Preparing for this voyage has been a learning experience in so many ways with a bit of a ‘trust in the Universe’ attitude thrown into the mix.
We expected when we booked this journey that the cruise ship would be a sea of grey when we boarded. We have discovered however, that there appears to be quite a mix of ages, at least from the social media that we are following online. There are several ‘influencers’ onboard. Many share wonderful uplifting experiences and informative information, others appear to be primarily interested in creating drama – and there has been some drama. Most of the drama created has resulted from missed ports due to weather conditions and civil unrest. South America was particularly hard on them (the world cruisers on the first leg) – they missed the Falklands and several stops in Argentina, Chile, and Ecuador. We have heard from the ‘influencers’ that Royal has possibly cancelled part of our cruise. Luckily it is the last leg of our journey but regrettably it will include stops in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and the UAE. On a positive note, we are excited to see what ports we might go to in place of those stops. If it doesn’t look interesting perhaps we will get off in Singapore and enjoy a bit more time there. Although one of the highlights of this trip for us was Dubai, we are choosing to view this change as part of the adventure.
Some of the lessons learned…
VISAs & E-VISAs
We required 9 Visas/e-Visas for this trip. We discovered quite quickly that the information that came from Royal regarding these was not meant for Canadians and not meant for Geo-segment cruisers. The information was geared towards world cruisers. We also found that Royal wasn’t very organized when it came to providing the information we were going to require when applying for visas. While they were quick to provide information when requested, one would expect that they would have instinctively recognized this was going to be needed by all.
One important lesson for us was where to find information and the appropriate sites to obtain Visas/e-Visas. If you ever find yourself in need of obtaining a Visa for travel, we recommend that you go to the Canadian Government Travel Advisory website. There you will find a list of countries, click on the country of choice and scroll or click on ‘Entry Requirements/Visas’ and if a Visa is required you will likely find a link to the correct site. There are a lot of false sites claiming to be the place and looking very official however they charge much more and can take much longer than is required if you go to the correct site.
PACKING
Let’s talk about the explosion of suitcases in our spare room. 95 days is a long time and there are many things to consider. We don’t want to be looking for needed items in some of the countries we are going to visit. We must ensure enough clothes to make it through, but we also don’t want to pack our whole closet.
Following some Influencers has been helpful in thinking about clothes and needed items that might make our room more comfortable and organized. As these people have already been travelling for 60 odd days, we have also heard from some about their regrets when it came to packing.
We have divided our clothes and other items into all three of our individual bags. In doing this we will have some day, evening, and swimwear available should any bags go missing or are delayed by the airport. We are in Los Angeles for two days before the cruise so if needed we can pick up a few more items.
We’re lucky that we are each allowed two checked suitcases and one carry-on on the flights. The cruise line did offer a baggage transfer service at a cost, but we would rather spend those funds on excursions. We have arranged for a car to pick us up when we arrive at LAX and had to declare the number of bags – which resulted in a slightly increased price because they needed to arrange a larger vehicle.
Extra Items – Theme Nights & Holidays
When travelling by cruise ship there are usually theme evenings. Royal (and I am sure others as well) posts a list of possible theme nights. On our sailing there are western nights, masquerade, penguin, 70s and 80s to name a few. We rummaged through our tickle trunk and packed a few items to help us get in the spirit of these evening events.
We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day and St Patrick’s Day onboard – we have packed our greens and will wear our hearts on these dates.
MEDICATIONS
Not a lot of medications but I do take quite a few vitamins and supplements. These along with a travel medication fridge (looks like a giant water bottle) for injectables will take up half of my carry-on. I’ve learned in the past to always keep my medications and anything that could put a crimp in my vacation with me. We did need to get prescriptions filled in advance for the length we were planning to travel.
FACEBOOK & BLOG PAGES
I am very pleased to have created my first ever web page https:/www.bakersjourney.com and a Facebook page Bakers’ Journey – Cruising the Asia Pacific Waterways in 87 days. I have learned so much specifically with the web page. When I started it, I had my doubts it would ever get finished while not perfect I am pleased with the result.
UPDATE
We wrote the above prior to the flight. We are happy to advise that our Air Canada flight from Victoria to Vancouver and our Vancouver flight to LAX both left early with no issues. All bags were accounted for in LA and our car was available as soon as we collected them.
We had a great few days in Long Beach. We walked to the Queen Mary and took a self tour of the ship. Spent the afternoon at a Mardi Gras event at Shoreline Village in Long Beach and in the evening we took an Uber to a hotel near the cruise ship to meet some other cruise travellers.
