Newbie Document Questions

[kimma11]

Ok so I am less than 3 months out, and we are buying clothes and prepping for our cruise. But I have a few questions for seasoned travelers.

 

1) We have passports and driver's licenses. Do we need birth certificates or other documents?

2) I read we should make sure we can contact our credit cards and banks if our cards get stolen. Do y'all photo copy your credit cards or snap pics of them?

3) What other tips do you have to make we are ready for our first cruise? (ex. call bank to tell them you are going out of country.)

 

Thank you for all of y'all help. I am getting nervous that I will forget something. :p

[hotsauce126]

You don't need birth certificates if you have passports

I'm not that worried about my card getting stolen, but bank of america canceled one of my cards during my cruise in 2014 because they thought it was stolen. I think that's the main reason to inform your bank.

[nhsails]

Scan copies of all doc's and CCS you are taking with you include emergency info and medical insurance info. Keep in bag in case.

Do call CCS let them know travel dates and islands

Take 1CC as emergency card

Enjoy

[woodman]

I always register my card with Carnival for the on board account. I never never use a card in a foreign port. Its cash or nothing. Now we don't buy that much so cash always works. We do prepay the gratuities to save that bill after the vacation. Don't tip extra unless the person give exceptional service, it's not necessary. Contrary to the opinion that the staff are not making money the staff are making out just fine. Talk them while on board and you will be surprised and what they do with what they earn on the ship. We always book tours through Carnival because they will wait for their tours to return before they leave port. Yes it coast a little extra but I think it's well worth it. During your cruise be sure to try at least once all the food venues offered. No cruise line feeds you like Carnival. Been on RC,NCL and Princess and the food on all 3 were second to Carnival. I'm sure others will give some very good advice and enjoy your cruise. Your about to be hooked like the rest of us.;p

[bury me at sea]

Passport and dl sufficient. I always notify my credit card company of my itinerary.

 

Take fewer clothes. Mix/match.

 

You will get a Fun Times each evening with a schedule of the following day's activities. Don't try to do it all. Relaxing on deck is amazing.

 

Order all you want in the main dining room. Multiple appetizers, etc. will be happily served.

 

Room service personnel are not included in the auto gratuities. We keep some one dollar bills on hand for tipping.

 

Relax, enjoy, and come home addicted.

Edited February 28, 2017 by bury me at sea
Typo

[Sitzmark]

I used to call my credit card companies to inform them of travel and even had a card suspended once because of travel (in spite of my notifying them). The last time I tried though, capital one informed me this is no longer required.

[emcelh]

I used to call my credit card companies to inform them of travel and even had a card suspended once because of travel (in spite of my notifying them). The last time I tried though, capital one informed me this is no longer required.

 

 

It may depend on the credit card issuer. I had a card frozen last month. I forgot to call them prior to leaving on our cruise.

[Sitzmark]

It may depend on the credit card issuer. I had a card frozen last month. I forgot to call them prior to leaving on our cruise.

 

 

Absolutely call and check. Also be prepared for your card to potentially get declined anyway (ticket window at Disney World). In my case being prepared meant having a cell phone handy to call the card company and assure them that the charges were legitimate.

[nhsails]

Ah, call your CC, not all companies will cover you out of country and many will suspend your account. My travel CC, requires notification

[Geebee8]

We only take one credit card and inform the company of each port to be on the safe side and take our passports and driver's license. I scan a copy of the credit card (both sides) along with our passport, boarding passes, flight info, medication list, etc. and email to myself to a cloud based email that I could pull up if necessary from any internet connection. In the case that our passports are lost or stolen, having the scanned copy will at least provide some information to speed the process if we need to leave from a foreign country.

We always have several $1 and $5 bills on hand for tipping porters, room service, tour operators, etc. as well and, contrary to a post above, we do tip our room stewards extra at the beginning and end of each cruise. Since we have YTD, we rarely have the same staff in the dining room so we do not tip extra there but we have in the past as well. We tip well when we are out locally so why would we not do so while on vacation?

[jordan1608]

We do pretty much the same thing, use only cash in port, let out CC companies know we are going to be out of the country, etc. One thing that we also do is make copies of our DL, CC (front & back) and passports (also kept with itinerary, cruise receipts). I will keep a copy in the safe in our room, but I also send copies to my mom (who is also our emergency contact).

 

Don't forget post-its and a marker to leave notes for your room steward! Enjoy your cruise, you will definitely be hooked!!!

[crusinpsychRN]

Have your mail held.

[lizardhowson]

Boy, this thread got off track quickly :eek:

[sparks1093]

Boy, this thread got off track quickly :eek:

 

 

Not really, the OP's last question was "What other tips do you have to make we are ready for our first cruise?" which kind of opens it up to everything.

[summersigh]

Absolutely call and check. Also be prepared for your card to potentially get declined anyway (ticket window at Disney World). In my case being prepared meant having a cell phone handy to call the card company and assure them that the charges were legitimate.

I have the phone# for all credit cards in my phone so it's always available if I have to call for an emergency theft. Since we leave our flip phones in the cabin safe we can count on getting the numbers off of it if needed

We always notify the CC's we're taking that we cruising and what countries we'll be visiting. Be very specific about your dates. For one card I went to charge gas on disembarkment day but had to use another card since I'd included that day when I notified the prefered credit card company.

[DebJ14]

I used to call my credit card companies to inform them of travel and even had a card suspended once because of travel (in spite of my notifying them). The last time I tried though, capital one informed me this is no longer required.

 

 

American Express no longer requires you to notify them either. However, the main card I use is issued by Chase and they still require notification or they will not allow transactions to go through.

 

Just make sure that if you use a credit card in a foreign port that there are no foreign transaction fees. That can add 3% to the cost of whatever you buy.

 

I use my Chase credit card out of the country all the time. There is no foreign transaction fee and I found that they give great exchange rates, much better than the stores and hotels offer. I saved over $100 on my hotel bill from Costa Rica because the bank had a much better exchange rate than what the hotel offered. The hotel was willing to run the charge in Colones or USD. I opted for the Colones and came out way ahead.

[Sitzmark]

Just make sure that if you use a credit card in a foreign port that there are no foreign transaction fees. That can add 3% to the cost of whatever you buy.

 

 

Good point, Capital One also does not charge a foreign transaction fee. I believe Citi does though.

[1cruisingal]

How does the Barclay Carnival credit card work with foreign charges? Has anyone had to notify them prior to sailing?

[tandemcruzr]

We have the Barclay Arrival+ card and notify them when traveling. They send us an e-mail confirmation of our travel plans.

[NC_Cruisin]

We have the Barclay Arrival+ card and notify them when traveling. They send us an e-mail confirmation of our travel plans.

 

 

How do you like the Barclay Arrival + card?

[cb at sea]

WE always call our credit card companies, especially if we're leaving the country! Don't want a false "fraud" stop on our cards while traveling! We use 1 card for the ship...and the other card for taking ashore. We leave the card we're using for the ship's charges ON the ship....don't want to risk that one!

 

We stop our paper and mail for the duration of any trip....that way, no neighbors are inconvenienced picking up those things for us. We unplug everything in the house that could produce a fire...and turn off the water at the main shut-off. We turn the thermostat to a reasonable temp for the season...no use heating or cooling more than you need to when no one is home! (Never turn the heat below 55 in the winter, tho!!!)

[tonit964]

Keep any medications you take in your carry on.

We take a small battery power candle/night light for the bathroom. The light is very bright and when you turn if off and go back to bed, you can't see a thing.

 

Have a great cruise!