Once I have booked a cruise for myself it begins a whole new adventure in planning and dreaming!! Many people often put the thoughts on the back-burner about their vacation. I don't think I could do that if I tried!!
Booking a cruise is just a tiny part of your vacation plans! There is so much more to do to make sure you have a smooth sailing process until you are checked-in and on-board the ship.
Having a great Travel Agent (uhhh-hummm) like myself will guide you through the process of making sure first of all your booking is accurate. I have heard many horror stories of people booking themselves on a cruise an not realizing how important some of the steps are to being accurate and following U.S. Customs laws and TSA guidelines. IF any part of their rules are not followed you could be left at the port as the ship sails away without you and all your money. They do not give refunds because you booked with wrong or erroneous information. Or one of the other reasons you could be denied boarding.
The cruise lines all have a website that you use to do an early online check-in. Just like the airlines, except this one you do as soon as you book as possible(except Disney-you can not do the check-in until final payment).
Here are some of the most popular links:
www.royalcaribbean.com/onlinecheckin/
https://secure.celebritycruises.com/checkin/
https://secure.carnival.com/BookedGuest/
https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/
https://www.ncl.com/
http://www.princess.com/
Copy and paste to your Browser. If you do not have an account already go ahead and create one.
Then you will go to the booked guest or Manage tabs.
The system will walk you through the check -in process. Make sure all data is accurate.
Once that is done you can officially begin the countdown.
Now what can you think about and plan for?
Start thinking about what you want o see on your vacation. There are hundreds of shore excursion possibilities
There are many different companies to compare along with the cruise line offerings.
Airfare is also a very tricky and sometimes complicated process. When do you buy, what is the best price, do they
charge baggage fees. There is TSA and Federal Government rules to follow. Some websites I see say the best time to
book is 45 days out for best price. I kind of disagree. I start shopping 6 months out. Why? Airlines have eliminated many
flights that often flew almost empty. Now flights are flying full or oversold. Getting the flight times you want and least
amount of connections and shortest flying time is harder to get if you wait too long.
I always price compare prices. Airlines do not pay Travel agent's commission. I do not charge my clients a booking fee,
so I often advise my clients to book their own airfare. I do book for them if they like though, only if they are getting a
vacation package from me. I do however, look for prices for them. If I see something good I will let them know.
Start or join a Facebook group. This will connect you with fellow cruisers on your ship for fun and information sharing before
you cruise. My groups have a private page and are really fun.
Ok. So we covered the fact we need to do our online check-in, think about shore excursions and watch for airline prices.
I should back up a little. Ports. Since you are already booked you chose your ports based on maybe price, or specific things
you wanted to see on each island or port. Shore excursions will cover all the major attractions in each port but there are
hidden gems you may have to uncover on your own. For example Irie Blue Hole in Ocho Rios Jamaica. They do not
offer an excursion here, you have to get a taxi or private excursion company to take you. Its not touristy at all but is a
gorgeous place.
Lets talk about some more fun things you can plan pre cruise....
Plan door decorations for your cabin door. A small percentage of people decorate their door. But they are fun to see. I usually put a dry erase marker board on my door and some nautical theme cutouts. Some people get very creative. One great reason other than its fun and cute is that you will recognize your door easily everytime!!!
In one of my future blogs I am going to go over what to bring in your cabin and some hints and tips to make your packing a success.
Cruise planning can be incredibly fun and build your anticipation for the cruise itself. With some prep work and research you will be able to have a much more relaxed and stress free cruise or land vacation.
come back again soon for more chapters on cruising tips and hints. My future topics will include, packing tips and what to bring on your cruise you never would have thought of; ship layouts and areas of the ships that are less crowded;all about cruise ports do's and don'ts, and so much more. So stay tuned!!!
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