Cruise travel tips Part 3

Book Airfare Through The Cruise Line
A big benefit of booking airfare through the cruise line is you'll be on the ship's radar if your flight is delayed or canceled. It's the cruise line's responsibility to get you on the ship one way or another. If you book your own airfare and miss the boat (and didn't purchase cancellation insurance), meeting up with the ship at the next.

Go a Day Early
"I always book clients in a hotel the night before the cruise no matter where they are sailing from, it takes the stress out of missed connections, bad weather and lost luggage," says Mary Jean Tully, chairman and CEO of Ontario-based Cruise Professionals. "Who wants to fly all the way to Barcelona and get right on the ship? It's nice to wake up in the city where the ship is sailing from, have a leisurely breakfast, relax or do a city tour."

Cruise Off-Season
You'll save a ton of money on the cruise. Up to 60% off of the cruise lines posted rate. You might have to take your chances with inclement weather. I went in August which is typically hurricane season. We were lucky, a hurricane struck the Western Caribbean the week after we left. You can plan around that by going 2 weeks before or 2 weeks after the hurricane season has started and ended.

Have Fun!
It's your vacation. Kick back, relax, and enjoy yourself. And have a umbrella drink for me!

More cruise tips

More travel tips for smooth cruising:

Select your cabin with care. Even though you spend very little time in your room, you want to relax when you're in there.

Don't get a cabin on the Promenade deck. Also avoid the floors directly below the dining areas, the pool deck, the sports deck or the gym.

Also avoid rooms with adjoining doors unless you know your neighbors.

Try to select a room in the middle of the deck and on a lower deck as close as possible to the ship's center of rotation. This helps head off sea-sickness.

Insurance runs between 5-6% of the cost of the cruise but is definitely worth it. You'll be covered if you have to cancel the cruise for medical reasons, missed flights, work commitments, cruise line bankruptcy and other issues.

Cruise tips

Here are some travel tips concerning cruises:

Never ever pay "brochure prices". That's the price a cruise line sets when it announces a boat or a particular tour. It's always negotiable. You should always aim to pay at least 40% less than brochure rate. Look on various websites, talk to travel agents or tour consolidators.

Choose your port carefully. Do you want to travel out of New Orleans, Galveston Tx, San Juan PR, or one of the Florida ports.

Choose your itinerary carefully. The cruise I really want to go on leaves out of San Juan PR. The cruise is a little less expensive than similar cruises, but the fact that you have to fly to PR negates those savings. In effect, it makes those cruises even more expensive.

Choose your travel partners wisely. I can't emphasize this enough. The wrong travel companions can ruin your vacation. Believe me, I know from personal experience.

More to come

I just got back from my cruise

I was gone for 9 days. I had planned on updating this blog last week, but I didn't touch a computer on vacation. That had it's good and bad points.

The good was that I relaxed a lot. The bad was that I missed some of the sites that I visit constantly. I couldn't keep up with sports scores or travel updates. Travel information is important because I'm already looking to next years vacation. It will either be Cancun or Jamaica.

My next couple of posts will be cruise tips. Just some things I learned in general. I plan on going back to 2 posts per month. Every other Saturday. Maybe more, hopefully not less.