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I am thinking about a European river cruise.
Is the connection flight included in the price? Do I need to arrange for this flight?
How does that work: I arrive to Amsterdam or Zurich early in the morning, and then embark later?
I would appreciate all the details.
1. Fly in the day before the cruise departs.
2. Unless its some type of package. You have to book the flight to where the cruse departs from. If that means you need to do a connection to get to that city then you need to book it.
3. The Cruise may or may not pick you up, at your hotel.
4. You can book a "Open Jaw" ticket, Fly into one city, fly out of a different city, there is no reason to do a Round Trip from the origination city.
I haven’t done a river cruise (yet), but from the research I’ve done. You can buy packages that include cruise, plane tickets, hotel, and transport. This isn’t necessarily cheaper then buying them on your own, but it is convenient. If you buy the package, the company will typically arrange everything. We looked at Viking river cruises and they would arrange everything for us. I think they are willing you work with you some on your arrival date and the date you leave. They are also willing to include in the package day trips before or after the cruise.
A friend of mine got a package. The flight was delayed out of NY and he missed the cruise. Cruise company said tough luck. Be sure you understand the terms of the package. As suggested go a day or maybe two days early. Consider insurance if you miss the cruise.
A friend of mine got a package. The flight was delayed out of NY and he missed the cruise. Cruise company said tough luck. Be sure you understand the terms of the package. As suggested go a day or maybe two days early. Consider insurance if you miss the cruise.
If he/she got that package thru expedia or some other third party, that's possible. If he/she got it thru the cruise line, I'm thinking your friend is misrepresenting the truth.
Regarding insurance: the BIG reason to buy travel insurance is to cover catastrophic medical expenses and medical evacuation. Your US medical insurance is highly unlikely to have any international benefit. Medicare - essentially nothing.
Usually, the medical travel insurance has some included coverage for cancellation, lost luggage travel delays, and other misc stuff. I have a pretty extreme view paying for that stuff: if you can't affordably to self insure and lose the cost of the vacation, you should be rethinking. You probably can't afford it.
You always, always want to come in a day or two early. Crap happens when you travel internationally. And always, always buy travel insurance that includes medical coverage.
^^^Agreed. And never buy your travel insurance through the cruise company (because if the company goes bankrupt, you'll be left high and dry). Buy from an independent company such as tripinsurancestore.com or insuremytrip.com.
We just finished a river cruise that flew into Amsterdam, but the ship departed from Antwerp. We bundled the plane fare and transfer fees into the package price. Since we left at night and arrived in the morning, we scheduled and extra day in a hotel on the front end (to avoid spending our first day or two zoned-out by jet-lag.
Our cruise ended in Amsterdam, where we departed to the U.S. Since we've been to Amsterdam a couple of times, we didn't schedule extra days there following the river cruise. We've done that multiple times when taking other Mediterranean and European cruises.
River cruises generally include guided walking (and bus) tours in various cities. On Ocean cruises, we have often arranged our own excursions and vehicle rentals apart from the ship excursions through Cruise Critic or Viator and other services.
^^^Agreed. And never buy your travel insurance through the cruise company (because if the company goes bankrupt, you'll be left high and dry). Buy from an independent company such as tripinsurancestore.com or insuremytrip.com.
Typically, they include about $10k of medical, which is useless pocket change.
You can book though the cruise ship company, or on your own. We booked our own, & arrived 3 days before the cruise was to depart. I like doing this, because I am over the jet lag before the cruise starts, & it also gives you plenty of time to explore the town on your own. On the river cruise we took, there was a group who joined us 2 or 3 days later. they had booked with the cruise line, so it was the cruise liners responsibility to get them to the ship. There had been some flight problem. So, if you do not have the time to go early, on your own, it might be safer to book through the cruise liner, direct. They will transfer you to the ship.
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