“It’s like a cliff face!” she shrieked from the back of an uber as the cruise port came into view.

I’ll admit, if you’ve never seen a cruise ship up close before, the towering scale can be vertigo-inducing.

And with my usual cruise plus ones busy and a spare spot in my cabin for a short jaunt to New Zealand, I enrolled a friend.

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Because it was her first time aboard a ship (not a boat I corrected her probably too many times) I saw the holiday through fresh eyes.

Here are all the things that surprised my friend on her first cruise.

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1. The ship was huge but not crowded

My friend gazed, wide eyed around the piazza, the midship main hub on Discovery Princess when we first embarked.

It’s not even anywhere near one of the world’s biggest, and was full, with 3900 passengers aboard.

”My local shopping centre is worse,” she said.

“For finding out the ship was full it really doesn’t feel over crowded.”

And let’s just say it wasn’t her struggling to work out which side of the ship our cabin was on each time we got to our landing…

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2. The food is delicious with many options

My pal told me she didn’t expect the food to be so “fresh”.

But cruisers know the cuisine is all usually pretty top notch, even on more affordable lines.

“Even the buffet is lovely,” she said, declaring the white chocolate donuts the best she’d tasted.

“And the drinks are never ending!” (well kind of, if you have a package like we did)

She did have one of the muffins she tried to take off the ship confiscated though, naughty, naughty.

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3. The service is excellent and the crew friendly

“They really take hospitality seriously. They don’t even expect you to get anything yourself,” she declared, tapping the Princess Ocean Now app to get a hot chocolate delivered.

That also extended to the officers when I managed to get us a special visit to the Bridge.

While I was trying to be all professional she confessed to the captain she was scared the ship might be flipped over by a freak wave.

She then nattered on about Titanic.

I was dying with embarrassment but he seemed bemused...

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4. The cabins are small but homely

“I loved the cabin but it was smaller than I thought,” she said of our balcony state room.

“I thought I would be spending a lot more time sitting on the balcony, but it was far too cold and windy.”

(I also had to informed her leaving her trainers outside overnight was not a good idea because they would likely be wet from the spray or cleaning come morning).

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She was also impressed by the hot water.

“I’ve been in hotels that haven’t been as good as that with pressure and they’re on land,” she declared.

While one night there was a swell which even kept me awake, she was also interested to find that apart from that, she ship felt “solid.” Which is always good to know.

5. Excursions can be far from port

Princess Cruises took both of us on some trips they had arranged.

But it took over two hours to get to Canterbury for the Lord of the Rings sights from Christchurch which was a mammoth day.

But she was surprised to find that you don’t always need to do excursions.

You can just get off the ship and walk around.

Sometimes ports are not right in the city, she discovered too – though there are often shuttles. Some are free, some will charge.

6. Behind the scenes secrets

You don’t just walk on a cruise ship and sail away. There’s immigration and customs to deal with and it’s all very serious.

“I didn’t realise you can’t just get on and off a cruise where you want,” she remarked.

She also learned a lot about the behind the scenes workings, such as how the ship navigates the ports.

”I enjoyed watching the pilot boats,” she told me. “So fascinating.”

7. Sail away was spectacular

Her highlight was one of those unique cruise moments.

“Sailing out of the ports and sitting in a hot tub as we sailed into Dusky Sound was so memorable,” she declared.

“When we pulled out of Littleton Harbour that was a thrill.”

And few days after we disembarked in Sydney she sent me a message to say the whole trip had been “surreal”.

And she couldn’t want to do it all over again. 

The writer travelled as a guest of Princess Cruises.