Shore Excursions
For each port of call that you visit you will have the opportunity to choose from a multitude of Shore Excursions anything from Historical Highlight Tours to Kayaking & Snorkeling Adventures. You’ll notice that for many of the ports the excursions will be very similar! The companies are being endorsed by the cruise line. In the last few years, they’ve added the option of being able to view and book your excursions online before even getting on the cruise. This is quite convenient and important, because many of the excursions book fast. Although, Rob and I sometimes play it by ear, especially on a long cruise, where we’ve already booked a couple excursions for the first ports of call and are not sure if we will have the energy to do more excursions. You do have the option to book them up until like 24 hours before reaching the port of call.
Is booking shore excursions required? No way! You can always get off the ship at the port of call and be spontaneous. Walk around, find something you wanna do, find a beach to sit on for the entire day, swim, relax, site-see, whatever!
My recommendation would be to book a shore excursion for your first port of call, to get a feel for what it’s like, and see how it all works. As you get the hang of it or if you continue to go to the same port of call on multiple cruises like we’ve done, we just play it by ear. Heck! Some people never get off the ship!
Carnival’s Shore Excursion Site
Royal Caribbean’s Shore Excursion Page
Cashless System
Cruises have a very convenient way for you to pay for things on the cruise. They have a cashless system which can be done 2 ways.
1) You can have a credit card on file that everything will be charged to at the end of the cruise.
2) Pay money up front to cover your charges, kind of like a debit card.
When you fill out your cruise documents there will be one page that explains this and gives you the opportunity to show which option you’d like. When you check in you will get your card, which will be like your credit card. So anytime you get a drink or buy something in the gift shop you show them the card, so that way they know what account to charge it to. This card also serves as a type of ID through out the cruise, so carry it with you at all times. The card that Carnival uses is call your Sign and Sail Card, Celebrity’s is called the Celebrity Signature Account card, Royal Caribbean’s Card is called the SeaPass Card. While this cashless system is easy and very convenient, like I’ve mentioned before, it’s very, very easy to lose track of the charges your racking up! Your room steward will slip a bill under your door usually half way through the cruise and the last night of your cruise. This is helpful, but sometimes daunting, if you’re not careful.
Here’s a couple Sign & Sail Cards (obviously from Carnival)
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