Planning a Cruise: 6 Mistakes You Think You’re Too Smart to Make

Contemplating a cruise? Take a minute to read my blog!

Cruise vacation is extremely relaxing and sounds as very easy to plan. Many of the rules that apply when choosing a hotel or airline ticket don’t carry over to cruise ships.

1. Be a Travel Agent for Extended Family and Friends

Understand me correctly, I am not against self-bookers when it comes to planning 3-night Bahamas cruise for you and your significant one.

You are in trouble when taking responsibility for family members and friends who join you on your cruise vacation.

Outcome for this mistake is very serious: you are in danger to damage relationships with friends and family members due to wrong destination, ship, dates, staterooms, and activities.

2. Assuming that your whole cruise vacation is paid in advance

My favorite advice to clients is not to focus attention on how much you pay to go to ship but how much you have to pay to leave the ship.

So many people are in financial trouble because jumped into ‘specials’ on the Internet instead of consult with travel professional to calculate the whole cruise vacation in advance and establish realistic expectations.

3. Insisting that your cruise vacation will be exact as in cruise brochure

Nope! What you purchase is advance is a piece of paper that promise you a great vacation as in cruise brochure.

Reality may be different from what you read. You may have some glitches and issues on shore and on board – know how to handle this in right way.

Ask your travel professional for issues her clients experienced before. This helps you to be prepared and foresee situations to avoid.

4. Choosing a ship based on popularity

If media and friends are hyped about Harmony of the Seas, it doesn’t mean that you have to jump on the bandwagon and book this ship.

May be this beautiful ship and you are not combinable.

Each ship even in the same brand is different with her own features and character.

Your cruise professional must know YOU very well as well ships to make the perfect match between you and cruise ship.

5. Booking the least expensive cabin

It can make sense in hotel: choose the lowest-category room at a nice property, and use the room just for sleeping.

On a cruise, though, the least expensive cabin can be really tight and without window—170 square feet or less.

It’s usually worth the several hundred dollars more to get a better stateroom.

Some people even can site and relax in there, so they go to public areas for relaxation that may be packed and not really relaxing.

6. Assuming the Wi-Fi will work at all times

For some people is a shock to be out of favorite apps or social media.

Even Voom, best Internet at sea may be slow and surfing social media and writing emails are not possible.

Learn to relax in old-fashioned way: chatting or reading a book.

I  am on Azamara Journey this week. I have a lot of live videos  to share if connections are strong on ship and ashore. Please like my page Luxury Cruise Agency to watch all videos I post there.

I will show you ship and activities I experienced.

Itinerary for my cruise is very excited:

September 30 - Rome/Civitavecchia
 October 1 and 2 - Sorrento/Italy:
 October 3 - Taormina
 October 4 - Valletta
 October 5 - Porto
 October 7 - Rome

Also, you can watch my videos from St. Petersburg, Russia on this page also.