Cruising Tips

SAVE MONEY AND TRAVEL

2008-09-01T23:00:00Z

SAVE MONEY AND TRAVEL

With soaring gas prices and checked baggage surcharges hotel chains have decided to give their patrons a break. Even expedia.com is offering a $25.00 to $75.00 gas rebate for people booking hotel stays with them. Loews and Kimpton chain hotels are offering checked baggage rebates. Choice hotels (Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, and Cambria Suites) are offering a free $50.00 gas card program. To see what is available for free Google “free gas hotels” and “checked baggage rebates.”

LODGINGS NEAR PORT TERMINALS

2007-10-24T18:21:00Z

Very often cruisers arrive at their embarkation city the day before their cruise or remain an extra day after disembarkation. I have decided to keep a list of the hotels, motels or inns that are reasonably priced, clean and near the cruise terminals. If you have a favorite place to stay please let me know and I will be happy to include it on my list.

PORT EVERGLADES (Fort Lauderdale)

1. Comfort Suites    (10 minutes from the terminal)
     2540 Davie Road
     Davies, Florida 3317
     (954)585-7071
     (954)585-8201-Fax

      PERKS!
      -complimentary shuttle from the Ft Lauderdale airport
      -complimentary shuttle to Port Everglades terminal
      -complimentary buffet breakfast

      DISCOUNTS
      -Triple A
      -Military and Veterans
      -Senior rate (50  to 60 years of age)
      -60+ rate
      -Sam's Club, Costco, and BJ's membership
      -Nova University

.

My Favorite Links

2007-09-23T13:02:00Z

CRUISING TIPS
MY FAVORITE LINKS
By
The Savvy Old Lady (c)
Joan Giorgianni

The Savvy Old Lady has decided to share some of her favorite cruise related web links with her readers. The list will be updated routinely and if you have a link you would like to share please email it to thesavvyoldlady@gmail.com.

1. Shipwatcher.com is a live window into the magic world of cruising. Simultaneously view the live cruise cams of ships from Cunard, Princess and P&O, while they're updated every 30 seconds. Find out vital statistics about your favorite ship, plot its current position on a map, and get all the latest news from other cruise lovers. But beware - it's very addictive.

2. http://www.wavelit.com/popup/playerAfricam.asp - If you have always wanted to take an African Safari and for one reason or another haven't make sure you check out this site. The site shows a live web cam of a watering hole in Hoedspruit, Za. On the right hand side of the page is the current time there. Check out the site in the early AM and early PM since that is the time you will see the most animals. Watch out since it can become very addicting and your children will love to see the different variety of animals that come to the area. Lions and tigers and bears...on my!

3. www.chicos.com- Ladies if you are concerned about bringing formal wear in your luggage, check out Chicos Travelers line. I just love shopping in their outlet stores the bargains are absolutely incredible. I always bring my Travelers long skirt and matching jacket and alternate various colorful tops. I can literally roll them in a ball and throw them in my bag and when I get on the ship I take them out, hang them up and there is not a wrinkle to be found anywhere. And best of all "Crabby" says I look just wonderful!

4. www.llbean.com -The Savvy Old Lady will not go anywhere without her LL Bean red rolling adventure duffle bag (The Body Bag as my family calls it). "Crabby" says I can fit two of the kids in it and still have room for all my belongings. The nice thing is that LL Bean luggage is guaranteed for life. I have had my bag now for seven years and recently had a problem with the zipper. I sent it back to them and voila I received a new bag.

5. www.customs.gov - When cruising in the Caribbean the most popular items to bring home are jewelry, perfume, art and liquor. Check out this site for a detailed report on what you can bring into the country.

6. http://www.xe.com/ucc/ - For those of you planning a European or Asian trip here is a site that will give you the most recent rates on their Universal Currency Converter.

7. www.weather.com - If you want to know the weather predictions at a particular Port of Call this is the spot to go to.

8. www.travmed.com - If you are planning to travel abroad and are concerned about health issues, visas, outbreaks, vaccination requirements this site gives vital information on 200 countries.

9. www.travelmavens.net - Expert reviews from award winning journalists who cruise, golf and explore the world.

Savvy travelers, Check Out Ship Cleanliness: The US Centers for Disease Contol Site

2007-07-16T01:36:00Z

SAVVY TRAVELERS, CHECK OUT SHIP CLEANLINESS:
THE U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL SITE

By
The Savvy Old Lady ©
Joan Giorgianni

I am sure you have all heard the phrase, “I’m here from the Federal Government, and I’m here to help you.” I must admit just seeing it in print brings a bit of a smile to my face. But there is a Federal Agency website that you cruisers (experienced and novice alike) may want to refer to before booking your next voyage extraordinaire.

The Centers for Disease Control is a wonderful medical agency of our Federal Government dedicated to protecting the public health. They work hand in glove with the U. S. Public Health Service too, among other things, tracking health problems, infections and epidemics and respond to health emergencies. In addition those great men and women in the USPHS are the ones who do such a great job of working with the cruise line’s officers and crew to keep things healthy and even give advice (which, thankfully cruise lines almost always take – and take very seriously) on how to manage problems, such as that pesky old Norovirus (see my blog on www.thesavvyoldlady.com on this). Did you know that these thankfully finicky guys and gals even inspect the spa-tubs on board. Oohrah! The Crabby Old Guy, my Hubby, who has worked with the folks from CDC and the USPHS, says they are top-notch and dedicated health professionals and he trusts what they say and so do I.

Well, it turns out that all those statistic-loving scientists at CDC and the USPHS collect reams and reams of data on their sanitation inspections, and even keep stats about outbreaks on cruise ships. The CDC site has all this information. It also has some great tips from the real pros on how to protect your self from diseases while cruising and tips on proper hand washing (your best safeguard against the stomach-nasties). There is also another area on the site where you can check out general travel health information, including the latest for vaccination requirements and recommendations for travelers.

And, because this is funded by tax-payer dollars it is public information and free.

Now doesn’t it make savvy sense that while you are checking out fares, food and fun to also check out sanitation and the CDC’s rating of your ship? It sure does to The Savvy Old Lady. We all know that things can happen at anytime and even ships and cruise lines that come out on top of the stats regularly can have a problem, but you can bet that when they do these are the cruise lines that work big time overtime on sanitization. And besides, who wants to cruise on a dirty ship?

Thanks to one of my readers, Mrs. D., here is the link: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/default.htm.

You know, an informed traveler is a savvy traveler. We all know that one of the worse things that can spoil a great vacation is sickness.

Stay Savvy!

Hugs,
The Savvy Old Lady

For more Traveblogs, Sounding-Off Blogs, Stories and Tips check out my website, "thesavvyoldlady"

Happy Hour Cruise Bookings: Great Last Minute Deals!

2007-07-07T18:47:00Z

HAPPY HOUR CRUISE BOOKINGS:
HOW TO GET A GREAT LAST MINUTE CRUISE DEAL!
By
The Savvy Old Lady ©
Joan Giorgianni

Many of you have asked me about the “Happy Hour Special” I referred to in my blog on Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas (www.thesavyoldlady.com) posted June 16, 2007.

Well to be truthful, up until just this year even I hadn’t heard of this term in the cruising industry. Yep, after cruising for many years, I just found out about this little gem; so I’m passing it on to you.

So here is – as my kids might say “The 411” on these last minute deals.

Royal Caribbean and Carnival have the “Happy Hour Special” for all the ships in their fleets and all the ships in the companies they own. Carnival Corporation owns Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Princess Cruise Line, Holland America, Windstar and Seabourn (I’m still waiting to see Seabourn show up...think it will be a long wait LOL). Royal Caribbean International owns Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and Celebrity Cruises. Now, I must say we are very fortunate living on the west coast of Florida and being only two to three hours (driving) from four major ports. The worry about arranging for last minute flights with expensive fares need not concern us. However, never having heard the phrase “Happy Hour Specials” regarding the cruising industry, a wonderful agent from (www.vacationstogo.com) named Mary, patiently explained that RCI and Carnival release a list on Tuesdays and Wednesdays of all the empty cabins they have for the same week sailings, most with incredibly reduced fares. These cabins seldom get posted on the internet since they go so fast. So if you’re interested you must make the call to one of the Internet cruise agencies on Tuesday and Wednesday and act quickly. After Mary explained the story with these deals they sounded great to us. The Crabby Old Guy though thought that it sounded too good to be true (he loves old adages) but we decided in the name of research for the blog and my cruising book we should give it a whirl…after all we were in an adventuresome mood.

Next she told us that she had an incredible deal on a Costa Cruise Line (owned by Carnival) Grand Suite (750 square inside cabin space feet which is slightly larger than the average New York City studio apartment)...situated at the back of the ship, with a wrap around deck, (I swear, it was sooo big I could have had 75 people on that balcony and still had room...who says size doesn’t matter?) and TA DA... it also came with, are you ready, Butler Service. The price for two passengers was cheaper than some non-balcony ocean view cabins and inside cabins that we have seen on other cruise lines, who couldn’t live with that? So of course we booked it Tuesday afternoon for a cruise to leave out of Fort Lauderdale Saturday morning...nothing like a leisurely packing day or two. Our boarding documents were e-tickets (just like the airlines) and we filled out our pre-cruise documentation on-line. Just one suggestion if you try and do this “Happy Hour Special”, after you book and get your booking number, go on to the ship line site and plug in your number in the appropriate spot...if all is well your name and cabin etc. will pop up. If that doesn’t happen within a short time of the booking call the agent back and see if there’s a problem. You don’t want to get to the pier and find a nasty surprise... stuff does happen. At any rate, for our trip it worked beautifully.

So, Happy Hour Specials can be a real treat if you have the time to be flexible, are not too, too fussy about what cruise line or itinerary you travel or where you travel to. Also, you really do need to be a bit (just a little) adventuresome to do this and be a bit careful making sure that the booking has been logged in by the cruise line company just as you thought it would be.

Try it, and remember...life is just one big adventure. Happy sailing!

STAY SAVVY!

HUGS,
THE SAVVY OLD LADY