I’ve worked in the travel industry for seven years and I have finally made it on a proper cruise – Princess Cruises’ 3,000-passenger trip around the Baltics on Crown Princess.
As I write we are sailing out of Tallinn in Estonia, and already in the last four days we’ve been to St Petersburg, Helsinki and Stockholm. Next up is Gdansk (Poland), Oslo, and Copenhagen.
Not only is this the first cruise holiday, it’s the first time I’ve gone to bed when the sun is still shining brightly and the colour of the sky is that of mid-afternoon.
But that’s exactly what it’s like on a Baltic cruise in mid-June. It’s what the Russians call the season of ‘white nights’ – when dark never falls. Dangerous for those of you without a watch, as your sense of time disappears completely when sitting in the bar.
As a cruise virgin I thought I’d give you some observations from my first real cruise holiday.
Observation number one: it’s sounds obvious but you certainly get to experience far more destinations than on a land holiday.
However, some of these experiences can be whistle-stop. We barely got ashore in Tallinn and after a two-hour wander round the old town it was time to get back on board and set sail once again.
I would have relished the chance to stay here longer and cut back the day we get to spend in Gdansk tomorrow. In contrast, in St Petersburg we got to see most of the sights and catch a performance of Swan Lake ballet in the evening – a real treat!
Observation number two: there are more entertainment and leisure facilities on offer on a cruise ship than I’ve ever experienced on any other holiday (and I’ve been on a few).
We’ve already seen comedians, live music, magicians and movies, been swimming, taken part in a trivia quiz…. in fact I’ve hardly opened the book I brought with me.
There’s a sense that if you spend five minutes with your head on in a book, you might just miss something. Or is that just me?
Observation number three: I’ve never eaten so much food on a daily basis. This will come as a shock to my colleagues, who know just how much I put away on an average day, but believe me when you’re on a ship there’s hardly a moment when a waiter isn’t waving a freshly-baked cookie in your direction.
And then there are the cream teas every afternoon and the three-course dinners (which are far tastier than I had imagined, particularly considering the numbers on board) and the 24-hour cafe…. come on, how can you resist a slice of pizza at 1am from one of the many bars on board?
Observation number four: I assumed all-inclusive meant everything was included, bar alcholic drinks. But for travel agents not experienced in booking cruises, be warned: customers may have to pay for tea and coffee from certain bars on board, and a tip is automatically added to your bill.
Bearing in mind there is an automatic tip added to your on-board cruise account (which you pay at the end of the cruise) some of you may feel this is a little cheeky. Being a stingy Brit, I naturally fall into this camp.
Fortunately there is an opportunity to opt out of paying gratuities and tip the people you believe deserve it.
Observation number five: I did feel a little like cattle when going on shore excursions! Staff stick a brightly coloured sticker on you (just in case they lose you or you lose them, I’m not quite sure) and before long you find yourself clinging to the coat-tails of the man in the front of you and nodding in unision with the rest of your group.
However, there’s little other way to get thousands of people around a city in an organised fashion. And the staff here are incredibly well-organised. So it’s horses for courses – and there’s no three-line whip to go on any of the excursions.
Final observation: not all people on cruise ships belong to the blue-rinse brigade. So far I have spotted an eight-month old baby and several teenagers. But yes, there are a heck of a lot of silver-headed folk.
On this cruise I’m reliably informed just under half the passengers are Americans. The rest are made up of Brits, Japanese, Indians and Europeans. Several of the Brits I’ve spoken to are regular cruisers.
The good news? They all booked through their local travel agent.
More on cruise
- Cruise news, features and videos at travelweekly.co.uk/cruise
- Cruise expert Jane Archer’s blog at travelweekly.co.uk/cruiselines
