25 Mar, 2010
Cruise Tips - Things I Wish I Knew Before My First
What I learned from my first cruise aboard the Costa Classica in Southeast Asia.
Overall cruising is an extremely affordable way to travel. For under $100/day/person (well under if travelling in pairs or with kids), you get transportation across countries,accommodations, food, and entertainment and activities.
Service is just awesome like a 5 star hotel (bed gets made and towels replaced 3 times a day, they fold clothes left lyingaround, after a few days the waiters and cabin staff all address you by name)
- Excursions suck
- Almost always can be done cheaper and better with a few people and a hired taxi
- Might be worthwhile if there is something they go to outside of the port city and you are time constrained, i.e. I enjoyed seeing Cu Chi tunnels in Vietnam which is 1+ hours outside of town despite only being 40km but came at the price of not experiencing local food
- Beware of travel times, i.e. anything with 2+ hour travel times better be worthwhile as that is a very long and possibly uncomfortable (not all air conditioning work well) roadtrip which leaves very little time to actually see anything other than a nondescript roadside whizzing by
- Main benefit of excursion is a set plan and guaranteed availability of English speaking guide. You also know that the ship will not leave without you.
- Main minuses of excursions is there is a lot of waiting for your fellow tourists, you don't really get to sample local culture and food, inflexible itinerary. Also very expensive by local standards.
- Local ports generally have transportation options
- Some ports have cruise company arranged shuttles for the equivalent of the taxi price, but at least you know the ship won't leave before the last scheduled return trip.
- Some ports near city center or local mass transport, i.e. you can walk to town from Manila, Kota Kinabalu. Singapore Harbor Center has subway station.
- Prepared meats tend to suck
- I think this may have to do with only electric and steam cooking on the ships, but it doesn't explain the really horrible prime rib presentation. Stir frys, braised meats tend to do better than roasts.
- Brewed coffee sucks
- Inconsistently horrible
- Instant option at least consistently mediocre, first time I have seen coffee proud to be Robusta beans
- Drinks expensive, i.e. $4 for can of coke… Free booze only at cocktail parties and formal dinners.
- Cruise food at least on Costa is catering to European dietary preferences which apparently does not include local Asian fare. Why else would they have sandwiches in a boxed lunch for a tour in Vietnam.
- Communications spotty and very expensive. Satellite calls at $8/min, dialup Internet at $0.75/min. Costa did some deal with a cell provider, so if you get one of their SIMs ahead of time, you only get a per call surcharge.
- Nightly entertainment very entertaining
- Instant fashion show - stylish dresses with just fabrics and pins
- Flamenco
- Magic show
- Song and dance numbers
- Activities are fun
- Dance lessons
- Language lessons
- Trivia competition
- Arts and crafts
- Lectures
- Games (table tennis and foosball on our ships)
- Lots of card tables
- Library
- TV sucks and spotty
- At least we got an English language news station but missed the Olympics and Oscars.
- Leftover food gets dehydrated and incinerated producing steam used for cooking
- Potable water partially from water loaded at ports and desalination process
- Engines all electric
- Mixture of oil and diesel used for electric generators
- Kitchen consists of electric stoves and ovens, and steam appliances
- Separate preparation rooms for cold, hot, and butcher
- Roughly 1 crew for every 2 passengers
- Machine shop, electrical, tailor, laundry, and textile workshops on board
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