I started repacking my bags for my Alaska cruise

 

 

As I write this, we are in the middle of a nasty heat wave in the NYC area.  The temperature peaked around 97 degrees in the shade, and I was very glad that I took the opportunity to stay inside and relax. This meant that I had no excuse not to work on repacking my luggage in preparation for our Alaska cruise.  Somehow, I still have to figure out how I'm going to bring my winter coat with me, even though I doubt I will need it.

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About a month ago, RQS and I were about to go on a New England / Canada cruise when we got an offer that we couldn't refuse: The cruise line would pay us (in refundable cruise credits) to take a different cruise (up to 10 days long) to the same region.  Instead of each of us paying $2000+ to take the cruise, we'd get a free cruise with the money we paid for the original cruise refunded to us (minus charges) once the replacement cruise ends.

We took Princess Cruises up on this offer 5 days before the cruise was to sail.  This left me with a packed 28" bag, a 20" carry-on bag, my backpack, and my CPAP machine - all ready to go on a summer 10-day cruise. Now, I had to repack, pulling out all but a couple of short sleeve shirts, replacing them with warmer garb. There was no way I was going to travel as Marian, given the current political climate.  Certain minorities are being rounded up (legal residents and non-legal residents), and ICE is treating many of them worse than we treated the Japanese-Americans sent to internment camps during World War 2.  Cruelty is a trademark of this authoritarian administration, and I don't want to be one of his victims trying to travel as Marian through any CBP checkpoints.  Luckily, it made much more sense for me to dress as Mario on the Alaska cruise, so much of the packing I did for the cruise we did not take made it easier for me to repack for this cruise. 

For the most part, repacking for Alaska is relatively simple.  Replace most summery gear with wintry gear and assume you'll have autumn weather often interrupted by rain  Even if we lived in "normal" times, I'd still be traveling in trouser-like garments in Marian mode (if I were full-time), as Alaska is a very informal place to visit.

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On other matters....

Right now, my brother's availability may be the weakest link in us getting the rental permit for the family homestead completed. Officially, someone has to inspect the place.  However, the place has already been through 2 inspections by the same fellow working for the town, and it will be up to my brother to take care of things.

I just received an unexpected email from the cruise line about my upcoming cruise.

 

I just received an unexpected email from Princess Cruises today, and jumped at calling RQS as soon as we had the chance to digest it.  Seems like Princess Cruises has oversold the cruise we are about to go on, and is offering us a free cruise of up to 10 days on the same route, plus our money back from this cruise IF we move over to a sailing later in the year.

Nice deal if one has the flexibility to change things, wouldn't you think?  But this posed a new dilemma for us: Since we won't get our money back until Autumn, and we want to go away, where can we go where it's both cool and cheap at this time of year?  That's a big problem for us!  As one could say,  these are first world problems.  But it is a nice problem to have, as we will have approximately $2,000 each in our pockets, almost enough to complete payment the "Bermuda Triangle" cruise that we'll be taking next year.

We'll have to book shore excursions for the rescheduled trip.  But we have a chance of going to see Lunenburg, NS, an excursion for which we were on standby for the original cruise.  It would have been nice to get away from New York during a heat wave, but I can live with running the air conditioner for an extra few days this summer.

Now, if this is the worst thing I have to deal with this week, things can't be too bad....   

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Looking at this from a different perspective, it seems like cruise lines are trying to fine tune their reservation systems to leave as few "General Cruise Cabins" unoccupied as possible.  In the past, there were two times one could score a cabin at the lowest possible fare:

1. Upon initial offering of the cruise.
   
   This is when every cabin on the ship is available, and a person has their pick of available cabins at a low price.
    
2. After Final Payment Date (usually 3-4 months before the cruise).
   
   This is when the cruise line has unsold cabins they have yet to fill, and will offer them at low prices to fill the ship as much as possible.  One may not have many cabins to choose from, but the fares charged will be low. 

Selling discounted cabins following final payment date is not efficient.  Ideally, the cruise lines could match supply exactly to demand.  And it looks like several cruise lines (RCCL being the most noted of those using this practice) are overselling "Guaranteed Cabins", knowing that there will be cancellations prior to sailing, similar to the procedures used by airlines to fill up their seats.  It may be cheaper (and better for a cruise line's reputation) for a cruise line to give away free cruises later on for voluntary bumping, than to involuntary bump cruisers just before a cruise's sailing date.

Examining the offer email I received, it provided me with another reason to book air and pre/post cruise hotel stays through the cruise line - they would handle the rebooking if I accepted the offer.  Otherwise, in my case, the cruise line would only offer an (up to) $600 per person compensation for travel expenses not booked through the cruise line.  

Luckily, Princess Cruises has always treated me well.  It's nice to know that I will be going on a similar cruise to the one I originally chose later on in the year.