 6 mini bottles of wine; a box of wine; vodka (in water bottles) cans of pineapple juice and bottles of cranberry juice. I'm not saying this is right; but just showing it was possible. This was between my luggage and DH's. can't remember if we had it in our checked bags or carry on.
We still ordered drinks by the pool on sea days; but would have our wine before dinner and usually just walked into the dining room with our own glass of wine (as if we sat at the bar and had a drink before dinner) and cocktails in our room at night. DH still would order his JW scotch at bars so it's not like we didn't purchase anything from the cruise line at all.
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| Posted 10/19/11 1:04 PM |
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hazeleyes33
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 13060 total posts
Name:
Ginger
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Posted by Samira0407
I've been able to bring my own liquor on board NCL; RCL and Disney cruise lines. On my last RCL cruise I had a full bottle of Malibu Rum; in its original plastic bottle. 6 mini bottles of wine; a box of wine; vodka (in water bottles) cans of pineapple juice and bottles of cranberry juice. I'm not saying this is right; but just showing it was possible. This was between my luggage and DH's. can't remember if we had it in our checked bags or carry on.
We still ordered drinks by the pool on sea days; but would have our wine before dinner and usually just walked into the dining room with our own glass of wine (as if we sat at the bar and had a drink before dinner) and cocktails in our room at night. DH still would order his JW scotch at bars so it's not like we didn't purchase anything from the cruise line at all.
They were very strict on Oasis of the Seas. They took my iron and there were a TONS of bottles of liquour in the same area.
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| Posted 10/19/11 1:09 PM |
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Thanks everyone for all of these great tips.
I'm not really concerned with the alcohol, I won't be bringing any or drinking much there.
If anyone else has any other tips regarding any other facets of the cruise, please keep posting!
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| Posted 10/19/11 2:09 PM |
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ElizaRags35
My 2 Girls
Member since 2/09 20494 total posts
Name:
Me
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Go for the later seating at dinner. It gives you more time in port and more time to get ready. I've never been on RCCL but I'm sure they have multiple shows for both seatings.
Bring non-drowsy dramamine, bonine, and/or seabands with you just in case you feel seasick. I never feel it but always bring it for DH and sure enough our last cruise I felt it!
Make sure you have proper documentation before you go!! And make sure you are booked under the same name as your documentation if you have recently changed your name for any reason. I recently read on cruise critic that someone booked under their nickname ( ) and they had to pay fees to change it to their legal name.
Go to the muster drill. It is mandatory and I hear people say how they hide and skip it. It's not worth it to skip it.
ITA with PPs who say to GO EARLY!! The sooner you get on the ship, the sooner you are on vacation!! And if you are traveling to the port, specifically if you are flying, GET THERE THE DAY BEFORE!! You never know when/why a plane is delayed.
Have a great time! I'm uber jealous!!
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| Posted 10/19/11 2:19 PM |
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MaZz
* Lovin my baby girl!!! *
Member since 2/09 6243 total posts
Name:
Gina
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
If you want/need any info, go on cruisecritic.com. You will find answers to everything and anything on there... In addition, I like to visit my cruises roll call to see who else will be onboard at the same time... Sometimes you can even book group tours with the people on your roll call and get better rates...
Im kinda jealous that you're going for the very first time  ... DH and I are planning our 6th cruise for Jan for our babymoon... We've seen almost all the islands at this point so now we have some repeats... But we just love it so much!!! There's nothing like being out on the open water... seeing nothing for miles... Its sooo peaceful
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| Posted 10/20/11 9:18 AM |
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MrsFrizzle
<3
Member since 9/09 4628 total posts
Name:
Kristin
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Posted by Blazesyth
Posted by jkfris09
Bring sandwich baggies. On days you are on the island if you dont want to buy food or aren't sure where there will be food to purchase just take a sandwich from lunch the day in the buffet before and pack it in the baggies. You can store it in your fridge overnight.
I dont recommend this. There are some countries that it is against the law to bring in food from outside sources. They are worried about disease and pests that might be coming along with the food. The last thing you want to do on vacation is break the law in a foreign country and then try dealing with that....
Which brings up another tip. Every day you will get a list of activities on it - on days you will be at a foreign country it will list the 'Port Agent' for that particular port. Bring this information with you!!!! The port agent is the go between for the country and the cruise line. If something goes wrong in the country (ie. you goto jail, you lose your passport, you are in a car accident) you would want to call them as an intermediary to either relay the message to the cruise line or they will help you with the problem.
We usually buy little bottles of rum, vodka, kaluha etc and stash them in our suitcase and spike our own drinks so we dont have to buy as many too
The cruise contract you sign states that the cruise line can kick you off if you smuggle liquor onto the ship. I've heard of them kicking off a few folks, if they're complete azzholes about it. But I think mostly people get their liquor confiscated and a slap on the wrist. So it's up to you again whether you want to take the risk or not.
Talking about alcohol; you can buy bottles of alcohol there in the gift shop. Lots of people think they will get it right away but in order to keep profits high they will keep the liquor until the last night of your cruise the give it back to you. If you buy liquor off the ship, when you get back on teh ship and go thru the detectors they will take the alcohol from you and again you will get it the last night of the cruise.
To each his own but I have been on 20+ cruises done both things every time and never once had a problem The last cruise we went on the woman we spoke to said she had full bottles of liquor in her bag and does that every time too. As for the sandwiches same thing, never had a problem no one has ever said anything and it was actually recommended to us once by cruise staff.
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| Posted 10/20/11 10:17 AM |
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hazeleyes33
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 13060 total posts
Name:
Ginger
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Posted by jkfris09
Posted by Blazesyth
Posted by jkfris09
Bring sandwich baggies. On days you are on the island if you dont want to buy food or aren't sure where there will be food to purchase just take a sandwich from lunch the day in the buffet before and pack it in the baggies. You can store it in your fridge overnight.
I dont recommend this. There are some countries that it is against the law to bring in food from outside sources. They are worried about disease and pests that might be coming along with the food. The last thing you want to do on vacation is break the law in a foreign country and then try dealing with that....
Which brings up another tip. Every day you will get a list of activities on it - on days you will be at a foreign country it will list the 'Port Agent' for that particular port. Bring this information with you!!!! The port agent is the go between for the country and the cruise line. If something goes wrong in the country (ie. you goto jail, you lose your passport, you are in a car accident) you would want to call them as an intermediary to either relay the message to the cruise line or they will help you with the problem.
We usually buy little bottles of rum, vodka, kaluha etc and stash them in our suitcase and spike our own drinks so we dont have to buy as many too
The cruise contract you sign states that the cruise line can kick you off if you smuggle liquor onto the ship. I've heard of them kicking off a few folks, if they're complete azzholes about it. But I think mostly people get their liquor confiscated and a slap on the wrist. So it's up to you again whether you want to take the risk or not.
Talking about alcohol; you can buy bottles of alcohol there in the gift shop. Lots of people think they will get it right away but in order to keep profits high they will keep the liquor until the last night of your cruise the give it back to you. If you buy liquor off the ship, when you get back on teh ship and go thru the detectors they will take the alcohol from you and again you will get it the last night of the cruise.
To each his own but I have been on 20+ cruises done both things every time and never once had a problem The last cruise we went on the woman we spoke to said she had full bottles of liquor in her bag and does that every time too. As for the sandwiches same thing, never had a problem no one has ever said anything and it was actually recommended to us once by cruise staff.
Have you tried it on the newer RCCL ships Oasis of the Seas and the Allure of the Seas?
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| Posted 10/20/11 10:22 AM |
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MaZz
* Lovin my baby girl!!! *
Member since 2/09 6243 total posts
Name:
Gina
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
The alcohol smuggling will forever be a debate! I smuggled on my last cruise by using these things called rum runners... clear plastic pouches basically... they say they cant be detected in luggage... to make sure I put them in with my toiletries and they arrived safely to my room... We used them the entire week to add to our sodas by the pool... And its not like we didnt buy any drinks at all... We bought quite a bit still since we really are beer drinkers instead but it was nice to save money somewhere!
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| Posted 10/20/11 10:37 AM |
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MrsFrizzle
<3
Member since 9/09 4628 total posts
Name:
Kristin
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Posted by hazeleyes33
Have you tried it on the newer RCCL ships Oasis of the Seas and the Allure of the Seas?
No, but I have on other RCCL ships. Most recently were Princess and Holland.
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| Posted 10/20/11 10:46 AM |
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MrsFrizzle
<3
Member since 9/09 4628 total posts
Name:
Kristin
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Posted by jkfris09
Posted by hazeleyes33
Have you tried it on the newer RCCL ships Oasis of the Seas and the Allure of the Seas?
No, but I have on other RCCL ships. Most recently were Princess and Holland.
ETA: I saw your above post, I cant believe they took your iron! We pack a small travel one and hide it during the daytime when they come in to clean our room, I never knew they were that strict about it though
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| Posted 10/20/11 10:48 AM |
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hazeleyes33
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 13060 total posts
Name:
Ginger
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Posted by jkfris09
Posted by hazeleyes33
Have you tried it on the newer RCCL ships Oasis of the Seas and the Allure of the Seas?
No, but I have on other RCCL ships. Most recently were Princess and Holland.
Oh, ok. I have heard that it is almost impossible on those new ships as they have newer xray machines and from the pile I saw, I believe it-lol!!
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| Posted 10/20/11 10:57 AM |
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hazeleyes33
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 13060 total posts
Name:
Ginger
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Posted by jkfris09
Posted by jkfris09
Posted by hazeleyes33
Have you tried it on the newer RCCL ships Oasis of the Seas and the Allure of the Seas?
No, but I have on other RCCL ships. Most recently were Princess and Holland.
ETA: I saw your above post, I cant believe they took your iron! We pack a small travel one and hide it during the daytime when they come in to clean our room, I never knew they were that strict about it though
Yep and I hide it REALLY well. They have new xray machines that see everything and you can't get away with irons and alcohol on them.
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| Posted 10/20/11 10:58 AM |
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MrsFrizzle
<3
Member since 9/09 4628 total posts
Name:
Kristin
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Posted by hazeleyes33
Posted by jkfris09
Posted by jkfris09
Posted by hazeleyes33
Have you tried it on the newer RCCL ships Oasis of the Seas and the Allure of the Seas?
No, but I have on other RCCL ships. Most recently were Princess and Holland.
ETA: I saw your above post, I cant believe they took your iron! We pack a small travel one and hide it during the daytime when they come in to clean our room, I never knew they were that strict about it though
Yep and I hide it REALLY well. They have new xray machines that see everything and you can't get away with irons and alcohol on them.
Thats crazy. My parents usually do vodka or rum in a water bottle too, maybe that's the trick to slip by. They did a new ship last year when they cruised. I cant remember which ship though.
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| Posted 10/20/11 11:02 AM |
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hazeleyes33
LIF Adult
Member since 5/05 13060 total posts
Name:
Ginger
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Re: Tips for a 1st time Cruiser
Posted by jkfris09
Posted by hazeleyes33
Posted by jkfris09
Posted by jkfris09
Posted by hazeleyes33
Have you tried it on the newer RCCL ships Oasis of the Seas and the Allure of the Seas?
No, but I have on other RCCL ships. Most recently were Princess and Holland.
ETA: I saw your above post, I cant believe they took your iron! We pack a small travel one and hide it during the daytime when they come in to clean our room, I never knew they were that strict about it though
Yep and I hide it REALLY well. They have new xray machines that see everything and you can't get away with irons and alcohol on them.
Thats crazy. My parents usually do vodka or rum in a water bottle too, maybe that's the trick to slip by. They did a new ship last year when they cruised. I cant remember which ship though.
Yeah, the newer ships have newer technology and are able to detect anything that looks out of the ordinary and will go through the luggage and investigate. I had my iron hidden VERY well and have been able to take it on other cruises before but they took it right away from me and I had to go to the "naughty" room to identify it-lol!! and then come back for it on our way out of the ship. There were TONS of irons and alcohol in that "naughty" room-lol.
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| Posted 10/20/11 11:15 AM |
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