Modern cruise ships go by the nickname of been a floating city and that is with good reason as the biggest ships on the market has distinct districts and have everything that a city has to offer, just with the ability to float.

Just as when you arrive in a new city, you can easily get lost, when you board a new cruise ship for the first time, you can easily struggle to find your way around.

If you have cruised before and have stepped into the lift on embarkation day, or on the first couple of days, only to look confused and then ask a fellow passenger where the buffet is, this is the list for you.

I take you through what my top tips are for navigating your way around the next cruise ship you board like somebody who has cruised on the ship before.

Instead of been the cruiser asking where somewhere is, be the passenger guiding people from a to b.

Our Top 10 Tips For Navigating Your Cruise Ship

Watch Walkthroughs

This is something that I always do as I always learn and remember things better by seeing them visually and if you are the same as me, watching people take you on a walkthrough of the ship you are to set sail on can make things so much easier once you get on board.

When done well, these videos can help you to place where things are on the ship so that when you board, you can often recognise places once you get onboard the ship such as when you exit the central lifts in the atrium, you know if you need to walk through the atrium or not to get to the front of the ship.

Don’t forget that I create a full walkthrough video for every cruise ship I sail on which you can watch on the CruiseHols YouTube channel.

Keep The Lines App Handy

Cruise lines apps have made many parts of cruising so much easier, especially when it comes to the pre-cruise check-in process but when onboard, plenty of people want to switch off their devices and just enjoy been on holiday.

I am the same in many ways apart from quickly checking in with family but something I aways do keep to hand is the ships app as not only can you plan a schedule on that and get reminders for upcoming bookings but most also have interactive maps.

The best know where you are on the ship and you can tell it where you want to go and it will show you the route to do just that in the shortest way.

Don’t forget that most lines allow you to use the app without an internet package and you can turn your phone onto airplane mode, so you won’t get distracted by random notifications.

Study Deck Plans

For some, checking out their cruise ship before boarding spoils things, especially if it is a new cruise ship as you want to experience everything for the first time once you are onboard.

I do understand that point of view and if that is you, you will not want to do too much research before boarding but one thing that I would recommend is looking at the deck plans of the ship in the build up to your getaway.

They are great for helping you learn your way around the ship but they don’t spoil things too much for you before you board as whilst you will know where things are, you will have no idea of what things look like and won’t see any of those small touches that you find on a ship that really make the difference.

Memorise Key Places

There are always some places that you go to everyday you are on the cruise ship, depending on how you like to cruise, and if you know where those spots are, you will not only find straightforward to get to those, but you will learn the other places around them and know where they are.

If you tend to eat in the buffet or the MDR, learn where they are and if you have a favourite entertainment venue, such as the theatre or a lounge, learn where they are and you will take away the stress of finding those key spots and will be able to learn that the, for example, the pool deck is in front of the buffet and the piano bar is next to the theatre.

Learn Key Deck Numbers

Finding your way around a ship can seem daunting at first, especially when you see that there are 20 decks, each been around a 1,000ft in length and having multiple corridors, entrances and exits.

Thankfully, the bulk of those decks are just for staterooms, some will be areas you don’t need to visit such as the medical room and some on the upper decks will just house places you don’t need to go, such as flumes etc.

By just looking at the plans before you go, you can limit what you need to remember but by finding those places that you know you will need to visit, such as the theatre, the restaurant, the buffet and the pool deck and the decks they are on, it can take away lots of stress and confusion once onboard.

Be Aware Of Dead Ends

This one is a real pet peeve of mine as you can head down to a deck, set off in the right direction and then still cannot get to where you want to go to.

This is often when you are trying to get to a MDR that shares a kitchen with another one and that blocks the deck off, but it can just happen down to bad design.

Its always good to check in advance if your ship have any areas that you cannot get from one end of the deck to the other on and of course the way around that.

Stateroom Deck, Number, Zone

There is somewhere on a ship that you really need to know where it is as not only will you make multiple tris to it a day, but you may also have to find it when you are tired or after enjoying yourself on a night out.

Whenever you cruise, you will always see people get out of the lifts on their deck, set off to a corridor and then turnaround and head over to the other side of the ship.

We’ve all been there, but something I do that helps at least a little is to not only remember the cabin number and deck, but also the area of the ship it is.

So instead of remembering the room number and deck, I learn my cabin as 10242 mid port, or cabin number 242 in the port side of the mid ship area on deck 10.

Segment Up The Ship Using Lift Banks

Cruise ships are massive and having to find your way from the aft bar on deck 19 to the café at the front of deck 5 can be daunting.

To start with, you have to know the deck of the café, where it is at the front, mid ship or aft of that deck and then if it is on the starboard or port side.

Once you know all of that, you then still need to find it but something that I have always find useful is to segment up the ship and thankfully, this can be simple on most ships.

Normally, there will be a forward and aft set of lifts, which easily separates the ship into 3, which the largest ships often having a central bank as to separate things up into 4 areas.

Use Interactive Maps

In high traffic areas around the ship, such as next to lifts and staircases, most will know have large screen that sometimes will have information for things happening around the ship but once you touch the screen, it becomes an interactive map of the ship.

The better ones will let you tap your room key and then you can tell it where you want to go, it will know where you are and then show you the journey to get there.

If you don’t want to use your app, this is a great option.

Check For Hidden Clues In Carpets

For this one you don’t need to be a mystic or be the star of the next Dan Brown novel, but you just need to know what to look for.

Not ever ship or line does this, but one of the most confusing parts of a cruise ship can often be the stateroom decks, as they just keep going and both sides look the same.

You also need to turn a different way to your room depending on which lift bank or staircase you use and with no views to the outside, it’s no surprise that so many struggle to find there way around these decks.

The lines no that, and many have their own way of helping, so long as you know what to look for, with the likes of NCL having fish on their carpets with the way that they are swimming facing to the front of the ship and Princess Cruises who have red and green on the carpets to denote whether you are on the starboard or port side of the ship.

Next time you head to your room, check the carpets to see if there is anything hidden in the design, it may just be a gamechanger for you.