I know dozens of people who have opted to take a cruise rather than the hotel/resort vacation.

They kept on telling me what I was missing: a new port every day; new sights and sounds; tours to go on; fantastic, fabulous entertainment every night; enough food to feed a few thousand people every day every hour of the day; activities galore; and charming, captivating, entertaining people to meet.

With a presentation like that, how could I resist?  How could anyone resist?

It was only a matter of time before I took the plunge and booked a 10-day Caribbean cruise.

A lot of cruises begin and end in Fort Lauderdale, including the one my wife and I took.

We got there about a week before the ship set sail, just to acclimatize and relax a bit. We were actually waiting for two other couples, veteran travellers. One of the couples had done more than 15 cruises.

At any rate, I am glad we went with a couple who had had experience on a cruise ship before.  They gave us rookies quite a few tips that actually made our trip a bit more comfortable and enjoyable. I just may pass on some of those tips to our readers.

The advice from seasoned cruisers was valuable from the very first. That is during the boarding of the ship, an extremely stressful, boring event that involves standing in line for long periods of time and can take up quite a few hours.  

First-time cruisers ordinarily have to wait to board, while seasoned cruisers are privileged, and usually can board much quicker.  Now, if I thought the boarding process was stressful and boring, you can imagine what it was like for the ‘unprivileged’ cruiser.

Of course, once people are aboard ship, their thoughts turn to food.

Now, imagine this.  Some people have been in line waiting to board the ship.  Boarding can start as early as 8:00 am.  But usually, by noon, a fair number of people have boarded, and as I said, their first thoughts turn to food.

It probably comes as no surprise to hear that food is plentiful aboard a cruise ship.  In addition to the buffets, there are small, specific little restaurants that can serve you casual food such as hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza and sandwiches.  There is probably food for twice as many people as there are on the ship.

But don’t get in the way when hunger pangs strike your fellow passengers.

The couple of times that we attempted to obtain a meal at the buffets, the scene there reminded me of a shark feeding frenzy.  

I have never seen such rudeness or impoliteness in my considerable years on this earth.  Some of these people consider it their right to barge into a lineup to obtain some item of food they desire.

So, one can either join in this “feeding frenzy” or attempt to feed at a different time or a different place. We found it easier to find another place to eat than to put up with this group of people.

There wasn’t anything special about the food, but it was easily available and there was plenty of it. So it’s not hard to see how some people overdo it and pack on the pounds even during a fairly short cruise.

But, there are other avenues to keep yourself occupied, so don’t just focus all your attention on the buffet.

Entertainment aboard the ship we were on was great. Choices ranged from nightclub-type entertainment, such as hypnotists and comedians, to live theatre to karaoke.  

Our ship also had a huge screen outdoors where movies were shown. Popcorn was served to the moviegoers.

You can try the shipboard casino if you want to further enrich the cruise ship’s owners or shareholders.

For the literary minded passengers aboard the ship, there was even a library, which contained about 2,000 books, along with board games and so on.

One would never be stuck with “nothing to do” on a cruise ship.  Pools were plentiful and deck chairs were to be had quite easily.

Suntanning seemed to be one of the most popular pastimes. Some of the people frequenting the pools could have shown better judgment in the type of bathing suit worn, though. Speedos are not the best choice for most of the population.

As recommended by the seasoned travellers, we opted for a cabin with a balcony.  It was quite pleasant to be able to go out on the balcony.

We enjoyed breakfast on the balcony. You can have room service deliver your breakfast to your cabin and you don’t have to put up with "starving" people at the buffet.

If you love to shop, on a cruise the possibilities are almost endless.

The ship itself had a number of shops to delight the well-heeled customer. So did every port we stopped at, some of the stores being exclusively for ship passengers.