Sea cruises to Bahamas — page 34

We recommend flying in the day before the cruise begins.

• Arrive at the port 2–3 hours before departure.
• When booking an airport–port transfer, allow at least 5 hours between landing and the scheduled sailing.

The shortest options take three nights and the longest ten. Three nights bring you to one or two ports; five add a private island. Above seven nights the route already leaves the archipelago. To the sailing itself add a day out, a day back and a night before departure.

By air with a connection, out of Warsaw or out of Kraków; sometimes a second connection follows inside the United States. It is worth arriving a day early, because check-in shuts two to three hours before the ship leaves and the port wants you there with time in hand. The airfare is not part of the cruise price, but we can arrange it alongside the booking so that the timings line up. The five-hour figure that circulates around cruises means something else: it belongs to a transfer booked through the line and says nothing about when you report at the quay.

Sailing from Florida or Baltimore means entering the United States, and the requirements depend on your citizenship rather than on the ship. Polish nationals travel under ESTA, an electronic authorisation. If anyone in the group holds another passport, we will check that case separately at the booking stage — tell us early, because the paperwork is best done right after purchase.

It covers the cabin, meals in the main restaurant and the buffet, the entertainment programme and the passage between ports. Charged separately: alcoholic and soft drinks, speciality restaurants, shore excursions, the spa, the internet and gratuities. The flight and the night before embarkation are also bought separately.

On three nights, rarely: the days go by ashore and on the open decks, and the cabin is mostly for sleeping. From five nights up, and especially when a group sails together and comes back to the cabin during the day, the supplement holds up. We will advise which side to pick on a given ship.

Yes, and it is one of the easier ones. A short span, warm water, children’s clubs on the larger ships and a private island with a shallow beach instead of a full day of sightseeing. Just check the minimum age with the line, as it varies.

Less often than on the ocean. The ships on this route are large and stabilised, and the legs between islands are short and sheltered. Anyone who reacts badly should take a cabin lower down and closer to the middle, and buy a remedy at a pharmacy at home beforehand.

The currency of the contract is either the euro or the US dollar, and the booking itself decides which. Payment goes by transfer, in euros or in zloty, to the details we set out in the document. With a payment link the settlement runs in zloty only. Prices on the site are shown in zloty at the day’s rate.

We stay in touch until the trip is over. We remind you about online check-in and about the deadline for entry formalities, send the documents, and help with changes and with questions to the line. Online check-in shortens the formalities at the port but does not replace registration on the spot. Call +48 576 977 555 and speak Polish between 9:00 and 18:00.