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Cruise Tips

Are Ship Shore Excursions Worth It or Are You Better off on Your Own?

Taking an excursion with the cruise ship isn’t always necessary. It all depends on what you want to do and how easy it is to venture out on your own. Much of this is port specific, as some ports are within walking distance of activities and sites while others are further away and might require […]

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Cruise Tips

What You Need to Know About River Cruises

River cruises are a wonderful way to travel and visit multiple places in one trip. Sometimes, more than one in a day! Unlike ocean cruises, a river cruise takes you close to the sights to see in each port of call, avoiding lengthy and expensive transfers into town. Many ancient towns were built along the […]

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Cruise Tips

Why You Should Add Pre- and Post-Cruise Extensions to Your Cruise

Why not take a few days to explore your embarkation or disembarkation city or both by adding a pre- and post-cruise extension? Even if you can tag on only a day or two, at least it will give you time to get a taste of what these exciting places have to offer. There are many […]

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Cruise Tips

Norovirus Cruise: Tips to Avoid Catching This Nasty Bug

So, you’ve read about it in the papers and seen it on the news, cruise ships affected with norovirus, hundreds sick, a nightmare at sea! After over a dozen cruises we had the misfortune of being on one of those ships too. Let me tell you about our experience.

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Cruise Tips

Cruising on a Mega Ship—Our Review

Well, we’d heard from others that they didn’t like the large ships as much as the smaller or traditionally sized ones, but being travel bloggers we had to go and see for ourselves. We headed out on the Norwegian Escape on a modified Western Caribbean itinerary to explore the ship and enjoy a 7-day cruise.

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Cruise Tips Travel Tips

Recheck Your Shore Excursions Descriptions upon Boarding

If you read the fine print on your cruise documents, all excursions are subject to change and of course you do not have much say in the matter. Whether this is due to weather, lack of sufficient booking or perhaps equipment issues with the provider—we’ve experienced all of the above and been forced to scramble […]

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Cruise Tips

Making Lemonade out of Lemons – When Life Throws You a Curve Ball

Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and unexpected situations arise and you just have to go with the flow. Accept. Adapt. Make a new plan and make the most of it. Life is short and meant to be enjoyed! This is exactly what happened to us, we had finally taken the plunge and booked our […]

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Cruise Tips

Why Prepay for Shore Excursions if You Don’t Have too?

Cruise lines seem to be getting more and more greedy. They want you to prepay months in advance for dining, gratuities, and even shore excursions… why?

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Cruise Tips

How to Avoid Disappointment and Frustration When Leaving on a Cruise!

I’ve had to run many times through airports to catch my connecting flights because of flight delays or cancellations. One time that comes to mind happened when we were on our way to Papeete, Tahiti for our cruise in the South Pacific. We were traveling from Montreal via Detroit, and then connecting in Los Angeles, […]

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Cruise Tips

Anytime Dining or Traditional Dining: Pros & Cons

More cruises now offer anytime dining (also called open seating) which means you can choose to go to any of the eligible restaurants without a reservation. Historically, when booking your cruise, you had to pre-select your dining time choosing between the  early seating (at 5:30 – 6 pm) and late seating (usually at 8 – 8:30 pm). You […]