Things I do before I cruise
Do you have any strange habits or rituals that you go through before cruising? I certainly do and here are some of them.
Wash the car
I don’t know why but I always like to wash my car and vacuum out the inside before I go on a cruise. It’s sort of become a ritual now even our next door neighbour sees me cleaning the car and it prompts her to ask if we are going away again. The answer is usually yes but not always.
Lindsey thinks it’s very strange behaviour and even laughs at me when the local pigeons take revenge on my nice clean car.
Do the online check
As you are no doubt aware most cruise companies now operate an online check in procedure and this is one of my jobs to do a week or so before we cruise. I must admit it’s become a lot easier now but at one point during covid times it was a very stressful activity one wrong box ticked and you couldn’t get on the cruise. Thankfully the days of uploading covid test results declaring yourself free from coughs and colds have now gone. I guess the biggest decision to make now is if you are going to take new photographs or use old ones. Have you noticed that some cruise lines store your information from previous cruises and others you have to start from scratch each time.
Get my hair cut
As some of you may have noticed my hair always looks similar every time we go on a cruise that’s because I’ve just had it cut. For those of you who watch our live Q & A sessions you will notice it gets longer between cruises. Lindsey on the other hand always has her hair cut at regular intervals (she’s much more organised than me)
Check the paperwork
This is a very important thing to do and I must do it ten times before every cruise. First of all check the requirements for the cruise company you are travelling with. Print off any required tickets, boarding passes, luggage labels, health declarations, inoculation information, Visas, ESTA forms ETIAS (coming soon) and of course passports and check the expiry date. If you are a frequent traveller to the EU from the UK you can only spend 90 days per each calendar year without addition Visa paperwork.
I would advise some of these checks should be made at the time of booking your cruise as obtaining government paperwork can take some time.
Check your insurance.
We have annual insurance depending where we plan to travel in the next 12 months we take out different coverage. The places your insurance covers you for are not always that clear most standard worldwide insurance excludes the USA & Canada unless otherwise stated. European cover sometimes covers parts of North Africa. Sometimes with European cover it does not include Spain. Just be careful you have chosen the correct cover for the places you are visiting.
Another very important thing to check is that you have Cruise Cover included. If you are buying single trip insurance buy it when you purchase your holiday that way if something unfortunate happens in advance of your cruise you are still covered this is more important if you are paying your cruise off on monthly payments in advance.
Plan your packing.
Do a little research into the possible weather conditions you can expect on your cruise. Unfortunately the weather is never predictable but be sure to cover most of the possibilities depending on where you are cruising what time of year it is and if there are any requirements for dress code on the particular cruise line you are travelling with. It’s not just formal wear there could be themed nights you would like to get involved with or not it’s your choice. The best place to check for this information is the cruise companies website itself.
If you are flying you need to be aware of the weight restrictions for luggage, on some cruise lines there are restrictions on the number of luggage items you can bring with others there are no restrictions.
When you do your packing make sure you have your passports any medication you might need and all your paperwork in your hand luggage This is very important.
My final routine for the morning of a cruise is as follows:- get up, wash and shave, take the Dax (our dog) for a long walk. Come home and cook breakfast, we usually have a treat of a fried breakfast when we go on holiday. Pack up the car with the dogs bits and pieces. Lindsey & and I usually drop the dog off together for his holiday. Come home pack up the car go around the house turning everything off and check the security of the house. In the meantime Lindsey has a list of things that she does so hopefully we get finished at about the same so we can jump into our car and head off to our cruise. Let the holiday begin!
