One of the best cruise vacation tips I can give you is this: you don’t have to do everything on a cruise.
There are excursions to book, specialty restaurants to try, shows to see, live music, activities happening all over the ship, ports to explore, and a seemingly endless list of things other cruisers say you have to do. Dining reservations at night may conflict with an activity you want to do. Or you see several evening activities that overlap and start thinking you’re missing out on something. Maybe you feel like you have to spend the whole day in port to experience everything, not realizing that you can also spend valuable time enjoying the ship while it’s in port.
Before you know it, you are stressing out over every minute of the trip. It’s tough to relax when you’re always worrying about what’s next. Here’s the reality: You don’t have to do everything on a cruise.
In fact, I think one of the best parts of cruising is realizing that you don’t have to do it all. And this may sound funny, but I recommend planning in spontaneity. Sometimes the best memories come from the things you didn’t plan.
Plan Your Cruise, But Be Willing to Change It
Of course, some things need to be planned. If there’s an excursion you really want to do, book it. If you want to eat at a specialty restaurant, make the reservation. If there’s a show you absolutely don’t want to miss, put it on your schedule. But don’t feel like every hour of your cruise needs to be accounted for. Especially if this is your first cruise, there’s already a lot to learn about how cruising works.
If you’re new to cruising, check out my Cruising for Beginners guide for some of the things I wish I knew when I started cruising. You can find other tips and guides here.
Be open to changing your plans. You may see a live band or comedian early in the cruise that you really enjoy and decide to change your plans to see their remaining shows. This happened to my wife and me on Holland America’s Nieuw Statendam. We saw a comedian whose style was to interact with the audience, and we were crying laughing during his first show. After that, we changed our plans to see his next three shows, which were all great. That worked out really well for us because he ended up being one of the best memories of that cruise.
Of course, if it’s a stand-up comedian or band repeating the exact same show, it doesn’t carry quite the same weight. But you get the idea. Don’t be afraid to change your plans when you find something you really enjoy. Also, leave some gaps in your schedule or make only tentative plans. This gives you the freedom to do something because you feel like it in that moment, rather than because it’s the next thing on a schedule you made days ago.
The Ship Itself Is Part of the Vacation
Don’t forget, the ship itself is an activity that isn’t always listed on the daily schedule. Finding a quiet spot on the ship to relax, reading a book, or simply sitting back and watching the ocean can be memorable. I personally love exploring the whole ship on my own.
One activity I love is walking down the cabin hallways to see all the awesome door decorations. The ship map may show that there’s nothing to do on Deck 10, but I see it as 200-ish cabin doors to explore, many with unique, touching, and sometimes downright funny decorations. This is something I typically do during the day on a sea day.
Sometimes you may find a quiet spot on the ship and decide to stay there longer than you planned. Maybe you see an activity that looks interesting and decide to check it out. Or maybe you simply sit back, watch the ocean, and do absolutely nothing. That’s the beauty of planning in spontaneity. It is your vacation, and sometimes doing nothing is the best thing to do. Don’t feel pressured into thinking you’re wasting time because you’re not heading to the next scheduled activity.
Vacation isn’t a competition. It’s a time to relax, explore, try new things, and recharge your batteries for the real world once you disembark.
Vacation Isn’t a Competition
You don’t get extra points for visiting every bar on the ship (although I personally do 😉), attending every trivia game, seeing every show, or being the first person off the ship in every port. It shouldn’t be a race all day long to get to the next thing on the daily schedule, leaving you exhausted by evening.
And the length of your cruise matters too. You may have the energy to be on the go for an entire 3-day cruise, but on longer cruises, you’re going to need some downtime. Going 7 days nonstop may require another vacation to recover from your cruise vacation. 😉
Also, don’t feel like you have to do what others tell you to do or everything you read about. A cruise can and should be whatever you want it to be. For me, it’s a time to relax, explore, try new things, and recharge my batteries for the real world once I disembark.
Remember, there is no wrong way to cruise.
You Don’t Need an Excursion in Every Port
Do the excursions you really want to do, things that really catch your attention or bucket-list experiences. If you can’t find an excursion that looks great to you in a port, don’t feel pressured to book one. You have plenty of other options on port days.
Personally, my wife and I aren’t big into excursions. We normally do one excursion per cruise. The rest of the time, we like to relax and do a little exploring on our own for a few hours in port, then head back to the boat. That’s what works for us. We might walk around the port, look at the shops, grab something to eat or drink, and see a little of the destination. Then we go back to the ship and enjoy the rest of the day.
We’ve learned that getting back to the ship while everyone else is still ashore can be one of the best parts of the day. You get to enjoy the ship without the crowds, and sometimes that’s exactly what we’re looking for.
When looking at excursions, we look for experiences that really excite us. One example is an excursion we found for horseback riding in the ocean. This was a wish-list item for my wife, so it was an easy decision to book it. We booked an early time, which allows us priority disembarkation and means we can be back on the ship around lunchtime.
Don’t book something just because you feel like you should. Book it because there’s something about that experience that makes you say, “I really want to do that.”
On a Similar Note: You Don’t Have to Get Off the Ship at Every Port
This may sound confusing to new cruisers, as a large part of cruising is visiting different destinations, but you don’t have to get off the ship in every port. Sometimes you’ve been there before. Sometimes the port doesn’t interest you. And sometimes you just want to enjoy the ship.
There can be something pretty nice about sitting by the pool when most of the passengers have gone ashore. The ship feels different on port days, with a much more relaxed atmosphere. It’s quieter, there are fewer people around, and you can enjoy some of the spaces that might be busy on a sea day.
As frequent cruisers in the Caribbean, this is especially true for us because many of the ports are similar beach-based destinations. And honestly, I never need to visit Nassau, Bahamas again. Although my wife and I do have a tradition in Nassau. We head to Dunkin’ for my wife’s favorite coffee and a selfie at the “U.S. Embassy,” which is what we call the McDonald’s near the port. 😊
You Don’t Have to Try Everything on the Ship
The same philosophy applies once you’re onboard the ship too. There are often many overlapping activities happening throughout the day. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t do it all. The cruise director and team work to provide different options for different types of cruisers, and the evenings will especially be packed with activities. And that’s before you even consider time at the pool, a relaxing soak in the hot tub, or having a drink on the promenade while watching the waves.
You could spend the entire day running from one activity to the next. It is okay to miss activities. If something looks fun, go do it. If it doesn’t, skip it. This is your cruise, so do the things you want to do. Don’t let someone else’s cruise become your cruise.
If your idea of a perfect cruise is sleeping late, having a leisurely breakfast, sitting by the pool, and wandering around a port for a couple of hours, that’s a perfectly good cruise. But if you’re someone who needs to keep moving, likes to do something different, and is constantly looking for the next thing to do, which I often feel like, there will be plenty of options for you to enjoy.
The point isn’t to do everything. The point is to enjoy the things you choose to do.
Leave Some Time Unplanned
One of my wife’s favorite things about cruising is having nowhere to be. No appointments to attend, no getting the kids up, fed, and out the door, and no chores to take care of. Everything important has been taken care of for you on a cruise. So you don’t always need a plan for the whole day. Some of the best cruise memories can come from the things you didn’t schedule. That’s why my wife and I like to leave part of our schedule open, giving ourselves opportunities to make memories we never planned on.
Maybe you find a quiet spot on the ship you’ve never noticed before. Maybe you sit outside and watch the ocean. Maybe you catch a music set you didn’t know was happening. Maybe you have a drink and strike up a friendship with a fellow cruiser. Maybe you get to know a crew member you see around the ship. Maybe you walk off the ship in port with absolutely no plan other than seeing what you find.
These aren’t necessarily the things you’ll see advertised when you’re researching a cruise, watching ship and port reviews, or reading blogs. But they may become some of your best memories and make your cruise that much more special. Sometimes the best part of a cruise is the thing you never planned to do.
Your Focus Should Be to Cruise Your Way
Your cruise should not be a source of stress or leave you exhausted. That isn’t why you’re taking a cruise in the first place. It’s your vacation. We’re not trying to complete a checklist. We’re not trying to prove how much we can accomplish in seven days. We’re there to vacation, relax, and enjoy our time on the high seas.
For my wife and me, that means a little exploring, maybe an excursion, plenty of relaxing, and enjoying the ship during the day. In the evening, we enjoy an early dinner, the main show, and some live music. But your perfect cruise might look completely different. And that’s totally fine.
Pick the things that matter to you, skip the things that don’t, and give yourself permission to simply enjoy being on vacation. Don’t feel like you have to do something just because it’s offered, and don’t feel like you have to fill every moment with a planned activity. Plan the things you don’t want to miss, but leave room for the things you never planned to do.
That’s what I mean by planning in spontaneity. Some of your favorite cruise memories may come from the excursion you carefully researched or the show you have been looking forward to. But they may also come from the afternoon you had nothing planned, the music you happened to walk by, the crew member you stopped to talk to, or the quiet moment you spent watching the ocean. You don’t have to do everything on a cruise. You just have to enjoy the cruise you’re on.
Pingback: Cruising for Beginners: First-Time Cruise Tips You Need to Know