Planning a cruise? Get The Ultimate Cruise Planner. It's a 47 page printable cruise travel planner with packing checklists, shore excursion planning forms and much more! ($10 off for a limited time). Here are the details: lifewellcruised.com/ultimate-cruise-planner
On Embarkation Day, seriously GO EXPLORE the ship, forward to aft, up and down, and back again. Find your cabin and then go from there to the destinations you like you'll head to a lot. Then look at the deck above and the deck below... are there more direct routes by simply going up or down a floor first. Or are there quicker routes... I often head down one or two decks below Lido and walk along the "cabin corridors" to get from front to aft more quickly then fighting my through sunloungers or people in the buffet. Duck through places you may not want to stay (gym, casino, even shops) because there is another door/exit at the other end that is quicker to access
" I often head down one or two decks below Lido and walk along the "cabin corridors" to get from front to aft more quickly then fighting my through sunloungers or people in the buffet." Great advice! Thanks
I'm always completely shocked that people will sit outside the hallways waiting to get to their room. There is a whole ship to explore, I can sit waiting at airports. LOL I always embark as early as possible with the just a light bag. Avoid the buffet and and pools the first day, too crazy. I get a print out of the upcoming activities for the day and for the next. Got to a sit down restaurant and have a nice lunch talk about what we want to do that night. Then we go to the highest deck (if you can do the elevator only once or avoid it like the plague on embarkation, they are crazy busy). We walk the full length of both sides and then go down to the next deck, do the same and repeat until we get all the way to the bottom. We check out restaurants, menus, nooks and crannies and everything inbetween. By then it's usually time for our room to be ready and we unpack and carry on with what we planned. Has always worked for the best way to learn the ship, avoid the masses and use the room wait time effectively. :0)
I hear a lot to avoid the buffet on day 1 and also the elevators. I just got off a 4 night Allure of the Seas and the buffet was manageable, the staff cleans off table and helps people find tables. The buffet was manageable even on disembarkation. Also, we did the pools with our kids and it was fine. Since I already knew the ship layout from watching tons of TH-cam videos, I didn't need to explore on day 1/didn't feel rushed to explore the ship.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you are very gracious in your delivery and sharing of cruise information. I enjoy your channel, and I also love how you always ask others to share information that they may have to make cruise vacations more enjoyable for others. Keep up the bright and upbeat content! Regards from SW Florida!
My first few cruises i got turned around constantly. 90 year old neighbor, "look at the carpet young man. The fish are swimming upstream, toward the bow" Holy smoke! Why was that NOT in guide from the line?
I don'tt get lost on the ships. I walk all over at the beginning. Found a lounge that makes homemade cookies, found beautiful artwork on the walls, made an appt at spa. Most importantly for everyone, i found my muster station and exits!
@@ho66se cool! One word of warning…you’ll need to train on steps/stairs at least 2 weeks prior to your cruise or your calves will hurt so badly you won’t be able to walk. 😆
I’ve learned that my sweet spot on a cruise ship is a balcony cabin on a higher floor but never below the lido deck, mid-ship, and near the stairs and elevators. Perfect cabin placement 😊
When we get off the elevator (or stairs) on our deck, we pay attention to the wall art that’s on our side (port or starboard) to easily know which direction to turn to to get to our cabin.
The advice to watch ship tours from small channels is great! We just got home from a 3 week cruise on the Island Princess and the only way we knew about the free saunas was from watching a ship tour from a small TH-cam channel.
We’re going on a cruise is 24 days and will be right below the buffet and speciality dining restaurants/pools. Soooo excited because that was not the case on our last cruise😁
If I’m going on a ship I haven’t been on before, like for example I’m going on my first Oceania cruise in September, I’ll definitely watch a ship tour by Harr Travel as well as perhaps a shorter on by another vlogger. I’ll also look at the deck plans as well. And then on my first day on the ship, my wife and I will spend a fair amount of time familiarizing ourselves with the ship.
After cruising for many years and staying in different cabin types and different areas of the ship, I have found that I prefer a cabin 4 to 10 doors from the elevator. I haven’t experienced seasickness so it doesn’t matter to me whether it is the aft,, center, or forward elevators I always select the starboard side and those two tips help me find my cabin fairly quickly.
For locating your stateroom, on Holland America ships, even number staterooms are on the port (left) side of the ship and odd number staterooms are on the starboard (right) side of the ship. Also, the first digit tells you the deck number your stateroom is on. Finally, lower numbers on each deck are closer to the bow (front) of the ship. That is, stateroom 1004 is on the port side on Deck 1 near the bow while stateroom 1127 is on the starboard side on Deck 1 near the stern. Other cruise lines may have similar numbering systems for their staterooms.
First cruise for us coming up in December. I’ve already gone over the deck plans & watched ship tours (Cruise Crazed Fam is excellent as they have been on Splendor several times & have kids so they tour pretty much all parts of the ship). The kids have checked out all the included cafes/restaurants & already planned their meals for the cruise. 🤣
Love your videos!!! Always done well and so easily understandable. I always feel like I’m sitting with a good friend having a fun cruise conversation. Personally I like doing the full ship tour videos. I just discovered some of those secret ways of telling the direction forward or aft. Thanks for the tip about getting the ship map at guest services. The phone app is great. I wish more ships would follow Princesses’ lead on their medallion GPS tracker for your group. We were a group of 6 and used that to locate each other. Royal has an on ship text messaging thru their ship which though great sometimes may take a long time to send the message. It could babe more instantaneous.
We have a door decoration to find our cabin, even if it’s just a vinyl magnet. It’s so helpful! Of course when you have the medallion you can just wait to see which door knob turns green. That one’s yours!😂
I was in the Holland Westerdam and they had these garishly colored benches in the elevator area. Came to appreciate them because I knew that when I saw the pink and blue one, it was my floor and that I had to go opposite where the benches were located to find my cabin.
My wife and I had this problem on a Carnival cruise when we went to dinner to get to the restaurant we had to go up a deck and then down. Love all your tips, they have been very helpful to us as we have become frequent cruisers.
The decks that don't have full passage from front to back are usually under or beside the main dining rooms because this is where the large galleys are. If there is a Promenade Deck it will always get you from front to back.
For the cabin numbers, on HAL ships, even numbers are on Port Side and uneven numbers are on Starboard side. The numbers increased from forward to aft.
I make a spread sheet. With columns for. Bars dining events dining guest services etc Each deck gets a row Look at deck plans on line and fill in. Rows with location 1st letter A -AFT M -Mid. F FWD 2nd letter. P-Port C -Center S-Starboard Example. Deck 17. Buffet AC. Pool MC. Pizza MC It is a pain the 1st time but I can save for each ship for future and delete locals for the next cruise E
@@designdoctor247 it is too easy if you don’t have excel you can build with insert table on word. Added benefit you are learning the ship I put in my ship folder for embarkation day
i went on a princess cruise and they had a welcome to new princess cruisers event and the person gave the best advice on how to orient yourself on the ship, she told me all the even cruise cabins were left and left is port and they all had 4 letters
We once stayed in a Forward Cabin on the Lido Deck... And spent a lot of time at the Aft Bar Outdoor Lounge up one deck... On the side of the ship we were on if you walked up stairs one flight, then along the outside deck, you'd come to a door to the Gym. Walk through the gym, go through another door and you were right where we wanted to be... so it was far easier to go up the stairs at the beginning of our journey rather than fighting our way through the sun loungers by the pool, then through the buffet area (and all the looks you got because you didn't wash your hands as you weren't stoping for food) So double check where certain rooms, passages ways etc go... you might be surprised at the shortcuts you find
I note the artwork on the walls near my staircase and the halls. I also like to study the deck plans as well. Princess will give you directions on the app so you can get from point A to point B
Now that I watch you stating the obvious, I realize I knew these features and follow them without realizing! ❤ one trick I use on my deck is to pay attention to the artwork so I know what direction to turn after exiting the elevator or our cabin. Course can take me a few days to figure it out, Lol
Loved the FISH on NCL - wish all Cruiselines did that. Also, an idea that I have told people about: put a “P” on Portside and “S” for Starboard when you come off the elevators. Even if you don’t speak English - it’s a symbol so you know which side your cabin hallway is on….🚢🚢🚢
I took my adult daughter and 14-yr old grandson on a cruise and I did get the cruise magazine at AAA with the ship plans in the back. Being the non-gambing, non-drinking nerd that I am, I cut then all out and stacked them together, lining up the elevator shafts. I also crossed out the bars and casinos (which didn't leave much) and circled all the places we were interested in. Our room was three doors down from the aft elevator, so we used that as our anchor (no pun intended) so if we got lost or separated we could at least find our room. It worked really well for us. The only snag was, as you said, getting to one of the dining rooms that was not a straight shot.
Studying the ship/watching TH-cam videos made my recent 4 night Allure of the Seas cruise so easy. We didn't miss any part of the ship because I knew the ship so well. Also, we had a great cabin location. We were midship so whatever elevators we took always got us to our room easily. We were on Port side and the men's restroom was Portside and that is how we knew which way to go when we got off the elevator.
Love your videos!! Our last. Cruise was 30 years ago. So many helpful tips of what to buy, pack and have. Carnival Radiance the walls did not hold magnets but the door did. Perfect place to hang out hats and lanyards and a GREAT tip!
At 7:33 into the video you are walking along a corridor looking for your cabin. On the right hand side wall is a set of three images... I'd use them as a landmark... and know my cabin is two or three doors long from them. Off in the distance I can an Emergency Exit Sign on the ceiling or even what appears to be a fire alarm box (I think it is a red box on right hand side of the corridor)... even little things like those can made great landmarks for you to find your cabin
Thanks for your tips. We sometimes have trouble finding the main dining room since not all decks cross in the middle. We then have to go up to go down again.😅
Oh this is the real one I need because I have no sense of direction lol. I am also going from Carnivals smallest ship to biggest ship. Our first cruise was last year on Elation and our cruise next year is on Celebration. I have been preparing by watching videos on ship tours for sure.
We also decorate our door with magnets. I do make the magnets and sell them through my Etsy shop. I’ve made hundreds and hundreds of them. It’s a huge help.
No interest in ships that size. About to try Oceania. Really thrilled. They just sent me beautiful free luggage tags and a very nice document folder with helpful information about the ship.
We study the decks in the beginning to make sure we have decks above and below. So we get familiar long before we leave. Plus we tend to cruise on the same class of ship so everything for the most part is the same.
On Princess and maybe others, I haven't paid attention, when you exit the elevator, you're facing forward. It is different near the atrium where there's a bank of elevators on both sides.
Llana and Llama, I can’t unsee it but love them both. My wife is Tina but Tiny (she is small) pronounced differently. After a few drinks, I would walk towards aft and learn my room is stern, long walk where you have to stop to pee. So now I get to the right floor, then look for directional signs in entry ways.
Helpful video. Any advice on learning how many formal nights or special events ( e.g., white parties, costume nights, etc.) in advance of a cruise to help with packing would be great as well.
On Harmony ofvthe,seas we found out the hard way deck 8 is a split deck. The aft elevator on one side took you to port side while the other took you to starboard. Back of 8 was the boardwalk. Was very confusing because I was looking cabins for our gift exchange. I don't think we found very figured it out until we got home. 😄
What you see when you board the ship is the front,bough of the ship,its where the anchor is. Just like when you park a car in a lot you park it front first
Even numbers, odd cabin numbers. Used this when returning from dining venues, standing in main hallway near elevators. Our cabin was even numbered on starboard side. Going down wrong hallway wasted time, caused frustration.
My last Cruise on the Carnival Elation earlier this month. I had an early dining seating. We would have to go to deck 8, and we had to cross the ship to get to our dining room on deck 7. If it’s God’s Will, my next cruise this September will go a little better on the Carnival Venezia. Thank you for sharing your tips, especially about downloading the deck plans.
Perfect suggestions. For Disney ships there is a star on the carpet and the front point of the star points to the front of the ship so you know which is the front and which is the aft on any floor. And for downloading a PDF of the layout of the ship I put on my iPad Pro so it’s nice as big and depending on the program we using to open it up the one I use you can actually search so you type in a word and it will find that word on the map, if you’re looking for a certain bar, it’ll search for the name of the bar and boom it’ll show you where it’s located.
The stairs are always midship where the elevators are, port is left,facing bough,front ,of ship. Starboard is right facing front. Hallway by stairs always have room labels,like a hotel,just follow those signs. There are usually 2 sets of stsirs,both middle. Best way to find your room is find your muster station
On the NCL Prima it took the entire 14 days and I could finally get oriented after coming out of the elevator. There were NO CLUES - both sides were identical
We cruised on Virgin and they made everything so easy. Port side was “A” and starboard was “Z”. I also think they were red and purple. I watched many videos watched beforehand, hubby did not😂
I hate when that happens! Trying to get somewhere, but you can’t get there from here!. So many times I have gotten to a dining venue, but the elevator doesn’t take you there in the mid ship is cut off. So frustrating lol
I would like to hear from other cruise line travelers if majority of ships are designed like Princess in that all elevators face the front of the ship (exception is piazza where they have a plaza set up - but usually two main elevators also will face forward). This makes it so easy to know port from starboard as you step off the elevators.
Hi Ilana! Great video as always, I’m directionally challenged so this is extremely helpful to me. 😊 Completely off topic….I dearly love your UCP and use it religiously. I always bring cash but on the first cruise I didn’t think about cash for tips (shuttle driver, porters, excursion driver/host) until the very last minute. I’m writing them on Port of Call Information page, but may I suggest adding it somewhere on your next update? Just a thought. Thank you for all you do!!
Thanks for the helpful information once again!! By the way, can you tell me on Norwegian, Are they very strict about the 50 pound weight limit for luggage?
On Royal Caribbean Quantum class ships, there is a good complimentary food venue, Cafe270 @ 270, aft, deck 5, which is very similar to The Park Cafe in Central Park on Oasis class ships. I have heard others comment, "Why didn't we know about this restaurant?" Some folks never get all the way aft to find it.
Like Disneyland and Disney World have a map that has little words written on it on all the different little areas that there are in one page not a whole bunch of pages lol
I had a problem on a couple of cruises with orientation. It was on sister ships with Holland America, the Westerdam and the Oesterdam. On the second cruise, I was on the opposite side of the ship and I kept turning the wrong direction.
Why don't they(The cruise liners)install onboard GPS-So a cruiser can download an app and use it to find around the ship, with help from this onboard GPS
We want to find our stateroom pretty shortly after boarding. Will they have a problem with me putting our magnet decor on the outside door even if the room isn’t ready yet? Would you recommend we find our steward before doing so?
Most ships the hallways are locked until rooms are open. Don't try to go to your room until they are opened. Its rude since stewards are working hard to get rooms ready.
@@tduck828 I understand. That makes sense. I guess because we have boarded in the afternoon in the past and never encountered a locked hallway before so I didn’t know.
![40 Cruise Food [& Drink] HACKS That Will Blow Your Mind!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/jloSbjtQaqI/mqdefault.jpg)
Planning a cruise? Get The Ultimate Cruise Planner. It's a 47 page printable cruise travel planner with packing checklists, shore excursion planning forms and much more! ($10 off for a limited time). Here are the details: lifewellcruised.com/ultimate-cruise-planner
My tip is, if you watch Llanas videos, your 1st cruise will go just fine. Our 1st cruise went perfect, thanks to Llana.
That’s what I did. Her videos are so helpful. Definitely made our cruise much more enjoyable.
@@lindabradford9591 I’m so glad to hear!
@@lindabradford9591 she seems to enjoy similar things to me (possibly because we are same age group) so her vids are extra helpful.
Yes! Agree 💯
Yes my family and I just got back from a cruise. My husband and I would often say What would Llana do lol
On Embarkation Day, seriously GO EXPLORE the ship, forward to aft, up and down, and back again.
Find your cabin and then go from there to the destinations you like you'll head to a lot.
Then look at the deck above and the deck below... are there more direct routes by simply going up or down a floor first.
Or are there quicker routes... I often head down one or two decks below Lido and walk along the "cabin corridors" to get from front to aft more quickly then fighting my through sunloungers or people in the buffet.
Duck through places you may not want to stay (gym, casino, even shops) because there is another door/exit at the other end that is quicker to access
" I often head down one or two decks below Lido and walk along the "cabin corridors" to get from front to aft more quickly then fighting my through sunloungers or people in the buffet." Great advice! Thanks
I'm always completely shocked that people will sit outside the hallways waiting to get to their room. There is a whole ship to explore, I can sit waiting at airports. LOL I always embark as early as possible with the just a light bag. Avoid the buffet and and pools the first day, too crazy. I get a print out of the upcoming activities for the day and for the next. Got to a sit down restaurant and have a nice lunch talk about what we want to do that night. Then we go to the highest deck (if you can do the elevator only once or avoid it like the plague on embarkation, they are crazy busy). We walk the full length of both sides and then go down to the next deck, do the same and repeat until we get all the way to the bottom. We check out restaurants, menus, nooks and crannies and everything inbetween. By then it's usually time for our room to be ready and we unpack and carry on with what we planned. Has always worked for the best way to learn the ship, avoid the masses and use the room wait time effectively. :0)
@@tatlowtimes so true!!
I hear a lot to avoid the buffet on day 1 and also the elevators. I just got off a 4 night Allure of the Seas and the buffet was manageable, the staff cleans off table and helps people find tables. The buffet was manageable even on disembarkation. Also, we did the pools with our kids and it was fine. Since I already knew the ship layout from watching tons of TH-cam videos, I didn't need to explore on day 1/didn't feel rushed to explore the ship.
Great tips, thank you
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you are very gracious in your delivery and sharing of cruise information. I enjoy your channel, and I also love how you always ask others to share information that they may have to make cruise vacations more enjoyable for others. Keep up the bright and upbeat content! Regards from SW Florida!
@@maureenwebb9716 awe thanks so much! I appreciate your contributions 👏
My first few cruises i got turned around constantly. 90 year old neighbor, "look at the carpet young man. The fish are swimming upstream, toward the bow" Holy smoke! Why was that NOT in guide from the line?
So, food in the back and party in the front
Haha never thought of that
@@LifeWellCruised I learned that on my last cruise in March from our cruise director, it makes so much sense
I don'tt get lost on the ships. I walk all over at the beginning. Found a lounge that makes homemade cookies, found beautiful artwork on the walls, made an appt at spa. Most importantly for everyone, i found my muster station and exits!
I always use the stairs. This helps me know where I am all the time and allows me to eat to my hearts desires without guilt.😂🎉❤ Great video Ilana!
Okay. You just gave me a TIP about calorie management. Taking the stairs would really help compensate with extra calories consumed! Awesome
@@ho66se cool! One word of warning…you’ll need to train on steps/stairs at least 2 weeks prior to your cruise or your calves will hurt so badly you won’t be able to walk. 😆
I’ve learned that my sweet spot on a cruise ship is a balcony cabin on a higher floor but never below the lido deck, mid-ship, and near the stairs and elevators. Perfect cabin placement 😊
When we get off the elevator (or stairs) on our deck, we pay attention to the wall art that’s on our side (port or starboard) to easily know which direction to turn to to get to our cabin.
lol we do too
I do that too!
The advice to watch ship tours from small channels is great! We just got home from a 3 week cruise on the Island Princess and the only way we knew about the free saunas was from watching a ship tour from a small TH-cam channel.
As always, another very useful and informative video Ilana. Thank you for everything you do.
We’re going on a cruise is 24 days and will be right below the buffet and speciality dining restaurants/pools. Soooo excited because that was not the case on our last cruise😁
If I’m going on a ship I haven’t been on before, like for example I’m going on my first Oceania cruise in September, I’ll definitely watch a ship tour by Harr Travel as well as perhaps a shorter on by another vlogger. I’ll also look at the deck plans as well. And then on my first day on the ship, my wife and I will spend a fair amount of time familiarizing ourselves with the ship.
Suggestion to all cruise operators: on the cruise apps have a navigation app that works off the wifi and gps to find way around
i am a slow navagator. i watch the videos. i TRY to be ready but i guess maybe it is my ADHD but i go left when i should go right EVERY time😂😂😂
@@designdoctor247 haha maybe that’s me too! No sense of direction 😂
After cruising for many years and staying in different cabin types and different areas of the ship, I have found that I prefer a cabin 4 to 10 doors from the elevator. I haven’t experienced seasickness so it doesn’t matter to me whether it is the aft,, center, or forward elevators I always select the starboard side and those two tips help me find my cabin fairly quickly.
For locating your stateroom, on Holland America ships, even number staterooms are on the port (left) side of the ship and odd number staterooms are on the starboard (right) side of the ship. Also, the first digit tells you the deck number your stateroom is on. Finally, lower numbers on each deck are closer to the bow (front) of the ship. That is, stateroom 1004 is on the port side on Deck 1 near the bow while stateroom 1127 is on the starboard side on Deck 1 near the stern. Other cruise lines may have similar numbering systems for their staterooms.
First cruise for us coming up in December. I’ve already gone over the deck plans & watched ship tours (Cruise Crazed Fam is excellent as they have been on Splendor several times & have kids so they tour pretty much all parts of the ship).
The kids have checked out all the included cafes/restaurants & already planned their meals for the cruise. 🤣
Love your videos!!! Always done well and so easily understandable. I always feel like I’m sitting with a good friend having a fun cruise conversation. Personally I like doing the full ship tour videos. I just discovered some of those secret ways of telling the direction forward or aft. Thanks for the tip about getting the ship map at guest services. The phone app is great. I wish more ships would follow Princesses’ lead on their medallion GPS tracker for your group. We were a group of 6 and used that to locate each other. Royal has an on ship text messaging thru their ship which though great sometimes may take a long time to send the message. It could babe more instantaneous.
@@john.margiecheck2471 thanks for the tips & for your kind words
We have a door decoration to find our cabin, even if it’s just a vinyl magnet. It’s so helpful! Of course when you have the medallion you can just wait to see which door knob turns green. That one’s yours!😂
I was in the Holland Westerdam and they had these garishly colored benches in the elevator area. Came to appreciate them because I knew that when I saw the pink and blue one, it was my floor and that I had to go opposite where the benches were located to find my cabin.
Didn't even watch the video, but already gave a like ❤
Your videos are really nice and the explanations are great.
My wife and I had this problem on a Carnival cruise when we went to dinner to get to the restaurant we had to go up a deck and then down. Love all your tips, they have been very helpful to us as we have become frequent cruisers.
Thanks for sharing! It definitely happens to many of us 😂
That's probably because the galley is there.
We always locate the best path to the Serenity Adult Only Retreat from our cabin every time we cruise.
The decks that don't have full passage from front to back are usually under or beside the main dining rooms because this is where the large galleys are. If there is a Promenade Deck it will always get you from front to back.
For the cabin numbers, on HAL ships, even numbers are on Port Side and uneven numbers are on Starboard side. The numbers increased from forward to aft.
I make a spread sheet. With columns for. Bars dining events dining guest services etc
Each deck gets a row
Look at deck plans on line and fill in. Rows with location 1st letter A -AFT M -Mid. F FWD 2nd letter. P-Port C -Center S-Starboard
Example. Deck 17. Buffet AC. Pool MC. Pizza MC
It is a pain the 1st time but I can save for each ship for future and delete locals for the next cruise
E
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ u need to sell these
@@designdoctor247 it is too easy if you don’t have excel you can build with insert table on word. Added benefit you are learning the ship I put in my ship folder for embarkation day
@@designdoctor247 thank you
i went on a princess cruise and they had a welcome to new princess cruisers event and the person gave the best advice on how to orient yourself on the ship, she told me all the even cruise cabins were left and left is port and they all had 4 letters
@@bookmagnet24 great event
Also, when you exit the elevator, you're facing forward.
We once stayed in a Forward Cabin on the Lido Deck... And spent a lot of time at the Aft Bar Outdoor Lounge up one deck... On the side of the ship we were on if you walked up stairs one flight, then along the outside deck, you'd come to a door to the Gym. Walk through the gym, go through another door and you were right where we wanted to be... so it was far easier to go up the stairs at the beginning of our journey rather than fighting our way through the sun loungers by the pool, then through the buffet area (and all the looks you got because you didn't wash your hands as you weren't stoping for food)
So double check where certain rooms, passages ways etc go... you might be surprised at the shortcuts you find
I note the artwork on the walls near my staircase and the halls. I also like to study the deck plans as well. Princess will give you directions on the app so you can get from point A to point B
This is a great video! My husband is always lost 😂
Now that I watch you stating the obvious, I realize I knew these features and follow them without realizing! ❤ one trick I use on my deck is to pay attention to the artwork so I know what direction to turn after exiting the elevator or our cabin. Course can take me a few days to figure it out, Lol
Yep, it's left at the polar bear photo!
Loved the FISH on NCL - wish all Cruiselines did that. Also, an idea that I have told people about: put a “P” on Portside and “S” for Starboard when you come off the elevators. Even if you don’t speak English - it’s a symbol so you know which side your cabin hallway is on….🚢🚢🚢
I took my adult daughter and 14-yr old grandson on a cruise and I did get the cruise magazine at AAA with the ship plans in the back. Being the non-gambing, non-drinking nerd that I am, I cut then all out and stacked them together, lining up the elevator shafts. I also crossed out the bars and casinos (which didn't leave much) and circled all the places we were interested in. Our room was three doors down from the aft elevator, so we used that as our anchor (no pun intended) so if we got lost or separated we could at least find our room. It worked really well for us. The only snag was, as you said, getting to one of the dining rooms that was not a straight shot.
Studying the ship/watching TH-cam videos made my recent 4 night Allure of the Seas cruise so easy. We didn't miss any part of the ship because I knew the ship so well. Also, we had a great cabin location. We were midship so whatever elevators we took always got us to our room easily. We were on Port side and the men's restroom was Portside and that is how we knew which way to go when we got off the elevator.
Love your videos!! Our last. Cruise was 30 years ago. So many helpful tips of what to buy, pack and have. Carnival Radiance the walls did not hold magnets but the door did. Perfect place to hang out hats and lanyards and a GREAT tip!
At 7:33 into the video you are walking along a corridor looking for your cabin.
On the right hand side wall is a set of three images... I'd use them as a landmark... and know my cabin is two or three doors long from them.
Off in the distance I can an Emergency Exit Sign on the ceiling or even what appears to be a fire alarm box (I think it is a red box on right hand side of the corridor)... even little things like those can made great landmarks for you to find your cabin
Thanks for your tips. We sometimes have trouble finding the main dining room since not all decks cross in the middle. We then have to go up to go down again.😅
Very true 😂
Oh this is the real one I need because I have no sense of direction lol. I am also going from Carnivals smallest ship to biggest ship. Our first cruise was last year on Elation and our cruise next year is on Celebration. I have been preparing by watching videos on ship tours for sure.
Wow!!!! Great cruises & I agree navigating Celebration will take some strategy 😂
We also decorate our door with magnets. I do make the magnets and sell them through my Etsy shop. I’ve made hundreds and hundreds of them. It’s a huge help.
No interest in ships that size. About to try Oceania. Really thrilled. They just sent me beautiful free luggage tags and a very nice document folder with helpful information about the ship.
What a great subject, İlana! I’m forever getting lost on my cruises! Thanks so much for these tips and tricks, I truly appreciate you. Blessings ❤️
Glad it was helpful & fun! Thanks for watching 😊
Yes, on a few occasions we have gone down to right floor to find out we are on the wrong side of the ship. Go up or down and start again.
Wouldn't it be nice if the ship company installed a GPS chip in your cruise card that would interact with the deck plans shown in the app?
I can't describe how much your help meant to me. I'll forever cherish your generous acts.thank you so much prevywebaid
We study the decks in the beginning to make sure we have decks above and below. So we get familiar long before we leave. Plus we tend to cruise on the same class of ship so everything for the most part is the same.
On Princess and maybe others, I haven't paid attention, when you exit the elevator, you're facing forward. It is different near the atrium where there's a bank of elevators on both sides.
Llana and Llama, I can’t unsee it but love them both. My wife is Tina but Tiny (she is small) pronounced differently.
After a few drinks, I would walk towards aft and learn my room is stern, long walk where you have to stop to pee.
So now I get to the right floor, then look for directional signs in entry ways.
@@dv8mr2 lol, I should spell my name without capital letters ilana :)
Helpful video. Any advice on learning how many formal nights or special events ( e.g., white parties, costume nights, etc.) in advance of a cruise to help with packing would be great as well.
On Harmony ofvthe,seas we found out the hard way deck 8 is a split deck. The aft elevator on one side took you to port side while the other took you to starboard. Back of 8 was the boardwalk. Was very confusing because I was looking cabins for our gift exchange. I don't think we found very figured it out until we got home. 😄
Yep, trying to get to Tamarind on Rotterdam. Can't get there from all elevators!
Love your videos. Thanks as always
What you see when you board the ship is the front,bough of the ship,its where the anchor is. Just like when you park a car in a lot you park it front first
I’m lucky that I have a very good sense of direction and pick things up quickly.
Yes, the elevator situation has happened to us.
Great info. Thank you
Even numbers, odd cabin numbers. Used this when returning from dining venues, standing in main hallway near elevators. Our cabin was even numbered on starboard side. Going down wrong hallway wasted time, caused frustration.
Thanks for sharing!
My last Cruise on the Carnival Elation earlier this month. I had an early dining seating. We would have to go to deck 8, and we had to cross the ship to get to our dining room on deck 7. If it’s God’s Will, my next cruise this September will go a little better on the Carnival Venezia. Thank you for sharing your tips, especially about downloading the deck plans.
Perfect suggestions. For Disney ships there is a star on the carpet and the front point of the star points to the front of the ship so you know which is the front and which is the aft on any floor. And for downloading a PDF of the layout of the ship I put on my iPad Pro so it’s nice as big and depending on the program we using to open it up the one I use you can actually search so you type in a word and it will find that word on the map, if you’re looking for a certain bar, it’ll search for the name of the bar and boom it’ll show you where it’s located.
Great to know
The stairs are always midship where the elevators are, port is left,facing bough,front ,of ship. Starboard is right facing front. Hallway by stairs always have room labels,like a hotel,just follow those signs. There are usually 2 sets of stsirs,both middle. Best way to find your room is find your muster station
On the NCL Prima it took the entire 14 days and I could finally get oriented after coming out of the elevator. There were NO CLUES - both sides were identical
Thank you. Great tips!
Thank you! This is such great info! Love your videos, Amazon storefront, and your guest spots on podcasts!!
Awe thanks so much!
We cruised on Virgin and they made everything so easy. Port side was “A” and starboard was “Z”. I also think they were red and purple. I watched many videos watched beforehand, hubby did not😂
I never have a problem navigating the cruise ships 🚢
Our local AAA office has told us “everything is online” and they don’t have maps, brochures, etc 🤷♀️
I'm not surprised. Even government offices are like that.
Love your videos.
Glad you like them! Thanks for watching ☺️
I always take a tour on the videos on the TH-cam channel So I will always have a general idea of the ship
This was good info thanks.
I hate when that happens! Trying to get somewhere, but you can’t get there from here!. So many times I have gotten to a dining venue, but the elevator doesn’t take you there in the mid ship is cut off. So frustrating lol
I would like to hear from other cruise line travelers if majority of ships are designed like Princess in that all elevators face the front of the ship (exception is piazza where they have a plaza set up - but usually two main elevators also will face forward). This makes it so easy to know port from starboard as you step off the elevators.
Hi Ilana! Great video as always, I’m directionally challenged so this is extremely helpful to me. 😊 Completely off topic….I dearly love your UCP and use it religiously. I always bring cash but on the first cruise I didn’t think about cash for tips (shuttle driver, porters, excursion driver/host) until the very last minute. I’m writing them on Port of Call Information page, but may I suggest adding it somewhere on your next update? Just a thought. Thank you for all you do!!
💕 love your channel
Thank you so much!! I appreciate you watching 👏
Do you have recommendations when traveling with someone that has mobility and visual difficulties?
Norwegian carpet fish swim foward
Isn’t that fun?
I have no sense of direction and get turned around even when I’m familiar with the ship. I often check the maps by the elevators.
Ilana...where do you get your cute maxi dresses? I love them!
Ilana do you have a link to the dress you’re wearing in this video?
Thanks for the helpful information once again!!
By the way, can you tell me on Norwegian, Are they very strict about the 50 pound weight limit for luggage?
Wonderful Wednesday 🎉
Same to you
I like your new haircut 😁
Which cruise line has the beautiful crystal staircase?
Don’t wait until day 6 to realize that the day of the week is in the carpeting of the elevators on some RCCL ships
Same for Holland America Line ships.
Are walkie-talkie needed on cruise ships?
On Royal Caribbean Quantum class ships, there is a good complimentary food venue, Cafe270 @ 270, aft, deck 5, which is very similar to The Park Cafe in Central Park on Oasis class ships. I have heard others comment, "Why didn't we know about this restaurant?" Some folks never get all the way aft to find it.
Yes, one of my favorites!
Like Disneyland and Disney World have a map that has little words written on it on all the different little areas that there are in one page not a whole bunch of pages lol
They have the tour the ship as an excursion Carnival the have 2 different one. 1 for handicapped and 2nd one for for people who can walk stairs.
Oh that is good to know, I am going to need that for my next cruise.
Fantastic!! Thanks for sharing this
I believe norwegian or princesses does not allow door decorations anymore
Just got off the Norwegian Gem a week ago and we had them. No full door type, but magnet signs were allowed.
We have been lost lots of times.
I book my cabins near the aft elevators.
Navy ships often have decks that can't be used to get from here to there 😂
I had a problem on a couple of cruises with orientation. It was on sister ships with Holland America, the Westerdam and the Oesterdam. On the second cruise, I was on the opposite side of the ship and I kept turning the wrong direction.
lol, I could see this happening to me
Video starts at 1:36
Yes, we know exactly what you mean... lol
Why don't they(The cruise liners)install onboard GPS-So a cruiser can download an app and use it to find around the ship, with help from this onboard GPS
On my first cruise I found things by accident
Wish there was on board GPS
We want to find our stateroom pretty shortly after boarding. Will they have a problem with me putting our magnet decor on the outside door even if the room isn’t ready yet? Would you recommend we find our steward before doing so?
Most ships the hallways are locked until rooms are open. Don't try to go to your room until they are opened. Its rude since stewards are working hard to get rooms ready.
@@tduck828 I understand. That makes sense. I guess because we have boarded in the afternoon in the past and never encountered a locked hallway before so I didn’t know.
@mamabar6811 yep hallways are closed and locked until rooms are ready. Sometimes people go around and try to find unlocked doors.
interesting that you can get lost on a cruise ship.