<p>H & several of his HS classmates are planning on an Alaska cruise & several have purchased tickets already. Just wondering what things to consider for this, as neither H nor I have ever cruised before. We’ve sent info to both kids, to see if they want to come as well. Have sent the info to several friends as well, who are also thinking about it.</p>
<p>Can anyone give advice about this? Also, H is thinking it might be good for us to buy travel insurance, in case turbulent weather cancels the cruise or something (it costs about 8% of the cost of the cruise). In the past, we have never purchased travel insurance. Thanks for everyone’s thought & experiences.</p>
<p>Balcony cabins are already sold out but there are some with window views, obstructed windows and no windows.</p>
<p>I can’t really speak towards the idea of an Alaskan cruise, but I have cruised before and can comment on the insurance aspect.</p>
<p>First off, its quite rare for a cruise itself to be canceled, and in almost every case it would be by the cruise line. In that instance if they are canceling they work hard to make displaced travelers ‘whole’ by offering full refunds and often a credit on a future cruise as well. The one thing they generally will NOT cover is airline costs if you did not purchase your air through them. Some may offer the change fee, but that’s about it.</p>
<p>Travel insurance is more to protect you in case something prevents you from traveling. Sudden illness or injury after your final payment has been made can protect non-refundable portions of your fare. With cruises requiring final payment up to 3 months before sail date, things can happen that may prevent you from taking the trip. </p>
<p>Sometimes, a traveler may have a pre-existing condition that could ultimately prevent them from traveling. Insurance ‘can’ help you cover that situation as long as you purchase it within a certain time period of either deposit (most companies) or within 24 hours of final payment (one or two companies).</p>
<p>Insurance can help cover medical costs on board the ship where your own insurance may not be adequate. </p>
<p>Its a very personal decision, but many people cannot afford to be ‘out’ the cost of an expensive cruise. My family purchases insurance because I don’t want to risk losing thousands of dollars in fares if we suddenly can’t go. </p>
<p>Whats most important is reading carefully what is covered and what isn’t BEFORE you buy. You should be able to contact insurers directly and ask questions so there are no surprises.</p>
<p>Definitely get travel insurance. I’ve had to use it on more than one occasion out of the 8 cruises I’ve been on so far.</p>
<p>Don’t book a cabin immediately below the Lido Deck, particularly aft. You will tend to hear lots of noise with foot traffic, chair movement during cleaning, spa vibration, etc.</p>
<p>I usually like larger inside cabins because I am prone to motion sickness and hate the smell of cigarette smoke or sound of lounge music from the balcony). If you book an inside cabin, try to get on whatever deck has the most verandah suites. They will have the best cabin stewards. However, make sure you are not next to a laundry or service area (some of the “blank areas” on the deck plan excluding the atrium), or close to a late-night lounge. </p>
<p>Have a great trip! I’m also cruising Alaska in August.</p>
<p>Thanks–we have never purchased trip insurance before, except for our honeymoon that we were going to have in Europe decades ago. Thanks for mentioning cigarette smoke–I & S are highly allergic. I guess cruises allow smoking on balconies? That could be a problem.</p>
<p>We bought travel insurance for our Alaska cruise on the advice of our travel agent. Since we were flying from the opposite coast on departure day, she wanted us covered in case there was a problem with the flights.</p>
<p>It paid off – because it covered me for on-boat emergency stitches when I fell <em>boom</em> in a parking lot in port and sliced open a knee. Just FYI – they charge ER rates on the boat. </p>
<p>When planning your $$$ remember you are going to want to do some shore excursions when you get to the different ports. Budget lots of money for those – unless you are sailing on Regent where they are included. In that case, budget lots of money for Regent!</p>
<p>My husband did a golf trip … they took them off in a motorboat over to an Alaskan golf course where they played 9 holes, clubs and waders included IIRC. He loved it. I did some boat trips and tours, plus a rail trip to the Yukon. Very cool stuff to see and do!</p>
<p>^You can book shore excursions either with the cruise line or on your own. I’ve done both and don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other. Doing them on your own (after you disembark at a specific port) will save you money versus booking the shore excursions through the cruise line. The only thing I would say is IF you have a longer excursion that ends within a short time of the ship leaving a particular port, I would strongly advise that you book through the cruise company. The ship WILL leave the port on time, with or without you, UNLESS you booked the excursion with them. A good example of a tight shore excursion would be Victoria. For example, most ships cruising Alaska arrive into dock early evening and departs later that same evening. Best to book a Victoria shore excursion through the cruise line. It would also be nice to budget for a dinner in one of the ship’s specialty restaurants. </p>
<p>Another suggestion is to start reading about your ship’s itinerary on “Cruise Critic”. It will give you the complete run-down on the ship, food, entertainment, excursions, and even has specific cabin recommendations from past cruisers. It’s a great resource. Another good site is called “Deck Plan Genius”.</p>
<p>We’ve done a couple of cruises but have only used Travel Insurance for the Alaska cruise we did last summer. We had a large group going and since the main reason was for my mom to have one last big trip with the grand kids, if my mom (or M-I-L) couldn’t go, we obviously would want to cancel so therefore decided on the insurance. Gladly didn’t need it in the end but…</p>
<p>What cruise line are you going on? Some are more strict with smoking than others. Which port will you be sailing out of? If any of you tend to get seasick, book a mid-ship/lower level where movement is less noticeable. Personally I prefer a window, feels less claustrophobic to me. We only reserved one tour through the ship since that was our only option for that particular tour, but the rest I had reserved well before we left. Depending on what your interest is and your time in port, I don’t know that I would wait until I got to port to make inquiries/book tours. Alaska tours are $$$ so be prepared. I second Cruise Critic boards, lots of information flowing there about your ship, tours, ports, and any other cruise question you can think of!!</p>
<p>PM me if you want details on our tours. Enjoy!!</p>
<p>Any suggestions on WHICH insurance to get? Pros & cons of different insurance companies and policies? I have opted out of insurance every time we have travelled and would never have been able to collect. Only cancelled once, when the Icelandic volcano erupted and made European travel challenging. Just curious as to how much ER stitches on the ship cost, if you don’t mind sharing. Thanks!</p>
<p>I suspect if we don’t book things in advance, we won’t bother leaving the boat, which would probably be a shame.</p>
<p>We have cruised to Alaska twice. Second time with a balcony which was totally worth it. First time interior cabin but one of the largest ones. It was one designated as handicapped accessible which may have accounted for the size. I would say go for large interior over obstructed view or small window, but consider calling to see about wait list for balcony.</p>
<p>There have been recent threads about what to do in various Alaskan cruise ports. Mostly, search out real, locally owned businesses instead of the shops they send you to.</p>
<p>As someone who had to cancel a cruise this past Christmas for health reasons, but who had the smarts to purchase trip cancellation insurance, but the stuff! It wasn’t all that bad for four people, and we got most of our money back (I still need to call them why we’re short a few hundred dollars).</p>
<p>Those stitches in my knee … plus maybe some antibiotics, and a dressing change … were over $1200. OTOH … the stitched knee looks about perfect. The unstitched knee – where the underneath tissues were mushed but the skin not split – that one is lumpy. Both work just fine … whew!</p>
<p>The onboard credit they talk about … use for shopping or spa etc? It can be used for doctor care too!</p>
<p>We’ll be cruising in Alaska in June… Watch out polar bears :)</p>
<p>If you’re younger, healthy, with a reasonably steady job and the like, I would not worry TOO MUCH about insurance. Worry instead about things like airfare :). We are taking an Oceanview cabin since Mrs. Turbo’s idea of cold weather is 70F or below. We enjoyed balconies in our Caribbean cruises but Alaska is quite a bit colder… The cost is also **significantly **higher… </p>
<p>In terms of excursions, keep in mind that for some you may not have an option to book unless it’s from the ship. You need to check with Cruise Critic or other respectable sources for details. For the railroad, you may want to do this WELL in advance… Thru the cruise’s web site usually.</p>
<p>My family (H and college-age D, plus some sibs and their kids) took an Alaska cruise this past summer and we all really enjoyed it. We also booked an inside cabin because we figured we would be outside on excursions a lot and didn’t need access to the scenery 24/7. Our big splurge was a flight over the glaciers–pricey but worth it. </p>
<p>As for insurance, I alays purchase through insuremytrip. Access America is the same company that the Disney Cruise Line uses if you purchase from them. so I think that is what I have bought the past couple of times.</p>
<p>I always buy travel insurance when cruising and I use Travelex. You never know what will happen when on vacation. A few summers ago, we cruised to Alaska from San Francisco with the teens in an inside cabin across from us in a balcony.</p>
<p>You will most likely pay less and get a better policy if you purchase your plan privately vs going through the cruise line.</p>
<p>I would also think more in terms of the insurance not so much for a cancelled trip but more for if he gets sick and needs to come home or if something happens at home and he needs to get home. Also, since they are cruising, make SURE it covered an airlift (helicopter).</p>
<p>Have been learning A LOT about cruising. Since we don’t know whether the kids will or will NOT be able to join us, we booked all 4 of us in the cabin, so that if their schedules permit & they decide they want to join us they can. It will only be a $25 charge if we decide to switch it to 3 or 2 instead of all 4. They took a deposit today & I booked with Costco.com. The person on the phone was very nice and patiently worked with me to get & give information.
Will get a shipboard credit and Costco cash card in connection with booking with Costco.</p>
<p>Will see if my friends have decided whether they will be cruising and whether they have decided what they want to book, including whether they’re interested in Costco.com as well. These additional things to think about do complicate things somewhat, but it should work OK.</p>
<p>We used Travelex for our Alaska cruise and thankfully did not need it, but I had researched several companies and they had good reviews and were reasonably priced. I would not buy through the cruise line because if they went bankrupt before your cruise (unlikely, but not unheard of) you might be out of luck. This is a great website to compare plans:
[Travel</a> Insurance - InsureMyTrip.com](<a href=“http://www.insuremytrip.com/]Travel”>http://www.insuremytrip.com/)
BTW - we don’t usually buy trip insurance, but for our family, that would be a lot of $$$ to lose if we had to cancel or whatever.
We did have a balcony room that was on one of the higher levels. Unlike a lot of tropical cruises, if you are doing an inside passage, there was very little motion felt, so I wouldn’t be too concerned about that.<br>
We booked all of our excursions on our own, not through the cruise lines. I got a ton of info (on pretty much everything!) on the cruisecritic.com boards; there’s a wealth of information there. For example, I found out about the whale watching excursion we did from members there: not only was it less expensive but far superior to what the cruise line was offering.
Have fun! Our Alaska cruise was one of our favorite vacations and I’d love to do it again.</p>
<p>We are excited and looking forward to having a great time & trip. Most of the folks we know who have gone to Alaska have enjoyed it and we expect to as well.</p>