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A cruise ship worker has revealed the seven essential tips first-time travelers should keep in mind if they want to have a smooth trip.
Lucy Southerton, 28, from Birmingham, who has racked up an impressive nine years of experience on board, recently visited her YouTube channel. Sailing as a crew to explain how beginners should prepare.
He shortenPart of an extensive series helping travelers embrace cruise life, it covers everything from basic needs like travel insurance and Wi-Fi to purchasing alcohol.
Sailing to the four corners of the world can be daunting if it’s your first time, but the professional traveler made sure to go into enough detail to put passengers arriving on the cruise at ease.
He first highlighted the importance of travel insurance and asked his 68,000 subscribers to take it out as soon as they booked their cruise.
Lucy Southerton, 28, from Birmingham, now cruises around the world and offers advice to travelers on her YouTube channel Cruising As Crew.
He first highlighted the importance of travel insurance and asked his 68,000 subscribers to purchase it as soon as they booked their cruise.
1. Get your travel insurance as soon as you book
Lucy explained that it’s important to be a little organized when it comes to your cruise, citing endless possibilities of unprecedented things that could go wrong as a reason to be timely when it comes to purchasing travel insurance.
‘Make sure you have booked travel insurance as soon as you have booked your cruise, especially if it is a cruise holiday, you never know what can go wrong.
‘The cruise could be cancelled, your flight could be cancelled, you could miss our flight, your flight could be delayed and you could miss the cruise!’
She emphasized: ‘Andyou never know what’s going to happen “This happens, so be sure to book travel insurance as soon as you book your cruise.”
2. Check that all your items are allowed on board.
While this seems obvious, Lucy explained that passengers often don’t read basic instructions.
While guns are obviously prohibited, more innocuous things like “letter openers” also pose a risk of confiscation, so it’s always worth a quick Google search so you don’t lose any valuables.
She said: “Before packing for your cruise vacation, I would recommend visiting the cruise line’s website to make sure there are no prohibited items you might consider bringing with you.”
3. Prepare for a bad Wi-Fi connection
Lucy explained that even if you intend to purchase the WiFi provided by the cruise, it will likely be of poor quality, so prepare ahead of time and have all the apps you need for your stay.
She said: “Most of these cruise lines will now require you to download an app on your phone, but you must download these apps before boarding.”
4. Tell your bank
One thing many travelers overlook is telling their bank about their cruise trip.
Transactions in multiple different time zones may be flagged as suspicious activity if you don’t report them.
Lucy said: “It’s very important when you’re on a cruise because you’ll be at a different destination each day, so if your bank doesn’t know you’re on a cruise it seems extremely dodgy.”
“One day you buy something in Kazimir, the next day you buy something in Miami, it seems strange, so make sure your bank you’re going to be jumping from destination to destination’.
5. Reserve things in advance
Lucy said, if you have your eyes on something, whether it’s a restaurant or a show, book it in advance.
“Make sure you book before you get on board or as soon as you get on board,” the former cruise ship worker explained.
She added: “Sometimes you can book these events through the app, but I still love booking in person.”
Lucy recommended confirming that our online reservation is still valid as soon as we board the cruise.
She said, ‘I would even do this before you go to your cabin, before you buy any food, I would make sure everything is reserved.’
Lucy explained that most people go to their cabin, eat, and then book everything, but if everyone else does the same too, you’ll have to put up with long lines, or at worst, you won’t be able to get one.
She emphasized: ‘Aas soon as you board your crew“Beautiful, make sure you book everything you want to book for your cruise.”
6. Be patient with guest services
Lucy says, if you’ve got your eyes on something, whether it’s a restaurant or a show, book it in advance.
Lucy’s last piece of advice for first-time cruise travelers was about tipping cabin stewards and sometimes bartenders.
Lucy recommends avoiding the stress of the first cruise by waiting a little longer to solve problems more efficiently.
She said, “If you need to go to guest services for any reason, you may have a billing problem.” a cabin problem, Avoid boarding, when everyone goes to customer service with their complaints and queries.”
The advantages of delaying your trip to guest services mean that you will be able to avoid the long lines and will be seen much quicker when you arrive, as most people instinctively seek help on the first day of the cruise.
Lucy added: “I promise you that the day after boarding there will be no one there, you will see someone straight away and your problem will be solved immediately.”
He also noted that staff will be less stressed in the days after boarding, so they are likely to experience more pleasant service.
7. Tip
Lucy’s last piece of advice for first-time cruise travelers was about tipping cabin stewards and sometimes bartenders.
He explained that there is the option to pay tips in advance, but it is not necessary to opt for this option.
However, he warned that while this was “absolutely fine,” these will be added to your overall bill at the end of your cruise, so don’t be surprised if the total exceeds what you expected.
The experienced cruise worker has seen many people over the years get nervous because they didn’t think to include this in their budgets, so it’s best to pay for it on the spot to avoid stress.