I will say going on a cruise for 24 days, 2 back to back 12 day cruises, was interesting. What I learned.

• Load up your Kindle/tablet with books. I went thru more than 10 books on the trip. Or pack something of interest.
• Plan your clothes. We hit a low one day of 32, with wind. Even in the 60’s with wind, it’s cold out there.
• Get out there. The ship has a lot of activities. Unless you just want to rest, get out there and participate in something.
• Consider if you can do without internet. If not, plan on the cost.

The first one I think is self explanatory. Me, I love to read. I would relax in the evenings, before bed reading books. For me that means I read a lot. I loaded a combination of “purchased” books, and “rental” books. By rental I personally belong to Kindle Unlimited so I loaded all the available books of interested before leaving. I actually belong to Prime so I had some of those books loaded also. Total, I had about 20 books loaded. That might seem like a lot, but if you are a prolific reader, you can go thru that many. Now my companion did well for him. He read one book. For him, that’s a lot. He doesn’t read much.

One couple we met had a travel cribbage board with them. A lot of people had playing cards with them. Cruise ships tend to have an area with some sort of card or other games, including puzzles. So there may be options available on the ship. But there were not necessarily a lot of options – they had 4 puzzles. They had a couple of board games available too. But with a cruise ship full of people, that’s not a lot of options available. So there’s nothing wrong with bringing a portable game of your choice.

As for your clothing choices. I had expected cold and wet weather. I took a lightweight down packable jacket, and a packable rain jacket. I made a lot of use of both. A scarf and cap helped with the cold. The weather we left with was somewhat warm, no heavy jacket needed. Our first set of stops were in Canada. Those needed either a down jacket (for those cold natured), or a light jacket (for the more warm blooded). But then the weather got progressively colder.

Once we got off the coast of Greenland cold was the name of the game. And our stop in Greenland was cold. With wind – thank you. Jackets were needed. Even the locals wore jackets. So my down and rain jackets came in handy, as did the cap and scarf. I would have to say most people had jackets for the weather. But it is something you really need to prepare for.

Get out there. Do something. Don’t just sit and sleep in your cabin! My companion was reluctant to get out and go to the various events the ship had. He slept a lot. Yes, I’m sure he needed the rest, but I think some of it was just boredom. So either get out there, see what the ship has to offer, or figure out what you want to do, but do something. Even if the cruise had a lot of port stops, but especially if the cruise doesn’t, you need to get out.

There’s a lot of entertainment, our cruise even had speakers giving talks. We went to one movie (popcorn would have been nice, not available). Go play a game, officially or unofficially. One time we were sitting in a atrium and they began a music game. They played a short few notes, no words, and you had to name the tune, the group, and the year. We sat there, had some drinks (soda), and unofficially played. One time I went up to the crow’s nest and watched people play a trivia game. Watched, since I was alone, and came in after it had begun. But get out. Meet people. Do something!

Prior to leaving on the cruise I checked with my phone plan to see what was available for cruise ships. They had a plan, for 30 days, that allowed me texting and a little more. My companion choose to do without. That lasted half way thru the cruise. He’s very close to his family. He doesn’t do a lot of internet surfing, no social media, but he really had to be able to get in touch with his family. And since we didn’t have a lot of port stops, it was tough for him.

If you are very connected to your family and/or friends, or if something is going on at home, strongly consider how you will stay in contact. Even though my companion and I had different needs, and made different choices, we both needed to stay in contact with those back home. In the end, we both had deaths in our respective families, so having some sort of contact mattered. For my companion, half way thru the cruise he purchased a package from the ship. It was expensive, but his phone carrier didn’t have any options. I did well with what my phone carrier had.

Now as for the cruise – I loved it. Iceland is wonderful. Canada was wonderful. I’d move to either one. Greenland was amazing and cold. But wonderful fjords and icebergs. It was like a mini Antarctica. But with actual towns.

At one diner/pub in Greenland they had a sign. It said something to the effect of – We don’t have wifi. We talk to each other. I actually had to admire that. And people did, they talked.