Seasoned cruisers say you should know these 8 things before setting foot on your first cruise

• Taking your first cruise can be overwhelming, with so many things to do on board and at port stops.
• To help you prepare, seasoned cruisers on Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas shared their tips.
• They said you should snag pool chairs early and avoid flying in on the day your ship departs.

While packing for a cruise, try to keep it light, but make sure you have all the essentials.

Gallifrey said first-time cruisers would probably have the easiest time by choosing the last option.

Navigating ports can be confusing, especially if you’re taking transportation to your excursion, but if you book through the cruise line, you’ll be directed to exactly where you need to go. Some cruise-line excursions even include meals.

“If you are new to cruising and have not had experience arranging excursions, it is sometimes easier to go with the ones from the cruise line,” he said, adding that these excursions guarantee the ship would wait for you if an outing took longer than planned.

“Self-booked excursions are totally outside of this guarantee,” he added.

Some say there’s enough to eat, see, and do without spending more money outside booking your cruise.

Some cruisers told Business Insider that everything included in the ticket price is enough for a great vacation. You can eat at multiple restaurants on the ship, participate in games and activities, attend shows, and explore the ports at no extra cost.

“You don’t really need to spend another penny after you have paid for your cruise. There are plenty of awesome free shows, foods — including the main dining room — and things to do at every port,” Taylor said. “At ports, I roam around the shops and look at the artisan stuff made by locals.”

No matter how you spend your days off or on your ship, you should always read the daily cruise planner.

On Royal Caribbean cruises, attendants deliver the daily planner, Cruise Compass, to staterooms each night.

Escape rooms, sports games, dance classes, and karaoke are some of the scheduled activities that you’ll know about only if you read the Cruise Compass or check the Royal Caribbean app.

Vickie Carmody, a seasoned cruiser, said first-timers should read this planner. She said she skipped it during her first cruise and missed out.

“I was so bored because I didn’t know any better,” she told Business Insider. “I missed the welcome-aboard show, the Crazy Quest (a game-show-style scavenger hunt for adults on Royal Caribbean cruises), the poolside games like the belly-flop contest and sexiest-man contest, and a lot of the entertainment around the ship.”

If you want to relax by the pool, get a chair early in the day before people or towels have taken them all.

Franks said that by midday on most ships, people take up chairs on pool decks by saving them with towels. So she recommended getting up early to grab a spot at about 6 a.m.

There are rules against saving chairs on cruise ships, but Franks said she has rarely seen them enforced.

“It tends to be a bigger issue on larger ships, ironically,” she said. “The smaller ships go to smaller ports, so I guess people focus more on island excursions than the pool deck.”

From booking to packing to the cruise itself, these tips can help you make the most of your first voyage.

Without the stresses that come from overpacking, overspending, and getting lost on your way to your stateroom, your first cruise could be a breeze. Happy sailing!