Ocean Cruising: A bit of friendly advice.

 Ocean cruising is coming back!  Here's some unsolicited advice:

5 and 7 day cruises are usually almost the same price and itinerary.  Get the 7 day version if you can.  The first and last "day" are included in the count.  And frankly, half of day 1 is all work getting aboard and situated, and all of the last day is work getting off the ship, to an airport, and going home.  

WiFi is slow and expensive.  Trust me if it's Netflix or the like that you're worried about, the cruise line has you covered with huge movies and shows in the ship's library streamed directly to your stateroom TV for free - no internet required.  For little things, most of the time there's almost always free internet you can find in port.

Unpack everything as soon as you're in your stateroom and put it all "away" in the wardrobes and drawers of your stateroom.  Then, as you enjoy your cruise, dirty clothes and souvenirs get packed as you go.  This will make everything less chaotic for your entire cruise, and it will make the night before disembarkation extra simple.

Disembarkation night is super important.  All but your carry-on luggage has to be given to the porters, and you won't see it again until it's been passed through Customs.  Keep a change of clothes in your carry bag!  It would really suck to wake up on disembarkation day to realize you have only your pajamas to wear to customs because all your clothes are already off the ship!  Assuming you have something to wear, make time to eat breakfast before you leave the ship!  No sense letting a moment of that sweet cruise food experience go to waste.

Finally, book a late(r) flight home.  No need to rush away from the cruise port to make a 9 am flight home.  Allow two hours to make it through customs and don't book a flight before noon.  Usually people start getting off the ship as early as 7 AM, but that doesn't mean you have to.  Savor what's left of your vacation before you have to step into the crowded bustle of a government regulated port of entry, and do so on your own time.  It's your vacation, you're the royalty.  The shots are yours to call!

Comments

  1. Laura BushAugust 16, 2021 at 3:54 AM

    The information which you have provided is very good and essential for everyone. Keep sharing this kind of information. Thank you.White label online flight booking system

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Can you use a Quest 2 on a cruise ship?

 Not long ago I took a cruise on Holland America Line to the Caribbean, and being the adventurous technology lover that I am I chose to bring my VR headset, the Oculus Quest 2.  As it turns out, it's completely OK to take the headset on the cruise ship with you.  Related, the TSA didn't even blink as my headset rolled through security.  All is well on the security front. VR on an airplane, for what should be obvious reasons, is awkward.  It is doable, but probably only for things like Netflix or something to simulate a big screen TV.  Beat Saber is right out of the question.   Your headset will of course work fine in the hotel room the night before your cruise.  If you're lucky you might even be able to stream your gameplay to the hotel room's television and let your cruise partner(s) enjoy some of the fun too! But, how about on a cruise ship?  Your stateroom surely has enough room for you to stand and swing at things, right?  Well, here's what I discovered:  It dep
Read more

Luggage Designs

So those who collect data on my interests know very well that I have a thing for luggage and travel solutions.  No surprise I get lots of ads for travel bags and accessories.  I like to travel.  No secret there. I was watching one such advertisement, because there are lots of people who think they have the perfect bag solution, and there are a ton of good ideas out there.  I have one recurring thought though when I see these bag advertisements.  They all try to purport that they're the perfect solution because they have more pockets than the other guy... So, here's the rub about carry-on bag design.  The fact of the matter is you have to fit the whole bag in a 9x14x22 inch space.  The more pockets you have, the more space within that 9x14x22 space is taken up by supporting material.  This means the more pockets you have, the less total space you have. Now.  Are pockets, padding, and separators bad?  No.  But... be careful in your design.  More is less, and less ... is more.  Ju
Read more

Don't breathe the water.

 It was just before noon.  My brothers had just come back from driving little water scooters around on the ocean, one brother trading places with our close friend on the lounge chair in our beach shelter tent.  Three of us went to the shoreline and began swimming for the edge of the swimming area, a floating rope out in the ocean about 50 yards from shore. This is nothing out of the ordinary, it's a swim we do every time we go to this beach island.  Surrounded by hundreds of other tourists playing around in the water, the 100 yard swim isn't a race, it's just a fun little thing we do. Today the sea was a little more rambunctious than usual.  Nothing serious.  No whitecaps or actual waves, just bumpy water with swells maybe a foot tall.  The waves came all the way up the beach to the first row of loungers.  Partly cloudy and warm, it was a good day for a swim. So swim we did.  My brother and friend were perhaps 15 yards in front of me as I took an extra moment to take a pict
Read more