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Newsletter
New tips, added in July '08 are highlighted in blue.
NOTE: Our packing list and packing tips have been moved to the new Packing Tips Page:This list is arranged with related tips grouped together under the following topics. Scroll to find those that interest you.
- TIPS FOR BOOKING A CRUISE
- TIPS FOR FLYING
- BEFORE YOU GO
- MONEY AND TIPPING
- LIFE ONBOARD
- WHEN IN PORT
TIPS FOR BOOKING A CRUISE:
There are a lot of decisions to be made in the process of booking a cruise. The very first, and likely one of the most important decisions, is choosing your booking agent.
First, be absolutely certain that, wherever you book, they have a real, live contact person available for you, to deal with any problems or questions that come up. Some of the on-line booking services deal only through e-mail. If you don’t get answers to your e-mail, what do you do then?
(Remember that as a general rule, all cruise lines follow this policy: if you’ve booked with a travel agent, or booking agent, all your communication and questions MUST go through that agent. The cruise line will not talk to you directly about your booking.)
After that, there are two essential questions to ask your travel agent BEFORE you book: The first is: Do they honor price drops?.....If your cruise is offered at a lower price, after you have made deposit, will they give you the lower price? Not all do. (Remember some lower prices, usually those offered after final payment, are labeled by the cruise line as being for new bookings only. The TA cannot give you those price drops, as it is not in their power.)
The second essential question is: Do they charge a cancellation penalty of their own?....All cruise lines charge cancellation penalties if you cancel after the final payment date. (The breakdown of how much they charged is based on how close to sailing you cancel, and can be found in the back of your cruise brochure, and on their web pages.)
BUT some travel agents charge an additional penalty of their own, for cancellation at any time. This can be as much as seventy-five dollars, per person. That's a hefty bite when multiplied by two persons in a cabin, or worse, a family of four.
If you can’t talk to a real person, and if they don’t honor price drops, or if they charge their own cancellation penalty, stop right there, and find a new TA.When booking your cruise, never book cabin category lower than one in which you will be happy. Sure, you’ve heard of people getting those complementary upgrades, but the vast majority of all cruisers get exactly the cabin they booked. Upgrades occur rarely, and most amount to nothing more than a shift from one deck to another, with the cabin being basically the same. (That is: inside to inside, oceanview to oceanview) Booking something cheap, while counting on a visit from the upgrade fairy, is a sure recipe for disappointment.
Once you’ve chosen and booked your cruise the very next thing you need to do is to buy the travel insurance. A quick look at the web page insuremytrip.com will give you a dozen reasons to buy the insurance.
While most cruise deposits are fully refundable prior to the penalty phase, you never know when an unforeseen life event will require you to cancel your trip in those last few weeks, (illness, job loss, death in the family, etc.) While the loss of that two or three thousand dollars, (or more) may not be enough break your budget, the costs of a canceled or interrupted cruise can amount to a lot more than your up front costs. Emergency medical care, or medical evacuation can cost a fortune. (Remember most health care policies do not cover if you are outside of your own country.)
There are many other potential events that can ruin your cruise, and cost you plenty. Items like: lost or delayed luggage, or a missed plane or ship, requiring last minute airfare or an additional a hotel for the interim time.
One last note, if you have any pre-existing medical conditions, you need to purchase the insurance immediately after booking the cruise. Most policies require purchase within one or two weeks if you want it to cover pre-existing conditions.
TIPS FOR FLYING:
Flying: Plan to arrive at the airport two hours before your flight. Remember the flight time is intended to mean the moment the plane leaves the gate, not the time you board the plane. Boarding usually starts at about 30 minutes before flight time.
Flying: Lock all suitcases with cable ties or TSA locks. Regular luggage locks are no longer allowed on the plane. Also pack small scissors in an outside pocket of one checked bag, or nail clippers in your carry on, so you will be able to remove those cable ties.
Flying: Make sure you have an ID tag on every suitcase. But while you are at the airport you don’t want anyone to see the address of a house that will clearly be empty for the next several days, so your address should be visible only on the inside of tags. Warning: There are some airports that require both name and address to be visible on the outside, not just the inside flap. ROC (Rochester) is an example of one. So you need to check with your airport.
Flying: ID tags are easily lost from suitcases. Be sure you also put your identification and itinerary information inside your bags, or in an outside pocket of every suitcase. That way, your suitcases can find their way home again after they’ve gone on their own side excursion to Seattle.
Flying: Remove all old airline tags from your luggage. You don’t want your suitcases to visit Auntie Em in Kansas, just like last year. Then before the trip home, remove them again.
Flying: First rule of thumb about flying is to travel to your port city the day before the cruise, or sooner. Not only does it help guarantee that you don’t miss your ship, but just a single extra day adds so much more to the vacation than you might think. (BTW, this is good advice whether you drive or fly.)
Traveling on the day of the cruise likely means:
*Waking before dawn for early flights.
*Stressing about flight connections and arrival times.
*Arriving close to sail away time and having very little of the first day to enjoy on the ship.
*Later arrival means less selection when trying to schedule spa and specialty restaurant reservations, or trying to change meal time errors.
*Possibly not receiving your luggage in your cabin till late, maybe even after dinner.
*Generally arriving exhausted and too tired to enjoy your first night onboard.
*Worst case scenario, it means missing the ship entirely.
Arriving a day early means:
*You can book later flights
*Fly relaxed and not stress about the time and connections.
*Having a chance to visit your embarkation city.
*Arriving at the ship rested and early, with most of your first day onboard still ahead of you.
Flying: Rules for booking air, re: flying the day of the cruise: The best advice is to fly to your embarkation city the day prior to your cruise, but sometimes that’s just not possible. Here are some “rules of thumb” to use, should you decide to fly down on embarkation day:
*Schedule the very first flight out, no matter how early.
*Only fly on embarkation day, if there is at least one later flight on the same airline that will safely get you there in the event something happens to your flight.
*Never do it for international flights.
*Only do it on direct flights
*Never cut it closer than 5 hours. That means if the ship sails at five pm, your flight had better be arriving by noon.
*Think seriously about it if you are in the North and the cruise is in winter.
*Now re-think it. If you cannot pass the rules of thumb, don’t consider flying in that day. If you can, go for it, but be realistic about the risk you are taking.
Flying: If you must book connecting flights, be sure to leave sufficient time to make the transfer. The airlines may consider 45 minutes or even less, to be a legal connection time; but with such a narrow window you risk missing your connecting flight. And if you are flying to meet your ship, you risk missing your entire cruise. It has been suggested that a comfortable connection time would require 2 hours between segments of domestic flights, and 3 hours if an international flight is involved.
Flying: Fill out cruise line luggage tags at home, and pack in your carry on, if flying. Do not put the cruise line luggage tags on your bags until you claim them at the airport, to avoid their loss during flight.
Flying: If you’re traveling with your honey, but you get claustrophobic just thinking about that middle seat on the plane, try reserving seats across the isle from each other. That way you're still together, but you have a bit more elbow room.BEFORE YOU GO
One of the most important things to do befofe you go, is to fill out all your embarkation documentation. This is done on-line at the cruise line’s web site. Upon booking, your TA will have given you a booking number, which will be necessary to access this part of the web page. The purpose of this it to satisfy important governmental requirements. And having this done in advance speeds the entire embarkation process. I recommend doing this early.
If you do not fill this out in advance, it is very important to remember the new “90 minute rule” which states that guests who do not complete the registration process at least three days prior to embarkation, are required to check-in at least 90 minutes before the published sailing time. Failure to do so will result in denied boarding. The reason for this is that new Homeland Security government regulations for U.S. departure ports require that a final departure manifest is submitted 60 minutes prior to departure.
Before you go: It is recommended that you call your credit card company to let them know that you will be using your card outside of the country. (In an effort to protect your account from unauthorized use, credit card companies have been known to refuse charge approval for purchases made in another state or country.) If you let them know what islands/countries you will be visiting, they will note it on the account, and let the charges go through.
Before you go: You should also contact your bank so that there will be no issues if you use your bank card in an ATM outside of the U.S.
Before you go: Most cruise lines now allow reservations for excursions to be made on-line, prior to a cruise. Reservations usually open near the time of final payment, and may close down as much as few weeks before sailing day. Some cruise lines (Carnival for one) now allow excursions to be booked as soon as deposit is made. So avoid getting closed out of popular activities by doing this early.
Before you go: Arrange for mail and newspaper deliveries to be held while you are gone. Schedule the "hold" to start one day before you leave so you will know if they actually remember to stop them. Our newspaper and post office mess this up so often, I’m stunned when they get it right.
Before you go: Allow only those people whom you trust, know that you will be vacationing, and that your home will be vacant for days. Better yet, arrange a house sitter.
Before you go: Do let someone you trust, know where you will be. Give them your flight and hotel information, and the ship’s contact number. Also tell them if your car will be left in long term parking, be sure they know that location also.
Before you go: It is not pleasant to think about but, if you haven't already done so, it is advisable that you make your life insurance, financial information, and the location of your wills, available to a close family member, who is not traveling with you....just in case.
MONEY & TIPPING
Money & tipping: Take plenty of singles and fives for tipping taxi drivers, sky caps, bell hops at hotel, luggage handlers at pier, porters at airport and in the debarkation terminal, for room service, and for excursion drivers and guides.
Money & tipping: Standard tip for anyone who handles your baggage is one dollar per bag. (More if you’ve packed a set of barbells in there.)
Money & Tipping: If intending to tip shipboard staff in person, or if your cruise line does not yet do auto-tipping, pre-plan your tip money. Take enough bills in proper sizes to cover the standard recommended tips, and set this aside in your cabin safe. You can increase or decrease the amounts later to reflect the quality of the service you received. Having the money set aside avoids having to hunt up proper size bills on the last night. The ships usually provide envelopes.
Money & tipping: How much should I tip shipboard staff?
Most cruise lines nowadays, automatically charge your account approx. $10 per person, per day for crew tips. On most ships you may have this removed from your account if you feel the service did not warrant the tips, or if you are intending to tip in person. This is a breakdown of the recommended tipping amounts:
* Room steward - $3.50 per person, per day.
* Waiter - $3.50 per person, per day.
* Assistant waiter - $1.50 to $2.00 per person, per day.
* Head waiter - $5.00 per person for the week.
Money & tipping: However much money you think you need, take twice that amount.
LIFE ONBOARD
Life onboard: Immediately after boarding check your dinner time and table assignments, and see the Maitre’D to correct errors.
Life onboard: Also, as soon as you board, make reservations for spa/hair appointments, alternative dinner reservations and excursions (if not done pre-cruise). Don’t wait – these tend to fill up fast.
Life onboard: Once onboard you should “move into your cabin”. By this I mean, unpack everything as soon as your bags are delivered. You don’t want to waste time searching through suitcases the rest of the week. Put your clothes away, place the photo of your kids on the night stand and you’re settled in, free to enjoy your cruise.
Life onboard: As soon as you receive your excursion tickets, be very careful about checking that they indicate the correct excursions and times. Also take note of the meeting times, and the meeting locations. The meeting time for most excursions is about 15 minutes earlier than the actual excursion time. And the meeting location may be either on the ship or on the pier. If you are tendering that day, it may take an half hour, or more additional lead time to reach that on-the-pier meeting location.
Life onboard can be a bit confusing until you learn your way around. One trick to doing that is to take notice of little things like the pattern of the carpet. Many ships have the one pattern of carpet in all their port-side cabin corridors, and another pattern in all their Starboard-side cabin corridors. Learn which pattern is outside your cabin door, and avoid heading down the wrong hall.
And to avoid finding yourself turning down the right hall, but wrong direction, remember ships always have their cabin numbers arranged with the smaller cabin numbers forward, increasing to higher numbers as you move aft.
There are usually number differences between port and starboard cabins too. (Example: all port-side cabins, on the ninth floor may begin with 90XX, while all starboard cabins begin with 95XX) Look for the pattern and you’ll know where you’re going. After that, you can stop by the purser’s desk where small maps of the deck plans are usually available.
Life onboard: Don’t wait until the last day of the cruise to re-pack your belongings. Pack up used clothing each day as you go through the week. This frees up some time to enjoy your last evening on the ship.
Life onboard: If your budget is limited, don’t buy the photos taken by the ship’s photographer until the last day. Then find your pictures, look at them all together, and make your selections from the best of the pictures taken all week.
Life onboard: What items of the ship cost extra?
*Alcoholic and soft drinks and some specialty coffees
*Specialty restaurants
*Casino
*Laundry
*Photographs
*Shore excursion
*Spa treatments
*Ship to shore phone calls
*Internet
*Baby sitting
*Medical services
*Gift shop purchases
*Bingo *Tips *Some fitness center classes (ie: yoga, spinning)
Life onboard: Beware of using a debit card for opening your shipboard account. When you use a debit card to activate your sign and sail card, they may put a "hold" of as much as several hundred dollars on your account. (The amount varies with the cruise line, and length of cruise.) You may only intend to spend 100 dollars but they will hold significantly more. If this comprises most of the balance in your account, it could interfere with checks coming in to be cashed at your bank, and end up with them being bounced.
Life onboard: Bring along a used gift card, the kind with a magnetic strip on the back. Many of the ship's cabin safes open by using a card with a magnetic strip on the back. Your cabin door/sign & sail card would even work. But it is strongly recommended that you do not choose that card, as the room steward also has a card that will open your door, and in that case, may also open your safe.
Any card you have would work, a credit card, a library card, a driver's license, as long as it has the magnetic strip on the back. But then you have to carry that card with you, all around the ship, and off. If you bring a used gift card (one with no monetary value on it anymore) that will work and you will not risk losing an important card.
Life onboard: Go with the flow. Don’t let the weather, or changes in ship’s tours or itineraries get you out of sorts.
Life onboard: Some great booking deals are available only while already on a cruise. Example:
While onboard a Princess Cruise you have the opportunity to visit their “Future Princess Cruise Consultant”. At this visit you will have the chance to get a great deal on your next Princess cruise by making a “Ghost booking” with only a $100 deposit. This means you are able to book a future Princess cruise, that you will take at an undeclared future date, and on an unspecified ship. You decide the specifics of when to sail and on which ship at a later date. The booking is good up to four years, and is able to be transferred to your favorite TA.
What is the advantage of all this? For example, you could choose to book a fifteen day cruise with that ‘ghost’ booking. It would normally require a $900.oo deposit to lock up a sailing of that length. But Princess accepts your Ghost booking ($100) as deposit from its’ loyal customer (you).
And depending on the length of the cruise and cabin chosen, you also get up to $150.oo per person cabin credit waiting for you when you board that cruise. Suppose you have to cancel? No problem; you get your money back on the initial deposit. Suppose you book and need to change plans. This is not a problem either; simply have your TA do the necessary paperwork and it's a done deal. Want to purchase multiple "Ghost Bookings”? You can do that too.
Also available, while onboard the ship, are "coupons" that allow you to offer the same great deal to family and friends who may be sailing with you, whenever you do decide to take your “ghost booking” cruise. It’s almost too good a deal to pass up.
Life onboard: Avoid those Common Sunscreen Mistakes that could ruin your cruise, not to mention your skin and your health:
Don’t wait until after going outdoors to apply your sunscreen. It needs to be applied 15-30 minutes prior to going outdoors to allow it to absorb into the skin.
No sunscreen can work properly if you don’t apply enough, and it really won’t work if you don’t apply it at all. The estimate is to use about 1 oz. for an adult, applied to all parts of the body that will be exposed to the sun. Don’t forget your ears.
And don’t assume that you are still protected after swimming. Sunscreens not labeled "waterproof" or "water resistant" do come off while in water. And even waterproof and water resistant sunscreens provide only a limited time of protection.And even if you don’t go in the water sunscreen needs to be reapplied generally every two hours. Many people have the misconception that one application of sunscreen will provide all day protection. Not true.
I have to admit that the next few hints aren't really what the cruise line would prefer you do, but.....
When cruising in a verandah cabin, you will find that the verndah doors will not stay open on their own. So if you want to listen to the ocean waves while you sleep, pack a bungee cord to hold the door open.
While you're at it, also bring along a small refrigerator magnet. It has been noted that on some ships, there is a magnetic sensor in the verandah's door frame that detects if it's open or closed. This sensor will turn the cabin's air conditioning off when in the open position. But, it can be fooled, if you just stick the fridge magnet in front of the sensor.
Here's another use for that bungee cord. Use it to secure a wet swimsuit to the verandah chair, when you set it out to dry. Just make sure you loop the bungee cord through an arm or leg opening so you suit will not blow away. (Please note that even with the cord, I would not recommend leaving anything on the verandah while the ship is in motion. The wind at sea can be very strong.
WHEN IN PORT:
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When in port: Don’t get left behind! This is good advice for all cruisers, experienced or not: If you are taking an excursion to a location some distance away from the port, book it through the cruise line even though that may be more expensive than booking it elsewhere. Think of the difference in cost as a mini insurance policy. The cruise line has the responsibility to get you back to the ship when you book through them. But if you book with an independent operator, and are delayed getting back to the ship, they will sail without you. And you will be responsible to catch up with the ship at the next port, at your own expense and costing you a lot more money in the long run.
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When in port: Be sure to keep that same thought in mind when planning more than one activity for your port day. Suppose you want to do both a ship’s excursion, and something on your own also. To avoid being left behind always do your independent port activities early in the day, and do the ship’s tour in the afternoon. The concern is about the potential to be late returning from your independent activity. If your afternoon excursion is booked with the ship, and you are late returning, the ship waits for you. But if you chose to do the independent activity in the afternoon, and you are late…well that ship will be just a little dot on the horizon, and you will have to get to the next port on your own.
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When in port: As you gather your ID and other items to go ashore, be sure to include the contact information for the ship's Port Agent. This information is included in either the ship's daily newsletter or on a separate page/pamphlet describing what to do onshore. In the unlikely event you run into an issue onshore, such as an injury or delay that causes you to miss the ship, the Port Agent is invaluable as your contact with the ship and can help make the arrangements to get you to the next port of call.
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When in port: If you like to snorkel, be sure to bring along some dog treats to feed the fish. You will be amazed at the number of fish that gather when you bring out the treats. And if you forgot to pack the dog treats for the fish, run up to the lido deck buffet at breakfast and pick up a few packages of Mini-Wheats cereal. The Mini-Wheats don’t disintegrate in the water as quickly as other cereals. Another suggestion is to use bagels, which are also available at the breakfast buffet.
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