Let's Book Your Cruise Blog

New to all of this? I’m here to help!

Cruising has a couple of rules that differ considerably from air or hotel travel, and understanding them can help you make the most of your cruise planning experience.

Difference #2: Correcting the spelling of names on a cruise booking is no big deal. I think we’ve all had the experience where we accidentally mis-spelled a name on an airplane ticket, and getting this fixed can be a frustrating process. But on a cruise booking, this is an easy fix — and even better, as your travel agent, I’m the one who takes care of it for you. Just let me know ASAP if you see a typo (or if you’ve changed the name on your travel documents), because it’s really important with a cruise that your name on the booking matches up exactly.

Difference #3: You can often swap out passengers completely on a cruise booking, even up to the last minute. Every cruise line’s policies are different on this one, so I don’t want to make any sweeping proclamations. But in general, if you find out that one of the people who was supposed so sail in your cabin can’t make it, you can often change the booking to remove that person and add another one in his/her place. (Depending on the swap, there might be some change to the pricing; for instance, if your fare takes advantage of a Kids Sail Free offer and you’re changing out a kid for an adult.)

One thing that’s the same about cruise travel is that changing the date of your travel can sometimes incur extra fees. If you think you might have to change the date of your cruise, make sure you talk to your travel agent to ensure that you’re booked with the maximum amount of flexibility.