It’s always good to pre-plan before leaving your home to literally live on water for the next few weeks. Here are some very important things that you need to do before you hit your cruising vacation, starting from a couple of weeks before it:
1. Temporarily Block Mail Delivery
Get in touch with your mail delivery office and have them hold all of your incoming mail while you’re away for a cruise. You don’t want the overflowing mailbox to act as perfect bait for burglars, thieves or robbers. Let the mail delivery office know about the dates you’ll be away so they can deliver all of the mail together once you’re back home.
2. Pack Smart
Well, this is a general travel tip, when you’re heading out for a vacation; make sure you don’t stuff your suitcase with an unnecessary amount of clothing, and other accessories. Traveling light keeps you away from stress and you can easily maneuver your luggage if needed. Too many things just create clutter and take extra space.
3. Dietary Restrictions
Many people have food allergies, or other problems that restrict them from having specific kinds of foods. To make sure you don’t end up disappointed, it’s important informing your cruise liner or ship of the dietary restrictions so they can arrange the food for you accordingly.
4. Take Care of Your Belongings
There are hundreds of people on board and the only persons you can trust are the people you are travelling with i.e. your family or friends. Therefore, it is important to make sure you safely pack your belongings and take care of them, especially camera, cell phone, passport, boarding pass, keys and other things.
5. Traveling with Kids
If you’re traveling with kids, make sure you keep extra clothing, and use disposable bibs available from different major stores. Doing laundry is probably the last thought when you’re on vacation, so using disposable towels or bibs for babies can help cut down on your laundry doing stress.
6. Batteries and Extensions
It’s good to keep extra camera batteries to avoid losing a chance to capture your travel moments. In addition, it’s wise to keep an extension wire to charge your cell phone, camera, shaver or other devices. Most cabins in ships have only a couple of electrical outlets, so keep an extension so you can simultaneously charge your electrical devices.
7. Special Needs
If you or someone who is travelling with you needs a wheelchair, or a scooter or equipment to make the journey easy and accessible, then make sure to inform the cruise liner well in advance. Many companies offer special equipment for people with special needs, make sure you contact them and have them addressed to have a secure and stress free journey.
