My First Cruise

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Cozumel, Mexico

Standard yet utterly stunning Caribbean sunset

THE PLANNING: I remember being slightly nervous with the planning of my first cruise. In fact, I was surfing the web for hours, and even made a Pinterest Board with my findings, which wound up being really useful when I began to consolidate all of my research before we actually booked our cruise. In order to ensure that we missed nothing, we ended up booking our cruise via Expedia and opted to go with Carnival. The former is a trusted website that we have used in the past and the latter was (to be perfectly honest) the most inexpensive cruise line. Since we live in Mississippi, we wanted our port of departure to be New Orleans, Louisiana because of the short drive, which meant that we didn't need to spend a small fortune on gas or plane tickets.

THE DESTINATIONS: The 'Ports of Call,' or the cruise stops, were an important factor for me because I didn't just want to see the Caribbean Sea, but also the countries. We chose the route that took us to Montego Bay, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico. Of course, for a true travel experience, one day on each island is hardly enough time, but it was enough to get a taste. While the cruise was all inclusive, we still had to pay extra for our excursions. Although this is more expensive to do via the cruise line, we wanted credibility that came with doing this, and for first time cruisers, I would highly recommend doing this. 

ON THE SHIP: We opted to go for balcony rooms because we liked the idea of not sharing our view with anyone (yeah, we're real social butterflies). I would recommend this if you are like me and like to have peace, quiet, and privacy. If you plan on being out and about on the ship and prefer to save some money, then you should opt for either an Ocean View or an Interior state room. The ship itself was fantastic and the buffet certainly did some (wonderful) damage. There's also a lot going on, such as the casino, shows, shopping, the pool, the spa, et cetera, so you're spoiled for choice. We had a lot of fun walking around and lounging around the ship throughout the day. 

THE FOOD: When you book a cruise, you have to choose a dining time, which are usually certain allotted time slots, such as 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm or 8:30 pm - 10:00 pm (these aren't exact, but they are close to what you'd see) or 'your time dining.' We opted for 'your time dining,' which meant that we basically could eat whenever we wanted (while dinner was being served) as opposed to going somewhere at an exact time. We had an assigned dining room where we were served a full three course dinner every night (take me back!), although one night we had the buffet dinner, which to be honest wasn't as great.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: I fully intend to cruise again, as I truly enjoyed the experience. I believe that this is a great travel option for people who only have a small amount of vacation time, want to see more than one place, and to travel stress free. There are so many amazing ports to see, and I am really wanting to go for a Mediterranean cruise next!

Best Wishes, 

The Pseudo Southerner