Category: Travel - Sunset Shores Travel

Sunset Shores Travel

Single cruise supplement

10/6/2013

Most cruiselines charge a single supplement of 200% cruisefare which makes things very pricey for a single traveler. Some lines are building single cruiser cabins into the new deck plan to make this more affordable. This still comes at the expense of your wallet and a smaller cabin.

Wouldn't there be some way the cruiselines could discount the fares a bit, this seems like such an unfair practice. It is not the single cruisers fault if they do not have someone who they would like to travel with. I also realize the lines are in business and a single cruiser produces less revenue from fares along with on board spending. I definitely think the single staterooms are a huge step in the right direction.

Keep it up cruiselines! We as consumers love to see our input being implemented onto the new ships. It encourages us to keep traveling with you.

Celebrity Millennium

9/20/2013

The unfortunate issues with the propulsion system on the Celebrity Millennium has resulted in quite a few unhappy cruisers. Some were unhappy due to the cruise being cancelled before they ever left, others having to juggle and adjust plans while things are changing mid trip for them.

Compared to the compensation I have seen offered during other problem cruises, I very much feel that the compensation that seems to be offered is fair. The passengers who were on the cruises that were cancelled and cut short midway through the trip are really the ones I am referring to. At initial amount of refunds and looking at the overall total cruise cost, it did feel a bit small. But once you truly break down what the cruise fares were from the taxes and any land portion, the fact that they are offered a full refund of cruise fare along with a future cruise credit equaling the same cruise fare.

Anytime things don't go as planned on a vacation that you have put your time and money into it is a very stressful time. This one unfortunately tied many hands in the process of rectifying and trying to salvage what is left of a vacation. Hopefully all of those onboard are now ready to try to re-book their Alaskan trip using their refund and future cruise credit to replace their lost trip.

We are back!!

8/7/2013

So sorry to have been away for so long! Things have been very busy and we just weren't able to have time to update the blog at all.

We are now back and are working on quite a few new topics for upcoming posts and are completely open to any and all suggestions for topics and discussions.

As an added bonus, we are looking for guest bloggers. All you do is send us a entry for the blog and if we use it, take $50 off your next trip with us! Easy as that.

Sharing a little of our Christmas cruise

9/14/2012

I just thought I would share a little piece of our cruise we took back in December to the Caribbean. It was a fabulous trip that I really wasn't sure we should take because it was over Christmas. Looking back it was perfect, the only downfall being my youngest daughter changed her mind and didn't go.

Paying for a vacation

6/15/2012

There are so many options to paying for that vacation that you are planning to book. You can pay for it on your credit card and then pay it off over time. (This tends to be the majority vote for how to pay for a trip) There is the option of saving until you have enough to pay it in full. There are also payment plans. Any one of theses are completely effective ways to budget for your cruise. It's all a matter of what your personal budget allows for and knowing how to work with it. I personally, am a big fan of a combination of payments. I budget initially to come up with a bigger deposit, then make monthly payments from then until I have to make the final payment. After final payment, I make monthly payments to my vacation fund for spending money and use my credit card if I need it. After my trip :-( I continue making the monthly payments until my card is paid off. Then repeat!!!

Everyone is different. Find what works for you and go for it!!

Going on vacation, do you drive or fly?

4/19/2012

My opinion: It all depends.

There are times when driving is necessary. For the most part, if I can fly for close to the same price it's a done deal. With gas prices teasing at $4 a gallon in my area it is still pretty expensive to drive. We were pricing renting a van and the cost of gas to drive from Cincinnati to Tampa and it was between $900-1000! So for a family of 5, $200 per person to fly and it comes out to be the same amount. If you have 1 or 2 people going it is an even better equation. Yes, you still have to factor in the cost of getting to the airport, parking (maybe), car rental or transportation at your destination but there's so much less stress andyou won't arrive at your destination exhausted from a nightmare of a drive.

Yes flights could be delayed or cancelled. But what do you do if you are traveling down the highway and there's an accident ahead of you that shuts the highway down (not even addressing getting into an accident yourself) and you sit in your car on the highway for hours? I would much rather be stuck in an airport than in a car.

Weigh the pros and cons and make the best choice for your situatuion. Flying is (at least for now....) more affordable than it seems.

Passports: Do you need them or not?

3/30/2012

Passports are required for any air travel outside of the US, but travel by sea is a little different. If you are departing and returning to a US port, you can travel with Birth Certificate and state issued ID.
So why pay for a passport for a cruise? For alot of years I felt the same. Even though the majority of the travel industry disagrees with me, I'm still not sure it's something you have to incur the cost of. My family (5 of us, no small expense) decided with our last cruise to go ahead and get them but more for the conveinience and the option to use them in the future. The total including pictures was approximately $700 give or take a few dollars.
Yes, it is true, if something were to happen and you need to catch up to the ship or return home from a cruise unexpectedly you would have a very hard time getting through customs without one. But I always wonder, what if you don't have the means to do so anyway? A passport isn't going to help you afford that $2000 next day flight. In the event that there is trouble in a port and you have to locate a US Embassy, it helps to have a passport but I would never carry mine off the ship. I simply carry the number for them to look it up.
I think having a passport is a good thing, just maybe not if it is at the expense of not being able to take a cruise.

Mexico: safe for the president's daughter

3/22/2012

I have been hearing all the warnings about avoiding travel to Mexico from the US State Department among many others. While I am aware that these warnings do not include tourist areas but focus on the areas that there is no tourist draw in the first place, not everyone waits to find out the additional information. The majority of the public hears "Avoid Mexico" and that's what they think they should do.
President Obama, with all of his advisors, recently had a daughter that was visiting Mexico so obviously the Obamas listened to the entire warning US citizens about Mexico travel. If the American public gathered all of their information before making a judgement, there would be more people enjoying the beauty and history that exists in Mexico.
My best advise is to not send your common sense on vacation just because you are away from the day to day grind. Be smart and always remain aware of your surroundings and you should be just fine.