The Smartest Way To Deal With These 6 Cruise Nightmares

Nobody should travel abroad without having emergency health insurance coverage. If you have Medicare plus- emergency treatments are reimbursed - meaning that you pay upfront and submit a claim after return
In Europe, a visit to the Emergency room is usually free of charge or a nominal fee - but if treatment is extensive - the usual fees apply
Do not rely on Google The answers are ambiguous - like the 911 call is free. You may be lucky and that local ER treats you for $ 40, or if they send you to the Hospital for further investigations - you are at your own. For European, the situation is different.

NCL just cancelled a bunch of cruises because they decided to "reposition' some of their ships like Dawn. I'm hearing more and more that NCL may be having financial problems.

That's a brilliant tip to put at least an outfit or two in your travelling companion's suitcase, whether or not you're going on a cruise.

We have decided to cancel our world cruise planned for retirement due to insurance costs & visa fees cost - Taken together these added £9,000 each to the basic cabin cost.

We could not find any insurance to cover our Antartica cruise as Europeans, any suggestion?

Absolutely GOLD Your tips are fabulous 🎉

I somehow doubt that they would leave a US citizen stranded in a foreign country.

I always take a full emergency kit including dental on all holidays and in fact over the decades have used the dental 3 times, twice on myself and once to help someone else out.

It amazes me how dense some Americans are when they travel. Constant stories of them not having passports or expired passports and no insurance or inadequate insurance.
The world does not revolve around them !

Is it like a scam, a big floating scam

Confirm in the medical insurance documents - some policies require that you contact them first or have someone with you contact them. Otherwise, costs prior to that initial contact may not be covered.

All excellent advice thank you

Also regarding lost luggage I always carry all of my prescription medication in my carry on luggage. Recently I did a tour where a fellow passenger lost his luggage included his medication which were blood thinners requiring an urgent visit to a doctor.

Always pack some clothes in your carry on. At least a change of underwear and a top (tshirt, shirt, etc.). At least you will then have a change of the essentials if the worst happens with your luggage. And, of course, anything you can't live without should be in your carry on - chronic medicine, etc.

Thanks Gary. You mentioned splitting clothes across bags, but you didn’t mention what many travel bloggers have lately, which is traveling carryon only. Do you usually bring a full-sized checked bag for your typical solo, cruise trips? I have several coming up and often debate that approach.

Excellent advice to just visit a “must-see” place separately. We’ve managed to do these right before or after a cruise, on our own.

the esta process is extremely fast, anyone that forgot to request that document they can do it in less than an hour. in my case my esta was revoked because i started a renewal process. i have to request it the night before my flight to USA. the most stressfull 90 minutes of this year.
The passport thing it's very criptic on cruise lines. My country doesn't need a passport to travel to brazil, even so, the lines requested a passport. bottomline, i always use my passport even the country or airline doesn't need it.

There's a lot of good, concrete advice on this video. I always take plenty of anti-diarrheal medication and cold medications to avoid the risk of being labeled and having the entire cruise vacation ruined by quarantine (usually with no $$ compensation). If you get the runs, just be extra conscientious with hand-washing. The luggage air tag advice is also spot-on. As for the luggage risks, most people don't have the option of taking nonstop flights in most cases, even if you live in a city which is an airline hub. For example, when we cruise from Barcelona in May, even living near a huge airport like LAX, there are no nonstops to BCN. I would add the #1 rule for cruising which is: Never, ever plan to arrive at the ship's departure port's city less than some 30 hours prior to departure. If possible, arrive 2 days before, and get a chance to enjoy the area near the departure port (might as well have some time to enjoy the port city!). 😉

Thank you Gary, Always good to do a refresh on those issues that can potentially ruin a long planned cruise.
Particularly good tip about always taking your passport and ensuring all visa requirements are in order.
We have just booked on Queen Victoria, Barcelona to Istanbul September 2025.

Another reason to always take a picture of your luggage: if your bag is damaged you can instantly prove it. It makes getting compensation so much easier!

Silversea did a really good job of making everyone happy in the Case of the Muse. I was following the situation on Facebook and passages were really disappointed about missing the ports.

However, ultimately everyone understood the situation and the ship and line did everything they could to make the trip enjoyable with deck parties and other on board activities and then excellent compensation.

Obviously no one wants to miss ports but things happen and silversea handled it perfectly in my opinion.

Sheesh, the more I read about cruising the less I want to go on one.

Recent travel save for me was having a debit/credit card saved in my iPhone wallet. I’m not tech savvy so I don’t typically use my phone to pay for things. I went to NYC recently and my wallet fell out of my bag in the car when I got dropped off at the airport. There wasn’t time to get my sister to bring it to me. Like an epiphany I realized I could try to use Apple Wallet. It worked which saved my trip. I had to guard my phone with my life the whole trip but I would have done that anyway.

I will never give up travel when time and money are there for it but a video like this does remind me of why some poor frightened souls prefer staying home! That poor man probably thought his insurance would cover it all! Always check policy limits is something I learned from you today. Thank you for the video! Have a lovely day!

Great tips! Thanks Gary!

Re First Aid Kit, medication is best to leave in original packaging, never loose.

I appreciate you acknowledging that cruising is not always sunshine and roses. I've have friends and aquantances who have suffered through rough cruisng experiences. One lesson learned is to find out if your travel insurance, particualty medevac insurance, will assist the whole party. For example; if mom or dad need to be medvaced what about the kids? Do you need to pay for their unplanned flight home? Or, does the other parent need to stay behind.

Earlier this year I had considered cruising as a way to hopefully get me out of the „No-travel-hole“ I've been stuck in since COVID, but being on the ASD spectrum it eventually dawned on me that being confined to quarters for illness while calling at a port I really wanted to visit would completely destroy me, as would being confined to quarters for any reason¹. ⛓
I'd actually made a booking by this point, but fortunately I'd used a credit card and was within the 14-day „Cooling-off“ period laid down under the CCA 1974. This was an absolute lifesaver in this case, and though it took a bit of work the line concerned was eventually kind enough to let me back-out of the contract, which had been made in part by a pressure-sell on deposits. 🚢🇬🇧👍

The moral of the story here is: If you have certain medical conditions - Especially neurodiversity, social difficulties or functionally impeding health conditions - You need to sit down and give serious thought to whether or not cruising (Or other holiday types e.g. coach holidays) is suitable for you before looking at options and making any bookings. Don't be rushed into booking because of promos on cruises (Indeed; If that's a risk, avoid browsing/booking between mid Feb and mid April) there'll always be other cruises in the future...And if not entirely sure, consider a first cruise that stays to ports in your home country so if it turns out to really not be for you, you can always disembark at an intermediate port and return home by other means. 🚄💨🚢👍

(¹ - I like to move around and walk a lot, and I'm also a smoker. Being confined to any quarters for any length of time would emotionally kill me, and never being able to afford a stateroom with a balcony I would be at my wits end by the time that confinement-enforced smoking ban came to an end. 😣🚬⚠)

Main reason people miss a cruise is because they are Stupid !
Caribbean during hurricane season Dumb move. And they dont get insurance

I hate when the captain decides to skip a port. I had that happen 3 times out of my cruises so far and I was pissed 😤. They only gave me back the port fees oh wow.

Excellent video with great information, thanks so much.

Excellent video. Thank you Gary.

Thanks for the info and advice

So far, we've been very lucky. We always purchase Travel Insurance (Allianz) and as we're getting older, now carry MASA which is good around the world. When getting off the ship at the different stops, I always wear a cheap $10.00, now $20.00 watch and set it to Ship time. Very Good Advice Gary, have many cruising friends that follow you also.

Your suggestion to bring a dental repair kit was invaluable. A few days before our Alaskan cruise this past June, my crown came off and my dentist replaced it. I lived in fear of this happening again in Alaska. I purchased a dental repair kit and though didn’t need it, I was stress-free, knowing that I had it with me in case of emergency. Thank you so much for your great tips!

One takeaway I have from several cruising videos is to have the best travel insurance that you can reasonably afford. If nothing else, get one that covers medical emergencies including medical evacuation.

Gary, great tip for couples to split clothes between two suitcases in case one suitcase does not arrive. At least the two people will have some clothes. Great video.

Very interesting subject you addressed i never thought of it but I will do so on my abc island trip in Dec. To go into settings and adjust time zone. To get the name of the port agent too. Take care Gary , until your next video or post on Instagram.

Can you please tell me which ship/cabin you stayed in where you are sliding your bag under the bed (lost luggage section)? It looks like a fantastic cabin, I'm interested! :) Fantastic video, thank you.

Missing ports and changing ports are happening on a regular basis ..I was on a cruise to Canada and missed 3 ports and it took 12 days to get to Canada due to bad weather ..

There aren’t many clothes to buy on a ship. Best pack underwear and one outfit in your carryon.

Thank you for sharing your expertise, Gary.
"Forewarned is forearmed"
Definitely much to consider in this video.

I appreciate videos like this one. I can’t relate to your videos in premium cruises as I have the money for those but for me they are a waste of my money and time.

Would you try a cruise through the Amazon River? I´ve taken 2 and love them but I am from Colombia and I understand is not for everyone. Specially people from NA and Europe have a hard time with the food and the wildlife