CRUISE SHIP HACKS,TIPS, AND TRICKS

With the cruise ship expanding faster than America's waistlines, I felt I needed to do an episode on tips, tricks, and hacks that most seasoned cruisers don't know. Which ones surprised you and do you have any that I didn't list?

Transcript

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Well good morning. It is June the 29th, 2026, and straight from the Highly Caffeinated Studio, this is According to Wheelie B, and today we're gonna take a look at cruise hacks. Now, we're getting right into the big smack dab middle of cruising season. Uh kids are getting out of school and everybody's got that cruise plan. And if you are already on a cruise ship, maybe you'll get some of this info. If not, but your cruise is coming up, then I hope you will stay tuned to the end of the show because there are a lot of hacks that surprise me that a lot of people don't know. And even if they've been on never been on a cruise or if they've been on tin cruises, sometimes there's hacks. I every time I cruise, I learn things that I didn't know that. And I put that in my little brain storage compartment for future cruises. So let's break it down and take a look at it. But it always amazes me because some people have been on tin cruises and they still make rookie mistakes. Not because they're not smart, just like me. I continue to make mistakes like this. It's because nobody ever tells you this stuff. Now, cruise lines are not exactly standing at the gangway handing out a brochure that says, here's all the ways that you can save money while you're on board. No, what they try to do is just the opposite. They want to gladly sell you a $16 margarita while you're standing there wondering why your phone battery is dead. So today I'm giving you cruise hacks that I wish somebody had told me years ago. Let's go. So let's start inside the cabin. Here's one that still surprises people. And it it caught me off guard. I don't know why I didn't even think of this. But most cruise ship TVs have a live USB port on the back of the TV. Therefore, you can charge whatever device you have through that USB port. Because who watches TV anyway? So before you panic, because every outlet is full, reach behind the television and boom, there's a free charging port. No fighting over outlets, no unplugging your spouse's CPAP machine unless you're feeling brave. Okay, here's another. Don't shove your suitcase in the closet. Now I have had friends travel with this, and I've seen all sorts of ways people get creative to store their suitcase after they take their belongings out of it. Check this out. Instead of putting it in your suitcase, open it flat, slide it under the bed, and now what you've created is an instant pull-out storage drawer from both sides of the bed. You're welcome. Your cabin suddenly feels twice as big, and it's one of those things where once you do it, you'll wonder why you spent the first three cruises climbing over luggage like you were training to be an American Ninja Warrior. Oh, and don't forget, those cabin walls, most of those are mag or metal. So those little magnetic hooks that you brought, you did pack them, right? Well, those increase storage like you've never seen. And if you didn't pack them, I put them right next to the small rechargeable fan. You brought that too, right? See, these are some things that could really help make your cabin more comfortable. Now let's talk about some first day hacks. The very first thing I do is put the air the phone in airplane mode and then connect to the ship's Wi-Fi. Because if you think that roaming charges can be bad when you're on land in the US, you have not seen roaming charges until you've experienced them at sea or in some foreign country. Now, if you have a history of motion sickness, if you've gone to a theme park and you've gotten sick on any kind of ride, even a little queasy or in a car, I would recommend taking something like drumamine. Now, I'm not a doctor by any means, but it's better to take the C sick medication before you get sick. Trust me. I fortunately have never had to rely on that, but I it's one of the few things. But I'm very fortunate that I don't get C-Sick or motion sickness. Unless you put me in a teacup and spin me around at one of those amusement parks, then all bets are off. But on the first day, I walk the ship. Not because I need the exercise. Okay, maybe I do. But Lord knows a buffet is about to undo all of that. I do it because I want to know where everything is: the restaurants, the pools, the coffee. I gotta know where that's at, the theater, and of course the casino, which somehow everyone managed to find in under three minutes. Here's another navigation trick. Sometimes if you just have your some sort of bearing about the ship, it can help you. And most ships are laid out the same, not all of them, especially with some of the new mega ships that are coming out. But the main dining room is usually toward the back of the ship or the aft AFT. And the theater is usually towards the front. And if you'll remember that, you'll never feel completely lost because you at least have your bearings. You can say, Well, hey, we want to go to this, and I remember it was back by the dining room, or hey, we want to go see this, and I remember it was up by the theater. So now you know which end of the ship to start going. Because let's be honest, nothing makes you feel more confused than ending up on deck four when you were trying to get to deck 15. All right, pretty much all cruise ships that I know of have this, they have an app. Make sure that you download your cruise lines app before you ever leave home. Just trust me on this one. I I would not steer you wrong, but download that app before you ever leave home. Because most cruise lines they'll have all the schedules and the dining and the reservations and the activities, and who wants to miss the belly flop contest at the pool? I mean, come on. And then there's deck maps so that you can see where you're at and where you're headed. And most of them, not all, I've found out that there are a couple out there that don't support this, but most cruise ship apps include free messaging between like your family members. So there's no expensive, there's no expensive Wi-Fi required. So this is one of the best tools you'll use all week. Oh, and that little plastic card that they gave you to access everything from your room to you know, charging a drink or whatever the case may be. I'm telling you, if they give you, if your cruise line uses those cards, if it doesn't have, and I would go prepared, if it doesn't have the little hole punched into the card, the little plastic card, then where you could put it on a lanyard, then you could always get one of the little metal rings and any kind of craft or hobby store, and then those plastic card holders, and now you are ready for whatever they throw at you. Because we all know that that little plastic card to give us, while it might get us in and out of our room to take a nap, it also can produce a bill the size of something that Congress would pass by the end of this cruise that they're gonna try to put up under your door. So there is that to think about. So just remember take that lanyard with you and go prepared with a card holder and the little metal ring. Now, let's talk about money-saving hacks because that's one of the best ones we're looking for, right? Let's say you're in the main dining room and you're craving a steak, but you didn't book any of the specialty dining. If you ask your main dining room server, most cruise lines have the option, may not be on the menu, but they have the option for you to order a steak. Now, sometimes on some cruise lines, they may charge you a few extra dollars, but you will still get your steak and you'll get it without paying the specialty dining prices. Uh, so there's there's a hack. If you if you're a big meat eater like me, I'm a meat and taters guy. You can always you'll be surprised sometimes at the things that you can ask for in a main dining room. And it's like, hey, do you have it's like, uh, do you have red gummy bears? Uh yes, we do. I was like, really? Wow. Okay. So speaking of saving money, when you book your cruise, seriously, watch the website. Keep watching your cruise price. Do at least I would say the closer when you when you get within 90 days of sailing date, check your cruise price. Go on the website and try to book that same cruise that you're going on every single week. I know that sounds like a pain, but here's the thing sometimes those cruise prices can drop significantly. Now, if it does, what do you do? If you book through a travel agent, well, then you call your travel agent and say, Hey, I noticed the pro the price on this cruise dropped by $400. What can you do? A lot of times, either the uh travel agent or the cruise line will say, Well, we can give you uh a this discount, or we can give you an onboard credit. For me, I always ask for onboard credit. So once I start that inside 90 days cruise price check, if my cruise drops, let's say it drops by $50, I'm gonna call the cruise line. I'm gonna say, hey, I see this cruise drop by $50. It's $50 less than when I booked it six months ago. Is there a way that I could get a $50 onboard credit? Now, the worst they can say is no. Uh and once you've once you've made uh the final payment, sometimes those things change. But like I said, the worst they can say is no. So always, always ask. Uh, and a lot of times after you've done your your final payment, they won't discount the price of the cruise, but they will give some sort of onboard credit. So there's there's always the best practice to ask because let's say the cruise drops $400, but you've already completely paid your cruise off. Well, now you can go in and say, Well, can I get an onboard credit? And they may say, sure, we'll give you a $50 onboard credit. That doesn't really take the sting out of the $400 price drop that you never had in the first place, but now you have a $50 onboard credit that you didn't have before. So it never hurts to ask. Here's one people overlook. Now, this one's not for everybody, but a lot of people do not know this. If you have one cruise line in particular that you like to cruise on and you cruise regularly, look into buying stock into your favorite cruise line. Now, when I say this, I'm talking at least 100 shares. So for today's purposes, if I was to buy 100 shares of Norwegian cruise line stock, it would cost me about $2,100 and some change. But what does that get me? It could mean anywhere from $50 to $250 on board credit every single sailing. And it depends uh largely on the number of nights of your cruise. So if it's, for instance, if it's less than seven days, it's probably $50. If it's say seven to 13 days, it's probably you know the hundred, hundred and fifty dollars. And then if you get up to let's say 14-day plus cruise, then you're looking at at least $250 on board credit just for owning the stock. This is not financial advice, this is just cruising advice. All right, so booking hacks. So you want to save money on your next cruise. You already think you're already excited, and you're thinking about taking, believe it or not, there are people that book a cruise and they turn right around and they book another cruise, or they're on a cruise and they book another cruise, you would be surprised. This is why the cruise industry has just gone insane on growth. Uh, this is why they're building ships faster than they can uh sail them out. Um, if you want to save money on your next cruise while you're on board your cruise, so you're on vacation, things are going great, and you go to the desk and you book your next cruise while you're sailing on this cruise, you will be amazed at the amount of extra incentives the cruise line will throw at you, reduce deposits, onboard credit, special pricing. And if you already know you're cruising again, it can be worth it. But here's another thing you can also uh ask for uh onboard credits and and those types of things while you're while you're on board travel agents, don't ignore travel agents. That's why I promoted uh destinations by Danny, she's really good at what she does. I personally, because I've traveled so much, I don't use travel agents, but there are incentives and pricing and onboard credits and perks that travel agents have access to that even I cannot access. So sometimes it pays to shop around. So when you book a cruise or you book any vacation, shop, shop, shop. Go to the go to that cruise lines website or the resorts website, whatever the case may be, and shop that shop that vacation. Get that pricing, get everything that's included with it, put that on a piece of paper, call a travel agent, say, hey, I'm looking at taking this. Uh, and you don't have to tell them that, hey, I've already priced this out, so be careful what you quote me because I know you're you're doing this as a research tool. So you go online, you do your you do your homework, you find the best price you can find online, you go to the website, you call the excursion or the uh cruise line, or you call that resort. Hey, I'm looking to vacation on August the 14th through the 19th. What's what's their best deal that I can get on this particular date, this particular room category, break it all down for them, see what price to give you, and say, okay, I'm just shopping around today, but thank you for uh letting me know this information. Then go to a travel agent, say the same thing. Hey, my family is considering this vacation on this date in this room package. You know, what's the best deal you have? And write down all the perks and stuff that they can get you. And then at the end of the day, you compare notes to all the pricing that you got, and then that's where you go back and you book your trip because it's all about not trying to empty your bank account while taking a family vacation. But don't over never ever overlook a travel agent because they do have a lot of perks that they can get that uh nobody else has access to. And I promise you, the cruise line won't offer you as well. Okay, excursions. Now, these are these little trips that you get to take while you're in port. Now, learn from one of my mistakes, please. I remember the first, I would say two to three cruises I did, I did not book online. I booked while I was on the ship. Here's the problem with that. One, you're on the ship, you're ready to get your vacation started. Instead, you're standing over there in a line that's longer than the one for the buffet. And if you think the guy can't that that couldn't decide between uh pizza or pasta was taking his time making a decision, stand behind the person in line at the excursion desk that can't decide between the only two excursions offered in port. So learn from my mistake. Book online well in advance of your trip. Once you book your trip, once you pay that deposit, start looking at those excursions for our trip upcoming in the fall. We've already got all of our excursions booked, we've already booked our transportation in between airports and and hotels. All of this is already booked. I will tell you this. Please listen to me here because itineraries on ships can change constantly. We've already had two cancellations or changes in our itinerary on the ship that we booked months ago. I'll tell you one even further than that. Our airline has already changed our flight that we booked months ago, has already changed our flight four times. Now, what do you do? Do you get out of bent out of shape and get mad? No, you roll with the punches because this is part of traveling. And you're like, okay, well, now we're if we're not going to this port, where are we going? And the changes in itinerary on uh uh NCL or Norwegian, they took our on one of our ports that got changed, they took the uh excursion we booked, canceled it, and then rebooked it for the new port that we're going to. So how cool is that? So just take it with a grain of salt and and and try to you know work through it the best you can. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it's a disappointment, but don't let that ruin your entire vacation. Because I promise you, that may not be the only change in a terror in an itinerary that you see before the end of your trip. Then there's the story of if you wait till you're on board, there's a lot of those excursions that are already sold out. Um, so because one day you could be standing there watching everybody else head off on the excursion that you wanted while you're left wondering if walking around the pier for three hours counts as sightseeing. I I promise you, please take that to heart. Um but you know, this is something that new cruisers don't expect. Ports change, weather happens, mechanical issues happen, government restrictions happen. I'm seeing this one more and more where a certain country or a certain port can say, hey, we've got this issue going on, so we're not going to allow any cruise ships today, or we're not going to allow any cruise ships on July the 14th for whatever reason. And they may not even give a reason. So then the cruise line doesn't have any information to give you, other than, hey, we were gonna go here, but we've been told no. And this can happen even after you board it, so don't let it ruin your vacation, just go with it. Some of my best memories on cruises are happening ports that I never planned to visit, I promise you. All right, going back to saving money. If you're going to gamble anyway, if you're gonna go in that casino on the ship and play, use your player's card because there are two ways that they track your play in a casino on a ship. So if it's say Caesars, there Caesars is going to track your play, and then the cruise ship is also gonna track your play. And what they do is you would be surprised at how little you have to gamble to receive future discounts on cabins, on board credit, and it's much better than people realize most of the time. And if you're already playing, you might as well get credit for it. All right, I save the biggest one for last because it's the most controversial. It's the famous drink package debate. Everyone wants someone to tell them, yes, buy it. That's the smartest decision you'll ever make. Or don't buy it. Here's my opinion, and that is just exactly that. This is my opinion. There is not One correct answer because every cruise line prices them differently, and every cruise line has different rules. So research your cruise line and then ask yourself Am I really going to use it enough? How many port days do I have? How many at sea days do I have? Because that makes a huge difference. Read the rules on every drink package that you intend to buy, because I assure you, every cruise line is different, especially on their rules, depending if you're on port or not, in port or not. So if you're buying it just so you don't feel guilty, you may spend your vacation drinking 12 margaritas just because, well, you didn't want to feel left out. But your drink package should not fit your vacation and not become your vacation. And most cruise lines allow a reusable cup. My only suggestion on that one is I don't remember, I don't recommend taking a Texas size cup. Got to think about this. You're going to be dragging that around constantly. You're going to be keeping up with it. You're going to be packing it in your luggage that you already don't have a lot of room for as it is. So just keep in mind about what size reusable cup that you take. Do I recommend them? Yes. If your cruise line allows you to take a reusable cup with a lid, absolutely. I think it's a way to keep your drink clean, safe, and recognizable. That way it's not just that little clear plastic cup that somebody could incidentally think is their own. And yeah, you don't want that. So there is there is that. Well, you know how expensive Starbucks is. So it makes sense for them just on the Starbucks drinks alone to buy the drink package. Uh, my wife drinks Diet Dr. Pepper. Now, it may not be Diet Dr. Pepper out on the cruise, it's rarely some other Diet Pepsi or something like that. But nevertheless, she drinks a lot of soda. So, with for her, it also makes sense because those sodas can add up. So, it's not just the alcohol drinks that are included on these drink packages. And I cannot stress enough check the rules and on your drink package that you're looking at, because every cruise drink package is different, it has different inclusions, it has different exclusions. So just don't be caught blindsided at the end of your trip when you get this bill that looks like something from the Library of Congress. Okay, so in closing, cruising is one of the favorite ways to travel in today's times. People are absolutely gone bunkers over cruises. Cruises are not my favorite way to travel, but they are fun. They do have their own pros and cons. But the little things, those insider tricks, the um little ways to make your trip better can make a difference between a good vacation and an incredible one. If you've got a cruise hack, I'd love to hear it because just when I think I've learned everything, somebody shows me another trick, and I've realized that I've been doing it the hard way all along. So until next time, do not forget to caffeinate and conquer, and I'll see you right here behind this big old mic. I'll have a great day. Bye bye.