Cruise Tips - Cruise Advice

Everything you want to ask about cruises is answered in our selection of cruise tips and pages of cruise advice here at Prow’s Edge Cruise Magazine.

Prow’s Edge Cruise Magazine offers cruise tips and cruise advice for cruisers and gives cruise travel tips and advice for all aspects of cruising from the swine flu and seasickness to packing and tipping on a cruise.

Avoiding Weight Gain on a Cruise

Another contribution from travel writer Nicole Rebeiro offers some good advice on how to avoid gaining weight while on your cruise, never mind how tempting it all may be..

Maintaining Mental Health While Cruising

Another contribution from travel writer Nicole Rebeiro offers some good advice on how to maintain mental health while cruising.

Getting the Most out of the Outdoors on an Alaska Cruise

An important part of an Alaska cruise is being prepared for the outdoors, and this useful article by travel writer Nicole Rebeiro offers some good advice on how to be best prepared – from sunscreen to rain gear, from hiking boots to insect repellent and everything else you need to take into consideration.

Children on a Family Cruise

The most obvious way to handle the planning for a cruise with children is to take a look at the specific cruise lines that specialize in cruises that cater for families with children.

Healthy eating on a Cruise

There are several ways you can make sure that you take care of your health (and your waistline) without necessarily ruining the fun of a cruise.

Read more about heralthy eating on cruises...

Bringing Alcohol Onboard

There are a good many issues about alcohol on a cruise that are cause for concern - but none so much as bringing your own favorite tipple onboard. Policies vary from cruise line to cruise line

Cabin Fever

The Dorland's Medical Dictionary definition for claustrophobia is “a morbid fear of closed places”, but there are numerous levels of this panic disorder - and they are all valid.

Child-Free Cruises

Not everyone wants to be surrounded by children on a cruise, and not everyone is travelling with their family - so for the rest of us, here's some good advice on how to pick a cruise that may be child-free or themed for adults only.

Choosing a Cabin

Taking time to make sure you have the right stateroom is one of the most important parts of planning your cruise. It is the one space on board ship that is exclusively yours for the duration of the trip, the one place you can escape to.

Cold Climate Cruising

If the worst comes to the worst, signs to watch for are the "umbles". Stumbles, mumbles, fumbles and grumbles – all of which indicate a loss of motor and consciousness control.

Cruise Dress Codes

Packing for those dinner events on a cruise vacation has always been a challenge. With most cruise lines now offering a greater mix of formal, informal and casual evenings at sea, it has become that much harder to choose the right clothes for dressing for dinner.

Cruise Etiquette

Cruise etiquette is about how to enjoy your cruise and allow others to enjoy their cruise at the same time. It is about consideration of others – which is essential when a large number of people are travelling in relatively confined spaces.

Cruise First Aid

Just as little accidents happen frequently at home, so they do on a cruise ship, you don’t always want to be rushing off to the ship’s doctor, even if your daughter is single and you think he would make a perfect match.

Cruise High Fashion

Even before you start thinking about whether to go “high fashion” or not, you need to know your cruise itinerary and the climate and weather you should expect – and then you need to know the dress requirements of the cruise line you are traveling with.

Cruise Ship Entertainment

Several past comments at Prow’s Edge have scoffed at the poor quality of entertainment aboard cruise ships today. A standard quip is that if you can’t make it on Broadway, the cruise lines will take you. That’s a little cynical and somewhat unfair.

Cruise Ship Laundry

Here at Prow’s Edge we talk constantly about packing light and that you need only half of what you really want to take. Laundry at sea plays an important part in this.

Cruise Ship Libraries

Some cruise ship libraries are more extensive than others and carry a wide variety of novels (many in large print), reference books and magazines - something for every taste - in a very structured system.

Cruise Ship Officers

There is nothing more confusing to the first time cruiser than knowing which cruise ship officer does what on a cruise ship and what the various ranks of the crew and staff are, and how to recognise them.

Cruise Vocabulary

First-time cruise passengers may feel baffled by some of the cruise vocabulary on their cruise – some of the words and phrases they hear aboard. Occasionally it can sound like a whole new language.

Dealing with Disabilities

Part of planning for a cruise is knowing what happens at the other end of the journey when you return to port to disembark and make your way home again.

Disembarking

Part of planning for a cruise is knowing what happens at the other end of the journey when you return to port to disembark and make your way home again.

Early/Late Seating for Dinner

Depending on the type of cruise you select, seating options can make or break the cruise for you. Most of the contemporary and premium cruise lines still offer two seatings in the dining room for dinner.

Healthy Cruising

There is a myth that a cruise vacation is all about over indulgence, expanded waist lines, more hangovers than usual, and a need for a further holiday just to recover. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Food Poisoning

Cruise passengers and cruisers these days are becoming much more aware of food borne illness and how to avoid it. It is a good thing to pay attention to.

Internet on a Cruise Ship

The use of the internet on a cruise has become less problematic and somewhat cheaper than it was ten years ago, but if you must keep in touch with family and friends at home, there are still some points to consider.

Jet Lag

Travelling great distances to begin a vacation can effect most people with the well known anomaly of jet lag. While most have experienced this, my guess is few have mastered the recovery.

Lifeboats on Cruises

There is nothing new about the gastrointestinal illness caused by the norovirus, also sometimes referred to as the Norwalk-like-virus or NLV. Nor is it news that incidences of the norovirus on cruise ships have increased over the years.

Norovirus/Norwalk

Packing for a Cruise

Of all the advice fellow passengers have shared with us about packing, one of the tips that stands out the most and which has been frequently cited, is “to pack lightly”! Everybody takes too much on a cruise.

Phoning from a Cruise

Using phone services at sea are really only for emergencies – not to tell folks back home about the 7-course meal you ate last night. Ship-to-shore phone service from your stateroom is expensive.

Rewards Programs

To encourage loyalty and promote repeat business, many cruise lines now offer free, past-passenger reward programs with free upgrades, special discounts, onboard cocktail parties, stateroom amenities, and shipboard credits and other benefits.

Safety at Sea

There is a growing problem on safety at sea. Many of us forget to pack our common sense along with the sun screen when we get ready for a cruise, and once aboard we unwittingly make ourselves possible crime victims.

Read more on safety at sea ...

Saving Money on a Cruise

One of the most attractive parts of a cruise years ago was that everything was included in one price and that once you were aboard there was really nothing to spend your money on apart from booze at the bar and souvenirs to bring home. Things have changed.

Seasickness

Seasickness is not a common complaint for cruise passengers, except maybe for those who want more attention. In fact, you are not likely to feel any motion at sea on the large cruise ships all of which are equipped with stabilizers that eliminate excessive motion.

Shore Excursions

For some passengers the point of a cruise is to enjoy the vessel and relax aboard their floating hotel, but for the vast majority, a cruise is about the ports of call and the shore excursions there.

Smoking on Cruise Ships

It is getting more and more difficult for smokers to find sanctuary to satisfy their habit these days, and cruise ships are no exceptions.

Sun and the Tropics

Baking for hours on end under a hot tropical sun is not a good idea for anyone. But if you enjoy the sun and insist on going out in it, the best advice is to know your limitations.

Swine Flu

On a cruise, the responsibility for taking care that the swine flu does not reach pandemic proportions is, as for the norovirus, largely up to the passengers and crew. Common sense rules apply.

Table Assignments

Most cruise line dining rooms offer a selection of differently sized tables at different locations. Tables for two are at a premium, and if this is your preference, good advice is to make sure you make that request early in the booking procedures.

Tipping on Cruises

There is no more contentious issue about cruising than that of tipping, and the cruise lines vary in their approach to this touchy subject. Gratuities are a cost you need to consider when budgeting for your cruise.