Cruise Deprivation and What to Do About It

We’re all reduced to arm chair travelers these days.

I don’t know about you, but I took comfort from the Sky Princess blazing “We will be back” in lights across the ship.

But in the meanwhile, how can we satisfy our insatiable appetite for cruising?

Well, here are a few suggestions:

Book it. Not the trip, your photos. Do something awfully old-fashioned—create a photo album. Yeah, having them on your cell phone is great. But seeing them in print, laid out in a slick coffee table book is even better. It’s cheap to put together and it will keep your mind off the vacation you didn’t have.

Stack the deck. Put your favorite photos onto a deck of cards, a mouse pad or luggage tag. Do what you never had time for. We had Shutterstock make up luggage tags with our faces on them. It would be hard for someone to take the wrong suitcase now.

See a disaster. Watch “Titanic” or “Poseidon Adventure.” Not something you’d want to do while you’re cruising. But now, while we’re all in dry dock, why not? Heck, you might even check out the YouTube videos on the sinking of the Concordia.

Root for Royal. And Carnival. They’ve been heroes, letting us off the hook while facing large losses.

Plan your next one. You know there will be a next one. Maybe not tomorrow or the next day, but at some point, your ship will sail again. And you want to make sure you’re on it.

How Could a Cruiser Get in the Mood for Love?

The “holiday with the hearts,” as someone I know called it, is upon us with full force. It’s made me wonder, how could a cruiser get in the mood for love? Or, how could a lover get in the mood for a cruise?

I did have a few ideas of how cruise lovers could embrace their passion—onboard and on shore:

A romantic meal by the sea. If you’re between cruises, you could book a dinner in a room with a view—by the ocean, lake or river. (Or if you live in Florida, you can eat at your own table and stare out at the pool.)

Something nautical for her neck. Show her (or him) your love—and love of cruising—with nautical bling. Put an anchor around her neck or pin her to a palm.

Snorkel and stay dry. Miss being up close and personal with the fish? Visit your local aquarium.

See Sea World. A trip to Florida won’t cost you as much as a cruise. And you can see Sea World while you’re there. You can even check out the beaches. The water won’t be blue, but you can pretend.

Buy her a book on cruising. If you still have something to learn, you’ve got a bunch of choices—from traditional travel tones of Frommer’s and Fodor’s to funky ones like The Essential Little Cruise Book with a quantity of quick tips on the ship experience.

Book a cruise on the Love Boat. Sorry, the Pacific Princess has been put out to pasture. But Princess has a gleaming newer fleet to choose from. They’ll even fog horn the TV show theme song for you.

Miss the show? You don’t have to try hard to find the reruns. You’ll enjoy comparing the TV cruise ship experience with the real one.

Wonder what they’re doing now? Check out this video on the “crew” as they reunite for the show’s 40^th anniversary.

Playing games. Throw a cruise-themed party with your own takeoff of the “Newlywed Game.” But remember that you will see these people again.

Need more ideas? See my sidebar posting “Romance on the High Seas.”

Don’t like these ideas? Have a heart. Happy V-day!

Against the Tide: The Case for Off-season Cruising

Years ago, while on a Celebrity Constellation cruise, we decided to visit the sales office to book the next one. As our appointment neared, I got a brilliant idea. Why not cruise the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and leverage my days off from work?

Then we met with the sales agent. Just so you know, he said, there’ll be about 500 children that week. Wow.

If you’re traveling with kids, this most likely wouldn’t be an issue. But if you’re not, you’d probably prefer to avoid this scenario.

So, after the sales guy burst my balloon, we began to discover the benefits of off-season Caribbean cruising.

What’s defined as “off-season”? The “in-season” is typically the winter months—December through March—when folks want to get away from the cold.

There are also other times, though, that can mirror the in-season, such as school vacations.

Thanks to the popularity of Caribbean cruising, you can now find trips year round and if you time it right, get just the experience that’s right for you.

Benefits of being a bit off

If you’re able to be flexible in when and where you go, you can:

Save moola. The difference between one month and the next—or even one week or the next—can mean a huge difference in cost. For example, booking a trip in the week between Christmas and New Year’s can be $1,000 per person more than that same trip another time of the year. Watch for cruise line promotions, which offer lower rates for harder-to-fill dates.

Get your pick of the litter. If you pick a downtime of year, you can be choosy when choosing your cabin. Want a bump-out balcony? The big one at the stern? The closest room to the elevator? You’re more likely to get it. Note that even off-season and off-weeks can sell out, so the earlier you book, the better your chances.

Snag an upgrade. The cruise lines get more generous when the ship’s not filled. We recently booked a balcony room on Princess for April and were upgraded to a mini-suite—for free.

 

You may just get an upgrade to a mini-suite for free on Princess

When to avoid

Hurricane season! This past year showed us in neon lights the risk of booking a cruise from June 1 through Nov. 30. It may be cheaper, but is the risk really worth it?

When school’s out. This is when a lot of parents need to cruise, so the rates tend to be higher. The tough part is figuring out when school is out, because spring and winter breaks vary. We’ve found, as a general rule of thumb, when you price compare trips, the cheaper the cruise, the less likely it will be school vacation time.

You might want to be conscious of college breaks too, as there are occasionally complaints on the cruisecritic.com boards from cruisers who had to contend with unruly college kids.

When to go

So, when’s the best time to cruise? Well, whenever you can, of course. But if you’re flexible, we’ve found these to be great times in general for more room choices and better prices: late November, the first half of December, April (not during Easter week) and May.

But whether it’s winter, spring, summer or fall, here’s the best part of all: you’re on a vacation and the vacation is on a cruise.

Musing’s Top Tip: Got a minute? Check out the new video series, “Musing’s In One Minute,” the best in Caribbean cruising in just 60-ish seconds. The first in the series features “Royal Caribbean’s Sea Day Secret.” Watch it here:

Trip Insurance: Don’t be Sorry You Booked Without It

Insurance is one of the few things you spend money on but get nothing in return. But be without it when something happens and suddenly, it’s worth way more than you paid for it.

We’ve cruised 21 times and bought trip insurance 21 times. Thankfully, it never got used. But, we wouldn’t dare book a cruise without it.

There are just too many things that can go wrong, as hurricanes Irma and Harvey just reminded us. Your home floods and you need to stay to deal with it…the airport closes and you can’t get a flight out…you come down with pneumonia before the trip or appendicitis after it starts…you’re running late and then get a flat en route to the port…your luggage takes a different plane than the one you’re on…

Insurance ensures that if you can’t make the trip, or something happens before or while you’re at sea, you’ll get something back towards the cost of your trip or help on expenses. Whether your mishap qualifies and/or how much you get back depends on the policy.

The plans

There are two different ways to get travel insurance: cruise line plans or independent insurance companies:

Cruise line plans. Each line offers its own insurance, which is provided by a third party. You can usually find info by putting “protection” in the search tool on the cruise line websites. A good travel agent can also brief you on cost and what’s covered. For your easy reference, here are links to some cruise line plans:

Royal Caribbean Travel Protection

Princess Vacation Protection

Carnival Vacation Protection

Norwegian Booksafe Travel Protection

Independent insurance companies. Travel insurance companies such as Travel Guard® offer a number of different policies and prices.

What you should know

A few things you should know about travel insurance:

Read the fine print. This is not the time to let your eyes glaze over—the fine print is what you’re buying. Policies vary widely in how much you’d get reimbursed and under what conditions, and what proof you’d need to provide.

Often, the more expensive the policy, the better the terms. Most policies are pretty specific about what they’ll cover. For example, if you cancel the trip, they may reimburse you for part of the cruise if you get sick, but not if it’s from a pre-existing condition. Or, they may only pay if you get sick, but not if you need to stay home to care for a sick parent.

Cancellations for illness or death are the most common reasons insurance will pay out. There is coverage if you need to cancel the trip for any reason, but even with these plans, there are caveats. So, read the rules very carefully.

Know how much and in what way the reimbursement comes. Find out not only how much of the cruise would be covered if you cancelled, but if the reimbursement is money or credit toward a future cruise.

Be sure you know when payment’s due. Most often, it's at final payment.

Take your insurance documents with you. Print them up, and/or download them to your phone or tablet. You want the documents handy if you need them for reference.

One last thought

Your insurance is only as good as your insurance company. Years ago, the travel company that put together my London trip went belly up while I was there, and the airline wouldn’t honor my ticket home. Make sure the insurance company is financially stable and will be around to pay your claim if you are unfortunate enough to have one.

Blue Ice vs. Blue Water—is an Alaskan Cruise for You?

Say after a slew of cruises to the Caribbean, you’ve done and seen it all. When you pull into port, you hardly ever leave the ship any more. Little by little, the prospect of Alaska is creeping up on you. But you can’t quite get yourself to book one.

We know. We were there.

Then we took the plunge. It was a singular experience. Do it. You won’t regret it.

There were a number of surprises, however, that you might want to know about, so if you do take the plunge, you’ll know what to expect:

Same but different. Is there anything the same about a Caribbean cruise and an Alaskan one? Well, for starters, of course, they’re both cruises. And often the same ships, since the cruise lines scramble their vessels. While both vacations revolve around the water, though, one of them you won’t be swimming in.

The show is outdoors. Alaska is all about the scenery, and what scenery it is! Glaciers in blue hue, floating ice, wildlife, snow-topped mountains, misty fjords, along with a spooky, unworldly silence. You’ll fill your suitcases with binoculars and cameras, instead of sunscreen and sun hats. In fact, with all there is to see outdoors, you’ll find yourself using a lot less of the ship.

Blue spires of ice in Glacier Bay



The remote and ghostly Inside Passage


The short story. Unless you go in the summer and luck out with a warm spell, you can forget about shorts and flip-flops. We went over Memorial Day and the temps in the towns peaked in the 60s. Glacier Bay was a toasty 48. And what they tell you about the weather? Be wary and be ready for anything. Particularly rain.

Dressing down. The dress overall on an Alaskan cruise is more informal. After seeing jeans in the Main Dining Room at dinner, I did it too.

Learning instead of lounging. Caribbean cruises are big on party vibe, calypso around the pool and soaking in the sun. Alaskan cruises are about learning—the environment, wildlife and culture—so expect talks and presentations. Our Princess trip featured a fabulous naturalist, who narrated our journey through Glacier Bay, and a female winner of the famously grueling Iditarod dog-sled race.

Wild thing. While the iguanas on the rocks in St. Thomas’ Crown Bay or Aruba’s Wilhelmina Park will entertain you in the Caribbean, in Alaska, your eyes will be glued to the sea and sky, scanning for breaching whales and eagles in flight. Be forewarned—you might see them—and then you might not. We saw several whales, but from very far away and then only a glimpse of tail.

The cruise ships come to town; downtown Skagway in May



Frontier facades dwarfed by Juneau's backdrop

Part frontier, part Russia, always gorgeous. You’ll want to get off the ship in these stops—Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. These frontier-style towns with their Russian influence, surrounded by snowy mountains, are a scene right out of Disney. Each has its own interesting history and personality. Take Ketchikan—the city that always rains. There are totem poles everywhere, salmon is sold in nearly every shop—from smoked and sliced, to frozen and jerked—and souvenirs are cheap and fun.

Fishing for salmon in Ketchikan

Crafts not by way of China. Unlike the Caribbean, Alaska is where you’ll find real crafts, but the cost can be dear. Stores are filled with all types of Eskimo and local art, from small scrimshaw items to take-home totems that can cost up to the thousands. But if you just want some trinkets to remind you of your trip, you can load up on them for almost nothing in Ketchikan’s Tongass Trading Co. Think dolls in Eskimo clothing, moose magnets and totem ornaments for your Christmas tree.

Moose and more...

...and take-home totems from the Ketchikan shops

If after all this, you’re still missing the Caribbean, believe it or not, you don’t have to look far for a Diamonds International. Try Juneau. Or Skagway. Or Ketchikan.

Still on the fence? Here’s a thought: if you’ve been shunning the blue water during hurricane season, hurricane season is actually the in-season for seeing the blue ice. Go. Enjoy. 

For more postings on Alaska, see Cruising Alaska 101 and Quaint and Quirky: Alaska’s Cruise Ports.

Musing’s Top Tip: For obvious reasons, the cruising season is short in Alaska—late spring to early fall. What part of this timeframe you choose has its upsides and downsides, so do plenty of research to make sure you get the trip you’ve always wanted.