Panther Press reporter Kaylee Godshall shares her experience and provides tips to make your cruise trip goes smoothly.
Don't over pack, but definitely bring a lot of outfit options.
Since this was my first cruise, I had no idea what to pack or what anything would be like. I packed a duffel bag and a backpack. There was enough clothes for how long my vacation was and even some extra. I stress over my outfits all the time, and mostly hate whatever I originally picked out. I had no other options besides what I brought, and now I know to always pack options. I’m not sure how I would be able to bring any extra though, getting onto the ship, I only had to carry one of my bags and the people who work on the ship took my other one. Getting off the ship was not the same story though. I had to carry both bags and they were so heavy. It took around an hour to get off the ship, but when we got off we had to stand in a super long line for 2 hours and it was continuously moving, so I didn’t think there was any point in putting my bags down. I would recommend bringing a suitcase or something you don't have to carry yourself, and you can just roll on the ground.
Keep your airplane mode turned on.
I got in so much trouble for this one. My mom bought the WiFi for me and the rest of my siblings, but it didn’t work that well. It kept messing up, I turned my airplane mode on so I would have service. I didn’t think it would do anything, but I overheard my brother getting in trouble for doing the same thing I did. When we got to the Bahamas I didn’t have any service or WiFi because we weren’t on the ship, and my data worked. I kept turning my airplane mode on and off all throughout the week. That was until Thursday; I got a text and so did my mom. It told me I had over $100 in international charges and that my data was suspended and wouldn’t even work until I got home. My mom was so mad at me, and I was in trouble for the rest of the night. I had to wait until we got off the ship and got through security before I could call AT&T and restore my data.
Make as many friends as you can.
Most of my time on the cruise was spent with my little brother. He’s pretty funny and is my friend, but I wanted to make friends my age on the cruise. I was so scared to talk to anyone. I’m the most awkward person ever, and I’d rather sit in silence than try to talk to someone I don’t know. I only made friends the last day I was on the ship. The first friend I made was when I was playing volleyball. I made a few other friends that night when the cruise ship had a movie playing. Everyone I talked to was so friendly, that I don’t know why I was so scared to talk to people. I regret not making any friends until the last day; I know I would’ve enjoyed my cruise a lot more with friends.
Don’t buy everything you see.
In the Bahamas, there are tons of stores and people on the streets trying to get you to spend your money. Mostly it’s all the same things. The souvenir stores have the basic things; overpriced shirts and hoodies, bracelets, cute little bags, and other knick knacks. There are people that’ll go up to you to give you a “free bracelet”, then get you to make a donation. They’ll literally put it on your wrist then won’t leave you alone until you make a donation. Every 5 minutes someone asked me if I wanted my hair braided or if I wanted to buy something they had. I just told them I had no money and they left me alone real quick. Every souvenir store was about the same. All I got was a sweatshirt from the Princess Cays and a bracelet for me and my brother. I would say most things to buy there aren’t worth it, even if you get it to remember your trip.
Be present.
Oftentimes, I can be sucked into my phone instead of the world around me. Of course that wasn’t much of a problem with me because I didn’t have any service. Since I couldn’t really do anything on my phone I just people watched. I noticed that just about everyone was on their devices. There were people taking pictures, watching shows, speaking with family, or reading a book online. There isn’t anything wrong with any of those things, but people did these things the whole time we were on the beach. I think it would have just been better for them to take a second and enjoy themselves and the fact that they’re in the Bahamas. Even kids were on devices, when I feel like they should be playing. Everyone was so focused on their phones, they didn’t pay attention to their surroundings. Traveling can be a fun and dangerous experience. It’s sketchy in some places where I went to and someone could have easily been kidnapped or something of the sort. If you’re always on your phone, you don’t watch other things and that could turn out to cause a serious problem.