What All Smart Cruisers Do in The Days Before A Cruise

We attached our baggage tags before arriving at the ship but upon boarding we found out our allocated cabin was someone else's! Luckily our bags arrived at the (wrong) cabin at the same time as we did! After visiting guest services, we discovered we had been given an upgrade from inside cabin cabin to oceanview! The kerfuffle was worth it! Hahahahaha!

Gary's range of experience is exhaustive! I feel overwhelmed just listening to these videos, but I'm slowly learning!

I booked a 2 week cruise around New Zealand in Feb 2024 a year ago. I checked the app to make dining reservations 6 months ago and many of the time slots were already gone! When I check dining times in February to see if I could switch a few days I discovered all dining times were gone except really late dining times for a solo diner. If I had waited until a month before the cruise I would not have gotten a shared table.

We cruise about 4 times a year and do just about everything you noted. It makes the trip so easy to have done about 98% of the planning months in advance.

I keep copies of all documentation when I travel, but in future I will keep them in a folder like yours, rather than folded and tucked away. Lovely visuals in this video. Thank you!

We did that cruise in the opposite direction. The best tip here is watch the weather. It was blazing hot in Brazil and freezing on the Falkland Islands. Pack accordingly.

We saw so many people unprepared in Iceland. Even in the summer the winds make it very cool sometimes. We saw people from Hawaii wearing tropical type clothes and flip flops with cruise sweatshirts. I don’t know how they made it on excursions. Iceland also has limited OTC medications, most requiring a physician’s order. Your suggestions are so spot on.

Digital versions of physical documents is a great idea thanks.

I have one comment of my own, After my 3rd cruise I located and purchase a pair of smart looling deck shoes which I wear entire time aboard cruise ships, even formal nights , doesnt matter how wet deck get these shoes are close to slip prove. Prove this to my self when mens wash room was recently mobed and shoes still had good grip.Shore excursion is when I wear my casual shoes, abone arriving home my deck shoes is hand clean, and repack in suitcase where it stay stored till next trip. 23 cruise more and still performing well.

This is a keeper Gary! Such a great checklist to go through before any cruise 👍

Excellent video. One thing that I always do one week prior to embarkation is calling the hotel(s) where we will stay pre-cruise and post cruise to confirm our hotel reservations, especially overseas. This is just to make sure the hotels still have our reservations because I normally book our hotels and flights at least 6 months out.

Your small comment about having Skype credit to call your mum's landline made me smile. I remember doing that years ago to stay in touch with my parents and grandparents.

Wonderful reminders Gary! I save many of your videos in my cruising folder on my iPad. When I’m ready to cruise, I can review the ones I need and make my lists of things to do etc. it’s a great review and it’s also like listening to a friend while planning! Thank you so much for your help!

I do a few things before I leave home. I stop my mail. I contact mybank, credit card company and my cell phone company. I copy all my paperwork and give a copy to my sister (especially insurance). I use my bank's bill pay and set up all my bills to be paid while I'm gone. It's peace of mind.

This is why your channel is so great! Having a good trip is all about the time you put in before hand to plan and prepare, this gave me a few things to double check before my next cruise. Thanks!

Gary - Great info and of course you are a pro at planning / cruising / etc. As a yearly cruiser, I would say that this itinerary is much more complex than many and given the typical demographic for Holland America, it is easy to see and predict that there would be many traveler issues for check-in, etc. I am traveling with my parents next month and the amount of "pre-work" and info for this cruise would probably overwhelm them as it did for many of the passengers you experienced. Perhaps a future video on best cruises for different age demographics, mobility issues, and beginner vs experienced cruises? I think that would be a great one for you to do!

I love the ‘invisible’ selfie stick

You are a gold mine of information, especially for novice cruisers such as myself.

I think one of the most important things pre-cruise is work out where the Ports are and how to get to/from them. Just because a Port has "Rome" or "Paris" in the name does not mean it is within 2 hours of those cities. My first cruise thankfully is out of Manhattan Cruise Terminal however access to that one is not a breeze with public transport.

I check my phone’s available memory to make sure I’ll have enough room for new photos and videos I shoot on the cruise. Sometimes I need to remove and back up photos I’ve already taken.