pre-cruise checklist

Reg: Notifying Bank/CC of travel.

When my daughter went to Peru, it was the banks suggestion to place a 'travel note' on her account. They also listed the cities where she would be traveling. Since then we have been doing this.

 

From past experiences, we had purchased a large dollar amount item, and we received a phone call asking if we made the purchase, within our own area.

 

There have been times when our card was charged in a different state (several states apart), a very low dollar amount and they did not question it, understandable but at the same time disappointing and the time it took to get the charge reversed. Once you have been hacked, it is miserable. Once they have your CC number, they will placed purchases (several) at a low dollar amount, below the radar.

 

Suggestions: You do not have to this, but when we travel a long distance, first we notify the bank and CC companies then when we arrive back home we change our passwords with the bank and have a new CC issued. I know overkill. But we have been hacked 3 times. We also set a dollar limit on our CC when we leave. If stolen, they can only charge so much. Talk to your bank or CC companies and have a password in case you need more funds. These are just suggestions and lessons learned. It may not even happen to you and I REALLY HOPE IT DOESN'T!!! Just letting you know what we do. Suggestions creates ideas.

Those are some good suggestions - was planning on notifying my bank of the travel plans but will have to look into some of the other things you talked about - thanks!

Joesey/sailing~wench:ship::tropical-drink:

No but it is better safe than sorry for a very easy phone call. On the way to Kentucky for my mother's funeral, from only one state over in Tennessee, Discover card shut my card off and I was unable to use it for gas or a hotel room and it was the middle of the night by the time I arrived in my mother's Hometown! I will never make that mistake again. Although I find that to be an extreme situation and probably the person working the desk that got alerted to it was new and went a little overboard haha... it was a terrible inconvenience! Luckily the front desk guy let us stay anyway and clear it up the next morning. Thank goodness for small town hospitality. I couldn't believe they shut it off for being only one state over. We are only an hour from the state line to begin with.

 

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I had a similar experience once. A few minutes after I charged lunch in Seattle, I received a phone call from my credit card company. It seems that someone had tried to use a cloned card in Portland Oregon (less than 200 miles) not too far apart in time, which their fraud department caught. Someone else had their card frozen for using it just before getting on a plane in Scotland, and again just after arrival an hour or so later in Ireland.

The two cards I'm most likely to use outside the USA allow for letting them know online at my convenience ahead of time. One of them says in their acknowledgment "We have forwarded your information to our fraud department."

For me personally packing and prepping for a cruise was no different to any other travel I had done.

 

You just need to think about the things that you often buy when you get somewhere and be sure to pack them as well, since there is little available once you get onboard and it can sometimes be at a premium.

This is what I do. I mentally go through what I will do, and "dress" myself for each thing. This way I catch things I might miss.

Following are things we do BEFORE any trip or cruise.

 

Check credit card expiration dates to make sure they will be good until we are back home.

 

Check Driver's License expiration dates to make sure they will be good until we are back home.

 

Cancel the newspaper while we are away from home. Have it started day after we are back home.

 

Put in a stop mail delivery form with the Post Office to hold our mail until we are back home.

 

Arrange to have all due bills pre-paid or put bills on auto-pay while you are gone from your home.

 

Check Passport to make certain they will still be valid 6 months after you return to your final home airport.

 

Make sure you have enough current medication with you on your trip.

 

Charge all batteries we are taking on our trip days before we leave.

 

Make sure our cell phone can be used in cities we are visiting. May sometimes add coverage to cell phone plan and microchip to cell phone.

 

Things that we do prior to our trips.

We also do all of these things, plus......make up our bed with clean bedding so it's nice to come back to, clean out the fridge of perishables, if no one is staying in the house for us. And....plan an easy supper for the first night back, since I won't want to think about it, and I won't want to work at it!

We also do all of these things, plus......make up our bed with clean bedding so it's nice to come back to, clean out the fridge of perishables, if no one is staying in the house for us. And....plan an easy supper for the first night back, since I won't want to think about it, and I won't want to work at it!

Excellent list to go by!

Joesey/sailing~wench:ship::tropical-drink:

To add to that, set up some lights to on and off at night.

I use a Wink Hub to program lights in the house. I just leave the program running all the time, so things don't change too much.

Also, set your thermostat. If summer, I set to 82, for winter 55. Saves a LOT of energy from heating or cooling an empty house.

I always had copies of my reservations for the flight, hotel, cruise/perks, and tours. If something wasn't right, I had proof if something was wrong. I didn't read through all the post but I always took my own digital alarm clock since I usually had a inside cabin and I didn't know if it was day or night.

I always had copies of my reservations for the flight, hotel, cruise/perks, and tours. If something wasn't right, I had proof if something was wrong. I didn't read through all the post but I always took my own digital alarm clock since I usually had a inside cabin and I didn't know if it was day or night.

Agree with all of that- I take my own alarm clock whatever kind of lodging I stay in tho - hotel or ship - makes me feel a little more at home in some ways. Good idea about the copies of everything as well

Joesey/sailing~wench:ship::tropical-drink:

Here's the list I saved from this site a long time ago. Hope it helps!

Tips For New Cruisers.pdf

This is the packing list that may help too.

Packing list Cruise.pdf

I've traveled a lot, but no day's a total waste if I learn something new... and I did. Lots of handy tips here - thanks, all.

As for stopping mail and newspapers, both our city police and county sheriff's offices were in agreement - don't. Have someone bring them in for you, or maybe have a slot installed so mail goes inside and out of sight. Their position was they'd had instances where employees with access to that info sold it to crooks. We'd had them come speak to the 2,000+ plus households in our neighborhood association at one point. Might be overly cautious, but it's just a thought.

We also do all of these things, plus......make up our bed with clean bedding so it's nice to come back to, clean out the fridge of perishables, if no one is staying in the house for us. And....plan an easy supper for the first night back, since I won't want to think about it, and I won't want to work at it!

WE DO THE SAME THING!!! So nice to come home too!