5 cruise tips and insider secrets to make your voyage smooth, fun, and the ultimate holiday at sea

Cruising blends relaxation with adventure. From smooth check-ins to insider tips, here’s why a sailing holiday offers endless views, comfort, and a truly effortless travel experience.

Published on: Aug 28, 2025, 11:30:22 IST

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Cruising has its own magic. Imagine waking up with the sea unfolding before you, spending your day exploring ports, and ending it in a cosy cabin. No unpacking after every stop, no airport queues – just floating comfort, delicious food, lively entertainment, and views that never get old.

5 tips for your next cruise vacation (Hindustan Times)

By Neha Ravi Khandelwal

Neha Khandelwal
Content Lead, HT Travel | Travel & Lifestyle Journalist
With over 10 years of content writing experience, Neha Khandelwal is a lifestyle journalist and the Content Lead at HT Travel. She specialises in destinations, hotels, aviation, luggage, travel gear, and practical guides that help readers plan smarter and travel better. Her work combines first-hand experience, expert insights, and extensive research to create stories that are informative, useful, and easy to follow.

Career Journey & Experience
Neha began her writing career as a freelance journalist in 2010 before entering mainstream media with The Times of India in 2022. She later joined Hindustan Times, where she has written extensively across travel, lifestyle, home, and consumer trends. Her professional background extends beyond journalism. Before moving into digital media full-time, she spent nearly a decade in interior design, managing residential projects from concept to execution. She also trained in visual merchandising with Shoppers Stop and Pantaloons and worked with women-led startups across design and operations. These experiences continue to shape her storytelling, especially in how she evaluates hotels, design-led stays, hospitality spaces, and travel experiences.

A naturally curious learner, Neha has completed beginner certifications in pottery, scuba diving, baking, creative writing, and other creative pursuits. She has read more than 2,000 books, trained in Bharatanatyam for 8 years, and ghostwritten a book on Ladakh tourism.

Subject Expertise
Travel is at the heart of Neha's work. She covers destinations, hotels, airlines, luggage, packing strategies, travel accessories, and emerging travel trends through a mix of reporting, product testing, and conversations with industry experts. A frequent traveller herself, she approaches every trip with a journalist's curiosity and a planner's mindset, focusing on experiences that readers can realistically recreate. From choosing the right cabin bag to decoding hotel openings and destination trends, her writing prioritises practical advice over promotional claims. Her background in interior design also gives her a distinct perspective on architecture, hospitality design, boutique hotels, luxury stays, and thoughtfully designed spaces.

Education & Professional Background
Neha holds a Master's degree in Interior Design. Her early experience in interior design, visual merchandising, and design operations gives her a unique understanding of aesthetics, functionality, and user experience, adding depth to her coverage of hotels, resorts, and travel spaces.

Editorial Philosophy
"As an avid, research-driven traveller, my goal is simple. To answer the questions you actually have before booking a trip. I cut through the promotional noise with honest reporting and expert insights. Making travel planning seamless, smart, and reliable so you always know where to go next."

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Here’s what keeps me hooked on cruising every time:

Cool comfort meets sea view: Sipping coffee in an air-conditioned cabin with a giant window while waves pass by. A lifesaver if you’re not into heat and sweat.
Secret chill spots: Hidden nooks where you can sit with friends or family while the ocean sails you along. Discover them on day one, and you’ll be lounging there after those buffet feasts instead of napping the siesta everyone else does.
See more, unpack less: Visiting multiple countries while sleeping on the ship? Forget the endless packing. On land, you’d spend more time lugging bags than enjoying destinations.
Buffet bliss non-stop: Breakfast, lunch, high tea, dinner, midnight snacks, and on Cordelia, they even offered sandwiches under the stars. Good food totally shifts the vibe of your trip.
Entertainment on board never disappoints: From Cirque du Soleil–style performances on Star Cruise to Tejas’s jaw-dropping magic on Cordelia and lively late-night dance shows, every night feels special. And let’s not forget the live music on the top decks and DJ nights in their indoor and outdoor party spots. There is so much to make it a party-cation!
Choose your vibe: Whether it’s beach days, safaris, whale watching or skipping excursions altogether, cruising gives you options. When the ship docks, most passengers head out, making staying on board feel like a private retreat or true luxury.

Cruise buffet experiences will change your vacation dining expectations to a whole new level! (Hindustan Times)

Here are five practical tips that make all the difference on board.

1. Take a good look at the ship’s layout/deck plan before choosing your cabin

The cabin you choose shapes your entire experience. Trusting your agent alone won’t cut it; check the ship’s layout yourself before choosing a cabin. Cabins under the pool deck can get noisy, and the ones near the nightclub or theatre may keep you awake past midnight. Mid-ship cabins are usually the most stable if you are prone to seasickness. A little homework here saves you from sleepless nights later.

Exploring the cruise will also help you find the perfect photo-taking spots! (Hindustan Times)

2. The top deck is not the fashion fiesta you imagined

Yes, the views are spectacular, but the top deck is breezy enough to turn your perfect hairstyle into a science experiment. Pack hair ties, scarves, or hats unless you want your holiday photos to feature a windswept look you didn’t sign up for. Outfits that work in still air may betray you up there, so dress with the breeze in mind. Pick shorts over skirts and long dresses with heavier skirt fabrics, or just skip the skirts and pick jumpsuits, playsuits or pants.

The breeze is inevitable on a cruise. Make it your best friend with shorts and tied-up hairstyles! (Hindustan Times)

3. Arrive early on day one

The biggest mistake many first-timers make is boarding late. Get there the moment boarding opens. The sooner you’re on, the more time you have to explore the ship before it gets crowded. Walk every deck, note the quiet corners, and check out the best outdoor spots before the sail-away party. By the time others are still figuring out the elevators, you’ll already know the ship like the back of your hand.

4. Bathroom realities nobody tells you

Here’s a not-so-glamorous truth. Most cruise bathrooms don’t come with bidets or health faucets. If toilet paper isn’t your comfort zone, pack a portable jet spray. It’s a small detail that can make your entire holiday feel more comfortable. Trust me, you’ll thank yourself for thinking ahead.

5. Bring the right tech

Cruise ships usually have European plug systems and charging points that feel slower than home sockets. Carry a universal adapter and a portable charger. Charge your power bank overnight and keep your devices running during the day without being stuck in your cabin. It’s the difference between capturing every sunset and watching your phone die halfway through.

Cruises can be overwhelming if you just wing it, but with a little preparation, they turn into the kind of trip you’ll always remember. From the right cabin choice to knowing how to beat the crowds, these tips ensure smooth sailing. After all, a holiday at sea should feel effortless, not stressful.

The author and her friends, on a cruise port excursion in Hambantota, Sri Lanka. (Circa 2023) (Hindustan Times)