Cruise Planning Guides & Resources

If you're nervous about cruise seasickness, you've probably already read advice that sounds certain and contradicts itself. Wristbands work. Wristbands are a placebo. Book midship. Book a balcony. Take a patch. Don't take a patch. I've been cruising for four decades on many different lines, so I've heard all of it. I'm a travel advisor, not a medical professional, so this post is not medical advice. What I can do is sort out what's well supported, what's mixed, and what's jus

"Do I need a passport for a cruise?" is one of the most common questions first-time cruisers ask, and the answers online tend to be either too short to trust or buried in legal language. The honest answer is that it depends on your itinerary. For some cruises, U.S. citizens can sail without one. For others, a passport is required. And even when it's not required, I think there's a strong case for bringing it anyway. I've cruised for many years and I help travelers plan their

Embarkation day is the one day of a cruise that feels like a test. There's a terminal, a line, a security check, and a lot of advice that sounds confident and contradicts itself. Arrive early. Don't arrive early. Eat at the buffet. Avoid the buffet. These are the cruise embarkation day mistakes I see first-timers make, and a few I've made myself. Most of what follows applies to any big-ship line, and I'll point out where it doesn't. None of these are catastrophic. Most cost y

A few years ago, I booked a Celebrity cruise through Europe for my family because of what I'd heard about the cruise line. I never stopped to think about who was actually coming with me. My kids and their partners, all in their early twenties, were on board, and while it was a great itinerary, there wasn't as much on the ship for them to do as I'd hoped. I've been cruising for decades and I'm a professional travel advisor, and I still got it wrong. If you're booking your firs

Most cruise packing lists look the same: sixty items, no opinions, and no way to tell which ones actually matter. This isn't that. This cruise packing list is the short version. It comes from years of cruising on Princess and Celebrity and my first Royal Caribbean sailing, a 4-day trip on Quantum of the Seas out of Los Angeles. It includes one item I was sure I didn't need (I was wrong), one mistake I made at security that I won't repeat, and a few things I'd tell a friend be

Every time I bring up cruise drink packages, someone in the comments asks some version of the same question: "Are they actually worth it?" The honest answer is: it depends. And I know that's not what anyone wants to hear. But after years of helping clients plan cruises, I've stopped giving a blanket yes or no on this one — because the right answer varies a lot depending on how you drink, what you drink, and which cruise line you're on. I used to recommend drink packages to al

One of the questions I hear most often from first-time cruisers is some version of: "Should I book excursions through the cruise line, or find my own?" It sounds like a simple question. It isn't. The honest answer is that it depends — on the port, the excursion type, your travel style, your comfort with independent navigation, and sometimes just how much time you have to research. What I want to give you here isn't a blanket rule. It's a framework for making this decision int

Most first-time cruisers pick their cabin by category and price — interior, ocean view, balcony — and leave the specific location up to the cruise line. That works out fine sometimes. Other times, they end up directly above the ship's nightclub, next to the elevator bank, or under the pool deck where crew members start setting out chairs at 6am. A cruise deck plan is a map of the ship — every deck, every cabin, every public venue. Reading it before you book takes about ten mi

A flight delay is stressful on any trip. Before a cruise, it's a different category of stressful — because unlike a hotel that will hold your room, a cruise ship has a firm departure time and it will sail without you. I've talked to travelers who've been through this. Some made it to the ship. Some caught up at the next port. A few missed the sailing entirely. The difference between those outcomes almost always came down to the same things: how early they arrived in the port

Every summer, I get some version of the same question from people considering a Caribbean cruise: "Should I be worried about hurricane season?" And every time, my answer is the same — probably less than you think, but there are a few things worth knowing before you book. Hurricane season and cruising have a complicated reputation. The season runs June 1 through November 30, which overlaps almost entirely with the Caribbean's most popular cruising months. But what most first-t

On my last cruise, I booked an aft balcony cabin. I was thrilled about it — I'd heard those cabins have incredible views, and honestly, they were right. It was the best view I've ever had from a cruise cabin, and I've stayed in just about every corner of a ship. But I'd also heard that aft cabins can get exhaust fumes. I heard it. I just didn't take it seriously. And here's how that played out: every time I really wanted the door open, every time I wanted to sit out on that b

If you've watched my latest video, you already know the premise: after 20 years of travel planning and a lot of cruises — both mine and the ones I've helped plan for others — I've changed my mind on a surprising amount of "standard" cruise advice. Some of what gets repeated as common wisdom is actually a cruise mistake waiting to happen, depending on who you are and how you travel. This post expands on that video. The video covers nine of these because of time, but there are

One of the most common questions I hear from first-time cruisers is, "Where do I even start?" There are so many decisions to make when planning a cruise. Which cruise line should you choose? What cabin should you book? Which itinerary is best? Are cruise packages worth it? Should you book excursions? The problem is that many travelers start making decisions in the wrong order. Instead of asking what cruise I would choose, I want to help you think through the decisions that ma

There are dozens of cruise lines, ships, itineraries, cabin types, drink packages, dining options, and excursion choices — and everyone online seems to have a different opinion about what you "should" book. If you're struggling to figure out how to choose the right cruise without overthinking every decision, you're not alone. After years of cruising and helping travelers plan vacations, I've found that choosing the best cruise becomes much easier when you stop trying to find