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Planning for a world cruise!


ijkh
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Finally a place to collect the wisdom of all the former and future world cruisers through out Cruise Critic land. Please feel free to tell you your top tips on planning for a world cruise. It is a daunting task. Why reinvent the wheel. Share your wisdom in planning for adventures lasting on board for months.

 

Thanks,

Ilene

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I think having a section for World Cruises in general is great and was long needed.

 

Ilene, congratulations getting this set up.

 

Often people ask about what a world cruise is like or general items that are not cruise line specific and think this will be great for that.

 

If there are questions specific to the Crystal Cruises 2015 WC then I would recommend posting those on the Crystal Cruises 2015 WC Thread on the Crystal Cruises Board or the WC15 Roll Call.

 

But for questions that are general where others who have taken world cruises on any cruise line can offer suggestions then this is a great place to get input that is not cruise line specific.

Keith

Edited by Keith1010
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I think having a section for World Cruises in general is great and was long needed.

 

Ilene, congratulations getting this set up.

 

Often people ask about what a world cruise is like or general items that are not cruise line specific and think this will be great for that.

 

If there are questions specific to the Crystal Cruises 2015 WC then I would recommend posting those on the Crystal Cruises 2015 WC Thread on the Crystal Cruises Board or the WC15 Roll Call.

 

But for questions that are general where others who have taken world cruises on any cruise line can offer suggestions then this is a great place to get input that is not cruise line specific.

Keith

Hi all

biggest thing I can suggest first up is research every port for your requirement for visas and get them underway

if you need alot then definitely use a visa orginisation even though they are expensive it is the only way to do numerous visas

 

second is see a travel doctor for any and all innoculations you should get - don't skimp

 

Third - use your bucket list to determine main ports you wish to do very well

the shear cost is too daunting to do all well, and most are good enough to do on your own

 

fourth - set yourself daily expenditure budget

and stick to it

 

any other questions , just ask

Greg

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This board is going to be a nice resource for questions and strategies for world cruising.

Threads I can imagine going here include:

special items that can make a cruise cabin "home" for months at a time

packing for lengthy journey.

communication with loved ones at home

eating strategies for long term dining on a ship (ok except lobster every 10-20 days is ok with me)

staying fit on a long cruise ;) Keith?

staying well on a long cruise

Negotiating with a travel agent for the best service and benefits on such a large expenditure.

I hope to learn a lot from the veteran WCers from all ships at sea.

There is a lot of wisdom here.

thank you to all who post,

Ilene

Edited by ijkh
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Hi all

biggest thing I can suggest first up is research every port for your requirement for visas and get them underway

 

second is see a travel doctor for any and all innoculations you should get - don't skimp

 

Third - use your bucket list to determine main ports you wish to do very well

the shear cost is too daunting to do all well, and most are good enough to do on your own

 

fourth - set yourself daily expenditure budget

and stick to it

 

any other questions , just ask

Greg

I agree with these - we only did 46 nights last year but I at least had some idea of what was around each port we visited. Not always easy to find out where the ship would moor but it was fun. Go to the port lectures - you do get something out of them.

 

We had 5 formal nights and I took one evening dress for each night - would never do that again as it took up too much space and weight in my bag.

 

Get involved in your roll call and any meet and greet organised - it helped the first few days to have people we knew on the ship and we sometimes did tours with these people. I have remainded friends with many of them here on CC.

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I agree with these - we only did 46 nights last year but I at least had some idea of what was around each port we visited. Not always easy to find out where the ship would moor but it was fun. Go to the port lectures - you do get something out of them.

 

We had 5 formal nights and I took one evening dress for each night - would never do that again as it took up too much space and weight in my bag.

 

Get involved in your roll call and any meet and greet organised - it helped the first few days to have people we knew on the ship and we sometimes did tours with these people. I have remainded friends with many of them here on CC.

what clothes you take should be based on the cruise line

some like cunard with two lots of clothes a day means lots of luggage

but depends on the itinerary also

so many world cruises now

 

for port info I found the cunard site had great info you could use for any cruise on tours etc as was not only for when tours are available

 

theme times are on alot of the wc

they will list them in the documents though so you can plan

 

can list heaps I have had on ships

but a mask is a must to take as usually a masquarade night is involved plus 70's and rock n roll

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We were at our Ft. Lauderdale hotel waiting for everyone to be taken to the cruise port in the hotel shuttle.

 

This lady sitting next to the wife mentioned that they were leaving Ft Lauderdale today on their world cruise.

 

She was extremely proud that she and her husband were going on the world cruise with only 1 suitcase of clothes apiece and 1 carry on apiece.

 

She and her husband had packed just enough clothes for 7 days each. They plan to just keep washing clothes on board and wearing the same clothes over and over and over again.

 

She stated that she will never see these people again and could care less what they thought about her. She was going as cheap as possible in an interior cabin with 1 week of clothes to wear.

 

She planned on removing their cabin from auto tipping and tip as little as possible.

 

She planned on taking no ship excursions but that her and the husband would just walk around each port of call on their own and spend no money in any port. Eat on board all meals in MDR.

 

Now there is a passenger we would not want to travel with. But the whole ship had the "honor" of sailing with them on their 100 plus day voyage as they wore there 7 days of clothing over and over.

 

Reckon that was one cruise for everyone to remember, but maybe not for the right reason.

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We were at our Ft. Lauderdale hotel waiting for everyone to be taken to the cruise port in the hotel shuttle.

 

This lady sitting next to the wife mentioned that they were leaving Ft Lauderdale today on their world cruise.

 

She was extremely proud that she and her husband were going on the world cruise with only 1 suitcase of clothes apiece and 1 carry on apiece.

 

She and her husband had packed just enough clothes for 7 days each. They plan to just keep washing clothes on board and wearing the same clothes over and over and over again.

 

She stated that she will never see these people again and could care less what they thought about her. She was going as cheap as possible in an interior cabin with 1 week of clothes to wear.

 

She planned on removing their cabin from auto tipping and tip as little as possible.

 

She planned on taking no ship excursions but that her and the husband would just walk around each port of call on their own and spend no money in any port. Eat on board all meals in MDR.

 

Now there is a passenger we would not want to travel with. But the whole ship had the "honor" of sailing with them on their 100 plus day voyage as they wore there 7 days of clothing over and over.

 

Reckon that was one cruise for everyone to remember, but maybe not for the right reason.

wow one bag

depends on the ship

could not do it on cunard one as you have different weather throughout the world and two dress requirements day to night

 

I have seen ladies go with 12 bags each

one lady I know gets two rooms, one just for her luggage

 

even I take two for a world cruise and I am a guy

washing every five days which is what you need to do with a seven day pack is very annoying and tiring

although I wash every few days

trick to washing is put washing in just before the laundry closes for the night, then be first in for the morning and it is in the dryer

you can usually get two machines at onece as noone else tries this

no waiting and no fights and no clock watching to get back before your machine finishes

Greg

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I will go out on a limb here. A brief sketch of what I took on my only WC:

A tux...black shoes, Dark blue suit, Blue jacket, and brown tweed jacket. two slacks to go with blue jacket, 2 slacks to go with brown tweed jacket, mesc. slacks, white shirts , shirts to go with sport jeckets, ties, lots short pants, lots of polo shirts, tee shirts, sweater, sweat shirt, wind breaker, loafers, sneakers,swim suit,pj's, cap, sunglasses, binoculars, medicines, toilitries, and keeping in mind doing the laundry once a week... all the washable garments. And then there are the things that each inividual likes and dislikes.

 

That's a sketch. And then there are all the things I may have forgotten or wished I had brought.

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  • 2 weeks later...
We were at our Ft. Lauderdale hotel waiting for everyone to be taken to the cruise port in the hotel shuttle.

 

This lady sitting next to the wife mentioned that they were leaving Ft Lauderdale today on their world cruise.

 

She was extremely proud that she and her husband were going on the world cruise with only 1 suitcase of clothes apiece and 1 carry on apiece.

 

She and her husband had packed just enough clothes for 7 days each. They plan to just keep washing clothes on board and wearing the same clothes over and over and over again.

 

She stated that she will never see these people again and could care less what they thought about her. She was going as cheap as possible in an interior cabin with 1 week of clothes to wear.

 

She planned on removing their cabin from auto tipping and tip as little as possible.

 

She planned on taking no ship excursions but that her and the husband would just walk around each port of call on their own and spend no money in any port. Eat on board all meals in MDR.

 

Now there is a passenger we would not want to travel with. But the whole ship had the "honor" of sailing with them on their 100 plus day voyage as they wore there 7 days of clothing over and over.

 

Reckon that was one cruise for everyone to remember, but maybe not for the right reason.

 

 

Tip as little as possible??? What a great lady :(

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While in the middle of the Pacific Ocean I discovered that I did not bring a pair of slacks that I had purchased expressly for the trip. I had the slacks Fedexed to Papeete. That cost the price of the pants originally. And then, I found I had way too many slacks for the trip.:eek:

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Hi lovesandiego, on the Crystal ships magnets can be used on most of the walls in the staterooms so we bring some magnets with us to hang certain items including a wall calendar (keeps us organized) photos of family, and some invitations for upcoming events.

 

Keith

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Penny, thank you for your nice comments.

 

The key is to automate all of your bills so that they are either automatically paid by your credit cards, or checking account or a combination of both. You just have to think through each and every bill but we have been able to do that. Also be sure you can view most of your bills on line so you can followup while away to be sure they were paid. Likewise, we have access to all of our financial information on line so we can keep tabs on all of that and transfer money over to the checking account if necessary.

 

Being away for so very long it is a good idea to have someone watch your house and take care of some routine items for you from the flushing of toilets to running water down the drain to walking the inside and the outside of the house. If you do not disconnect car batteries then having someone run the cars every couple of weeks is also advisable.

 

Lots of options on mail from having someone take it in each day, to temporarily forwarding it to a safety deposit box or to a relative or friends house. In most cases this is necessary as the post office will not hold mail beyond 30 days, however, some will with the postmasters approval.

 

All of this just takes some very good planning.

 

Keith

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