So my family and I are going on a Christmas cruise! We board Friday afternoon in Miami, but I fly out of South Dakota tomorrow. We're travelling from Miami down through to the coast of Mexico and back up. I'm super nervous and I've never been on a cruise before.. I travel a lot and love to fly but something about being stuck on a boat (even if it's huge) makes me a tad claustrophobic. Does anyone have any tips or advice???

I would get some motion sickness stuff just in case!  Although some cruises do sell it on their ship, but I'm sure it'll cost more money!  Which Cruise line are you going on??

Regent :)

Awesome! I will be taking my second cruise the 28th of January! I do get motion sick so I took meclazine and that worked well and didn't make me drowsy. I also tried the SeaBands (https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Band-Wristband-Natural-Nausea-Relief/dp/B001F731N0) and they have really great reviews but all they did for me was give me a weird tan line haha. And usually I would only feel sick in the room or dining room, so I spent most of my time outside on the decks - which is what you wanna do most of the time anyway haha. As for clausterphobia, most of the time while you're on the ship it just seems like you're in a hotel. Plus, depending upon your stops along the way, most days you're not on the boat all that much. Honestly, plane rides give me more clausterphobia haha. Everything about cruise ships are big and open and wide. What kind of room do you have? Is it an interior/window/balcony?

Sounds super exciting!  Are you planning to post some pictures ? :D

Cruises are so much fun!

It's basically like a giant hotel and once you're on board you mostly forget that you're on a boat. Not sure which cruise line you're going with, but in my experience, they've got all of the rooms underneath, and then the "main" floor has the ballrooms and restaurants and gift shops and theaters, and then the top deck has the pools and more restaurants. Plus you'll be able to get off every couple of days when you dock.

Definitely get some dramamine though, because if you hit rough water, it'll be hard on your equilibrium. For the most part it's so big that you don't even really notice you're moving if you're not looking out a window, but I did get tossed into a wall one time, haha.

Hope you have a blast! Take lots of pictures and eat all the things :).

I've never used Regent, but always loved their commercials :P

When we did Carnival, they let us bring like a pack of water, not sure what the policies are for Regent!

No advice, I haven't been on a cruise. But I hope you have a wonderful time :)

Paints since 6-8-14