[高性价比之豪华游轮自助行]

DIY Cruising.

DIY Cruising doesn’t mean I drive the ship myself. It means I try to spend the least amount of money for my cruise trip. So finally I managed my luxury and cheap cruise trip, so I recorded some of my experience here.

Since I heard from a friend about his cruise trip to Northern Europe, I was very jealous and always wanted to plan my own cruise trip. Last year my husband and I moved to Netherland for work. We decided to travel all over the Europe and definitely to try cruise trip. Here is the first cruise trip we did. I will introduce it in five parts: Booking, Preparation, transportation, visited cities, on the board.

Booking.

By now, I think ‘vacation to go’ is the best agent for booking a cruise (http://www.VacationsToGo.com). It is easy to search for a cruise line according to my various requests (region, length of the trip, date of departure, port of departure…). Their website shows dynamic price list of each category of rooms. It is wise to monitor the price regularly and book several months in advance or book the last minute deal. You may get good price (up to 70% off), when it is close to the departure date, in off-peak season. So for one week cruise trip, I can limit the cost to 1000 Euros for two people. For connecting flight, I book from KLM or Lufthansa, they often offer 99Euro return ticket to major European cities.

Noted: 1.The online price excludes government tax and petro fee which vary every day. 2. Many cruise lines offer on board credit, you can use it to pay off the tips and other expenses during your voyage.

It means before you book the trip, always fill in their enquiry form to quote a price for the trip (each trip has a specific number). An agent from ‘vacation to go’ will contact you by call or email. Agents almost work 24/7. They will reply you in minutes sometimes.

Using my trip as an example, the following is how my agent replied me and you will see what to expect.

Thanks for letting me help you with your cruise!
This deal is currently available, though price and availability are subject to change so let me know as soon as possible if you are interested. Here are the details:
Sailing Date: June 5, 2011
Ship: Norwegian Epic
Itinerary: click here

Per person prices in US dollars, including port charges, taxes and government fees, based on double occupancy:

Balcony Category BE: $759 + $103.62 tax = $862.62 per person

Cabin total: $1725.24 USD

**There is ONLY 1 cabin available at this lowest price! The next available option is $200 USD more!**

I have placed cabin 10064 on hold for you under reservation number: 19571579.

In order to purchase this cruise, I will need the following information for all passengers:

· Legal names (first & last, as in passport) & title Mr., Mrs., etc.
· Dates of birth
· Address (City, State, Province, Country, Postal code)
· Phone number with country code
· Citizenship
· List of special needs or occasions
· Preferred bed configuration (two twin beds or one queen)

I will also need the following payment information:

· Type of credit card and card number
· 3- or 4-digit CID number and expiration date
· Name as it appears on your credit card

Within 24 hours of your payment, I will send you an electronic confirmation.

Non US passport holders must verify passport and visa requirements for all passengers with the embassy, consulate or immigration office of the countries in your cruise itinerary. If these documents are not provided at the pier, you will be denied boarding and may forfeit the full amount paid for your cruise.

For more information, please reply to this e-mail or call me at the number below. My office hours are also listed.

Thanks again, and I look forward to helping you!

Warmest Regards,

One bad thing is that some cruise lines do not offer the same cheap prices for customers outside of US and Canada. So we cannot book their trips through agents based in US, like ‘vacation to go’. The same trip mentioned in the email would cost me more than 800 Euro per person if I booked it through an agent in the Netherlands. Residents living outside of US and Canada cannot book trips from the following lines: Costa Cruises, Cunard, Holland America, Oceania Cruises, Princess*, Royal Caribbean, Star Clippers. Noted: 1.Residents of Mexico are permitted to book Princess through ‘Vacations To GO’. 2. Residents of the U.K. and Australia may not book P&O Cruises through ‘Vacations To Go’.  You can find these information on ‘Vacations To Go’ website.

Preparation

Documents: Do not forget passports, identity cards, and driver’s license (if you need to rent a car). You also must have a credit card (one for each stateroom is enough). Cruise will link your cost on board to this credit card. After the trip, you can leave the ship directly and wait for the bill at home. Otherwise, you have to pay a lot cash as deposit first and handle your account before you leave. Very troublesome!

Clothes: You can pack most comfortable and casual clothing for daytime. Most ship do not have very strict rule for dressing. I did not see anyone in a night gown. Just do not ware swimsuits and jeans, T-shirts in the main dining room. I saw people wear all kinds of clothes in outside eating area and relatively formal shirts in other restaurants.

Other things: For excursions, I need sun glasses, hat, sun blocker, sport shoes, beautiful dresses, cash, coins (for buying bus or train ticket), umbrella, map, lonely planet, and jacket. When traveling to tropical areas, it's a good idea to carry insect repellent.  I always take my passport with me when I leave the ship.

I also packed essential medications with me, although you can find basic medicines from the ship, it will cost you a lot for seeing a doctor on board.

Always to take your own camera, it is very expensive to buy the photos from cruise photographer. If I remember correctly, one photo of myself would cost me 23USD in Norwegian Epic.

I brought my computer, but I did not use internet on board. As it would cost me 100USD for using it for 200 minutes. The speed is slow and Skype or other video call is not possible.

Norwegian Epic has European outlets in every cabin. I am not sure about other ships, so a universal converter is handy. New ships usually provide hairdryer. If not, to sit on the deck for an hour, hair will be dry.

I printed maps from googlemap for all the ports, train stations of each port city or city we planned to visit and places of interest. The maps were very helpful.

Transportation:

I spend 99Euro/per for return air ticket between Amsterdam and Barcelona. I choose KLM over budget airlines as I can check in up to 23kg of luggage.

I did not choose excursion trips offered by my cruise, as they are too expensive. An 8-hour trip easily costs more than 150USD, while I planned myself and only cost 30 Euros for the same amount of activities.

Visited cities: including transfer tips from port to the centre of the port city.

Day 1: Barcelona, Spain June 05/2011

The ports are at the end of La Rambla Street.  I took metro line L3 and reach station Drassanes (I used T10 ticket for 7.85 Euro, very good deal, valid in bus, metro and train in Barcelona). After got out of metro, I saw Christopher Columbus monument. Very near to the monument, only cross the road, you will see a bus stop. The “T3 cruiser” blue buses will take you to your port. Do check carefully which port your ship will park (A,B,C,D, south,north,or east, there are 7 cruise terminals here). If you do not know, check with the bus driver or the person who sell you the bus ticket. It costs 2.50 Euro for a single way. Of cause, the same blue bus can also take you from ship to metro Drassanes, from where you can start to explore the whole city. Do not wait for taxi when you leave the ship. It is always a long queue in the morning.

Lonely planet introduced: in Italy, there is a type of regional pass for different provinces, purposed to be cheaper, as it can be used for different public transportation, such as bus, train, boat…. However, I did not do any research on this, so I bought separate bus and train tickets.

Day2, at sea

Day3: Livorno, Italy (a port city near Pisa and Florence)

It was raining heavily when we arrived at the port. We had to take shuttle bus offered by the cruise. 5 Euro for a return drive from ship to the downtown (next to a tourist information centre, where you can buy cheap tour to Florence or Pisa. The Florence trip costs less than 30Euro , much cheaper than that offered by cruise,99USD). However I still have to take bus No1 (direction: get on the bus at the stop opposite to the MacDonald) from here to Livorno train station. You can buy bus ticket in any tobacco shop. It costs 1.20 Euro, effective for 1 hour, should be stamped in the machine at the entrance of the bus. Otherwise, if you can walk from ship to the port car park, you will find No.8R bus (shuttle between port to Livorno train station)

The bus stops in front of the train station, where you can 1. buy train ticket in tobacco shop, 2.queue at the ticket window 3. Buy ticket from automated machine. Prices are the same.

I travelled to Pisa and Lucca. In one direction, my train ticket is valid for 6 hours. For example, Pisa is in the middle: Livorno→Pisa→Lucca. I only needed to buy one ticket to Lucca, and get down in Pisa and get on the train within 6 hours. Ticket is for single direction and should be stamped in the machine like this. Florence is also not far from Livorno, but I did not go there, as I wanted to spend more days there.

My schedule was tight. I think it is not enough to visit one big city in one day, if you love museums, like I do. You will feel sorry and want to come back in future. If you choose to visit two small places for one day, plan it well, as the connection between cities may not always be smooth. The trains in Italy are not always on time, or mostly not on time, so do not account on last train, or you will have big chance to miss the ship.

However, if I missed the ship, I would spend one night in hotel and take train to Civitavecchia to meet my ship next day. It would not be a problem if people always take enough cash and passports.

Day4, Civitavecchia, Italy

I had a very good impression of this port. Because, 1. There is a beautiful castle 2. Cruise offer free shuttle to a bus stop where I can walk to the train station.3 nice beach and sunny weather.

Rome is nearby (50mins train for 9 Euro, single way). However I stayed four days there three years ago, so I chose a different place this time, an archeology discovery site in Tarquinia. The small city did not disappoint me. Not many people from the boat will visit it, but it has very good tourist facility. I bought train ticket for return trip between Tarquinia and Civitavecchia, which made me regret (every two hours per train or bus, Tarquinia train station ticket office closes in the afternoon, but there is automated ticket machine). As Tarquinii train station is very far away from the entrance of old Tarquinia city center, I have to take another bus. In fact there is a direct shuttle bus between the two city centers, which is more convenient and cheaper than the train. The shuttle bus stop is just in front of Civitavecchia train station. You can buy the ticket on bus. You will get every information you need (eg shuttle bus schedule) at the information centre located near the gate of old  Tarquinii city.

Day5, Naples, Italy

I visited Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius from here (see my Chinese note later). A Pompeii map will be helpful, as this historical city is too big to see within short time. There are beautiful shops and open market near Pompeii train station. I loved the things they sold there, beautiful! There is a bus between Pompeii and Vesuvius. The breeze on the top of the mountain could make you fell cold, so bring a jacket even in summer. I was walking through the clouds, on a sandy road to the crater of the volcano in a very happy mood.

Next I will visit Naples itself, as most treasures have been moved to the museums here. Also Capri and Sorrento are easy to reach.

Day6, at sea

Day7, Majorca, Spain (see my Chinese note later)

Palma de Mallorca is  a very relax place with good  Sun and music. Please ignore the unnecessary and expensive cruise shuttle, but take the public transportation. I love the fresh sea food market there.

Day8, Barcelona, Spain

On board.

What we did on board when the ship was at sea?

1.
Taking photos of the beautiful cruise, the sunset, and happy people.

2.
To eat formal dinners in the main dining room. They had different menu every day. The food in outside garden café was offered from early morning to late night and also nice and free. We did not try other restaurants and bars, as we need to pay extra fee for them.

3.
To play balling, pulling (not free, but not expensive) and water sliding.  I stayed in the hot massage tub for the whole afternoon.

4.
To watch different shows. Next time, the first thing I will do is to make reservations for all the shows. One to two shows every night.

5.
To watch art auction. Although, we did not buy anything, we felt enough fun.

6.
Shopping, if fact, you will find the same things on land and they are cheaper.

7.
To read in the library or on the deck in the sun.

8.
There were other activities: movie, party, gambling, swimming… we do not have enough time to do all these, as we got off the ship to visit port cities in most daytime. You can also stay on the boat and enjoy the fun.

On board cost: 12 USD tip per person for every day (you can use onboard credit to offset it)+ other cost (you can make it to zero). The total cost will be charged from credit card. No need to use cash on board, even for gambling.

So finally, we successfully completed this not so expensive cruise trip.

The cruise we taken

The room we had on 10th floor

top floor deck in daytime