This is the first of a series of posts designed to provide advice for planning and preparing for your cruise vacation. You can read the second post here and the third post here.
Much like any kind of travel, your cruise vacation can be managed using an online account. If you’re cruising for the first time, or you’re cruising with a new cruise line, you’ll need to set up your account with that company so you can manage your cruise vacation. (You can and should do this even if you’ve used a travel agent to book your cruise.)
To do this, go to the homepage of the cruise line you’ve booked your trip with and look for the link to log in, then choose to create a new account. Links to popular cruise lines’ login pages can be found in the list below:
You’ll need to give your personal information and choose a user ID and password. You may need your cruise reservation number in order to link your booked cruise to your account.
(If you’re cruising for the first time, or cruising with a new company, you’ll also want to make sure to set up a loyalty account for each person traveling with you on the cruise. Whether it’s Royal Caribbean’s Crown and Anchor, Norwegian’s Latitude Rewards, Celebrity’s Captain’s Club, or one of the many others, these loyalty programs can offer benefits to frequent cruisers. Some of the smaller perks will even start to kick in as soon as your second cruise!)
Each cruise line has its own online pre-cruise planning system, so you’ll want to take some time looking around and getting used to the site. In general, though, the site will allow you to pre-plan (and often pre-pay) elements of your cruise experience such as beverage packages, shore excursions, etc. (More on that in the next blog post.)
Ultimately, you’ll need to use your online account to check in and print out your boarding documents before you take your cruise. But why should you do this earlier? Well, often the cruise lines will offer sales or discounts on pre-cruise purchases, or other deals such as prepaying for dining. So by signing in early, you might save a few bucks!
Make sure you remember the login ID and password you created for this site – you’ll use them to check-in online and get your cruise documents when it’s time for you to go on your cruise!
Click here to go to the next post, Plan Your Cruise.
