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Finalized Our Booking and Made Payment

Today, we finalized our booking for the 2015 World Cruise.  Princess Cruises is offering a 3 percent discount for payment-in-full at the time of deposit and an additional 3 percent discount for utilizing Future Cruise Deposits.  This is in addition to normal travel agent discounting.  Now we will have to watch to see if prices decrease in the coming months.  Should the price decrease prior to the Final Payment Date in September 2014, we can take advantage of any future reductions.

We are now ready to "Escape Completely"

World Cruise Internet Minutes

I had previously Posted that you may purchase additional Internet minutes for the World Cruise at a discount.  Here is the link to where you may obtain additional information about the minutes. To place an order, call 1-800-PRINCESS or 1-800-774-6237.

Link to World Cruise Internet Minutes

Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned

We have learned a few things from previous World Cruises that might be helpful to others.  One of the biggest things is this isn’t your typical cruise.  Many, many, many things are different and call for a little prior planning. 

·        Over packing—We did this on both the previous World Cruises.  Too many clothes were packed for our cruise.  Looking at the upcoming itinerary, almost all of it is to relatively warm weather and won’t require different clothing (warm and cold).  Second, many passengers purchase clothing as we visit unique ports of call.  DON’T FORGET to leave some extra room in your luggage to bring home all the little items you may pick up along the 111-day journey.

·        Best Side of Ship—On this cruise, we chose the Starboard side, since we prefer not having to deal with the afternoon sun over heating the stateroom.  This will apply to most of the itinerary.

Pacific Princess in Aruba

·        Laundry Room—The one laundry room on Deck 7 of the Pacific Princess can get a little busy, especially on sea days.  Plan on doing laundry at off times or while in port.  The laundry room has been expanded to include 8 complete washer/dryer sets.  In this photo the second set of 4 washer/dryer units is behind Cindy.

·        Closet Storage—This is one of the biggest limitations to the Pacific Princess.  One closet contains the mini fridge.  What we did was relocate this fridge and put it below the desk so we could regain some storage space.  

Also, we utilized metal cascading hangers to hold more clothing.

·        Stateroom Walls—The walls of the staterooms are metal.  This will allow you to utilize small magnets to hold maps, papers, etc.  We use larger magnets to hold a small cloth shoe hanger for Band-Aids, medical supplies, sun screen, scissors, eyeglass repair kit, etc., etc., etc.  Some of the newer magnets are the size of pencil erasers and can hold lots of weight. 

·        Passport Pages and Expiration—We have found that you really need lots of unused Passport pages.  It seems that the immigration officials in many countries like to stamp on a new page instead of using a partially full page.  Most countries require that you have 6 open pages, but we highly recommend many more.  Also, your Passport should be valid for a minimum of 6 months prior to entering some countries.

·        Travel Insurance—Can’t recommend travel insurance enough.  On the 2012 World Cruise, Cindy broke her foot in Shanghai, China.  The ship was gracious enough to allow us to continue on the World Cruise and not return home.  Our expenses utilizing the Ship Medical Facilities far exceeded the price of the Princess Insurance.  We utilized Princess Travel Protection, which we have found is less expensive and gives you double the protection if you are a Princess Ruby, Platinum, or Elite passenger.  Additionally, you can expect that some passengers will come on board with upper respiratory infections and it spreads rapidly.  In 2012 almost everyone got this and most went to see the Ship Doctor. 

·        Discounted Internet Minutes---Beside the Internet minutes you receive as a Platinum or Elite passenger, you can purchase, prior to departure 1100 minutes at a substantial discount.  This package is only available for the World Cruise and you must contact Princess to purchase this package.

·        Excursions—If you plan to use excursions offered by Princess, it is a good idea to book these as soon as they become available.  The most popular excursions will get sold out almost immediately.

Visa Requirements

Today we checked out the Visa requirements for the World Cruise.  Looks like this year the Visa requirements are minimal and won't be too expensive.  Princess Cruises is currently showing the following:

AUSTRALIA : NON AU/NZ CITIZENS MUST OBTAIN VISA IN ADVANCE
PRINCESS OFFERS VISA PROCESSING FOR A FEE

VIETNAM : VISA ISSUED UPON SHIP'S ARRIVAL. FEE CHARGED
TO PASSENGER'S STATEROOM ACCOUNT.

INDIA : OBTAIN VISA PRIOR TO CRUISE FROM CONSULATE
OR VISA SERVICE

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES : VISA REQUIRED FOR CANADIAN PASSPORT HOLDERS
GOING ASHORE. SEE NOTIFICATIONS FOR DETAILS.

JORDAN : VISA ISSUED UPON SHIP'S ARRIVAL. FEE CHARGED
TO PASSENGER'S STATEROOM ACCOUNT.

We obtained a 10-year Visa for India a few years ago, so we are good to go.  All other Visas will be obtained by the ship.

Booked Our 3rd World Cruise

On Tuesday, May 28, 2013, shortly after Princess Cruises released for booking the 2015 World Cruise we decided to take this trip.  Without hesitation we contacted our Travel Agent, Cruises-N-More and got the ball rolling for our 3rd World Cruise.  Although this cruise is 605 days or 1 year, 7 months, and 26 days away; we are ready to begin preparation for this global adventure.  Unique to this trip are the embarkation and disembarkation ports.  Unlike previous years, this next World Cruise will begin and end in Los Angeles, California.  This is really good.  We won't have to fly to or from a distant port.  Now begins the preparation for this trip around the world.