Pre-Cruise Checklist

Before you book your cruise, it’s worth double-checking your passport is still valid. If you haven’t been in holiday in a while it’s easy for the expiry date to slip past you.

If you’ve booked your flights with us, we’ll send you your tickets by post. However we’ll also give you all the details of your flight by email so that you can go online and print the tickets yourself and check-in before your flight departs.

Each cruise line is different in the way they handle their paperwork. Your cruise holiday will be confirmed to you by us via email however you will then receive documentation from the cruise line directly by post or email.

For visiting some ports and countries you will need visas. Our Cruise Consultants should notify you if you will need any at the time of booking. However if you want to double check, you can visit VISA HQ and select your citizenship from the drop down. This will then show you the countries you need a visa for. You can purchase any visas you require from this website by clicking the “T” icon. (Please note, we are not affiliated with Visa HQ in any way).

If you need to book airport parking, you can do that via our affiliate portal for HolidayExtras

If you think you might need extra baggage allowance for your flight out or back, it could be worth you booking this in advance to save time and hassle at the airport.

Travel Insurance is definitely recommended for cruise holidays in particular. Due to there being several ports of call, it can be easy for passengers to miss a leg of the journey if they are late getting back to the port from an excursion and the ship has already departed without them.

If you take regular medication, you may need to get a new prescription before you set off on your holiday. Also if you are headed to any long-haul destinations you might also want to check if you need any shots or inoculations before you go. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention lists all countries and any routine vaccinations you need to get before going there.

If you plan to get off the ship at any of the ports of call on your itinerary, you might want to make sure you’ve got a little spending money. On some cruise lines they carry local currencies and can act as a Bureau De Change, but not always. Cash is better than card in ports, particularly the smaller ones. We’d recommend ordering your currency online before you go so that you can compare prices and get the best deal.

Booking your excursions is one of the most exciting parts of any holiday, it gives you something to look forward to and often excursions end up becoming your favourite holiday memories. If you’d like to book an excursion in advance of your cruise, you can do so at our affiliate portal for Cruising Excursions. You can also book excursions on the ship or directly with the local providers in the port. One thing to note about excursions is to ensure you are back at the port with plenty of time. If you don’t make it back before departure time, the ship will leave without you.

Each ship has a different onboard tipping policy, only Costa Cruises is compulsory. Most tipping systems are set up automatically when you check in onboard, so if you want to arrange tipping a different way than you can ask the reception to remove it from your bill. It is worth noting that there are many employees who work behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly. If you leave a tip on your bill then this will get divided equally between everyone rather than just front of house employees.