Lucy, I was a travel agent for 17 years. I always encourged my clients to purchase travel insurance. I do so myself as I take 2-3 cruises a year. There are good companies out there that offer various plans. Your comment about using a travel was spot on. Keep up the great work you're doing.

Great advice. My top 4 pieces of advice are arriving a day early, scheduling a later flight home, buying travel insurance, and I'd add getting a passport, especially if you're planning on making cruising or other international travel a regular part of your vacation life. There is no shortage of nightmare stories regarding people "stuck" in the Bahamas or some other port country with a medical emergency, etc. without a passport. It's a long, expensive project to get back home without one. And side note: disembarkation through Customs is a breeze with the new facial recognition software that they use in many ports for guests with passports.

Oh my goodness, I love watching your videos. My mum, stepfather and I were thinking of going on a cruise ourselves and being first timers, it’s kinda lovely to get the information “Straight From The Horses Mouth” as it were. Thanks so very much for sharing your experience and your journeys with your work.

Lucy, thanks for another great (and informative) video! Take care. Fair winds to you and Josh! 😀

I think I learn something every time I watch your videos. My Daughter and her Husband beat us to go on Virgin but they have way less bills than we do so were still saving money to go. Mostly because of your straight forward videos I must say.

Great video Lucy. Thanks to you and other content creators here on KZfaq, I didn't make the mistakes you reference here during my first cruise to Alaska earlier this year.

Thanks so much, Lucy! Great information. Safe travels ❤

Great tips! We love watching your videos.

i look forward to your videos every weekend

Lucy has always great advice. As to power strips it is the ones that have surge protection in them. If you think you will need more outlets then available, just make sure you search for Cruise approved as ship electrical wiring is different the land based wiring.

Im gonna be on your ship Jan 28 first time rcl been doing carnival. Like the vids keep making them

Well done, Lucy. The one thing I would add is to research the ship and the cruise line that you have chosen. Each line, each ship is different, and the more you know in advance, the more fun you'll have after boarding. It may be little things--are there 2 or 6 places you can choose for embarkation day lunch? Or bigger thigs--does everyone have a show time assigned or do we need to book a time? Do we have a dinner time assigned or how do we choose/sign up for dining? You Tube makes this SO easy now. And for flights home--follow the guidelines of your cruise line. They might say after noon or after 1....or even later depending on how far the port is from the airport, etc. But don't cheat on the time...you never know what could happen!

Lucy... The new hair is on point! ❤

I will be on Harmony 10-24 December 2023. Hope I get to meet you. Love your videos. It gives me info from a crew member perspective.

Lisa I absolutely love your content. You have given me so much insight on what Crew Life will be for me when I embark and i feel sooo ready! You have inspired me to not be afraid of my dreams because they might actually come true! Hope one day we may coincide during a contract.

Thank You Kindly! Take Care

I agree. Always use a good travel agent. We have used one for the last 23 years of cruising. We were guided by the TA to Royal and we love the ships. We tried Carnival one time with friends and hated it. We are definitely loyal to Royal.

All good points.

For the cruise I took with my wife, we did use a travel agent, but ended up on Carnival anyway. It wasn't the right line for us, but that's life. I did bring a power strip that wasn't confiscated, but never used it.

Royal has now changed the rules re wine bottles on embarkation day, It is now one 750ml bottle per a person, not max 2 in a cabin. Ie 4 adults in a cabin can have 4 bottles per a cabin, however one person in a cabin can only take one bottle onboard.

"You don't want to pay for an alcoholics drink package if you are not going to make the most of it." That was rather revealing from an employee's perspective. I've never heard it called an "alcoholics" drink package before. LOL Another great video. Thank you for the laugh.

Deployed in the late '90s to a new location with no infrastructure of our own. My mobile phone bill in a single month was £400. One of the guys was over £1000. The local mobile phone operators had basically jacked the cost per minute up by about 400% for any roaming users, without telling anyone, simply to make fast money.

Wine/beer rules vary by cruise line too - important to look up before you go if you're sailing on a line other than Royal Caribbean

Can u do a week in the life with what works like what u ear abs crew mess areas please

Booked my first cruise for me and my family by myself and it was great! No need for a travel agent

Lucy It’s called a surge protector.

Download deck plans of your ship from the internet. Study before boarding to get around the ship.

Some cruise lines have more to book precruiise or immediately on embarking than others. Royal and NCL are the strictest in this regard. Carnival, Princess, and Celebrity have little entertainment that's available to be prebooked.

Reputable independent shore excursion operators often will guarantee that if for any reason they don't get you back before the ship leaves, they will transport you at their expense to the ship's next port.

Lucy I will for you to say hi in a few weeks. Thanks

Missed saying hi last week when I was on Harmony (I rarely get into the shops). If you see Eka in the Schooner Lounge, please say 'Hi" from Pascale and Jeff!

lol, large mouthwash bottle with vodka and green or blue food colouring as appropriate, and carefully 're seal' the plastic wrap on the cap.

The plug thing -- extension cord or power strip is what most people would call it and I can understand why they would be banned... they are fire hazards (especially the cheaply made ones). You can use flight mode, or what I generally will do is turn off mobile data AND use flight mode. This ensures that if I accidentally turn off flight mode, it won't connect to anything (on most phones, you can still connect to wifi when mobile data is off). If you can afford it I would say to arrive a day early to where the port is, and maybe stay an extra night (so fly back the next day) for the same reason. If you leave an 8 hour buffer that should be fine, but I would still say leave the following day after you are scheduled to return. This is usually something I've done (not for cruises but when traveling or when I have a lot of connections when flying) to leave a buffer and it is handy sometimes, particularly if you are not flying bu say taking a multi-day train to the city where you will be flying out of. Having the buffer is helpful. Maybe not absolutely necessary the day before your cruise, but I would recommend it for when coming back (because you know when your cruise will be leaving and they don't leave early generally from the "home"/initial port).

Lucy sdh brapa tahun di cruse.saya pertama di cruse tahun 2007 saya melalu egen jakarta Indonesia.awal nya Europe Holland America LINE.2018 pindah ke royal Caribbean.syimfony of the seas.saya LG free selama 3 bulan.saya bangga kerja di cruse.amin.

Thanks for the advice! Q about staying in the embarcation port, for example if i board in barcelona, would arriving the night before and then staying up be okay as im in a budget or is it better to be there early the day before?

Visited medical facilities on Costa. Not that expensive, but those are European guys. 3 hours in their facility, two blood tests, one ultrasound, IV pain killers - 250 euros all together. 4 people were running around me precious :)

Also what job u doing on the ship

With regard to bringing alcohol on board on first day -- how would they know if you brought more than they allow? Do they search your checked bags?

Not all ships are the same, you will be charged corkage on wine and you can’t take soda on NCL.

Is there an age limit working on a cruise ship?

How much time off in a day does a retail employee gets in cruise ?

Lucy, do you like it when fans of your channel stop you in the hallway? 😄

700!!!!! damn that was a costly mistake!

please make a collabpration video w Jordan Bath

I'm sorry your parents had a rough time on Carnival

2:30 if you put your phone on flight mode you wont be able to use wifi to surf the net / use facebook

we need crew content :(