A listing of addresses and telephone numbers of U.S. embassies and consulates abroad is contained in Key Officers of Foreign Service Posts . This publication may be obtained through Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. Also available from Government Printing Office is Health Information for International Travel by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This contains a global rundown of disease and immunization advice and other health guidance, including risks in particular countries. The CDC maintains international travelers hotline at 1-877-FYI-TRIP (1-877-394-8747), an automated faxback service at 1-888-CDC-FAXX (1-888-232-3299) and a home page on Internet at http://www.cdc.gov .

For information about outbreaks of infectious diseases abroad, consult World Health Organization’s (WHO) web site at http://www.who.int/en. The WHO also provides travel health information at http://www.who.int/ith.

For detailed information on physicians abroad, authoritative reference is The Official ABMS Directory of Board Certified Medical Specialists published for American Board of Medical Specialists and its certifying member boards. This publication should be available in your local library. U.S. embassies and consulates abroad maintain lists of hospitals and physicians. Major credit card companies also can provide names of local doctors and hospitals abroad.

The same method can be applied for your casual wear. If you stick to a coordinating color scheme, you can get more mileage out of each piece since it will tend to look different when it is paired with a different top or bottom.

Deciding which shoes to take is perhaps hardest of all! If you are anything like me, you have a perfect pair for each outfit and you’ll want to take them all! Of course, you may not have room in those suitcases so you must be selective in what you bring. I suggest you wear your bulkiest shoes, like sneakers, onto ship - this way will not be taking up space in your luggage. Bring a dressy shoe and a more casual shoe as well. Make sure you think about color when you pack shoes, if you are bringing only black dressy slacks then white sandals might not look so good!

Finally, to get more space in your suitcase for clothes, find out if ship will be supplying beach towels and hair dryers. If they are then you can leave yours at home and free up some suitcase space for more clothes!