Thread: wonderful Xmas present

Hi everyone
My mum and dad surprised me over christmas by giving me a present of a cruise holiday. It's actually a Xmas come birthday present as I am 21 in November this year.

I am meeting up with my American cousin in Miami to cruise on the Emerald Princess on 8th May to cruise around the Caribbean for 16 nights. Neither of us have cruised before and I have a number of questions that some of you may be able to answer.

Will we be able to make friends on board as I don't really know my cousin that well and it would be nice to talk to others over the 16 days? Will there be others our age (I am 20 and my cousin is 21)?.

How fussy are cruises? what should I wear in the evenings at the dinners? Apparently I can only pack 23kgs so I want to make sure I take the right things.

Answers to my questions would be great and I would love yo hear from anyone that is going on the same cruise and perhaps correspond before we sail

Thanks
Jody

Many of the American colleges will still be in session (or have finals) that week so it could be possible that there's not that many 20 year olds (unless some aren't in college). A few weeks later, it could be very different as to the demographics.

As for dressing for dinner, there will be three formal nights and the rest smart casual. For smart casual, you should be able to wear sundresses, skirts capris, that type of dress. You probably won't be bringing jeans for that type of weather unless you're going on an excursion that would need jeans.

For the formal nights, you can think of clothing that you would wear to a wedding or a very nice restaurant. Some women will wear long gowns, but you'll find some wearing cocktail dresses, silky pantsuits, little black dresses too. Often you can wear something simple and dress it up with accessories. Maybe take a long skirt and bring three glitzy tops and you've got all three nights covered (no one will know you're repeating an outfit anyway). Not knowing your cousin's desires ahead of time, it'll be hard to guess whether or not she wants to skip one of the formal nights and eat in the buffet (some of the same food will be there, but you don't have to dress up). Another option is to eat in the specialty restaurant (has a cover charge, but it's smart casual ).