Our Sands &
Safaris Adventure

We have now visited 85 countries and for the past few years spent a month or two on cruise ships annually. Susan keeps a website on our travels at susansstory.org.
We usually travel with Holland America and like their smallest ship the Prinsendam the most. This cruise we went with Oecania as the similar itinerary cruise on Holland America would have us away from family over Christmas. The Oceania Nautica is one of the 2 identical small ships of the line and similar in size to the Prinsendam so there is much to compare. The two cruise lines certainly don’t try to copy each other. The Prinsendam’s strong points include many many historical and cultural lectures, port talks, travel talks, and commentaries while entering or leaving port. The ship is older and and has somewhat less of an emphasis on fine dining or meticulous service... in other words a more casual atmosphere. The Nautica is clean and polished to a fault and has wonderful formal service everywhere. There are many less lectures and shows on the Nautica although we were told that varies by who is the cruise director at the time. A higher percentage of passengers on the Nautica are repeat Nautica cruisers and the number may well approach two thirds of the passengers. The Prinsendam has many repeat sailors but a less percentage. We ran across a number of passengers who spend over 100 days a year on this or other Oceania ships although this one seems to be thought of the highest. I offer the following comments for those considering such a cruise and for me to read over before my next cruise.
I like to take a lot of thin white coat hangers as you never get enough in your stateroom. I just leave them on the ship when we leave. I like to take some battery-powered stick on lights for the inside of closets, the inside of your room safe, and the inside of the bathroom (the light switch is on the outside so you awaken your spouse when you turn on the light at night). Take a small flashlight or head light for emergencies and for looking under the bed. I take at least a dozen plastic clothes pins and a good string for a clothes line (you usually have a clothes line in the shower already). The thin white coat hangers are useful for drying clothes also. You can not take a clothes iron on a cruise ship; they X-ray the luggage and it will be confiscated. Irons are available in the launderette. Take some stickers or pictures and double sided tape to decorate your cabin door. Stateroom cabin walls are metal covered with vinyl. Some really strong magnets are great for hanging papers, clothes to dry, daily activity schedules, and if strong enough for anchoring clothes lines. You always get a terri robe so you don't need to bring one. You will have a combination room safe. The cruise ship lends you a beach towel to take if you go to a beach. Take good sun screen and insect repellant and pack them in plastic boxes or Nalgene bottles. Take extra glasses and sun glasses. A copy of your vision prescription has been a Godsend to travelers on several of our trips and could come in handy in some ports such as Hong Kong where glasses are inexpensive. There is a large lending library of books and DVD's on all cruise ships we use. I like to have my insulated travel mug. I rip a lot of videos to my computer with Handbrake to view on my iPad. You move videos on & off of your iPad through iTunes. In much of the developing world you bring your own toilet paper with you to public toilets so we carry a lot of small packs of tissues. On most cruise ship shore excursions you can leave your backpack on the bus when you get off to visit sites. Susan carries her own dual voltage curling iron. You might swap photos with other travelers by using an SD card or usb stick so carry a few cheap ones. One of the most important thing not to forget is to take some photo copies of your passport picture page. Because you use the photocopy of your passport rather than the actual passport (which the ship holds for you) you may still need your driver's license or other government issued ID at some money exchanges etc or if you have marked your credit cards CID.

Actually the biggest health concern on cruise ships is respiratory infections starting at the start of the cruise from the long airline flights. There is always a second wave of coughs and colds 10 days after the cruise starts. Always have an antipyretic (acetaminophen, aspirin, ibuprofen etc) with you on your carryon luggage. If you get sick and have a fever you may not be admitted to many countries. You ARE scanned by a fever detection camera routinely at immigration whether you know it or not. Take the tylenol, use hand sanitizer, & don’t get left behind from your group. You may laugh but world travelers will likely agree that the second biggest health risk is crossing the road in countries that drive on a different side of the road from you. Falls are a risk as sidewalks etc are often less smooth. An injury is a much bigger problem away from home. Also motorcycles are much quieter in most of the world than in America. Americans get run over by bicycles a lot also. Know from the CDC’s website whether or not special immunizations are required. Before we left the USA there were no yellow fever immunization requirements listed but several days before our scheduled Kenya visit the country reinstituted requirement for the yellow fever card. We are glad we had ours with us although we have pdf copies on our iPhones and iPad. We still just take generic larium for our malaria prophylaxis as we seem to have no side effects. People take more expensive medication a lot. People on doxycycline sunburn so easily and we see this every trip. Go over the pros & cons with your physician. In actually, in probably 5 months of time spent in SE Asia, Amazonia, Latin America, oceania, and both east and west Africa, I’m not sure we’ve ever been bitten by a single mosquito!! Do carry peptobismal tablets and cold medications. We have developed a lot of tolerance to GI infections due to the extent or our travels but when we started traveling we learned the importance to both having isle seats on the flights back from undeveloped countries. This certainly made frequent bathroom visits easier when vomiting etc. We personally have learned to get treatment for infectious diseases in the nation we get sick as the local providers are more familiar with local epidemics or endemic species that your home physician won’t even ever heard of. We carry small packets of kleenex with us when out for the day as there is no toilet tissue available in many bathrooms.

The number one thing passengers on long cruises have to buy is memory cards. Thankfully almost all cameras now use SD cards. It is common to use these cards like thumb drives to get copies of fellow passengers’ photos. We carry four cameras but of course we love to take photos. We both carry Nikon D90 digital SLR cameras. Susan has an upgraded normal Nikon zoom lens 18-200mm and I use either my Sigma 10-20mm wide angle or an older Sigma 70-300mm zoom lens. That way we have multiple shots of the same subject through different lenses. I like the OpTec camera strap system as the long part of the strap can be unclipped and the short ends clipped together to make a wrist strap. In most of the world we keep a strap around us but we were severely warned in Brazil to never do this as camera thefts are so common and expected that you will be injured when it happens. We saw this happen as a women was dragged almost a block by a couple guys that grabbed her camera that was securely attached to her wrist. I import my pictures each night to Apple Aperture on my MacBook Air and erase the card. I attach my MacBook Air’s Time Machine portable USB hard drive when I import the pix and have Aperture set to backup the original files to the Time Machine as they are imported. We only take Nikon RAW files at highest resolution and frequently crop severely. We go over our pictures as soon as we can and reject most of them in Aperture to limit our decisions when we get back home. We still end up with 40 to 80gigs of photo files a month on our travels. I do take one Nikon strobe (now a Speedlite SB800) for onboard and museum shots. We also take a small point and shoot camera each. Susan’s currently is a Canon Powershot ELPF 300HS which comes on very rapidly and mine is an Olympus Stylus Tough variety for its water proof properties. I carried a tripod for so many years but went years without using it on trips and stopped. In parts of the world a dollar given to an interesting photo subject will get you the best shot.

Internet is available on cruise ships at a cost. You buy minutes and at this time is about $160 for 100 minutes on either cruise lines. It is more reliable and faster in port when the ship is more stable to aim at the satellite. We checked our emails and Facebook every day or so and I uploaded some Facebook pictures. We used 200 minutes on our month-long cruise this time but we spent a couple hours at an internet cafe in Sri Lanka spending $4 for a couple hours of time as our Kindle, iPad, and MacBook Air updated and downloaded books and we caught up with the news. I spent a lot of my time on sea days editing out my SCUBA diving slide scans from the 90’s and couldn’t have been happier with my MacBook Air and it’s photo program Aperture. Susan’s Kindle connected to the internet online without having to do any logon at all so she could always get books. I would say almost everyone had a Kindle or iPad for reading, sharing pictures, or playing games. The iPad was more limited without a constant internet connection than I had anticipated, this being my first long trip with it. Very much of what you do on an iPad needs constant connection to be useful. Be sure and become very familiar with one of the second party apps that allow you to save web pages to be read offline later. None is perfect but can make your iPad much more enjoyable and save your valuable connection minutes. Also get some good iPad or Kindle games. Bring a thumb drive or two to be able to share photos with fellow passengers. An option is using SD cards to swap photos.

We take only appliances that will run on either voltage and since we are from the US we use small plastic adapters that turn the 220v plugs to 110v. I carry a couple splitter cubes. We have seen people have power strips confiscated on cruise ships so don't take them. Some plugs only work when the stateroom lights are on or a room key card is in a slot in the room. The Nautica and Holland America ships have a shaver 110/220v plug in the bathroom. You don't need to take a voltage converter. Be sure and bring battery chargers for any appliance that needs one. Most modern chargers will run on both 110v & 220v but check before you come. There are hair dryers in Holland America and Oceania ships. On the Nautica we had a built in one in the bathroom and a good hand held portable 220v one for use out in the cabin. There is a wake up function for the phone so you don't need an alarm clock.

We have special travel socks and underwear such as those by Exofficio or Magellan that we can wash out daily and need very few pairs. These usually dry within a half day if washed in the room, thoroughly rung out, rolled up inside of towels, and hung up to dry in the stateroom. These dry more quickly inside than outside on the veranda. We also have travel shirts and pants (long & short versions of each) that dry this quickly when hand washed in the room. We carry a small Nalgene bottle (from REI) of concentrated washing detergent for this and I pack this Nalgene Bottle inside a waterproof box or Nalgene water bottle to avoid the consequences of a leak in route. There are usually laundromat services on cruise ships but be advised that these are closed if there is an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness on the ship. Cruise ships offer laundry services at a charge. We have culled the clothes we take over the years to be those with the most wrinkle resistance and to dry the quickest. In many parts of the world, we really appreciate the secure zipping pockets of our travel clothes (safari type clothing). Don't forget your hat for sun protection. The more years we travel the more we find we can take less and less clothes with us on our trips. Oceania has no formal nights but I find my blue blazer appreciated at times. Holland America has one formal night a week but a suit is fine as very few formal clothes are seen on those nights. Some cruise ships are cold so be warned. Even if you don't plan to swim, take a bathing suit as the hot tubs and saunas are wonderful and you might need to work on your tan.

We like suitcases that will compress enough to keep under the bed so they don't take up room in the stateroom. We often carry a thin gym bag in case we buy items that will require another suitcase on the way home. On every cruise we take there are passengers whose luggage did not arrive on the airline and they are stuck without their luggage. We put a couple changes of clothing in our carry on luggage and we almost always go a day or two early so any tardy luggage has a chance to catch up with us. On the flight to catch our cruise I label each luggage item with our final destination for the flight (hotel name) because luggage could get mixed up on the shuttle from the airport (this has happened). When flying through remote third world airports we often choose to pack our clothes in plastic bags inside our suitcases as we have had our clothes soaked with rain or covered in dust in the past. Susan & I mix our clothes in each other's suitcases in case only one suitcase doesn't make the airline flight. I use Nalgene water bottles and plastic waterproof boxes to pack my fragile or liquid items.

We have found that having a couple hundred dollars each in one and 5 dollar bills (or euros in parts of the world) opens up so many possibilities to get us good service, pay porters, and buy trinkets. We find out immediately upon entering a country how to tip and who. The US dollar is still king. We split up our credit and debit cards so if we are robbed we can continue our trips. One of the most important thing not to forget is to take some photo copies of your passport picture page. Because you use the photocopy of your passport rather than the actual passport (which the ship holds for you) you may still need your driver's license or other government issued ID at some money exchanges etc or if you have marked your credit cards CID. I have records of credit card numbers and the international phone number for the card. We know which ones have foreign transaction fees. Before we leave on our trip we call the credit card company and let them know which days we will be in each country so they will allow the transactions. We still have cards frozen by the banks when we withdraw large amounts out of the country or make large purchases. This problem is easy to resolve by logging in to the card's web page and checking messages. Keep up with your plane tickets and any vouchers you carry with you. In Europe and Japan in particular be sure your credit cards have been upgraded to Smart Cards that carry the computer chip.
I am here to say that the US dollar is still king of currencies. We could use dollars almost anywhere in South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Seychelles, Tanzania, and Thailand. In Tanzania and South Africa you could use Euros. In Mozambique you can use your left over South African Rand. In Sri Lanka taxi drivers and street merchants would accept dollars but stores officially only accepted Sri Lankan or Indian Rupees. Don’t think you can go around the world spending Chinese Yuan or Russian Rubles or to a lesser extent Japanese Yen. People in the world know what the dollar is worth and in many places they would rather get dollars than their constantly-inflating local currency. Your credit card is still the most likely form of payment for store purchased in the whole world. Call your credit card companies and tell them what countries you will visit before you leave your home country or they may put a freeze on the card if thy think the purchases are not legitimate. I don’t know why we can’t do it in the US, but in most of the world your credit card is never taken from your sight. This is a major assurance. Also , because your passport is kept by the cruise ship, keep a color photocopy of your passport with you when ashore. We have our passports, drivers licenses, ship itineraries, and cruise ship contact information on password protected pdf files on our iPhones and iPads. We have CID on our credit card backs instead of signatures and people all over the world know what this means and you need something to show for identification. The most useful thing you can have on any trip is a lot of one dollar bills (take hundreds of them but we have started taking a couple hundred five dollar bills as the dollar is worth less now), on foreign trips. Give a dollar to people to be able to get their picture, buy things for a dollar, and give it to someone else, let someone carry all your luggage for a dollar, give a couple dollars to a big taxi driver to keep you safe & keep other ones from hounding you, or leave one for a tip as the the undeveloped world doesn’t expect them. When you get home put your roll of dollars away for your next trip. Another important issue is that in much of the world you can’t use old, worn or torn dollars. When you go to the bank, get your several envelopes of one dollar bills and go through them and swap the old or torn ones while you are there. Another advantage that the dollar has over the euro is that people (including me!!!) don’t want one euro coins, just bills! Keep your roll of one dollar bills with some fives in the middle in a separate pocket from your valuables, credit cards, or other money. Only show this on the street and be glad to part with that roll if it supports your safety. Also, US one hundred dollar bills are the most counterfeited bills in the world and counterfeits are more common out of the US. Don’t take any with your change. Don’t take any with the most counterfeited serial numbers with you. Your bank will act like they don’t know what this means but will check for you. US one hundred dollar bills are the most common exit currency required to leave a country but at airports and tax collection booths outside of the US you will see posted which series of hundreds are not accepted. Don’t let your bank cause you problems on your trip. When you return to the US, save any one dollar bills, euros, and possibly yen or Canadian dollars for future travel. You can trade in your foreign paper money for dollars at your bank when you return home but not coins. One of the advantage of having one and five dollar US dollars when you travel is that since you always get change in local currency, you won’t be stuck forever with the coins when you return home. I called the credit card companies and found that one charged 3%, another $1.50, and another nothing on foreign transactions. I carry a photocopy of all credit cards front and back to use to report any lost ones. I call and temporarily have my spending limit lowered on the one card I carry on a day to day basis on my person to limit my risk. I haven’t seen travel checks used in a number of years. I get money in local currencies at ATM machines all over the world and save on commissions. We have never seen an ATM that didn’t have an English option.

One visits many of the exotic ports of call only once in a lifetime. There are just so many more places to see. One of the extra expenses of a cruise to exotic destinations is the large array of cruise line organized shore excursions which range from tours, safaris, beach trips, and sporting excursions. You typically arrange these online or through your travel agent before going on the cruise, usually just after you pay your final deposit. In some cities we have arranged in advance online to have tours by local companies, especially in Russia. In many areas you hire a taxi, a local guide with car for the day, or rent a car. Don’t forget that many places in the world drive on the other side of the road from what you do in your home country. Find out if your auto insurance covers you or whether or not you need to take out the insurance offered by the rental car agent. One of the advantages of the smaller ships such as the Nautica or Prinsendam is that they can go and dock where the larger ships can’t. You will need to use ships tenders to get to shore much less often. In most ports the cruise lines provide shuttles to a central city point. Many of the people who practically live on the ship seldom go ashore however.

SAMPLE TEXT We love our travel agent Dianne Blackburn at Gateway Travel in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She usually follows our progress when we fly and has even called ahead and rebooked flights when she knows we won't make connections. We call her from all over the world. We have used her for over 20 years and feel she consistently gets us the best deals. Susan takes whatever deals she can find to her and Dianne tries to get a better deal. Even when we book a cruise etc we make sure Dianne gets credit with the Cruise Line.

Laundry
Both the Nautica and Prinsendam have full laundry service and we have come to the conclusion that if you are going on month-long trips you will need to use this occasionally. The Nautica has no formal nights but the Holland America ships have one every week or two as well as special functions. On our last several long cruises we have used the laundromats on the Nautica & Prinsendam which have irons. You have to purchase tokens for the machines and use their biodegradable detergents. You are absolutely forbidden to have an iron in your room and luggage is checked for this. We have collected clothes that can be hand washed in the room and hung up to dry overnight. These include ExOfficio underwear and both colored and white Patagonia Silkweight short and long sleeve tee shirts which dry overnight. Patagonia Silkweight tees are the best very hot weather shirts and the best base layer in colder climates or in the staterooms. We have ExOfficio, REI, Patagonia, Columbia, and other safari-type travel clothes that are temperature adjustable such as being able to zip off pants legs, open up back and underarm vents, and button up the long sleeves. These don’t require a belt, have hidden pockets, and dry overnight. I carry a Nalgene bottle from REI of concentrated liquid or powder laundry detergent. I carry at least 10 plastic clothes pins and a long piece of nylon cord although most stateroom showers have a clothesline.

Alcohol & Drinks
In the Maldives you can get alcohol only at resorts. On the ships there are drink and wine packages that may or may not fit your needs. You probably will enjoy drinks more on the ships than you might think as you end up sitting so much of the time. You may well be sharing a dinner table with people drinking wine, you might spend hours at the pool, or you might like a drink at the show each night. Different cruise lines have different rules but I try to bring onboard lots of wine and spirits to consume in my room. You can buy liters of local spirits for $4 in many places. There are tiny refrigerators in the staterooms. On Oceania you get soft drinks included but on Holland America they are extra charge. I get limes or lemons from the buffet dining room for my vodka or gin. I don’t mind trying to save money on this cruise to be able to do the next one. You get drinks on the ship charged to your room but you have a final reckoning the night before you get off the ship. We have seen mad people who had thousands of dollars in drink charges.

Travel Agents
We absolutely love our travel agent of 25 years. We strongly believe there is still a place for your personal travel agent. She travels a lot, she has all of the phone numbers, receipts, etc for the trip. If we can’t find or remember how we are supposed to get to the ship or hotel from the airport we call our agent. If someone tells us we should have a visa and we don’t remember the details, we call our agent. When we book a cruise while we are on a cruise ship, we make sure that our travel agent gets credit. Sometimes our agent gets us a better deal, and sometimes Susan finds it on her own but Diane always gets credit and notified and takes care of any changes or problems.

Travel Insurance
We believe insurance is to protect you from catastrophic losses. When I worked and had only limited vacation time we were more prone to taking out Travel Insurance but when I retired we decided to just change itineraries if situations presented themselves. That said, we have two friends in similar lifestyle situations who have broken hips or femurs and spent a lot of money on evacuations to the US that would have been covered by travel insurance. I also feel that when we first started traveling that we felt more assured having someone to call if we had a problem. We have been through most of the problems in one way or another and they don’t worry us so much now. We seldom buy the travel insurance any more but lots of the people on the cruises have it.

Library & DVD Library
The Nautica and Prinsendam have good libraries. The Prinsendam has a librarian with lots of locked up reference books but the Nautica is honor system. Both have absolutely huge DVD libraries. We always watch videos on our trips. One of our rituals is to order a huge room service breakfast on a sea day and watch a movie in the room. Both ships have good TV’s and DVD players.

Port Shuttles & Tenders
The smaller ships like the Prinsendam and Nautica can go and dock where the big ships can’t. They require less use of the ships tenders to go ashore. In most ports they have arranged free or nominally-charged shuttle busses to take passengers to some central downtown location. This is a big plus in their favor.

Cultural Considerations
On tours that include Hindu temples men & women need to have legs & shoulders covered. In Mosques you remove your shoes, women cover their heads with a scarf, and often women need to be well covered. Learning local words for hello, thank you, I am sorry, excuse me, and bathroom goes a long way towards fitting in.

Safety & Security
I haven’t seen travel checks used in a number of years. I frequently have my limit on the one credit card I walk around with lowered and limited just as a precaution but even street vendors in much of the world use credit cards. See my precautions about camera straps above. Arrange in advance with taxi drivers a fee and how quickly to get there to avoid unwanted stops at relatives shops. Use the safes in the hotel and cruise ship rooms. Keep aware of surroundings and carry wallets in front pockets only.

Television Onboard
Cruise ships constantly make strides in improving TV reception. We had 5 news and 2 sports stations on the Nautica among other stations. Most cruise ship staterooms and nice hotel rooms now have DVD players but American and Japanese DVD’s only play in NTSC players. If you buy DVD’s in other countries don’t come home to North America with DVD’s that play the PAL standard or SEACAM ones used in Russia.