Hey, Heyy !
Have you ever been on a cruise ship? If not, are you afraid to get on a cruise ship? Let me just say, I am a daredevil, so while some things may have me nervous, I tend to just go for things. So, it's safe to say, my first cruise was just that, something I just went for.
A few friends and I decided to travel on Carnival Conquest to visit The Cayman Islands, "Mahogany Bay" i.e., Roatan, Honduras and Belize (all which I will go more in depth about in later post) on a 7-day cruise. Now if you don't know, whenever you book a cruise, you have the option to select how many days you would like to cruise anywhere from 2-5 days, 6-9 days or 10+ days, all according to where you would like to travel too as well. My reasoning for choosing a 7-day cruise as my first cruise was so that I could experience everything and the friends I was going with had already been on a cruise before. I wouldn't recommend such a long cruise for your first time, unless you just want to go for it like I did, then who am I to tell you no, lol! GO, GO, GO!!!
Let's talk 7-day cruises for a minute, on these types of cruises you will have two sea days. A sea day is when the boat is literally in the middle of the ocean, and you have all day to walk around the cruise ship and do nothing but fun activities. However, don't you dare go thinking this is boring, because it's not! They have some of everything for some of everybody on that cruise ship, from casinos, bingo and other game shows that get everyone interacting to parties, comedy shows, water slides, pools, etc. for both young and old. The best thing about Carnival Conquest, its parties, drinks, games, and food all day long. And I say Carnival Conquest because Carnival does own multiple different lines of cruise ships and Conquest is definitely more the party route if that's what you are looking to do, but again they have things for everyone.
For any cruise I would highly recommend using the Carnival app to purchase some early things, when you book a cruise, you can go ahead and do add-ons and the app will provide a carnival trip countdown and alert you of some things you may need. Some of these add-ons can include drinking packages (which offers unlimited drinks, you will have to pay for sodas and/or alcoholic beverages so this is great) or excursions (adventures you plan to do while on the trip). You do not have to add-on as soon as you book the cruise, you will the option to add anytime during the cruise including the day of the excursion. Sometimes it's cheaper when you add-on at the time of booking, they tend to offer early bird deals, other times you may be able to find cheaper deals once you get on the island, but you also can't bet on that.
Island Days: On the day you are docked at an island, (which is normally the 3rd-5th day of the 7-day cruise), you will have a time limit to visit each island. This time limit, is where booking an excursion early, helps a lot, and you'll be able to find the person holding the name of your excursion quicker so that you can leave, and they'll bring you back just in time for the cruise. On this cruise I actually only booked one excursion throughout the entire trip because we were able to find cheaper deals on the island. You don't have to do excursions at all they do have tourist areas where you can shop, eat, take pictures, and relax. I, on the other hand, did authentic island tours for each and every island I have ever been to because I love to learn about places and see how people are living and talk to everyone because I'm really big on diversity and gaining knowledge. However, again it is timed island days in order to get you to the next island by morning so as soon as you finish your excursions, shopping, etc. I would highly recommend going back to the cruise ship to avoid the long lines of being checked back in. Yes, any big purchases made or alcoholic purchases, may be taken and stored in lock-up until you return back to the country on the last day. And yes, you will be checked in when returning from each island as a security measure, which is the use of your ID card, boarding pass, and going through metal detectors.
Overall, cruises are nothing but fun and exciting adventures that I think everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime. And oh yeah, I know many are always wondering, no, I didn't even notice that I was on a cruise ship the entire time. You could be so booked with things to do and food to eat and you will barely see the water at all unless you have a room with a window or you're on the top deck, you will definitely forget! Even if you think you'll get seasick, take some patches, wristbands or motion sickness medicine for just in case purposes and you'll be fine! Take that much needed cruise, you won't regret it, more like you'll become addicted!
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