Preparing to leave

[bob brown]

On 4/23/2018 at 5:04 AM, Keith1010 said:

What about automobiles. Some people will disconnect the battery and others will have a neighbor run them every few weeks.

 

Keith

I got one of these...for just a few pennies worth of electricity, it will keep my battery healthy for the entire six month's I am gone on world cruise....

https://www.costco.com/Battery-Tender-Power-Plus-3-Amp-Charger.product.100241973.html

[Wendy The Wanderer]

On 11/24/2018 at 12:32 AM, bob brown said:

I got one of these...for just a few pennies worth of electricity, it will keep my battery healthy for the entire six month's I am gone on world cruise....

https://www.costco.com/Battery-Tender-Power-Plus-3-Amp-Charger.product.100241973.html

 

Great if you have somewhere to plug it in.  In an apartment garage that's not always possible.

[Go-Bucks!]

Unfortunately my friend who was going to buy my car has changed her mind so I'm back to the original plan of having my daughter drive it up and down the driveway once a week....☹️

 

I considered selling it to a dealer, but they pay way too little. So I guess I'll just sell it next summer when I return and get a new car then.

[Scrapnana]

2 hours ago, Go-Bucks! said:

Unfortunately my friend who was going to buy my car has changed her mind so I'm back to the original plan of having my daughter drive it up and down the driveway once a week....☹️

 

I considered selling it to a dealer, but they pay way too little. So I guess I'll just sell it next summer when I return and get a new car then.

You may want to have her drive it a little further and a little more often.  I had my daughter and my neighbor start my car and move it some and on both of my world cruises my battery totally died and could not be revived.  On my next cruise my son-in-law is going to disconnect the battery.

[Go-Bucks!]

5 hours ago, Scrapnana said:

You may want to have her drive it a little further and a little more often.  I had my daughter and my neighbor start my car and move it some and on both of my world cruises my battery totally died and could not be revived.  On my next cruise my son-in-law is going to disconnect the battery.

 

That's my other option...my neighbor has offered to take off the tires, put it up on blocks and disconnecting the battery.  He has a large building to put it in, but I'm concerned that mice might get under the hood and nest (I live in a rural area where, sadly, we coexist with mice).

 

Having my daughter drive it more often and further isn't an option. Plus, I'm decreasing my auto insurance too.

Edited November 26, 2018 by Go-Bucks!

[rkacruiser]

On all of my long cruises, I have asked a friend to start the car, leave it running for 15-20 minutes every 7-10 days.  Or, in the same time frame, and for the same duration of operation, drive it around my condo's parking area or even use the car for their own use for awhile.  I have never had (knock on wood) any issues when I returned home and first turned on the ignition.

 

Having one's charging system checked and having a good battery before one leaves for a lengthy period of time might be the reason for my positive experience.

[Heidi13]

On 11/25/2018 at 8:13 PM, Go-Bucks! said:

Unfortunately my friend who was going to buy my car has changed her mind so I'm back to the original plan of having my daughter drive it up and down the driveway once a week....☹️

 

I considered selling it to a dealer, but they pay way too little. So I guess I'll just sell it next summer when I return and get a new car then.

On our last WC we intended to be away for 9 - 12 months, so didn't want the truck unused for that long. 

 

I deal directly with our dealer's Sales Manager, since we have purchased a few vehicles from him, so gave him a ring about him trading-in the SRW F-350 and factory ordering a dually to be delivered for our return. We saved a year depreciation, getting top dollar for the trade-in, which we dropped at the dealership enroute to the airport.

 

Provided him a detailed list of the truck and options we wanted and we sent him an email 10 - 12 weeks before we returned home, at which time he submitted the factory order. Additional benefit is we also received the latest model year.

 

Worked well for us, might be worth considering.

[rkacruiser]

Heidi13,

 

Thanks for the idea!  Never thought about doing something like that.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

This thread is going to be very important to me about a year from now!  I guess for all you 2020 cruisers, you're getting pretty antsy about tying up all those loose ends.

 

I am keeping a list, as I think of thing, gulp!

[Heidi13]

22 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

This thread is going to be very important to me about a year from now!  I guess for all you 2020 cruisers, you're getting pretty antsy about tying up all those loose ends.

 

I am keeping a list, as I think of thing, gulp!

Flights/hotels - booked

Ports planning complete - just got to print and create a binder

Weekly calendar complete - needs printing

Tours - ship included & optional tours booked, private tours booked where possible

Visas - process underway, passports back in 4 to 6 weeks

Vaccinations - travel clinic appointment for October

Currency - determined what & how much we require - purchase in December

Luggage shipping - mid December

 

Under 4 months to departure.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Wow, that's great.  Is the visa process fairly easy, being Canadian?

 

And the luggage shipping--wow, that's early!  I'll have to wrap my head around that, and see if it's the same for Regent.

 

And you've got each port figured out!  I'm in awe.

Edited September 11, 2019 by Wendy The Wanderer

[Heidi13]

Wendy - As expected the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC will not issue Visas in Canadian passports. I experienced the same issue in Vancouver about 10 yrs ago, when I gave them my UK passport. Refused the Visa until I provided them a Canadian passport, or fly to UK.

 

GenVisa are arranging all other Visas. Once we get the passports back we will head down to Vancouver for the Chinese ones. Since Viking are paying for Visas, they will re-imburse all costs. If Regent are using a US Company for Visas, I expect you may have similar issues with China Visas.

 

For luggage shipping, I am predicting about 2 weeks before the cruise, since we have Christmas & New Year, before departure Jan 4th.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

11 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

Wendy - As expected the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC will not issue Visas in Canadian passports. I experienced the same issue in Vancouver about 10 yrs ago, when I gave them my UK passport. Refused the Visa until I provided them a Canadian passport, or fly to UK.

 

GenVisa are arranging all other Visas. Once we get the passports back we will head down to Vancouver for the Chinese ones. Since Viking are paying for Visas, they will re-imburse all costs. If Regent are using a US Company for Visas, I expect you may have similar issues with China Visas.

 

For luggage shipping, I am predicting about 2 weeks before the cruise, since we have Christmas & New Year, before departure Jan 4th.

 

Thanks Andy.  Weird that visas are being done by a US company even for Canadians.  Luckily we're not going to China, so no problemo.

 

Right, two weeks prior for the luggage does seem reasonable.

[Keith1010]

2 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Wendy - As expected the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC will not issue Visas in Canadian passports. I experienced the same issue in Vancouver about 10 yrs ago, when I gave them my UK passport. Refused the Visa until I provided them a Canadian passport, or fly to UK.

 

GenVisa are arranging all other Visas. Once we get the passports back we will head down to Vancouver for the Chinese ones. Since Viking are paying for Visas, they will re-imburse all costs. If Regent are using a US Company for Visas, I expect you may have similar issues with China Visas.

 

For luggage shipping, I am predicting about 2 weeks before the cruise, since we have Christmas & New Year, before departure Jan 4th.

We ship our luggage about three weeks before the cruise that time of year.  Why?

 

Christmas holidays and potential weather delays. 

 

The major companies have a secure area to keep them so we figure for the reasons I mentioned to get it to them sooner rather than later.

 

Keith

[Wendy The Wanderer]

11 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

The major companies have a secure area to keep them so we figure for the reasons I mentioned to get it to them sooner rather than later.

 

I presume it's also climate controlled so everything doesn't moulder, ha ha.  At that, everything's going to need to be pressed, for sure, after 3 weeks in a suitcase.

[Keith1010]

7 minutes ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

I presume it's also climate controlled so everything doesn't moulder, ha ha.  At that, everything's going to need to be pressed, for sure, after 3 weeks in a suitcase.

Yes, good news is they are climate controlled.

 

At least for us because we take 7 or so suitcases the process to pack takes about a week.  So adding another week to have the luggage stored doesn't add to the wrinkling. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

3 minutes ago, Keith1010 said:

Yes, good news is they are climate controlled.

 

At least for us because we take 7 or so suitcases the process to pack takes about a week.  So adding another week to have the luggage stored doesn't add to the wrinkling. 

 

Wow, this is for a world cruise, right?  I can't get my head around that, but I haven't done it yet, so we'll see.  I know I'm going to have to buy a new suitcase or two, for sure!

[rkacruiser]

15 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

We ship our luggage about three weeks before the cruise that time of year.  Why?

 

Christmas holidays and potential weather delays. 

 

The major companies have a secure area to keep them so we figure for the reasons I mentioned to get it to them sooner rather than later.

 

 

For my world cruise, luggage that needed to be picked up and delivered to the ship was picked up three weeks, at least, before my cruise.  

 

In a sense, needing to have this "stuff" ready so soon before departure lessened the "pressure" on the other things that needed to be done prior to departure.  But, it did make for a busy Thanksgiving time!😀

[Keith1010]

30 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

For my world cruise, luggage that needed to be picked up and delivered to the ship was picked up three weeks, at least, before my cruise.  

 

In a sense, needing to have this "stuff" ready so soon before departure lessened the "pressure" on the other things that needed to be done prior to departure.  But, it did make for a busy Thanksgiving time!😀

Yes.  In our case we get most of it packed before Thanksgiving.  Often we join the ship before the start of the World Cruise so it times out nicely.  The good news is once it is done one less thing to worry about.

 

Keith

[Go-Bucks!]

On 9/12/2019 at 1:17 PM, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

Wow, this is for a world cruise, right?  I can't get my head around that, but I haven't done it yet, so we'll see.  I know I'm going to have to buy a new suitcase or two, for sure!

 

Oceania shipped 2 large suitcases, I took 2 large suitcases (they flew us first class), 1 22" carryon and a personal sized carryon.

 

Because I bought clothes, shoes and souvenirs along the way, I did need to buy another large suitcase to go home. About half of the world cruisers also had to get another one. But I don't regret any of my purchases...this world cruise was a financial "one-and-done" so I wasn't going to pass up getting things that would help me remember my adventure. 

[rkacruiser]

20 hours ago, Go-Bucks! said:

I did need to buy another large suitcase to go home.

 

I did as well.

[xrvlcruiser]

Pack a duffel or two

[Heidi13]

Just booked our luggage pick up for December 18th, for departure January 4th.