how do you get the time off??

[FangedRose]

After being told off for leaving work on time in oder to get my son to the train station for his return to university (and in same conversation being thanked for coming in early!) I basically told them where to stick their job :-).

 

I now rely on pension plans etc. which my late husband and I put in place, but only cruise annually.

[big al]

For those of you who cruise constantly...how do you get out of work that much??

 

Most people who can cruise a lot usually can do so for the following reasons:

 

1) They own their own business and vacation when they want

2) They are the CEO/ President of the company & same as above

3) They are rich/ very well off & have many weeks vacation coming to them

4) They get 4-5+ weeks vacation a year due to many years of service, make a good salary & cruise all 4-5 weeks...

5) Save all their money every year & try to take 2-3 cruises at least ( that's what we did- before MERCK laid me off, along with 2000 other friends, I was making good $$ and had 22 vacation days a year, most of that time went to cruising..)..we got married late, so no kids, which makes a BIG difference $$ wise...

6) Retired or semi-retired receiving good SS and or pension PLUS savings whole life, etc.,now cruise as much as possible...

 

Big Al

[Bonnie J.]

We are both retired now so can cruise very last minute or anytime. We used to do one cruise a year when we started cruising in 1985. As a teacher it was breaks and vacations but once I asked for it -without pay- and had a good sub lined up when I asked. Think this was our 1st cruise- a surprise Christmas present for my husband - and he was surprised- I got the week off.

After retiring I was interim head teacher for 3 & 4 yr. olds, , brand new day care center (hated preschool!). I had in my contract I could cruise. I was replaced the day we got back from the 10 day cruise (YEA!)

Edited August 21, 2014 by Bonnie J.

[big al]

Here are the averages of vacation days by country in the Western World:

 

Below is a list of the average number of paid vacation days given in a year to employees in each country (from least to greatest). Keep in mind that numbers do vary depending on seniority.

 

1. United States of America - 13 days

2. Belgium - 20 days

3. Japan - 25 days

4. Korea - 25 days

5. Canada - 26 days

6. United Kingdom - 28 days

7. Australia - 28 days

8. Brazil - 34 days

9. Austria - 35 days (42 for elderly)

10. Germany - 35 days

11. France - 37 days

12. Italy - 42 days

 

What a surprise, the U.S. is dead last...we are the ONLY country in the world, that does NOT require ANY vacation paid time off by law..I.E., France REQUIRES all workers to start w/ 20 days off..you do not have a say in this as the employer..it is the law..I like that!! It took me 15 years to get to 15 days off...ridiculous!!!

 

Big Al

Still Cruising After All These Years

[navybankerteacher]

The nature of the teaching profession: being tied to an academic year of, say, 180-190 days per academic year means that, while teachers have many days off, those days must be scheduled in accordance with the school schedule and not in accordance with the individual teacher's preference. Yes: the upside of having a lot of vacation time is offset by the fact that actual scheduling of vacation is limited. So a traditional worker with, perhaps two weeks paid vacation, 10 holidays and perhaps two "special" days works about 240 days per year, but has much greater flexibility.

[momofmeg]

The nature of the teaching profession: being tied to an academic year of, say, 180-190 days per academic year means that, while teachers have many days off, those days must be scheduled in accordance with the school schedule and not in accordance with the individual teacher's preference. Yes: the upside of having a lot of vacation time is offset by the fact that actual scheduling of vacation is limited. So a traditional worker with, perhaps two weeks paid vacation, 10 holidays and perhaps two "special" days works about 240 days per year, but has much greater flexibility.

 

Yes, and then when you can cruise they are much more expensive as families with school children go then. So you are also limited by cost. I know as my daughter works in the school system and loves cruising, she averages a cruise every other with us, and yes we pay more in order for us to cruise together the years she goes with us.

 

Military often gets a discount. So can seniors on cruises not filling up last minute. There also discounts sometimes by what state you live.it is a shame they do not offer some sort of discount for teachers.

[packedandready]

I only work 1 day a week so for me it's not a problem. DH will be able to retire next march but isn't going to. He works 4 10's, has several "person" days, 12 (I think) holidays and gets 6 weeks vacation (next year another 2 will be added). He usually schedules he vacation in advance but has also taken it within a week.

 

After putting pen to paper he said he'd be crazy to retire...works less than half the year ... If he's happy, I'm happy:)

[spookwife]

Most frequent cruisers are either retired, or own a business (and have employees to do the actual "work") or work for the government and get 6-8 weeks of vacation time (paid by our taxes!) per year!

 

work for the government?! yeah.. DH gets his 30 days year, period and he can forget being able to take off whenever he wants let alone for more than a week at a time.

 

and that doesn't factor in the times that it gets taken away last minute due to operational commitments.

[navybankerteacher]

 

Military often gets a discount. So can seniors on cruises not filling up last minute. There also discounts sometimes by what state you live.it is a shame they do not offer some sort of discount for teachers.

 

I've seen a number of discounts for teachers. Also, while teachers are limited to school vacation times - the same limitation applies to parents., most of whom do not have anywhere near as much time off. At the end of the day, it is retired people who have the real advantage: not just essentially unlimited time off, but the ability to take advantage of last minute opportunities.

[momofmeg]

I've seen a number of discounts for teachers. Also, while teachers are limited to school vacation times - the same limitation applies to parents., most of whom do not have anywhere near as much time off. At the end of the day, it is retired people who have the real advantage: not just essentially unlimited time off, but the ability to take advantage of last minute opportunities.

 

We managed a decent price On Celebrity this Thanksgiving week but normally we either cruise NCL for a 7 day or less take a shorter 4 or 5 day on an older RCI ship this week. The same goes for Christmas vacation, sky high and if we go then we book a shorter cruise on an older ship.

 

Once we booked a summer 4 day on NCL,paid a ridiculous price; it was way too expensive for what it was. ( It cost more than a 4 day cruise in a veranda on Celebrity in January in concierge my hubby and I took on our own)We also were unhappy because it had a lot of bratty out of control tweenies on ship. That will never happen again.

 

Now the Med cruise we took in the summer was no higher but the airfare was; so we still paid more so our daughter could go with us. Originally we were going in the fall but changed to summer so she and her friend could go too.

 

Prices are also sky high Columbus Day week and President's Day week when a lot of schools are out. In the spring it is slightly better since spring break falls on different weeks in different school districts. We would have possibly taken a cruise instead this past spring but my daughter had surgery.

 

Perhaps you need to look at prices in early December compared to after Dec. 18 a week before Christmas when kids are out of school. The price goes up about about a third for the same exact cruise. If Christmas Day or NY Days fall into the cruise week then it more than doubles than what you would pay for a cruise leaving before December 18. it is similar for November. Thanksgiving week goes up a third higher. Now you can find better prices right NOW on a few ships that have not sold well that week but overall that is true.

 

It is the law of supply an demand. Most parents arrange to take vacation time when the kids are out of school. After all, if the kids are young, they pay extra babysitter fees those weeks,as after school daycare is considerably less than all day. I guess it just makes sense for parents to take vacations then

 

Were do you find out about teacher discounts? I have never seen them.

[geoherb]

Since my response four years ago, our situation has not changed. I still have to plan all of our cruises around DH's school breaks. We have managed to take two or three cruises each year since then. The longest I was able to get away from work was nine vacation days. We flew to Alaska after work on a Monday, spent five nights on a tour, then seven nights on a cruise, and one night in Vancouver before flying back on a Sunday. It was great. I would love to do that every year.

 

My boss's vacation schedule this year, however, ate up a few of the days of DH's summer break. We could not fit in a cruise to Alaska or Europe. We were lucky that Princess had a ship in the Caribbean. Tropical Storm Bertha kept us from going to Princess Cays, but we still had a great time and very smooth sailing.

 

Two more years until retirement.

[YubaSutter]

For those of you who cruise constantly...how do you get out of work that much??

 

I negotiated 6 weeks a year that I can take with a weeks notice.

[navybankerteacher]

 

Were do you find out about teacher discounts? I have never seen them.

 

We are not allowed to refer to travel agencies or related entities; but out of curiosity I just went on line searching - teachers' discounts on cruises resulted in a number of things which might give desired information.

 

Because we are both largely retired, we are able to take advantage of unpopular dates, last minute itineraries, long repositionings at absurdly low prices, etc.

 

The best advice I can give is to have been born early enough to be retired now and to have been reasonably careful in financial planning.

[clackey]

I am self-unemployed and the wife has all kinds of personal leave, especially in the winter. We usually grab some of the lowest fares the first of December thru February.

[momofmeg]

We are not allowed to refer to travel agencies or related entities; but out of curiosity I just went on line searching - teachers' discounts on cruises resulted in a number of things which might give desired information.

 

Because we are both largely retired, we are able to take advantage of unpopular dates, last minute itineraries, long repositionings at absurdly low prices, etc.

 

The best advice I can give is to have been born early enough to be retired now and to have been reasonably careful in financial planning.

 

Yes, that makes a difference not teaching full time I am sure. Hubby and I will continue as we do we take usually 1 cruise a year and every other year we do one with our daughter.

 

we sue an online travel agency but we have a travel agent assigned to us. I will ask her. we have final payment due on the Thanksgiving cruise due in about 9 or 10 days. Maybe we can wrangle out another discount. If not it's okay, we were given a super deal for this cruise. Celebrity ran a great deal back in late April/early May when we switched from a 5 day Connie cruise. This year we lucked out already.

 

Lol!Advice! I am 60 and we do have a good retirement. Hubby is a couple of years younger in "IT" so he is at that dangerous age when corporate companies let go of older guys and replace them with 30 year olds to get out of paying them retirement besides the younger guys they pay half. We do have a decent amount in a 401K an dour house will be paid off in less than 10 years. So if we survive him getting a premature layoff, we will have a good retirement.

 

A friend of ours, is 63 now got hit with that "early retirement" a few years back. Fortunately for him, he was close to 59 and half so he could get money out of his 401K. Around here the housing market was the worst county in the country with the housing market crash. He bought houses super cheap, fixed them up and rented them out. He did take social security at 62, and he is still renting out houses, but he plans as the market continues to improve to sell off the rental those houses so he can really be retired. He has sold a a couple of the houses already and made a decent profit. He says being a landlord is a lot of work AND stress so definitely not "easystreet" It merely helping him to survive without losing all of his 401K in the long run.

 

As far as us, I have had diabetes for 25 years and though I look perfectly healthy I am not and I have not worked in 15 years. Hubby and I decide since he has a good income that I not take out disability but wait until he reties and draw off him as I will get more off him, not having been employed in so long.

 

I have both heart problems and some minor(for now) kidney damage so I doubt we will ever take more than 1 cruise a year, if even that as my health deteriorates more. I am hoping we can buy a condo in Myrtle beach, a one room efficiency one to use several months a year at retirement (spring and fall) and rent out summer months. That is my hope.

[gremlinbangles]

I feel your pain. Working a regular job makes it a bit harder. First we are fortunate to live in Florida with 3 ports within 2 hours of us. A couple of other ports within 3-4 hours. I mention this cause it gives us the ability to use 1/2 days of vacation. We can leave at noon and be in Fort Lauderdale, Miami or Port Canaveral by 2 at the latest. And we usually do self disembark and our home before noon on the last day. So dh doesn't need to use as much time. we also (try to) make use of the holidays and weekends as part of the cruise.

 

Anything is possibly if you strategize :) We actually managed to book 4 cruises this year. Admittedly one is a 3 day leaving on Thursday afternoon getting back on Sunday so 1 1/2 day for that cruise.

[lrm]

Most frequent cruisers are either retired, or own a business (and have employees to do the actual "work") or work for the government and get 6-8 weeks of vacation time (paid by our taxes!) per year!

 

Since I am a retired government employee and my husband is still a government employee--I take exception to your comment. Both of us earned and paid for our benefits and pay a significant amount of taxes. My DH has over 1,000 hours of possible time off saved because he can't be away from his job more than a couple of weeks a year since he is busy "serving the public".

[Markanddonna]

I am a retired teacher and can now enjoy cruising a bit more because now I can schedule cruises outside of the busiest and usually most expensive times of the year (Christmas and Spring break). There are just a few cruiselines that offer teacher discounts and the only ones that we would use are Holland and NCL but the discount is $30-40 so it isn't huge.

 

Teachers could (and should) be fired if they abuse the personal/sick leave time they get by taking a cruise during those times. Some take off time without pay- maybe a day or so but some districts don't allow that. I guess you may be fortunate a few times a year if you live in Miami and can get out for a 3-4 day cruise but for most teachers, it just isn't practical or possible.

 

Let's face it: some people have more enchanted lives than others. We could ask the same questions about who can afford expensive cars or houses...

[momofmeg]

I am a retired teacher and can now enjoy cruising a bit more because now I can schedule cruises outside of the busiest and usually most expensive times of the year (Christmas and Spring break). There are just a few cruiselines that offer teacher discounts and the only ones that we would use are Holland and NCL but the discount is $30-40 so it isn't huge.

 

Teachers could (and should) be fired if they abuse the personal/sick leave time they get by taking a cruise during those times. Some take off time without pay- maybe a day or so but some districts don't allow that. I guess you may be fortunate a few times a year if you live in Miami and can get out for a 3-4 day cruise but for most teachers, it just isn't practical or possible.

 

Let's face it: some people have more enchanted lives than others. We could ask the same questions about who can afford expensive cars or houses...

 

Something tells me though your life is more fulfilling if not enchanting. That is life. We give up one thing to have another. Different things makes us happy. Personally I would take a fulfilling life over enchantment.

 

I feel vacations recharge us and refresh us and helps us to go back home to what in our lives is really important.

[Dayenu]

I work full time, our cruises are usually once a year. I have 35 paid days off - doesn't matter sick or vacation, so of course I try to minimize my sick time to have more vacation time.

[kelmac]

I'm a retired teacher and my wife still teaches. We can only cruise during her periods of unemployment (winter break, spring break and 10 weeks in the summer). As teachers, we only get one day of paid vacation, which is referred to as a personal leave day. Sick leave cannot be used for vacation time and at the end of my career I had over 200 days of sick leave, which just evaporated when I retired (received zero dollars for not using all that leave). I always found it much harder to miss school compared to all the work necessary to miss a day of school.

 

My wife retires in three years and it will be nice to cruise during those off season, cheaper cruises for a change!:)

 

Kel

[navybankerteacher]

We can only cruise during her periods of unemployment (winter break, spring break and 10 weeks in the summer). As teachers, we only get one day of paid vacation, which is referred to as a personal leave day.

 

Of course, that "...one day of paid vacation..." comes on top of ten weeks off in the summer plus winter break and spring break. While all that time might not come during the low-price cruising season, it still provides many multiples of the time off the vast majority of working people enjoy, so ...

[firerunner]

We cruise once a year but take land vacations an additional three times a year. We are self employed and we have staff here to take care of things for us.

[kelmac]

Of course, that "...one day of paid vacation..." comes on top of ten weeks off in the summer plus winter break and spring break. While all that time might not come during the low-price cruising season, it still provides many multiples of the time off the vast majority of working people enjoy, so ...

 

I agree; the point I was making is that teachers are not paid during those periods. The winter break, the spring break and the summer break are periods of unemployment for teachers. Most teachers have a summer job to supplement their income.

 

We have the time, but not the money.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[Cruise Junky]

I work for a large corporation and get 32 days of paid vacation a year

 

Ditto ^^

 

I get 32 vacation days and DH gets 28 plus stats