By Rita R. Robison, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Guest Blogger

I love to sail on ships. I’ve had two opportunities to do so.

I sailed from Vancouver, B.C., Canada, to Sydney, Australia, with stops in Honolulu, Fiji, and Auckland, New Zealand. It was a fantastic trip. I enjoyed having someone else do the cooking, lounging on the deck, and meeting people from Australia and Great Britain.

My second trip was on an Alaska ferry from Haines, Alaska, to Seattle, Wash.

With rainy weather recently in the Pacific Northwest, I’m dreaming about cruises and sunny beaches.

If you’re lucky enough to be able to take a cruise, how do you pick out a cruise line and ship that’s right for you?

Here are tips for your cruise planning:

• Look for a lifestyle niche that appeals to you. Celebrity is aiming at the spa and gourmet traveler, Carnival is focusing on nightlife and entertainment, and Princess is hyping its romantic offerings, the article “How to Pick a Cruise Ship” on Cruise Critic.com reports.
•  Begin your search by reading travel magazines ads and Web sites. In addition, read ship reviews and visit cruise forums on the Web.
•  Make sure you understand the terms of your ticket contract. Cruise lines have wide latitude in matters involving operations and customer relations, according to the Federal Maritime Commission, an agency that will forward your complaint to the cruise line, but won’t address disputes over the contract. Ask for a copy of the contract either from the travel agent or from the cruise line itself before booking a cruise and read the contract carefully.
• Use a major credit card when you pay for your cruise. Credit cards may provide passengers with protection that wouldn’t be available for debit cards or cash payments, the commission reports. In the few cruise line bankruptcies experienced in recent years, those passengers who paid by credit card, or who obtained third-party insurance, generally have been able to obtain a quicker refund.
• Beware of travel scams, especially if a telemarketer or post card tells you that you’ve won a prize. Check out the offer with the cruise line and contact the Better Business Bureau to get a report on the firm before you pay any money.
• Look for “shoulder season” departures, just before or after holidays, and off peak in various regions: early spring in the Mediterranean, for example, or May or September in Alaska.
• Compare the costs of having the cruise line book your flight or doing it yourself. Often you can save money by arranging your own flight.
• Use a travel agent for your cruise. Certain vacations are too important or too complicated to arrange yourself, advises Consumer Reports.com. Most cruises fall into this category. The travel agent should be allied with an organization such as the American Society of Travel Agents, Association of Retail Travel Agents, or Cruise Lines International Association. So there’s full disclosure, ask whether your agent is involved in any preferred-supplier agreements, which are bonus commission programs that reward agents for pushing certain products. Also, most agencies charge fees, though some might be rebated after you book.

TravelAge West, a travel industry trade publication, includes cruise lines and ships among its Editor’s Picks as part of the magazine’s 2009 WAVE Awards. Check out their listing for ideas on what are the best features of various ships.

Before you sign any contract for a cruise, be sure to read the article “Cruiselines” on Consumer Affairs.com. It offers reports on the complaints it receives on cruise lines.

Consumer Affairs.com receives more complaints about Carnival than about all other cruise lines combined, the article states.

 Let me know if these tips are helpful. Also, did I miss any key points? If you’ve had a complaint with a cruise line recently, please leave me a comment about it.

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