Prepping Takes Time
On May 5, 2026 my husband and I embarked onto the longest and most complicated travel adventure of our lives. We flew to Sydney, Australia. The Crown Princess Cruise to Dover, UK, a journey of 55 days. After the cruise, we added a stay England for a few days before returning home to Florida.
Getting ready for a long cruise that starts and ends half the world away, requires serious preparation. It was a challenge to do all that in the midst of my busiest months. I had simultaneous fundraising and organization activities, including some I chair. My husband had rehearsals and concerts. We both had crazy schedules, phone calls, emails, contracts, and so on…
I began in October of 2025 by renewing our passports that were due to expire shortly after the cruise. Secondly, in early January, I mentally separated my prep tasks into the groups below. Thirdly, I used my prior cruising experience and already existing excel worksheet to organize my lists. Lastly, I needed, once again, to acknowledge the fact that no matter how well or how long one plans a trip, one cannot be error-proof, be it in judgement, or overlooking something. Or forget something that I will need… S-t happens, you are not perfect, own it!
We had cruised several times before, but the longest ever was 29 days to only 3 countries, a year ago from Australia to Seattle via Japan and Alaska.
Now, there would be 21 ports and many destination cities. I needed to make meticulous plans or we would miss the boat…
Surprise – Extra Peeps Joined In
The pressure I was under was further aggravated by friends of our Australian friends, who heard about us cruising and also booked this cruise. After a couple of Whattsapp conversations, it became apparent that I was the only one with organizational skills set. Although, it was nice to know that we can share some of the costs with our mates. In retrospect, I will not be mentioning our vacation plans to anyone again.
Prep Group 1 – Itinerary, New Passports and Visas
As American Citizens, we needed three visas – Australia, Namibia and UK. The booking agent emailed us the pertinent links.
Australia has a very convenient Visa app, that was already on our mobile phones, so all I had to do was do my visa, and then guide my husband through his. The responses come via email and the process is quite efficient once you get the hang of taking selfies and scanning passports with shaking hands,
Namibia has a tourist visa website. It is not a very easy site to get through and the application is confusing in places. I somehow mangled my dates of entry so that mine had to be redone and paid for again.
UK also has a friendly app for tourist visas. It is odd that UK now requires visas for US citizens. They did not before.
The per person cost of each of these visas was nominal, averaging about $20.
I copied, pasted and edited the cruise ship itinerary into my excel schedule. I arranged info by date and time of arrival with columns including scheduled departure time, Port and its City of Interest, if applicable. Example: Fremantle for Perth. I also added a column for Tours, but in the end only had a Y of N in it. I created a separate schedule for tours, because I actually ended up paying for everything and the Aussies reimbursed me based on that schedule.
Prep Group 2 – Lining Up Tours
Going to 21 ports and a large number of nearby cities requires substantial research. My Aussie counterpart, as became evident during the pre-departure conversations, was willing to go with whatever I had in mind. Exception was they booked a Paris tour from LeHavre. Having been to both, I had a different interest. So, I did all the research. We agreed on affordability levels. Thankfully, there were no objections to any of the plans I finalized. I booked all our tours with independent tour operators, not with cruise ship. In some cases, the cost was 1/4 of that charged by the cruise ship. The Aussie’s got royally screwed on their Paris tour (they booked with cruise ship at 600 AUD per person, but 1/2 of their tour did not go as promised. In the end, the cruise refunded them 1/3.
Of the tours I booked 2 were cancelled – Cape Town 2 hour safari… more about that later, and the Free Walking Tour of Casablanca, which I only booked because the Aussies were never there before and we were not disappointed. My husband and I were there before and spent this day productively in Casablanca. The Aussies went with another ship tour to another city to look at Mosques etc…
Prep Group 3 – Clothing and Essentials
I watched some cruise tips videos and purchased a package of metal hooks for the cabin walls. That was one of the most useful essentials. The plastic round hanging clothes dryer was another.
Bought 2 new large suitcases at after Christmas sales and retired the old ones.I researched what each airline allows in the check bags and carry-ons, as well as items the UK and Australia did are not allow. Example: Australia does not allow anything made of wood and most foods.
I am afraid I got too sloppy and left the actual packing for the final couple days prior to departure. That was a mistake. A few unneeded items cruised unnecessarily. My husband did his own packing and forgot the much needed long sleeve shirts. I was too tired and overloaded to notice. But it all worked out well in the end… thanks to Princess laundry availability.
I like using my own shampoos and conditioners, so I made a smart decision to buy all liquids in Sydney, including mouthwash, sunscreen, mosquito repellent and, very essential, 2 bottles of wine that the cruise allowed.
Prep Group 4 – Physical Strength, Meds and Vitamins
Daily walking helps prepare one for the grueling summertime 22,000 steps days, especially during the European part of this trip. I walked only sometimes, thinking that I’d catch up aboard ship during long stretched at sea. Prescription meds traveled in their prescription bottles, but I packed a shoe box and we organized it all better in it. Especially handy for the vitamins, which I actually took out of their bulky bottles and placed in zip baggies. In Sydney, I purchased gallon container with lid, which also helped organizing smaller items on the cabin closet shelf.
Our Cabin
We sailed for 55 days in an inside cabin. We had no balcony and no window, not even with obstructed view. On the 29 day cruise last year our balcony became a source of anguish in the North Pacific and had to be taped like the windows during WWII or the winds hollered all night and day long. Princess inside cabins are not claustrophobic, imho. We did well.