One thing some cruisers worry about is having enough space to store belongings in their stateroom. Space is often limited in a cruise ship's stateroom and having more people in a room can decrease the amount of available space. This blog post will hopefully give you some ideas help you maximize the space you are given in your cruise ship stateroom.

#1:  Use All Closets, Cabinets, and Drawers
          This may seem obvious, but make sure you use the available space you are given. Most cruise ship staterooms have cabinets, drawers, and some small spaces for you to store your belongings. Try to make use of these spaces first. Consider folding your clothes and stacking clothes to fit as much as possible in these spaces. If you are given a closet area to hang your clothes, consider hanging the clothes close to one another to maximize your rack space. 

#2:  Store Your Suitcase Under Your Bed, If Possible:
            If you can store your suitcase or bags under your bed, do it! This will help free up some space in your stateroom. If you do this, make sure you take your belongings out of your suitcase before putting it under the bed. Constantly pulling your suitcase out from under the bed can become a hassle if you have to do it each time you want to take something out. However, once the suitcase is under the bed you will be happy that you do not have to look at it constantly. Please note, not all suitcases are able to be stored under stateroom beds.

#3:  Use The Safe For Valuables, But Also For Storage: 
            The safe is commonly used to lock and store valuables that you do not want stolen. However, if you have other small things that need to be stored you may want to put these in the safe too. The only disadvantage of putting non-valuables in the safe is you will have to unlock the safe when you want to get these items out.

#4:   Store Toiletries In The Bathroom
            I have heard of some people using valuable stateroom counter space as a storage spot for toiletries. Instead, use the bathroom to store these things. Some stateroom bathrooms may have a small cabinet you can use to store some of your belongings, such as toiletries.

#5:   Don't Bring More Than You Need For The Cruise:
            If you pack more than you will need for the cruise you will be more likely to have a problem with storage space.  When you are packing, only pack things you know you will wear and need. You will be less likely to have a storage space problem when you get onboard your ship.

        Thankfully, most of my cruises have been spent with calm and respectful stateroom neighbors. There are many times when a cruiser will hardly know a person is staying in a neighboring stateroom. However, on some occasions, stateroom neighbors can be noisy and do things that disturb the cruisers staying around them. This article was not written to be any type of complaint, but is meant to share ways to not be a rude stateroom neighbor that disturbs others.

#1  Don't Slam Your Door Intentionally
            Sometimes accidents can happen and door loudly slams shut. However, there are some people that purposefully slam his or her stateroom door shut to be loud or bother someone. Slamming doors can include the stateroom's door into the hallway, bathroom door, or balcony door. 

#2    Don't Watch Your TV At An Above Normal Volume, Especially At Night
           I have read and heard about some cruisers turning a stateroom's TV to the top volume to annoy neighboring staterooms. Some cruise ships and hotels have a maximum volume cap on the TV, but most probably do not. People that purposefully turn their TV to the maximum volume run the risk of having security come to tell them to turn down the volume.

#3      Knocking On A Stateroom Door & Running Away
           This has personally happened to me and this is extremely rude & annoying. A few years ago, on the Carnival Triumph, someone kept knocking on my stateroom door and then the person would be gone within a few seconds before someone could open the door. This happened a few times during the cruise, mainly at night. Please don't do this! Do not forget that cruise ships could have security cameras at any area of the vessel and a camera could catch a person that is doing this. 

#4:     Keep Your Voice Down & Don't Stomp On Your Balcony 
            Balconies are usually not very private. Keep your voice normal or low, but please do not scream, shout, or holler. This will make others become annoyed with you and in some cases someone will yell back at you. Always keep in mind that your stateroom neighbor can hear what you are saying. Don't discuss private matters you wouldn't want someone else to hear. This last tip has nothing to do with cruise etiquette, but is a general tip I thought I would include.

            The majority of cruisers will not have a problem with the people in neighboring staterooms. However, there are always a few cases where someone has a problem with the cruisers next door. This article was meant to be a complaint, but instead inform you of a few ways people can act onboard a cruise ship.
           
         
           

        Many of us have friends and family members that have never taken a cruise vacation. Cruising is my favorite type of vacation and trying to persuade other people to take a cruise vacation is something I have done many times. While cruising is not for everyone, there are many non-cruisers that would probably enjoy a cruise vacation and they don't know what they are missing. This blog post contains some ideas & ways to get a non-cruiser interested in taking a cruise vacation in the future. 

1.  Discuss & Share Your Cruise Experience(s)
         Telling the person about all of your fun and positive cruise memories is one of the most powerful things you can do when you are trying to persuade a person to cruise. I would have probably never tried cruising if it wasn't for a neighbor that lived next door. My neighbor & her family went on a cruise and when they came back they told my family all about their experience. She told us about the food, onboard entertainment, and many different exciting things about cruising. If the person you are discussing cruising with becomes more interesting tell them you are willing to help them get starting with the booking process and you will be happy to answer any questions he or she has at any time.

2.  Tell About The Food
          A popular aspect of cruising is the food. Most traditional cruise ships have a variety of dining options, buffet food selections, and some type of food available at any hour of the day. When trying to persuade a non-cruiser to take a cruise, tell him or her about the food selections of a particular cruise line. Explain to him or her that most cruise ships have food options that are included in the price and other options that are not included. If you have any food photos from your cruises, consider showing him or her these photos. 

3.  Discuss The Variety of Cruise Options Available
         There are a variety of different cruise lines, ships, homeports, and places to cruise to. Tell the person you are trying to persuade about the options from the nearest cruise ship homeport. You can also explain that prices of cruising can vary depending on the ship, itinerary, and stateroom type. There are budget friendly options available to cruisers!

4.  Show Your Pictures
         Let the person you are discussing cruising with see your vacation pictures. Seeing a visual of your experiences, such as pictures, may make the prospective cruiser more interested and want to consider taking a cruise.

         These are a few suggestions of things you can do & say to a person that you think should try a cruise vacation. Keep in mind that everyone has different ideas when it comes to vacations and that a cruise is not for everyone. I wish you the best of luck trying to persuade someone to take a cruise!

        When you get onboard your cruise ship, you can often forget about your worries and problems on land. You may buy some gifts for people back home, some drinks, and other things that were not included in your cruise vacation's base price. However, when your cruise ends you will not be able to just leave the amount of money you owe onboard the ship. This amount you owe will leave the ship with you. Therefore, it is important you keep track of your vacation expenses and have the amount you will spend planned in advance. A cruise budget is a great way to plan your expenses and then keep track of how much you are actually spending. This blog post will give you tips for creating a cruise budget worksheet.


For my blank budget template:  Click Here  (Will Open As A Google Document. No Google Login Required)

I.  The General Basics of A Cruise Budget
             A budget is way for you to plan your expenses and then afterwards go back and see how much you actually spent. Detailed budgets will allocate specific dollar amounts to different aspects of cruising. Before you take the time to create a budget there is something you must understand. A budget is only good if you plan on following it. If you create a budget, but then disregard it and spend freely on your vacation it was pointless creating a budget in the first place. If you don't plan on following your budget you should not waste your time making one!

II.  Deciding On Dollar Amounts For Each Category
            The key to deciding on dollar amounts comes down to two essential things.  First, you need to know an approximate amount of how much things will cost. If a round trip airplane ticket is $500.00 per person you will need to budget that amount times the number of tickets you will have to buy. Don't forget to include your spouse, children, or anyone else you are paying for! You wouldn't want to only budget $100.00 per person for airfare tickets it the rate is much higher.  Being reasonable is important when deciding on amounts.  Don't plan on spending $10.00 at the bar when you know you will visit the ship's bar often for a drink.  This brings me to my second essential thing -know your personal spending habits. If you don't plan on visiting the bar you will know to budget no money to bar spending.  If you don't plan on visiting the casino you know you can budget zero dollars to the casino. However, if you plan on buying a lot in the gift shop you can plan on budgeting a significant amount to that category.  

III. After The Cruise
             After your entire vacation is over compare what you budgeted to the actual amounts you spent. This will help you see if you spent more or less than intended. You will also learn for next time how to create a budget that better fits your spending habits. 

          Galveston's cruise industry will have a shakeup of ships starting in the late fall of 2015 and into the spring of 2016. Both of Galveston's year round cruise lines, Carnival and Royal Caribbean, are making some ship changes that will increase the number of passengers sailing from Galveston's port. The Carnival Breeze will replace the Carnival Magic and the Liberty of the Seas will replace the Navigator of the Seas. Both ships will regularly depart on Sunday and sail on 7 day cruises (with a few excecptions), but the question always arises about which ship is better. My goal of this post is to help you compare the basics of these two ships.

            While both of these ships are of two different cruise lines, both have exciting things to offer Galveston's cruisers. I will be writing more on Galveston's cruise industry as time continues.