The Best Way to Carry Money Overseas

Some of you cruisers have begun to inquire about foreign exchange, use of credit card and ATM’s. Though I have heard that some Southeast Asian countries will accept US dollars such as Vietnam. I would not count on this as a for certain option. Plan on either getting some cash ahead of time at your local bank. Keeping in mind of course, that this could easily take a week or more. So please plan ahead. 

I’ve been finding out that the best exchange rate is by using an ATM, but understand that this option has a service charge so think about the amount you will need to make it worth your while. And its very important to get a PIN number in advance for usage as using an ATM in another country is not like the USA. The article I found below may be more specific in detail to address your specific needs or questions.

Also to my surprise, credit card usage is not widely accepted in the Asian countries like in Europe. Small vendors for shopping and eatery prefer to deal with CASH and so exchanging to the local currency would be your best bet. Of course the hotels we will be staying at will easily accept your credit card for services. And on the Diamond Princess you will need a Credit Card for all your purchases and expenses as upon check-in you will be required to provide a credit card for the cashless purchases onboard with the Cruise Card. I also found out that the Diamond Princess also has an ATM machine for foreign exchange. But AGAIN plan on a service charge for this service.  

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Of course, on our flight to and fro you will need a credit card. As most airlines have stop using cash and only deal with credit card transaction for bar drinks, headphones etc.. Be sure to check on line with your specific airline to see what their procedure requires.

Lastly, think about taking extra credit cards. There has been incidents where you might put in your credit card in an ATM machine and for one reason or another. It does not return and holds your card due to circumstances. Yes, this actually happened to someone in our group in Europe. So be prepared with a couple of backups.

I will continue to keep my eyes open and post information regarding this issue. But in the meantime, these articles may assist you in getting prepared for what you will need to do to address your specific monetary needs. Happy Countdown!

IndependentTraveler - Best Way to Carry Money Overseas

http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/money-and-insurance/the-best-way-to-carry-money-overseas

Get the Best Exchange Rate

http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/money-and-insurance/get-the-best-exchange-rate

About.com - How to carry Money in Asia

http://goasia.about.com/od/Planning/a/How-to-Carry-Money-in-Asia.htm

Travel Money

http://seniortravel.about.com/od/seniortravelbasics/f/TravelMoney.htm

Photo provided by Flickr.borman818

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Happy New Year Everyone...I am back and hope you are too! Hope you all had a fabulous holiday season and are looking forward to our upcoming getaway. It will be here in no time at all.

We can officially say that the countdown is truly on for our embarkation day. Our 32 day cruisers have already paid their cruise balance and I will be posting a payment reminder for our 16 day cruisers this week as well.

During the holidays, I have written some articles that will hopefully continue to assist you in your planning and preparation for this trip and Alex is currently busy working on getting the China Visa information posted on the blog as well. So be sure you check in regularly here on our blog or at least sign up for the email notification on the right hand side bar of the blog for your convenience in getting it sent to your email.

Lastly, I hope you all got your invitation to our No-Host Orientation Luncheon at Capital Seafood at irvine Spectrum in Irvine. Advance thank you to those who already responded with their RSVP. Please do so by Saturday, February 2nd 2013, so I can be sure to have a head count for the restaurant.

2013 is here...and April 2013 is right around the corner! Yippee!!! 
Countdown time everyone --- Countdown!

Bon Voyage Soon,
Diana

Roger & Diana's ASIA to ALASKA 2013 TIMELINE PLANNER

The following dates and noted information may be subject to change or update.

Please utilize this as a guideline and check into this blog site for any new developments.

Thanks, Diana

July 2012                      Research & Book Airline Flight Arrangements

August 2012                  Arrange Pre & Post Cruise Land Tour  

August 2012                  16 Day Cruisers may currently register for Princess Shore Excursions

September 2012            Apply or Renew Passport

October 1, 2012             Diana's Study Group and Luncheon Sign-Up Deadline
October 6, 2012             Diana’s Cruise Study Group & Luncheon (Specifics to be arranged, please save date)


November 2012             Register and Input Info OnLine at Princess Cruise, My Princess & Cruise Personalizer
Week of Nov 26,2012     May pre-reserve Princess Spa Treatment Appointments
Week of Nov 26,2012    32 Day Cruiser may register within 120 of departure for Princess Shore Excursions


December 14, 2012       32 Day Cruise Payment Balance due to Alex

January 11, 2013          Passport & Payment due to Alex for Group China Visa application processing
January 16, 2013          Available within 75 days of sailing On-Line Boarding Pass & Luggage Tag Printing
January 28, 2013          16 Day Cruise Payment balance due to Alex
January 31, 2013          Individuals filing for Visa application for China


March 2, 2013              Pre-Cruise Meet & Greet Social (Specifics to be arranged, please save date) 

April 8, 2013                 Final Posting Day for Cruise Blog Articles
April 11, 2013               Roger and Diana depart to Bangkok Thailand
April 12-17, 2013          Roger and Diana at Shangri-La Hotel Bangkok Thailand
April 17, 2013               Embarkation on Diamond Princess


FALL 2013                   Post Cruise Social (To Be Arranged)

Photo provided by Flickr:alamodestuff

MY PRINCESS

As you start preparing for your upcoming Asia Cruise it is now time to sign up on the Princess Cruise Website to establish your account and register for ‘My Princess’. You should have a copy of your Booking Confirmation Number that Alex had sent to you when you placed your deposit and were assigned a stateroom. The booking number is located under the Princess Cruise logo on the upper left hand side of your Passenger Copy Booking Confirmation. If, by chance, you lost or may have deleted your confirmation email attachment, please contact Alex for assistance. Also to register on line with Princess Cruise you will need to provide your email and a password. 

Once you establish your My Princess account, you will need to eventually complete the information on your Cruise Personalizer. Cruise Personalizer is also a part of the My Princess Page. Below is a content peek to:

MY PRINCESS:

• Spotlights YOUR booked cruise - 16 day or 32 day option
• Brochure
• Weather
• Ship: Diamond Princess
• Saved and Shared Cruises
• Cruise Personalizer
• Referral Rewards
• Personal Profile
• My Dream Deals
• Preferences
• Cruise Countdown
• How to Book

CRUISE PERSONALIZER

• View Booking Summary
• View Itinerary
• Complete passenger Immigration
• Book Flights
• Provide Independent Air Information
• Excursion Reservations
• Update Special requests
• Update Onboard Preferences
• Additional Services

More then likely you will be inputting your information in stages. To make it easy and efficient, be sure you have at hand the following information for you as well as your booked companion’s information:

• Passport Number Expiration Dates - current US Passport Booklet 
• Address, Phone Numbers, Email Address
• Emergency Contact Information, not on the cruise
• Booked Flight Information
• Booked Hotel for Pre/Post Cruise
• Credit Card Number

Logo provided by Princess Cruises

UNESCO World Heritage

With our cruise visiting seven different countries, including USA when we land in Anchorage Alaska. There will be plenty of shore excursions and sightseeing to be had.

In my previous blog article “Diana’s Top Five Trip Thoughts for Now”, the number three thought highlighted, was Shore Excursions you might want to participate in. So in this article I wanted to introduce the UNESCO World Heritage Sites that our Ports of Call may entice you to visit.

To begin with what is UNESCO? The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. UNESCO, seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world which are considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. And by the way, irrespective of the territory on which they are located. What makes the concept of World Heritage exceptional, is its universal application. World Heritage sites, truly belong to all the people of the world and noted below I have listed some of the closer sites by their countries we will be cruising to so you can begin to research and explore your options.

THAILAND

• Historic City of Ayutthaya, Ayutthaya Province
• Historic Town of Sukhothai & Associated Historic towns, Sukhothai and Kamphaeng Phet Provinces
• Thungyai-Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuaries, Kanchanaburi, Tak and Uthai Thani provinces

CHINA

• Imperial Palaces of the Ming & Qing Dynasties in Beijing
• Summer Palace, an Imperial Garden in Beijing
• Temple of Heaven:an Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing
• The Great Wall, Beijing, Tianjin, and other provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.
• Imperial Tombs of the Ming & Qing Dynasties, Changping District, Beijing (Ming Tombs)
• Mountain Resort & its Outlying Temple Chengde, Chengde City, Hebei Province
• Historic Centre of Macao, Macao Special Administrative Region/Hong Kong

JAPAN

• Buddist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area, Nara Prefecture
• Himeji-jo, Hyogo Prefecture
• Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, Kyoto & Shiga Prefectures
• Hiroshima Peace Memorial/Genbaku Dome), Hiroshima Prefecture
• Itsukushima Shinto Shrine, Hiroshima Prefecture
• Historic Monument of Ancient Nara, Nara Prefecture

KOREA, Republic of

• Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon, the Depositories for the Tripitaka Koreana Woodblocks
• Seokguram Grotto & Bulguksa Temple
• Historic Villages of Korea:Hahoe & Yangdong

ALASKA

• Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek

CAMBODIA

• Angkor
• Temple of Preah Vihear

Although Cambodia is not one of our visiting ports of call. I wanted to point out that Princess Cruise shore excursion options are available for Angkor and can be accessed prior to the cruise. If you are thinking about this option, be sure to contact Alex our travel agent for alternative options as well. 

Additionally, allow me to apologize in advance if some of these UNESCO sites are not accessible as I had posted. Believe you me, I am not an expert by any means and so some of these locations are truly new and a learning exploration for me as well. So let us explore together and we can further the adventures with our upcoming future study groups. Thanks for your understanding!


Photo provided by: UNESCO Education Blog

DIANA’s TOP FIVE TRIP THOUGHTS FOR NOW

Embarkation for boarding the Princess Diamond may seem a far distant day in the future. But in reality, your successful vacation getaway begins today, in the preparation and planning. I wanted to get you thinking, excited and most of all prepared so you won’t get caught off guard  So here are my TOP FIVE TRIP THOUGHTS to think about to get you planning and prepared about your upcoming journey!

No 1. PRE-CRUISE & POST CRUISE PLANS

As you are aware, our destination begins in Bangkok Thailand and ends in Beijing, China if you are 16day cruiser or Anchorage, Alaska if you continue on with Roger and I on the 32 day cruise. Either cruise options will have you reflecting on how many additional days you will need in add to your booked cruise. As you try to figure this out, keep in mind that you will be crossing the International Date Line which may make a significant “day” difference. As you journey across the sea to this exotic world,  think about the must see sights, places and things of this area. So this is a good time to think of your bucket list and see if there are places or things that you must do and see while you are there. If you can spare the time my recommendation is to go and do it! 

No. 2. PAPERWORK

If you haven’t found your passport or your birth certificate.....this might be the time to do it. Alex will be asking you for your passport information as we get closer and we will also be needing Visas in some of the countries we will be visiting. So know where these important documents are and nows a great time to check the expiration date on your passport!

No. 3. SHORE EXCURSIONS

In addition to the sailing days of the cruise, Princess Diamond will be visiting a number of Ports O’ Call and you can count on Princess Cruise will be offering a number of shore excursions for you to consider. So become familiar with the visiting ports, know what you would like to see and do, consider your activity level and ability, budget your costs and yes there is a time limit so pick wisely as unfortunately we can’t have it all. 

FYI...Princess Cruise on-line has shore excursions posted for your viewing. Alex is also working on some Pre-Cruise and Post Cruise Excursions that she hopes to offer us after her research, so stay tuned. 

No. 4. STUDY GROUP

Roger and I will be hosting a Study Group for those that might be interested. We did this for the Mediterranean Cruise and it was a great success as well as a good reason to get together. I understand that since our guests are not all located in the Southern California area you all won’t easily be able to join our particular group. So may I offer up a recommendation that you think about who your travel companions are and start your own group either face to face or use today’s technology and share, share, share via the internet. We will look at starting our study group come this Fall 2012, so more information will be forthcoming.

No. 5. AIR TRAVEL

Yes come April 2013, we will all meet and embark on the Princess Diamond in Thailand. Specifically, Laem Chabang, Thailand. This is the port where we will board the Diamond Princess. Some of you may choose to book your own air flights, others will look at using Princess Cruise Line Air and still others will be looking at me and saying what are you doing? One of the joys for me in working with Alex is that she truly knows Roger and me! Our choice is to get to our destination safely, make our timeline without worrying and to be as cost effective as possible so that we have more money to spend else where whenever possible. I will be asking Alex once again to help us out on searching for a way to get us to Asia and back with all these criteria. So think about what you would like to do about your flight arrangements as in the upcoming days ahead we will be touching on this topic and yes, inquiry minds will want to know what you would like to do.... so start thinking, preparing, planning and having your decisions and answers ready to go!    

Photo provided by Flickr: Gwen's River City Images