Shopping Cruise Insurance

Cruise Insurance
Most of the cruise companies offer them with varying degrees of protection and for various prices. Should you buy a travel insurance plan? The truth is, it usually doesn’t hurt to get one. Especially aboard the value-oriented cruise ships that cater to kids, prices for the travel insurance plans are kept low enough to be affordable for most families. Medical cancellations are almost always covered, and with children, it’s a safe bet that somebody just may get sick as your sailing date approaches.

Also consider buying travel insurance through your travel agent if you live in a northern latitude and are planning to cruise during the snowy winter season-but be sure that weather delays are included as a covered cancellation reason. If your cruise company’s policy does not cover blizzards that might close your local airport until well after your ship sets sail down south, consider booking a separate insurance policy through your travel agent that will give you peace of mind should flurries start to fall.

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CHOOSING A CRUISE SHIP

CHOOSING A CRUISE SHIP
CHOOSING A CRUISE SHIP and itinerary is just the beginning of your vacation-planning process. After you’ve selected the cruise itself, it’s time to start thinking about shore excursions, before- and after-cruise land vacation deals, airline tickets, travel insurance, and more. Luckily, most of the major cruise lines are ready and willing to help you get everything you want-and, in some cases, to offer you a few discounts along the way.

Cruise-Airline Packages
Cruise vacations come in a wide variety of prices, styles, and durations. The one common denominator is that most companies promote their lowest possible, cruise-only rates to get your attention. Food and a nightly show are included, but not much else. You need to consider secondary expenses.

One of your biggest secondary expenses is likely to be airfare to and from your ship. If you live in Southern Florida, western California, or New York City, you are in luck-you can often drive to a nearby port and find a round -trip cruise itinerary that will bring you back to the same port, thus negating the need for airfare at all.
If you travel often for business, you may also be in luck. You may have enough points on your frequent-flier program to purchase round- trip airfare for your whole family at no additional charge. Blackout dates are of course a concern here, but destinations likely are not, since most cruise ships intentionally begin and end their itineraries in major cities near international airports.

If you don’t have either of those options on your side, you will have to purchase airfare in addition to the price of your cruise, as do the majority of people who book cruise vacations. To make your planning process a bit easier, most cruise companies have programs that enable you to add airfare and round-trip transfers onto the price of your cruise.
The question you will of course ask yourself is this: Will it cost me less if I book the airline tickets myself? The answer is sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends on where you live, where you need to fly, and what airfare specials are being advertised at the time you choose to book.

Your best bet is to start by asking your cruise-ship company how much it would charge you to add round-trip airfare and transfers to the price of your cruise package. In some cases, you will get more than just the price of the ticket; Carnival’s Fly Aweigh Air Fare Supplements program and the Disney Cruise Line sometimes include complimentary overnight hotel accommodations if your flight can’t get you to the embarkation port on time for a same-day departure. And Radisson Seven Seas sometimes offers free airfare upgrades to business or first class if you book your ticket through them.

BEYOND.THE BASICS
In virtually all cases with all cruise-ship companies, your cruise/ airline package rate will include round-trip transfers to your ship. That’s a convenience sometimes worth paying extra for-especially if you are traveling during the winter from a snowy city and are worried about delays that might leave you precious little time to get from the airport to your ship.

After you know exactly what your cruise line wants to charge you for exactly what kind of airline seats and transfers, you can have your travel agent do further research for separate airfares, or you can look around on your own. The Internet makes this kind of search much easier than it used to be. Most airlines have their own sites, where you can check the exact same flight numbers and flight times that your cruise ship is offering you. If you book through the particular airline’s Web site, you sometimes get a discount on the published fares or an extra number of frequent-flier miles.

The last thing you should consider is whether your credit-card program gives you points toward a redemption program or cash back for every dollar you spend. You’ll obviously get a similar number of points whether you book your airline tickets yourself or through your cruise line, as long as the price of your airline tickets is similar. However, some newer credit cards, such as the Citi Premier Pass, offer rewards points not just for every dollar you spend, but also for every mile you or anyone else flies on a plane ticket booked with your credit card. If you can’t make the airline ticket purchase through your cruise company a separate line on your credit card statement, it might be a smarter move for you to book your airline tickets yourself. You’ll probably end up with enough extra redemption points to get yourself something like a nice gift certificate to a home-improvement store when you get back from your vacation.

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HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU expect to pay

HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU expect to pay for your family cruise vacation? It’s a simple question, but the answer depends on various decisions you make. Will you cruise for three days or three months? Do you want the most spacious, top-level cabin with a private balcony? Do you want to stay aboard and enjoy the ship’s free amenities? Or will you add as many shore excursions as possible? Your answers to all of these questions-and more-will determine the price of your cruise.

How Cruises Are Priced
Cruise ships are priced to appeal to people with different levels of income. As with land-based vacation resorts, you will find some cruise ships that are dirt cheap while others have prices so high that they induce nose bleeds. The trick is to determine your budget and then find a ship whose base price is low enough to let you add on all the extras you will want to enjoy while you are aboard.

You’re not alone in booking this cruise-in fact, ships are filling up faster than they have in years. In 2004 alone, the estimated number of Americans who booked cruises was bigger than the entire population of New York City: 9 million, a solid 5 million more than a decade earlier. At any given time, you’re likely to encounter serious competition for the best cabins and the best deals, especially during peak

school-vacation weeks and holidays. You need to do your homework, do it well, and do it as early as possible so you can jump on every opportunity that comes along.

When looking at the costs, consider that the industry tends to use terminology ranging from lowest to highest, with the least expensive ships called value or mass-market, followed by premium and then luxury or deluxe. There are also niche and specialty companies whose itineraries might be, say, for two weeks aboard a small- capacity expedition ship from the southern tip of Chile to the wilds of Antarctica. This kind of cruise, as you might have already guessed, will cost you a heck of a lot more than three days aboard a value- priced ship in Florida and the Bahamas. Beyond these extremes, there are all kinds of cruises whose prices fall in between.

Some parent companies own a variety of cruise lines that fall into different price categories. Carnival Corporation, for instance, owns the premium Cunard and Holland America lines as well as the value-priced Carnival ships. Within the fleets of each individual line, you will usually find newer ships that cost more to cruise aboard than older ships.

While all the extras You choose, along with your cruise length and destination, will affect your specific vacation cost, you can get a good feel for the price ranges at various cruise lines by looking at a few sample itineraries from each. The examples you’ll see on the

CRUISE COSTS
promotions. Prices are, of course, subject to change (which usually means they go up).
Still, this general overview of the short, medium-length, and longer itineraries offered by each of the major cruise-ship companies will give you a place to start when considering the costs of the various cruise lines and which might be right for your budget and family needs.

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Kids’ Rates

Kids’ Rates
At the other end of the age spectrum, there are a couple of different ways to save money when booking a trip with your children. For starters, some cruise lines offer kids’ discounts on a seasonal basis. Crystal Cruises promoted a Kids Sail Free program during the summer of 2005 aboard its ships in Alaska. The discount was good for any child age twelve or younger who shared a stateroom with two adults, and the special deal may be repeated in other parts of the world during 2006.

Other cruise lines offer permanent kids’ fares all year round. Costa Cruise Line has a program called the Friends and Family Fare, in which you can save as much as $200 per stateroom off the early- booking rates as long as you book at least two staterooms at the same time. You can also choose the Costa Loves Kids program, in which children seventeen and younger who share a cabin with you may cruise for just $199 per child.

The latter of the Costa kids’ incentives is actually a program that you can find aboard other cruise lines under a different name, usually something as generic as “third and fourth guest.” If you are willing to share your cabin with your children, you can often get them deeply discounted fares. With Carnival, for example, a four- day Bahamas and Caribbean cruise costs at least $799 per person with the early-booking discount, but the third and fourth guest in a single cabin are eligible for fares as low as $199 with the early-booking discount.

Look for these kinds of savings without the name “kid” in the brochure for whatever cruise line you choose, and you’re likely to find a good deal.

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Senior Cruise Discounts

Senior Rates
If you’re a “seasoned” citizen, or if you’re bringing grandpa or grandma along on your family cruise vacation, you’ll be happy to learn that senior citizen discounts are indeed available aboard some cruise ships. Norwegian Cruise Line, for instance, offers discounts for anyone fifty-five years or older on some itineraries. Royal Caribbean also has senior discounts for anyone who is fifty-five years or older, though as with NCL’s boats, the Royal Caribbean rates are only good aboard several ships at specific times of the year. Costa Cruise Lines gives anyone who is sixty years or older as much as $200 off their ticket on any of the company’s ships or itineraries. The discount is in addition to any savings you get if you purchase the ticket with an early-booking discount (called the Andiamo Rate aboard Costa’s ships).

Other companies often have senior rates, as well. Ask your cruise line of choice or your travel agent for details.

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