Let’s Cruise!

Princess Cruises photo

Ok, enough talking about it, we are sailing on the Ruby Princess Thursday December 17 for three days.

Shall you join us?

I think so!

With about a week to go, I thought you might enjoy reading what we do to get ready and how we do it.  Many of you have written for tips on this or that concerning getting ready for your own cruise.  Here is a blow by blow account of our big 3 day adventure on Ruby Princess.

The last few days before the cruise always seem to be a flurry of activity so let me back this up a little bit.

Sailing will be myself and my wife Lisa.  We live in the Orlando area so we will drive to Port Everglades for the cruise.  I think, no I am sure, this is one of the very best parts of living in Florida.  The drive to the port is about 3 hours or so…the “or so” part adding up if we stop on Florida’s Turnpike, something that has become somewhat of a ritual.

Up until our last sailing on Oasis of the Seas, also from Port Everglades, we would stop for coffee and some ridiculously overpriced bakery thing at Starbucks.   Recently, though, we realized that we are not human garbage disposal that just don’t work very well so they retain a greater and greater amount of what they eat.  OK maybe that’s stretching it a bit.  Maybe we did NOT attack the buffets squashing small children in order to satisfy our gaping maws.  We were really doing pretty well. But what we were doing was not really working.  It’s this think I have for cookies you see.  Lisa’s job at the office/tapas-lounge-for-any-occasion-someone-might-be-celebrating hasn’t helped either.

Lisa is in a health program sponsored by the place where she works.  This program is the greatest.  We both have been optimal-weight-challenged for forever.  Personally, I could write a book on the many different “diets” I have been on.  This program is the real thing and has us eating lots of whole grain stuff, lots of protein, not as much of anything, and so on combined with a excercise regime that evolves along with the program.

We’re doing well on that so the Starbucks stop on the way down won’t amount to very much I don’t think.  Still, we’ll stop on the way back for some fresh (like “Hey, look over there: It’s the tree this grew on) Florida citrus fruit though.  But they have changed operators or something there at the rest stop and the new management has an even more aggressive view on pricing.  Their school of thought is called the “take no prisoners” way of doing business which lets them charge $7.99 for a dollar value-meal sized chicken sandwich.  Actually, it might not be a bad idea to just stop and go look around on the way to the ship.  Everything they sell on the ship would seem inexpensive and a super value.

Regardless of how long we take getting to the port, it beats flying here to Florida from Kansas as we did for years with the family, leaving then returning to the frozen tundra and naked wilderness  (or so it seems now) of the winter desolation we called home.  I liked having something to look forward to when we lived there so we always had a cruise booked well in advance.

We booked this Ruby Princess cruise about a year ago which we like to do whenever possible.  Booking far in advance has proved over time to be the best way for us to go.  Booking with Princess too we know if the price goes down that they will honor it if we qualify.  They also have awesome travel insurance which we always get.  What makes it so great is that since we have cruised with them a number of times before we could cancel for any reason and get a 100% refund in the form of a credit on a future cruise.   Like we won’t use it?  I don’t think that would be a problem.  Like I’m going to say, “No, lets skip the (fabulous) cruise and buy some (boring) stock instead.  Not hardly.

Future Cruise Credit is a thing that should be on the top of your list of terms to know inside and out on Princess.

Princess was the pioneer enabling guests to book a future cruise while sailing, giving them a reduced deposit and onboard credit for doing so.  Another no-brainer.  I don’t think we ever did it the way they want us to do though.  The program would love to book us on a specific ship and sailing date some time in the future before we get off the ship.  That helps them avoid sleepless nights by contributing to their quest to fill all the cabins on all the ships all the time.  They have people like Charlie on the NUMBERS television show calculating advanced algorithms and formulas to predict that stuff.

We never know.  Lots of people don’t know. So we’re not like wild and crazy rebels or anything.

Your travel agent knows though.  Your travel agent will know you did it.  Princess tells them everything. It’s part of a secret report the cruise line sends travel agents after you get off the ship.  It chronicles your exploits on the ship, no matter what, usually with video and, if applicable, police reports that travel agents often use to blackmail you.  No, thats Internet Cruise Brokers that do stuff of that flavor.

No, not really but your travel agent does know you did it and will probably send you a brochure or for sure bump you up a notch or two on the VIP list.   You mean business now buddy!  You were on a cruise and couldn’t even wait to get off to book another one!  You. Are. Super-Pumped. About. Cruises!

I was challenged as a young boy with not peeking at the presents under the tree during the holidays.  I suspect many others were too.  This is a really popular program among those who know whats going on.

We will pay $100 each to Princess, they hold it in our Future Cruise Credit account (there’s that term again) and we have several years to make up our minds. That’s usually plenty of time.  It’s not like they’re asking us to decide if having children was a good idea or something.  That might take decades.  Depending on the cabin category we choose we will get a little or a big pile of  onboard credit too.  We can add to that Future Cruise Credit account also by referring others to Princess as our friends.  Even if they are not our friends.  Even if we hate their guts and the feeling is mutual.  If there’s a chance they will sail, we refer them.  We turn in email addresses of friends and if they sail we get $25 added to that Future Cruise Credit account for each of them and they get a $25 discount on their cruise.  Hey, it adds up.  I think Princess will eventually make Future Cruise Credit replace the dollar, yen and peso.  The system works just that good.

Along the way we got a packet of information in the mail from Princess along with a Cruise Answer Book that has information on pretty much everything except how to smuggle booze, drugs or hookers on the ship.  In that packet is shore excursion information if we wanted to send in a form and the cruise contract no one reads until they screw up, forget to wear clothes to the ship and are denied boarding with no refund.  But most everything we need to do with Princess can be accomplished thorough what they call the Cruise Personalizer.  There, we can do the required online registration (almost always without swearing), print our boarding cards (well, paper really), book shore excursions, spa treatments and more.

Don’t look for those packets of information to be coming in the mail for long though.  Princess is just like the rest of the cruise lines: they save paper by not giving us the priceless mementos and dance inducement that Cruise Documents represent.   That makes it OK with the Coast Guard to dump icky stuff in the ocean.

We’ll get into that endangered packet of information and packing next.

Know Your Insurance

 

 

I know it’s boring but you need to read the details of your travel insurance policy, regardless of where you got it.  I just hate it when someone calls me to report a claim but I know their reason is not covered.  It doesn’ happen often but what a shocker to find out you thought you were covered but you are not.

 

Most all travel insurance covers cancellation. The important part to know though is what the “covered reasons” are.  Most often they are not for any reason.  You can’t just change your mind a few days before sailing because you want to buy a big new tv.  It doesn’t work that way.

 

Generally speaking, covered reasons are medical reasons.  Pretty much any reason that you can get a doctor to sign off on works.  That’s if it’s you or a member of your family, even members not sailing. 

 

The other part is medical coverage.   Most provide medical coverage which may be important if your health care policy does not cover services performed outside of your country. Be sure about that before you assume you are covered.  The ships have fully-staffed hospitals on board but they are not free.  An average bill from the infirmary is about $200.  (Also another reason to address possible motion discomfort issues before boarding. The shot the doctor will give you that will cure your motion sickness costs about $100)

 

The best value in most policies is the medical evacuation coverage.  That can cost up to $50,000 to have a chopper land on the deck to take you back to a shoreside hospital.  Then there’s how do I get home from wherever that might be?  The ship sure is not waiting for me. 

 

Also be clear on what “pre-existing medical conditions” are and if you have them.  Unless specific coverge is purchased by a certain time in the booking cycle, they won’t be covered.

 

Some other non medical, not covered reasons for cancellation that I have personally seen come up occasionally include trying to board with non-approved identification, not showing up for any reason other than medical, violation of sailing rules for minors, pregnancy that is too advanced, and dumping your boyfriend.