GeezerCouple

If this particular excursion seems important or especially appealing to you, then ask how many steps there are to the ladder, and perhaps a photo. (Some ladders have something like thick rods as "step"; others have flattened steps, etc.) Ask if there is any help for someone uncomfortable with ladders. But the bottom line is that this should be a *pleasant* experience for you. If you are likely to be dreading it in advance, or fearful during the excursion, then it's probably not the best choice. (Note: I have a different fear, of heights. There are some excursions I simply will NOT go on. Very occasionally, if it's something really special, then DH may go without me that day. But usually, we just select something else.) GC

Welcome to CruiseCritic! We almost always take private tours/excursions, so we can "do it our way", and, for example, spend more time 'here', and less time 'there', etc. Usually we plan this in advance, but if it's really just the two of us, then we can also adjust the itinerary on the go, as long as the guide agrees it will work in terms of timing, etc. And we've also had some terrific experiences using this strategy: There were two times in the Caribbean when we chartered a large catamaran. Not only was it more than we wanted to spend, but it had *plenty* of room for more than the two of us. (For overnight charters, which we did not do, there were four private bedroom/bath accommodations, in each corner of the catamaran. Overnight sure would have been wonderful. Maybe another time...) We posted each on the appropriate Roll Call, describing what we had planned, and the pp cost. One was a regular "tour", but we chartered "all of it". So instead of something like 16 or 18 people for the day, we kept it at 8, with lots of room to spread out. (We did not use the bedrooms, or there would have been extra charges for cleaning, etc.) The other was another large catamaran at another island, with a planned itinerary to some nice swimming and also some special sight-seeing opportunities from the boat. Both times, it included a BBQ handled by the guides on board. Nice! And in both cases, it was less per person than if we had each gone with the regular excursion individually, with a larger group. Win/Win. And there was a 3rd, for a sailboat along the coast of Cinque Terre (Italy). Alas, a family member got critically ill days before our planned departure, so I transferred all of the contact info to someone else in the group, and ... they all went without us. 😞 For starters, you might want to inquire on your Roll Call about what others have planned and join in. Later, perhaps you'd want to plan something and invite others. Our favorite trip ever (!) was to Japan, but it was a land trip, so we got to stay overnight at places like traditional onsen ryokans (hot springs inns) and a Buddhist Monastery, among other places in various cities and towns. It's a beautiful and fascinating place. Enjoy! 🙂 GC

CDNPolar has answered your general question very well: And in some cases, there are many complaints about an insurer either generally denying claims or making the claims process extremely difficult/tedious. Work with a travel insurance agent or broker who can help you understand the specifics. Terms in insurance policies may not be defined the same way as in everyday life, or restrictions may be in the "fine print". Better yet, work with a broker who can help you select from policies from several different insurers, to try to get the best policy for *your* particular needs for this particular trip. We are among many here on CC who work with www.TripInsuranceStore,com but CALL them; do *not* rely upon the online summaries. It's often the fine print that will matter. They can also help with a claim if desired. We learned about them here on CC, and had a large claim on our very first insured trip! We've since had several other claims, all paid promptly without quarrelling. (We went through TIS with a policy from Travel Insured, but the best policy for us may not be the best policy for you.) Keep in mind that to get the best choice of types of coverage, it's often important to start the insurance coverage within 10-20 days of the *first* payment (it varies by state of residence). If you've already missed that deadline, there are still many good policies available. Enjoy! GC

We have not used them, so can't speak to their policies or service. However, please do NOT make insurance decisions based upon cost alone. Make SURE that you understand the Terms & Conditions of any policy you are considering, and what you are getting or giving up by selecting one of them. It's easy to get a "less expensive" policy. But will it cover what you expected should you need it? GC

I'm not sure how soon luggage can be dropped off, but in most places -> in the USA, dropoff is much before one can even start to board. However, be careful about the pan to return to the ship "around 2 PM". Check the ship requirements for *your* specific cruise. If one must be on board, say, 2 hours before sailing time, then if you arrive even a bit late, you may be denied boarding. They have a lot to do, including checking the passenger list and coordinating with other authorities. Enjoy your cruise! GC

Did you try Googling the title of this thread? That's what we do, and we do almost exclusively private excursions. We try to find some potential guides who will email directly with us and then help with suggestions to match up with our interests. We've had terrific luck thus far, in a wide range of areas. GC

However, do keep in mind that the travel insurer and, in our case, the travel insurance *broker* did in fact help during the "emergency time", but not in a minute-by-minute life or death situation. I was in contact, in our case, with the broker, about "if we do <this> would it be covered, or what do you suggest?> or such. Travel insurers may (always check, check, check, etc. 😉 ) also provide translation help by phone. (We may have needed that except we were en route to visit dear friends, so instead, they came to the city where we were "stuck". They helped a LOT with translations in the hospital, and also spent time showing DH around, having dinners with him, etc.) Finally, I should have added something in the part above about how some travel insurers may help with guarantees or even wiring some funds. NOTE that this does NOT assure that the medical provider would accept such a guarantee, or even work with a "wire", etc. Again, especially with some "guarantee", how would the provider know with certainty that the insurer would *really* pay... or that the person they are speaking with in another country/continent is *really* an legitimate insurance company in the first place.... We've thus far only heard of one (quite unexpected!) situation where even high credit limit charge cards were not at all useful. It was described here on CC a couple of years ago. It was a very remote area, and the connections weren't working, or something similar; I've forgotten the details. In any event, it was truly a hair-raising situation! GC

I think there may be a misunderstanding about the "maximum of 60 days per trip" for the insurance coverage. AFAIK (and I am not a licensed agent or broker, so DO speak with one of those!), the length of the trip has nothing to do with the "tickets" or "hotel reservations", etc. It's the duration of the trip. From when you start until you finish it. And one problem with some insurance from the travel vendor is that they might not (need to check, always) cover more than the time they are "working with you". That could be from when you step on the ship at the start, and walk off as you head home/elsewhere. Third-party coverage is usually from the moment you walk out the door until you walk back in. That would also include, say, a land trip before or after the cruise, something not arranged by the cruise line. I'm not sure what a delay of 365 days would mean, without seeing the actual wording of the policy. So the question remains: Are you really going to be on one trip that lasts the entire year, without going home between those days? GC

This is discussed more on the Travel Insurance section of CC. There are some insurers who will, IF necessary, arrange to guarantee payment or even wire money. But if that's important, you should verify before getting a policy whether this would be possible if needed. At an ER while DH was being admitted and attended to, I was escorted to the billing office. There were signs on the wall that indicated things like "We ONLY accept payment guarantees from the following insurers:...." and there were a few of the names many of us have read about, or perhaps even used. This was obviously in a major tourist area. We always travel with several charge cards with a total credit limit of... a lot... just in case of something like this. We do NOT want any medical treatment/evaluation delayed while someone is trying to verify payment with some company on another continent. Hopefully, if we hand then a few cards, they can ring up an amount that will be satisfactory to get started, and do it quickly! Just "showing evidence" of travel insurance? I doubt that would be sufficient in some places. (How could the provider know if there was really any coverage, or if they'd actuay get paid, etc.?) Otherwise, yes, we pay and then get reimbursed, which was what happened that day in the ER. And then there are other hospitals overseas, such as one where I was admitted, and they *refused* to accept any payment. We felt very badly about that, and told them so, and explained that we had insurance that would reimburse us. But they insisted: They did not have any way for the hospital to "accept money". Quite a change from most of the USA! GC

Welcome! You also might do well to ask this on the Princess Cruise Line section of CC: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/119-princess-cruises/ Hopefully, you'll catch the attention of some who have actually done these itineraries, or something similar. When we took our Alaska cruise (we'd love to take another... we'll see...), a serious highlight was Hubbard Glacier. I don't know if it was particularly active when we were there, but the calving was *amazing* (that's big chunks falling off the glacier face, into the water). The ship stayed for quite some time, and was slowly spinning so everyone got a 360 degree view even if they didn't move from on viewing point. But better to keep your eye on that glacier if it's doing the same! 😄 If you have a choice of cabin/suites and you don't have an inside, for southbound, try to get a portside view. We sailed north, and had starboard, so we could see the land a lot. Those MOUNTAINS! We went early in the season so we could see lots of snow-capped peaks, and we sure did. (Other times, there are other special sights. It's ALL good.) Enjoy! GC

You might want to post about the insurance on the travel insurance section of CC: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/ We would NEVER rely upon the charge card coverage, given the type of coverage snd the restrictions, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be suitable for some. Just be CERTAIN you understand ALL of the Terms & Conditions, especially pre-existing condtions (which can be defined very differently). I'd suggest calling a travel insurance agent or broker and discuss with them what your situation is. They can help you figure out what type of coverage is best for your situation, and there will be choices. Browse there and then perhaps make a call, at least to get some quick information and feedback. Double check about "length of trip". However, I'm surprised that you would really be traveling for the full year (365 days), without coming home. Is that correct!? GC

Try asking on the "Family Cruise" section of CC, for good information: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/28-family-cruises/ Enjoy! GC

Good! I think you'll be much happier. At the least, you'll be avoiding this advance "whatever flights will we be on" stage! However, even though you are making your own air reservations, DO check occasionally on the airline website that your flights/times haven't changed. Sometimes there are changes, and... well... the passengers aren't necessarily notified promptly. So IF you see a change, and it's waaay off time-wise, call the airline. Especially if they've moved the time more than some specific amount of time (it may vary, something like 2? 4? hours), then you can get changed to another flight with no "change fee". (Or that used to be the case: we've only flown once since Covid.) We once had a change that would have had our first connecting flight arriving AFTER the next flight had already departed. 😠 We were able to change to almost any other flight we wanted, to get the connecting timing right, with no fee. We still wonder IF they ever would have notified us; we checked and saw that problem well in advance. Even if they had (we sure hope they would have!), there would have been less availability on much shorter notice. GC

It doesn't seem that OP has posted again *anywhere* on CC since starting this thread. ?? GC

CDNPolar has the correct answer. It isn't going to do you any good to get assorted opinions here on CC. The ONLY thing that will matter is >> what your travel insurance POLICY explicitly includes. And the covered events, and even the "definition" of the events can vary. A lot! We'd strongly suggest that you contact a travel insurance BROKER, one who can help you select among the policies from several different insurers. We are among those here on CC (and elsewhere, of course!) who use www.TripInsuranceStore.com (There is no extra cost to use an agent or broker.) But CALL them; don't rely upon the brief online summaries. Your situation is an excellent example of why CALLING is important. You want to know how "pre-existing conditions" are covered. And what "pre-existing conditions" even covers to begin with. And "pre-existing conditions" in whom? Travelers? Non-traveling family members? Or? Note that "pre-existing conditions" can be defined *VERY* differently by different insurers. What will matter is what the definition is in the specific policy that you get. OR... get a policy that does NOT exclude pre-existing conditions in the first place. There are important restrictions on when one must start this type of policy, so don't delay. It could be as early as within 10-20 days of making the very first trip payment, such as the deposit. We've had several insurance claims, including some large ones. And some of those were due to medical issues before we even left: once, DH; another time, MIL. These were cancellations at the last minute, when there was a 100% penalty. Because we started the policy within a few days of making the very first payment, pre-existing condtions were NOT excluded. But that was OUR policy. Not all policies are like that. We've also had 100% refunds for costs of travel interruptions once we were on a trip (both cruise and land vacations). One very important thing is to get RECEIPTS for *all* expenses. That's much easier at the time, and perhaps very difficult (or impossible) to try to get "later". Our claims were paid within about 2 weeks of our submitting the necessary documents, and without any quarrel. And we never felt that the "necessary documents" were inappropriate. (The insurer has the right to do their best to deter or detect fraud, after all. They never challenged a receipt that we submitted.) GC

I'm not sure just what point you are making, or referring to from posts above. Is it about your pre-existing conditions and thus a need to buy "a cheap, bare bones cruise policy ... with a low medical"? If so, if you start the insurance coverage within 10-20 days of your *first* payment (e.g., the initial deposit, and the timing depends upon your state of residence), then there are many policies available that will waive any "pre-existing condition exclusions" so you don't need to worry about that at all. You do need to be "fit to travel" on the day you start the coverage. [What we do is to make a deposit when all is well, and then the next call we make is to start the travel insurance, before there's any chance to have some medical issue interfere, etc.] Also, about the Medicare Advantage plan and out of country coverage, I obviously can't speak about your specific policy, but my understanding is that these MA plans usually have a $50k *lifetime* cap on the out of country medical coverage. So if you have other coverage, try to make sure it is *primary*, so the MA coverage is not involved while you do have other coverage. If the other coverage is "secondary", then they'll only pay after the "other" coverage has paid... thus using up some - or all? - of that limited MA coverage. We also have had the MedJetAssist annual plan. We've never needed it, but there was one time when I was in hospital overseas, and we actually started considering... should we call MJA?? That was just about when I started to improve, thank goodness. But it was VERY comforting to know that possibility was "there" if we had decided to use it. GC

There is no restriction on CC about discussing travel insurance companies, agents, or brokers. (Travel agents are different, of course!) We STRONGLY suggest that you contact a specialist, an agent or broker who can help you select the best policy/coverage for your needs. We recommend www.TripInsuranceStore.com - as do many others here on CC. There is no extra cost to use them, and they can also help if needed should there be a claim. But please *CALL* them so they can explain a lot of details and also ask you questions to help them to select the most appropriate choices for you. We've used them (TIS) to purchase policies from Travel Insured. We've had several claims, including some large ones, and all were paid without quarrel, and that's what matters in the end... GC

Welcome to CruiseCritic! This suggestion won't help much for this trip, given that you've already purchased the coverage (correct?), but for next time... You'll note as you browse through this section of CC that many of us recommend purchasing travel insurance through an agent or even a broker who can handle policies from several insurers. This can help one get the type of policy and coverage that is best suited to the traveler's specific situation and travel plans AND the agent or broker can answer questions (often before one had decided "which" policy) and also help with claims should that be needed. They can also help one work through one's specific needs, such as any pre-existing medicak conditions; any frail family members who are not traveling; etc. There is no extra cost for using an agent or broker. Enjoy your cruise! GC

Well... actually, we never asked! We just sent in what was a *fat* (if printed out) set of medical records from exams, lab work, xrays/etc. In my case, it may have been easier, because we only needed to "use" the medical records to document that I was "too sick" to continue traveling, etc. And I think the medical records spoke for themselves, for that. Point is, there was no reimbursement for medical care needed. It might have been different if the insurer were paying, so they knew exactly what they were paying *for* AND that the treatment was warranted, etc.? (Just a guess.)

Quite a few people here specifically do NOT insure the trip costs, so they would not be upset to get back "NOTHING". 😉 For them, it is usually a decision that they know the costs of the trip, it's already been all/mostly paid, and they are able to financially absorb the costs. However, MEDICAL costs aren't known in advance, and could end up sky high (or higher!). So they want to insure against catastrophic losses. There is (or used to be; we haven't checked recently) at least one travel insurer who would provide coverage for pre-existing conditions if the insurance was paid at the latest of something like "within 24 hours of final payment". However, that policy (when we were looking at it) had lesser coverages than the policy type we prefer from a different insurer. We *want* those other policy features, so we simply start the coverage within the time period of our first payment. That's very easy to do... no problem! As Mary229 just wrote, it's important (VERY!) to make sure that the policy you purchase meets your insurance needs. And that's why we always use an insurance broker; They can ask questions, make suggestions, etc., to help us get the right policy. (There is no extra charge for these services.) GC

When I was in hospital overseas, we didn't get any other forms from the travel insurer. I didn't even know they had "forms" of their own. (?) We've just sent copies of the actual medical records. The overseas records weren't in English, and we really didn't understand what most of it said, in the written form. So we asked for a complete copy of "all of it", and that was what we submitted to the travel insurer ("all of it"!). It was a fat stack. We just fed it into a copy/scanner and forwarded the pdf to the travel insurer along with their own claim form. We also had two visits to the hotel by a local physician, before he directed the hotel to call an ambulance. He gave us a handwritten "receipt" for the payment we gave him for each visit. (We got these receipts at the time; we've never needed to contact any overseas provider later.)f In the above case, there was no bill for the hospital, although we tried and tried to give them money: ".... but we have insurance to cover everything..." They insisted they had "no way to accept any money". We needed those medical documents to support the considerable costs of changing our trip for about a week. For a US-based medical care, this was always for "before the trip", and was to document the reason for a cancellation. Because we were still home, no medical costs were paid by the travel insurer. And yes, in those cases, we did use the relatively short forms from the insurer, but this didn't involve any financial reimbursement for medical care. We've never found the forms to be burdensome. And we've never had any quarrel with the travel insurer despite having filed several claims, including a couple of large ones. (We use Travel Insured, which we purchase through TripInsuranceStore.) GC

"Surely".... what? If the people who are eating and sleeping on the ship as it floats around are not "passengers", what would *you* call them? The only other thing I can think of is that some of us arrive ON the ship as "passengers", but after indulging in the unlimited food for days or weeks, when we disembark, we might need to be rolled off as "cargo". Or as was mention previously, "cargo that complains"! 😁 But seriously, what do YOU think they/we should be called?? GC

I think you'd need to look at each ship, and not "which cruise line has sofa beds". Which exact cabins have which bed types will vary a lot, and possibly on a single ship. It's not likely to be "cruise-line specific". The Deck Plans should indicate which specific beds are in each cabin or suite. And then CONFIRM when you make reservations, as there may have been changes, especially if there was a major dry dock recently. GC

One can often use the hangers that one finds in the closet. Those "pant" hangers, with the two "clips"? Put the hanger "vertically", and clamp the errant curtains closed, either in the middle or one at top/one lower, as needed. Duct tape works well if the problem is at the ends, where the curtain meets (er, doesn't meet!) the wall. GC

Yes, and good to be planning ahead, rather than at the last moment, There are a couple of things to keep in mind, and places to check. First, keep in mind one of the reasons that some of the permissions and precautions will be necessary. These are to try to avoid problems with children being trafficked or with a non-custodial parent taking a child out of the country, where the custodial parent may not be able to recover the child. (That's why "one parent's signature" is not necessarily sufficient.) The cruise line will probably have a form to be filled out and signed by both parents (probably notarized, but that depends) that gives permission for you to be taking them out of the country. Do NOT forget to get written permission to make medical decisions for them "just in case". ETA: Double check about medical insurance! If they don't have coverage for out of the country, then consider travel insurance. The US State Department will also have guidelines, and we'd always at least include all that they recommend, even if the cruiseline does not. And YES... Passports! 🙂 You may or may not be required to show these documents when boarding, but you should definitely have them with you rather than risk being turned away. Did you happen to be able to get interior-connecting cabins? If so, then if you and the girls wished, you could still have them share one cabin, keeping the connecting door open. (This is especially useful with younger children.) And then enjoy your celebration cruise with the nieces/grands! GC