WAVE SEASON - TOP TIPS FOR NEW CRUISERS

1. We recommend completing the required cruise pre-registration information early so that you are not delayed when you get to the port. Plan to get to the port a minimum of 90 minutes before the scheduled departure time; the ship will then send a complete passenger manifest to Homeland Security 60 minutes before departure.

2. Have a passport or the documents required to cruise including your original or certified copy of your birth certificates with a raised seal and a photo ID.

3. Make sure that you have all of the cash you want to take (typically about $300 for a 7 day cruise) You will not need an local currency anywhere in the Bahamas, Caribbean and Mexico.

4. Plan your arrival day carefully and make sure you know all important times, including when your flight arrives, hotel check-ins, time of cruise departure, return times, flight departure times, shuttle schedules, etc. We recommend you plan to travel there a day early, especially in winter months.

5. Pack for the various activities of the cruise, including exercise wear, swim wear, formal wear, casual clothes for the daytime and sports/resort casual clothes. Consider shoes for all occasions, including exotic excursions you might enjoy.

6. Make sure that you have any prescription medicines for the entire trip plus a week.

7. Prepare a carry-on bag and keep it organized for ease of transfer through security, etc. : MP3 player and its charger and headphones, camera and its charger or extra batteries, a couple books to read; refillable plastic bottle.

8. Plan carefully what you want to wear when you board the ship because the ship's photographer will take a boarding photo which you may want to purchase and you will be in those clothes all day and evening. Your luggage may not get to your cabin until about 5-6:00 PM

9. Take a small carry-on bag for the last night of the cruise. On the last evening you will be required to put your luggage outside your cabin by about midnight to 2:00 AM so that they can start taking it down to the lower deck for offloading the next morning. So you will need a small bag for your toiletries and your clothes that you sleep in.

10. If you have many electronics we recommend bringing an extension chord for in your stateroom.

11. If you plan to get into the pools or hot tub as soon as you get on ship, bring those clothes in your carry on bag; you other luggage may not get to your cabin until much later in the afternoon.

12. Cruise lines will take lots of photos of you boarding the ship, getting off in ports, at dinner, on formal nights, around the ship and these are expensive. So take your camera with you all the time and ask others to take photos of you.

Your gratuities will be $11.50 per day per person in your cabin and you can pay that in cash or charge it to your on board charge account that will be set up when you first board the ship. The gratuities cover your cabin steward (who will clean your cabin twice a day every day), your waiter, assistant waiter and head waiter. You don't have to plan to tip anyone else; but each drink order will have a 15% gratuity added to the check. Remember the service workers on ships get the vast majority of their income from tips, so please don't try to short them, unless the service is really bad.