About 12 years ago, my wife took our first cruise together. We enjoyed a fabulous week in such Caribbean hot spots as Martinique, St. Martens and St. Thomas. We traveled aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line. Although we got lucky, because we simply relied on a travel agent whom we didn't know to make all the arrangements and we still had a great time. I recommend taking some time to plan out a cruise. Before you finalize any plans, it's a good idea to understand the basics about cruise lines.

When you take a discount cruise, your cruise price includes shipboard accommodations, meals, and most entertainment aboard the vessel. However, most cruise prices do not include organized shore excursions, alcoholic beverages or carbonated soft drinks. These costs can really ring up fast and get quite high, if you're not keeping track of what you do and how much you drink. As you first wander the ship after you have checked into your cabin, you'll likely be offered a tropical drink by one of staff. If you accept, which most people do, because you're on vacation and the drink looks so good, you simply sign for the drink or drinks. It's wonderful and so easy, except that at $8 a drink x 2, the total cost of these drinks over a week long cruise can add up to over $500. Other additional costs on a cruise include, photographs, gratuities (which are automatically added to each drink you purchase), spa and beauty treatments, medical services, casino expenditures or other miscellaneous items you may purchase on board.

Discount cruises offer two different cabin views, an inside view and an ocean view. An ocean view room will have a window or porthole above the water line. An inside cabin will not have a view, in place of the window there will be artwork or draperies. If you're the type that needs to look out your window to see the ocean at any time (or simply view some daylight as is my case), you'll pay a little extra than the cabins with no view at all. Which cabin you prefer is simply a matter of personal preference. I've had both and I can't say that my cruise was any better because I had a view out a small porthole.

There are many on and off shore activities available on a discount cruise. Although, you do not need to participate in any of these activities, they really make the cruise both fun and exciting. The beauty of any cruise, is that you can do what you want, when you want. There are typically activities planned for almost every hour of the day that will cover a wide range of interests. Over the years, we've enjoyed water sports, shopping, tours of interest, hiking, eating fine local cuisine and much more. Unless you've visited a particular island on a previous discount cruise, I recommend getting off of the ship and touring the ports of call with groups from the ship. It's not only an excellent way to enjoy yourself on your cruise vacation, you can also make some new friends. However, if you wish to relax and watch the clouds while you stay onboard the ship, you can do that as well.

Discount Cruises have a lively night life. Sometimes it's so lively, that I had no choice but to stay on board the following day to recover from my fun. Most large cruise ships offer dancing, live entertainment and even comedians. Almost all ships have casinos and most lines have elaborate Broadway or Vegas-style shows as well.

Smoking on cruise lines is pretty similar to smoking anywhere. Most ships have a designated smoking area in the dining room or onboard the ship. In some cases, the dining rooms are completely non-smoking. Smokers typically have a designated area in the lounges and can smoke in certain areas on the open air decks as well.

You can start to board discount cruises about four hours before departure. All passengers must be on board at least thirty minutes before the ship sets sail.

There is no bad time of the year for discount cruises. It mostly depends on when you want to go on vacation. However, the summer months tend to be the most crowded, so if you can vacation in the offseason, you may be able to get yourself a deal. Also, it's important to recognize that many cruises are seasonal. Although Caribbean discount cruises and Mexican Riveria cruises are year-round, the only time you can sail Alaska is from May until September. Discount cruises to Bermuda are limited to April to October and cruises to Europe are between April and November.

Most cruise lines offer a children's program with daily activities for children aged three and up. It is usually divided by age levels and all activities are age-appropriate. There are some discount cruises that offer group babysitting for smaller children in the evening and some offer in-room babysitting for an hourly fee or typically in 3 hour blocks.

In the event that you need to cancel your cruise, you will have to refer to the cruise lines' cancellation policy. It is the responsibility of the passenger to understand the policy and penalties for cancellation. You will incur higher penalties if you cancel near the date of the cruise. In addition to fees to the cruise line, you may also end up owing your travel agent a nominal cancellation fee. Because taking a cruise vacation can be quite expensive, I recommend considering insurance to help protect yourself in the event sudden illness or another unforeseen problem forces you to cancel.