< Continued from page 3
OUR SILVER CLOUD CRUISE IN THE PERSIAN GULF
BOOKING - We booked our March cruise in October of the previous year. Silversea requires a 10% deposit, with graduated cancellation penalties beginning 120 days prior to the cruise, and full payment due 90 days prior. They offer an extensive variety of booking options, including travel insurance, "reassurance" that allows one to cancel the cruise for any reason up to the day prior to cruising with 100% credit toward a future cruise, air programs at various classes of service, pre-cruise hotel programs, pre- and post-cruise extended stays, baggage forwarding to the cruise port, and private car transfers from your home to your nearest airport.
As with our previous cruises, we chose to make our own air, land, and travel insurance arrangements independently.
INSURANCE Silversea offers its own insurance program. In the past we always avoided purchasing travel insurance since our own insurance covers medical care abroad (note that Medicare does not), and the likelihood of having to cancel a cruise close to the departure date (when the penalty becomes significant) was slim. More recently we have relied on internet insurance brokers, which offer a variety of coverage from a variety of reputable travel insurance companies, often the same ones used by the cruise lines. We have only filed a claim once, and that was for an overnight travel delay on a return flight home. Our insurance policy covered the hotel cost and all meals and related expenses for which we could provide receipts. Our reimbursement was prompt. An example of a travel insurance web site is insuremytrip.com, where one can easily compare levels of coverage and corresponding premium quotes from various insurers.
Travel insurance can be especially useful when waivers for pre-existing medical conditions are needed, but one must read the policy summary to make certain it includes this. Again, older travelers should remember that Medicare does not cover medical costs when traveling abroad.
PRE-CRUISE AIR - For Dubai we chose Delta Airlines because they have non-stop service from Atlanta to Dubai, which takes between 14 and 16 hours each way depending on the jetstream. Dubai's own Emirates Airlines has non-stops from Houston and New York JFK, but their prices are higher, and connections to those airports from our home airport are relatively poor. When we originally booked our Delta flight we had an excellent connection from our home airport to Atlanta, with a 90 minute layover until the flight to Dubai. Several weeks prior to our departure, however, Delta dropped some of its regional services and gave us a 6 hour layover in Atlanta. In addition, Delta's non-stop Dubai service was curtailed from daily to twice a week, forcing us to return a day earlier than we had originally booked. We learned this only when we rechecked the flight schedule for our house sitter and saw a 24 hour layover in Atlanta between our return flights due to the curtailed service. We rebooked our return flight a day earlier and had to cancel the desert safari and Bedouin camp overnight that we had reserved for our final night in Dubai. I mention these setbacks as an illustration of what is happening to air service in the U.S. as airlines face higher fuel costs and bigger deficits. Schedules are being pruned back and flights are being consolidated. One must be flexible when flying nowadays. We have taken six vacations in the last six months, and all six in a row have had major delays, cancellations, or involuntary re-routes due to missed connections. We no longer check bags, but instead travel with just a carry-on bag to give us more flexibility, even on this Silver Cloud cruise. We no longer feel safe arriving at a cruise port on the day of cruise departure.
PRE-CRUISE HOTEL - Because we never know for certain when we will arrive at the cruise port, even at domestic cruise ports, we always book a hotel for one or more nights prior to a cruise. In this case, we stayed for three nights in the historic center of Dubai, in the Deira area near the spice and gold souks, across Dubai Creek from the museums and attractions of the Bur Dubai area. Hotel rates in Dubai usually begin around $200 per night and can easily top $1,000 in the fancier hotels. Through the internet we found a real bargain - the Residence Deira apartments (which are run by the Le Meridien hotel chain) offered a three-nights-for-the-price-of-one package, since our reservation extended over a Friday night (the week-end in Islamic nations). Having an apartment with modern shops nearby gave us the option to make our own breakfasts and other meals if we wanted. Also, Le Meridien has a welcome counter at the airport with a free shuttle service between the airport and its apartments and hotels. It also has a free shuttle service between the apartments and Le Meridien's airport hotel for the use of the guest facilities there (spa, pool, and restaurants). I believe that Le Meridien airport hotel was used by Silversea for its own pre-cruise hotel program. We are glad we spent extra pre-cruise time in Dubai, details of which follow in our port review section.
Page 5 > > Silversea Silver Cloud Cruise of the Persian Gulf > >
OUR SILVER CLOUD CRUISE IN THE PERSIAN GULF
BOOKING - We booked our March cruise in October of the previous year. Silversea requires a 10% deposit, with graduated cancellation penalties beginning 120 days prior to the cruise, and full payment due 90 days prior. They offer an extensive variety of booking options, including travel insurance, "reassurance" that allows one to cancel the cruise for any reason up to the day prior to cruising with 100% credit toward a future cruise, air programs at various classes of service, pre-cruise hotel programs, pre- and post-cruise extended stays, baggage forwarding to the cruise port, and private car transfers from your home to your nearest airport.
As with our previous cruises, we chose to make our own air, land, and travel insurance arrangements independently.
INSURANCE Silversea offers its own insurance program. In the past we always avoided purchasing travel insurance since our own insurance covers medical care abroad (note that Medicare does not), and the likelihood of having to cancel a cruise close to the departure date (when the penalty becomes significant) was slim. More recently we have relied on internet insurance brokers, which offer a variety of coverage from a variety of reputable travel insurance companies, often the same ones used by the cruise lines. We have only filed a claim once, and that was for an overnight travel delay on a return flight home. Our insurance policy covered the hotel cost and all meals and related expenses for which we could provide receipts. Our reimbursement was prompt. An example of a travel insurance web site is insuremytrip.com, where one can easily compare levels of coverage and corresponding premium quotes from various insurers.
Travel insurance can be especially useful when waivers for pre-existing medical conditions are needed, but one must read the policy summary to make certain it includes this. Again, older travelers should remember that Medicare does not cover medical costs when traveling abroad.
PRE-CRUISE AIR - For Dubai we chose Delta Airlines because they have non-stop service from Atlanta to Dubai, which takes between 14 and 16 hours each way depending on the jetstream. Dubai's own Emirates Airlines has non-stops from Houston and New York JFK, but their prices are higher, and connections to those airports from our home airport are relatively poor. When we originally booked our Delta flight we had an excellent connection from our home airport to Atlanta, with a 90 minute layover until the flight to Dubai. Several weeks prior to our departure, however, Delta dropped some of its regional services and gave us a 6 hour layover in Atlanta. In addition, Delta's non-stop Dubai service was curtailed from daily to twice a week, forcing us to return a day earlier than we had originally booked. We learned this only when we rechecked the flight schedule for our house sitter and saw a 24 hour layover in Atlanta between our return flights due to the curtailed service. We rebooked our return flight a day earlier and had to cancel the desert safari and Bedouin camp overnight that we had reserved for our final night in Dubai. I mention these setbacks as an illustration of what is happening to air service in the U.S. as airlines face higher fuel costs and bigger deficits. Schedules are being pruned back and flights are being consolidated. One must be flexible when flying nowadays. We have taken six vacations in the last six months, and all six in a row have had major delays, cancellations, or involuntary re-routes due to missed connections. We no longer check bags, but instead travel with just a carry-on bag to give us more flexibility, even on this Silver Cloud cruise. We no longer feel safe arriving at a cruise port on the day of cruise departure.
PRE-CRUISE HOTEL - Because we never know for certain when we will arrive at the cruise port, even at domestic cruise ports, we always book a hotel for one or more nights prior to a cruise. In this case, we stayed for three nights in the historic center of Dubai, in the Deira area near the spice and gold souks, across Dubai Creek from the museums and attractions of the Bur Dubai area. Hotel rates in Dubai usually begin around $200 per night and can easily top $1,000 in the fancier hotels. Through the internet we found a real bargain - the Residence Deira apartments (which are run by the Le Meridien hotel chain) offered a three-nights-for-the-price-of-one package, since our reservation extended over a Friday night (the week-end in Islamic nations). Having an apartment with modern shops nearby gave us the option to make our own breakfasts and other meals if we wanted. Also, Le Meridien has a welcome counter at the airport with a free shuttle service between the airport and its apartments and hotels. It also has a free shuttle service between the apartments and Le Meridien's airport hotel for the use of the guest facilities there (spa, pool, and restaurants). I believe that Le Meridien airport hotel was used by Silversea for its own pre-cruise hotel program. We are glad we spent extra pre-cruise time in Dubai, details of which follow in our port review section.
Page 5 > > Silversea Silver Cloud Cruise of the Persian Gulf > >
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