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How do you manage your house, pets, etc. while on such a lengthy cruise?


OnTheJourney
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[quote=Tampa Girl;5502747

 

 

 

Re the auto insurance suspension - thank you to that poster. What a great idea and one of which I was totally unaware.

 

 

 

You’re welcome....glad I could be of help. I was talking to my insurance company and they actually made the suggestion. Got one on storage now for the first time. Got a nice refund after making the change since we pay six months in advance. We will have to repay for the time left in the six months when we move it back to normal insurance.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
If I had a close friend or family member locally, with whom my pet had spent a lot of time, I might consider doing that. However, we have an aging feline companion, who is an "only child", and we have made the decision to not go on any long trips until she has crossed the "rainbow bridge." Since that time appears to becoming closer, we intend to put a deposit on the 2018 Grand Asia and/or the 2019 PC, and make a final determination by the time of final payment, depending on our pet's health. I just can't imagine leaving her with just anyone for four months. After all, she won't know if we will ever come back and will think that we have abandoned her.

 

Payment of bills is no problem in this digital age, but obviously a laptop or i-pad is essential. You don't want to use a public computer for payment of bills and access to financial accounts.

Obtaining multi-month supplies of prescription drugs sometimes takes a few days and your physician's confirmation as to necessity, so we plan on allowing sufficient time for that.

 

I tried the email link but it didn't work (for me). Any determination about your trip re. your only child crossing the rainbow bridge? We are in exactly the same spot - HAL 2019 world cruise booked. We've always gotten house sitters for shorter trips but can't afford one for a 115-day trip! And I don't want to take her to our son's house - he has young kids, a dog, and 2 cats. I am really concerned about what to do.

 

Hope to hear from you.

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This may have been mentioned already but other things you can do:

 

Install a smart thermostat to monitor and adjust house hold AC and Heat settings while you are away.

 

Install a security video camera inside the house

 

Install a smart door bell device

 

All of these have benefits not only when away but when you return home.

 

Keith

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  • 2 weeks later...
I tried the email link but it didn't work (for me). Any determination about your trip re. your only child crossing the rainbow bridge? We are in exactly the same spot - HAL 2019 world cruise booked. We've always gotten house sitters for shorter trips but can't afford one for a 115-day trip! And I don't want to take her to our son's house - he has young kids, a dog, and 2 cats. I am really concerned about what to do.

 

Hope to hear from you.

 

Sorry to be so long in picking up your post. We did lose our female companion last October, so we are now deep into the planning stage for our 89-day Grand Asia in September. Interestingly, I discovered that our CitiAdvantage card has a cancellation provision (up to $5,000) if a pet becomes ill and needs veterinary care. I had never seen such a provision in any other cancellation policies except for HAL's cancel-for-any reason CPP. Despite no longer having the concerns about our pet's illness, the length and expense of our forthcoming trip encouraged us to use both cancellation policies.

 

We booked the Grand Asia last July, aware that Her Grace was in questionable health. However, it was with the understanding that if she remained stable by the time of final payment in June, we would cancel the trip. We could not possibly have enjoyed ourselves had we expedited her passing just to take this trip. (Still wish she were here, though!)

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Why can't you just pull up the monthly bill online and pay the bill through your bank's online service? You are paying by check and should not be charged. That is what I do with our utility companies, who, similarly, charge for credit card or online at payments on their websites.

 

Thanks for this idea, I will consider it. I currently do not use my bank’s online bill payment process. I will think about it.

My husband pays the joint household bills, leaving me only to write checks for very few bills at my work location that can’t be charged to CC.

If I set this up, I would only be paying monthly checks to the water utility and to the Home Owner association. Hmmmm.

 

Thx again.

 

 

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Thanks for this idea, I will consider it. I currently do not use my bank’s online bill payment process. I will think about it.

My husband pays the joint household bills, leaving me only to write checks for very few bills at my work location that can’t be charged to CC.

If I set this up, I would only be paying monthly checks to the water utility and to the Home Owner association. Hmmmm.

 

Thx again.

 

 

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I also have my water bill and HOA on auto-pay. Of course, it depends on your bank's app as to what you can set up. I use a national bank, but not one of the huge ones, and it offers a lot of functionality in this regard. The annual property tax bill is the only thing I haven't been able to find a way to pay automatically.

 

Two pointers for this: one, try to set everything up enough in advance to cover at least two (and ideally three) billing cycles before you leave. That way, you can see if something is going wrong and make corrections before you leave. And, second, something that should be obvious but we don't always think about: make sure there will be enough cash in your account to cover everything that will be charged to it.

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Bananavan, I just went through the same thing last month, except it was with our mail order pharmacy. When the finally agreed,They sent my icepacked injectables late in the week, and rather than overnight delivery, they sat in the USPS warehouse here in the tropics over the weekend. I find meds is the hardest part of precruise tasks..

 

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We auto pay everything.

 

We started doing that with our full World Cruise.

 

Items are either paid by the checking account or are charged to a credit card which is paid by the checking account.

 

Some advice. The credit card we use to pay these bills is not used for anything else. This is to minimize the chance of it being compromised. For example say you use the credit card while you are away and it does get compromised and has to be turned off it would be a nuisance to update all the sites with a different credit card. While many sites could be update on line you might have a few that requires you to call customer service.

 

We only have one company (lawn service) that can't be automated so we just do a contract with them and pay up front.

 

We do monitor everything daily from the ship.

 

The other good thing is we have eliminated paper bills so when we get back from a world cruise we don't have all of that to go through in terms of the mail.

 

Keith

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On a related note have a list of all of your vendors and their telephone numbers and the same goes for the credit cards. Do this for other things such as your insurance companies. Have the real phone numbers for say insurance company not just the 800 numbers.

 

On one world cruise we were on our town got hit with a hail storm a few weeks before we got home. A neighbor told me it was bad so I was abele to get the insurance company to get someone to look at it and by the time we got home all of the work on their end had been done so all I had to do was schedule a roofer to replace the roof. Things can happen even when you are not home.

 

Keith

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On a related note have a list of all of your vendors and their telephone numbers and the same goes for the credit cards. Do this for other things such as your insurance companies. Have the real phone numbers for say insurance company not just the 800 numbers.

 

On one world cruise we were on our town got hit with a hail storm a few weeks before we got home. A neighbor told me it was bad so I was abele to get the insurance company to get someone to look at it and by the time we got home all of the work on their end had been done so all I had to do was schedule a roofer to replace the roof. Things can happen even when you are not home.

Very good advice; thx!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I am seriously considering a WC in Jan 2020 with HAL. The comments on this thread are very helpful. One thing that hasn't been covered is Income Tax. The tentative dates of the cruise are Jan 4 through May 12. How would I handle my taxes? You can't file for an extension until at least January and that gives no extension for payment. I never really know until I get my brokerage statement in January what my final tax bill will be. I have found that even though you have internet access on the ship, it is often not easy to open some web sites and I really wouldn't want to have to open a brokerage site on the ship. It isn't a secure connection, right?

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I am seriously considering a WC in Jan 2020 with HAL. The comments on this thread are very helpful. One thing that hasn't been covered is Income Tax. The tentative dates of the cruise are Jan 4 through May 12. How would I handle my taxes? You can't file for an extension until at least January and that gives no extension for payment. I never really know until I get my brokerage statement in January what my final tax bill will be. I have found that even though you have internet access on the ship, it is often not easy to open some web sites and I really wouldn't want to have to open a brokerage site on the ship. It isn't a secure connection, right?

 

Anne, we have done several extensions as we have sailed a number of World Cruises.

 

I would not do it on the ship. I know of someone on a current world cruise and it didn't work.

 

What I do is in November I begin to guesstimate what our taxes will be based on all that I know. In December

I fill out the extension form, print it and then give it to a family member to mail to the IRS for us. I error on the

side of higher taxes. I also ensure that my taxes for the first quarter of the following year are covered. Again

I error on the high side. I've done this numerous times.

 

Keith

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Also, the new request for extension can be done in 2 minutes on the computer, through one of the IRS approved sites. It no longer requires estimating what your annual income was and the taxes paid. Simply: How much additional you are paying, if any. You submit, and you get back an immediate confirmation of your extension from both the website and the IRS.

 

I gave up actually mailing in an extension a few years ago when it got lost in the mail. This way I have proof of the application, and confirmation both from the website and another from the IRS.

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Anne, we have done several extensions as we have sailed a number of World Cruises.

 

I would not do it on the ship. I know of someone on a current world cruise and it didn't work.

 

What I do is in November I begin to guesstimate what our taxes will be based on all that I know. In December

I fill out the extension form, print it and then give it to a family member to mail to the IRS for us. I error on the

side of higher taxes. I also ensure that my taxes for the first quarter of the following year are covered. Again

I error on the high side. I've done this numerous times.

 

Keith

 

This is exactly what I did for my Grand World Voyage other than giving the paperwork to a relative/friend to be mailed. Since my cruise sailed after January One, I took the extension paper work and check with me and mailed it from Fort Lauderdale prior to embarkation.

 

As Keith did, I was generous in what I sent to Uncle Sam in January. But, it surely was nice to have a nice sized refund once I filed in late Spring to help pay the credit card bill!

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Thanks Keith1010, Tampa Girl, and rkacruiser for your very detailed answers. This really helps. I have never filed for an extension so was not very comfortable with that process and it was easier to ask you all than to check out the IRS site. For the last 5 or 6 years I have done everything online, including my estimated payments which I set up in advance. I would think I could do that before I leave. And as rkacruiser said, I could do everything from Ft. Lauderdale right before we sail. I seem to already be at least half committed to doing the 2020 HAL WV. Just have to make sure all the details will work (I don't have anyone that I want to impose upon to take care of things).

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I'm lucky that my world cruise will be leaving January 30, 2019. I'm planning to download my tax info in early-mid January, then figure out my taxes (I use Turbo Tax) right before I leave. Always send it electronically and refund is directly deposited.

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Thanks Keith1010, Tampa Girl, and rkacruiser for your very detailed answers. This really helps. I have never filed for an extension so was not very comfortable with that process and it was easier to ask you all than to check out the IRS site. For the last 5 or 6 years I have done everything online, including my estimated payments which I set up in advance. I would think I could do that before I leave. And as rkacruiser said, I could do everything from Ft. Lauderdale right before we sail. I seem to already be at least half committed to doing the 2020 HAL WV. Just have to make sure all the details will work (I don't have anyone that I want to impose upon to take care of things).

 

I am pleased that my post was helpful to you. And, I also share your statement that I don't want to impose on others due to my travel plans. But, I do suggest that you have a trusted friend/relative to periodically check your residence while you are gone. You don't want to return to your home finding that a water pipe broke, USPS failed to stop/re-direct your mail for a period of time, etc.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I pay a neighbor $200 a month to take care of things

Pool clorean and lowering pool water

Mail

House

Mailing out already prepared cards

Filling in a pry signed check for house taxes

Watering house plants

Check landline phone

Emailing us weekly updates

And more

 

Thanks...... It is helpful to get an actual amount, and to know what services are being provided for that amount.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We are considering our 2nd WC in 2020, but travel every year for 6 or 7 months. For all financial issues we have given power of attorney to our daughter, who also has a Visa card on our account. She pays any bills that are not pre-authorised and pays for pet food, etc in our absence.

 

For vehicles, we give the car to our son & DIL and the truck to our daughter & SIL, who use them periodically.

 

When on cruises, we get a pet/house sitter, who are normally free. When RV'ing we take the pets with us.

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  • 2 months later...

Great info here. We will be on a 42 Day WC segment Feb 12 to March 26. We are both still working so this will be the longest we have ever been away from home. We live in Atlantic Canada and during our time away the temps will be between minus 15 celcius and minus 30 celcius...perhaps lower. We have decided to hire a service to come in every second day to tend to our 2 young cats, and we will ask the neighbor across the street to clear our driveway of the often 25 to 30 cm of snow that falls in a single storm. I am thinking of getting a camera/smart door bell so I can use an app on my phone to check things out. I have been paying all bills online and on auto pay for the past 5 years, so that is already set up.....we are really looking forward to this trip...but I will be more in planning mode after final payment in early November.

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I am thinking of getting a camera/smart door bell so I can use an app on my phone to check things out.

 

I wonder if this will work with the poor connectivity (and high cost) on board? Also, given the time difference, if it does work, do you want to be woken in the middle of the night by someone ringing your doorbell?

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I wonder if this will work with the poor connectivity (and high cost) on board? Also, given the time difference, if it does work, do you want to be woken in the middle of the night by someone ringing your doorbell?

 

Two things.

 

The only way you would be woken is if you had wifi connectivity up 7x24.

 

I think it is a good thing to do.

 

One could check it from time to time by getting up on wifi and my experience is that the app will work from the ship. At least it did for us on the ship we sailed.

 

Keith

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Great info here. We will be on a 42 Day WC segment Feb 12 to March 26. We are both still working so this will be the longest we have ever been away from home. We live in Atlantic Canada and during our time away the temps will be between minus 15 celcius and minus 30 celcius...perhaps lower. We have decided to hire a service to come in every second day to tend to our 2 young cats, and we will ask the neighbor across the street to clear our driveway of the often 25 to 30 cm of snow that falls in a single storm. I am thinking of getting a camera/smart door bell so I can use an app on my phone to check things out. I have been paying all bills online and on auto pay for the past 5 years, so that is already set up.....we are really looking forward to this trip...but I will be more in planning mode after final payment in early November.

 

Might want to check out this website - https://www.housesitterscanada.com/home

 

We haven't actually used them, but when researching we found a number of potential sitters in our local area. Rather than leaving our 2 dogs & cat with our daughter & SIL for our 2020 WC, we are considering a sitter. Will try one in November for a week, while we head over to Victoria.

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