What was your worst DCL rookie mistake?

[Vicki106]

does anyone have recommendations on the sea sick wrist bands vs the over the counter pills? i would love to do the bands instead of meds but not sure if they work and no real was y to test them before hand.....thoughts?

On the first night on our cruise out of PC we could really feel the ship rocking. We were all wearing Sea Bands (we got them from Amazon and they were pretty inexpensive IMO) and they seemed to help. My 12 year old daughter didn't feel very well, even with the Sea Bands on, but I gave her some Bonine and she was fine. I really didn't like the fact that they were tight on my wrist (I know, that's what makes them work . . . ) so I took them off at bedtime and didn't wear them again. Likewise, the rest of the family ditched them sometime on day 2. We will definitely be wearing them for the first day or so of our next cruise. I really think they worked for us.

 

[m3owbox]

does anyone have recommendations on the sea sick wrist bands vs the over the counter pills? i would love to do the bands instead of meds but not sure if they work and no real was y to test them before hand.....thoughts?

I love sea bands!

 

[cruisehopeful]

Mine - not thoroughly reading the navigator.
My Husband's - not looking at his drink receipts and assuming there was no tip already on them. He was tipping 20-30% in addition to the 15%.

 

[MaleficentRN]

Mine - not thoroughly reading the navigator.
My Husband's - not looking at his drink receipts and assuming there was no tip already on them. He was tipping 20-30% in addition to the 15%.

I bet the bartenders loved him! Hope they were at least heavy handed with their pours.

 

[bumbershoot]

You hear so many stories about kids never wanting to leave the clubs, parents never seeing them, etc., etc.

But in almost every thread where people mention good things - just like in this thread - people mention that their kids disliked the clubs. There's always the other side. People on this board are very good at showing all sides to things.

My son loves the clubs (loves Riyal's club more though) but he's a total extrovert and once he found the dance floor in Dream's Lab it was all over.

His cousins had big problems with the clubs. Their son is autistic and wanted to go very quickly. Their daughter just didn't want to be there. Their second cruise they brought mom (my aunt) and we were there too, but that didn't help the day they were off doing something, their daughter had the CMs call grandma to get her, daughter went down for a nap, and then the son wanted to leave. We should have put our names down as people who could pick him up because we were there to get out son out (once his cousin was done he was too) but we couldn't.

People do post both sides

does anyone have recommendations on the sea sick wrist bands vs the over the counter pills? i would love to do the bands instead of meds but not sure if they work and no real was y to test them before hand.....thoughts?

The bands work for many.

And the pills don't always work, it might cause side effects, in some.

You don't know until you know.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

You don't know until you know.

Love this.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

For those thinking they will take some medicine such as Bonine, my tip is to try it at home first. I read this tip here and thank God I did. Both DH and I reacted poorly to it. We were so out of it, huge headaches and sleeeeepy. I am glad we knew this before we set sail.

 

[tlprice]

The clubs are talked up as being so wonderful and first time cruisers are told the kids will love it so they do expect to be able to have lots of adult only time. My cousin is traveling next month and expecting her boys to spend lots of time in the clubs and allow her some time to relax with adults. I hope it works out that way because shes going to be very bent out of shape if it doesn't. We've had some trips where the kids were really into the clubs and some trips where they weren't so much. It seemed to have a lot to do with if they made friends there on the first day.

I figured my daughter would like the kids clubs on our first cruise, but since it was just the two of us, I wanted to spend time with her. She did enjoy the club and really wanted more time in there. For our upcoming cruise, she keeps telling me to book other stuff for myself so she can spend more time in the kids club. She doesn't really care about if she makes friends or not, she just loves all of the fun things that there are to do in the kids club. She does make friends very easily and doesn't care if it's a new friend each time or the same one or she's perfectly happy playing by herself too. It's just the two of us again, but I guess I'll have to give her her space.

 

[redshoe9]

We also had a few hit or misses with kids clubs. The first 2-3 cruises my socially outgoing boys loved them. They kept wanting to go back and do the late night pajama parties and various activities. It was awesome for us. The last cruise on the fantasy they both hated the clubs. I was so bummed. When I asked what was wrong they said they were boring and the age ranges were too mixed.

My oldest son was right at the tween age where he was too "mature" for the younger group but not quite a teen for the older clubs so he felt like he didn't fit in at either. The clubs they actually liked the best were on the older ships.

Rookie mistakes = too many high priced excursions that were just ok. Now we love staying on the ship during ports and having it all to ourselves. Not bringing enough meds for a variety of things that you can catch on vacation. Too many clothes/shoes. Not enough bathing suits. Overplaning.

 

[adSimba]

...Too many clothes/shoes. Not enough bathing suits. Over planing.

This! what a brilliantly simple solution, I never think of taking more than one bathing suit!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

This! what a brilliantly simple solution, I never think of taking more than one bathing suit!

I find we need at least 2 bathing suits on any cruise or beach vacation.

 

[iadizfans]

9 cruises in the rear window and fortunately never had any issues with ships motion. DW did near to get a sea band once on the Alaska itinerary when it got a little rough. Our rookie mistake was booking a mainland shore excursion in Cozumel. The ferry shuttle to the mainland WILL get you ill if you are not an experienced rough ocean sailor.

 

[Dug720]

Here's one I didn't make, but I've overheard many saying...

Staying on the ship thinking you will "have it all to yourself" and discovering that at least 1/4 of the passengers had the same idea. More depending on the port.

I've heard/encountered more than one person griping that "they had read if they stayed on board they would be the only ones on board/would have the ship to themselves".

 

[ChicosWife]

Not taking advantage of the free room service!!! Not that we EVER went hungry, geez, they fed us like kings, but still... I wouldn't have minded the milk and cookies before bed or the PB&J's you can get for your day offship.

 

[Cackyschmackers]

This is like the opposite of a rookie mistake, call it an overconfident repeat-cruiser mistake. ... We had cruised twice in 11 months on the Magic, and I felt like I knew it all. We booked a third for the next year also on the Magic but it got cancelled, and we rebooked on the Fantasy with a few months lead time. I barely researched the differences btwn the 2 ships, i missed our on-line check-in window and missed choosing some items I should have, and while on board, kept confusing where everything was (including our stateroom, which was very aft vs our two very forward previous rooms). Let's just say I spent the first few days wasting time getting my bearings (and arguing with my husband about where things were [I hate when he's right! Lol] ). And we never could find the correct elevator that takes you right to the Edge.... still scratching my head on that one.

 

[phinz]

Here's one I didn't make, but I've overheard many saying...

Staying on the ship thinking you will "have it all to yourself" and discovering that at least 1/4 of the passengers had the same idea. More depending on the port.

I've heard/encountered more than one person griping that "they had read if they stayed on board they would be the only ones on board/would have the ship to themselves".

When we were in Castaway Cay there were 257 people on board. It was *glorious*.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

When we were in Castaway Cay there were 257 people on board. It was *glorious*.

How were you able to know the exact number?

 

[Dug720]

When we were in Castaway Cay there were 257 people on board. It was *glorious*.

Ok, fair enough. OTHER than Castaway Cay - which I personally think is a big draw for DCL - don't expect an "empty" ship at ports. At least in the Caribbean/Bahamas itineraries.

 

[phinz]

How were you able to know the exact number?

Because a cast member looked it up while I was talking to them about how quiet it was.

 

[phinz]

kept confusing where everything was (including our stateroom, which was very aft vs our two very forward previous rooms).

I did this on our second cruise. We were in 12004 for our first cruise. Our next cruise was 12018. I went to 12004 and kept trying to get the door to open. It wasn't until I looked at their fish that I realized it had a Remy envelope on it and we weren't doing Remy on that cruise. I slunk off hoping nobody heard me...