Keeping track of your activities while cruising

[cbr663]

I also create a table in Excel that lists every day and all the information required for that day. It will contain things like flight information, confirmation numbers, hotel addresses, telephone numbers. I use it as a quick summary for me and I print all the pertinent paperwork that I need and attach it all behind the summary in the order that I need it.

 

I also save a pdf of all the information in dropbox in case the absolute worse should happen and we lose everything. At least that way I can access a computer somewhere and have access to everything again quickly.

 

While on the ship, like previously mentioned, I keep it simple by highlighting any events that we want to attend on the dailies. I keep the electronics locked away for most of the vacation.

Edited January 13, 2014 by cbr663
Added text

[donaldsc]

Good morning ,

I know this question was discussed in the past but I couldn't find the thread. Question is what method do u use to keep track of your daily activity such as timing of dinners, excursion , shows, etc. any iPhone or iPad users have an apps ideas ?

 

Low tech. Daily program which I mark with a cruise ship supplied pen - no need to bring a highlighter. Use a small calendar book for schedules.

 

DON

[poinsettiaplate]

Being old enough to need paper and pencil to see things and remember them, I print out the Microsoft Office calendar for each day of my trip and hand write in everything: flights and flight times, layovers, hotels; weather forecast; dinner and specialty restaurant times, type of dress for each evening; port arrivals and departures; shore excursions; things I might want to buy. I also carry sticky notes and liquid paper tape for corrections. And record what I wore to dinner so I can change my accessories for those three dinner outfits. To me, this isn't micro managing; it is making things easier for me. And it adds to the anticipation of the trip as I add things to my "calendar."

[Cruising-along]

For our longer cruises, I create a notebook with an envelope for each port. All my maps, research, tours, info etc goes into the envelope. When we're at that port, the envelope goes into my day bag and I'm set. A highlighter works for the daily newsletters on board.

 

This is what we do for our longer and/or port-intensive cruises too. We plan our port days but not so much our sea days. I start out with a spreadsheet at home, as plans are made (air travel, hotels, rental cars, etc. etc.) and each day usually has a pocket. This includes pre/post cruise stays also. As each day ends, unless there's something I want to keep, it goes into recycling. We tend to do a lot on our port days, so this just makes it easier.

 

On the ship it's easy, just circle interesting things on the daily program, and if we have an excursion the next day, we set out the bright pink envelope. Hard to forget ;):)

[TiogaCruiser]

I use a spreadsheet also and include sunrise and sunset times and tides if pertinent for the place. Also a note of anything I want to see, photograph or maybe buy (including store info if I have gotten a tip on CC) on port days.

 

It's worked well- except on my last cruise I stopped looking at it after the first couple days (got too relaxed) and missed an appointment.

[lcand1923]

I suffer from motion sickness which requires me to change the Scolp patch periodically. I thought I would remember, but found I didn't.

 

SOOOOOO --- I started to make a table in WORD with a big reminder to CHANGE PATCH. I've expanded it through the years to include Day, Date, Port, Exursions Booked, Reservations Made, etc. Each evening, I review the Daily Program and make a note of the lectures, classes, games, teas, etc. that I want to attend. I carry a paper copy of the table with me so I can make notes about meeting times, guides, etc. on Shore Excursions.

 

The table comes in very handy post cruise as I organize pictures.

 

(If you see a woman with glasses running around the ship with papers in her hand, say "Hi!". That will be me.)

[ANSalberg]

VERY much low-tech here too- but a totally different 'method' -We go on long [ Grand] cruises on HAL so I really want a monthly record more than a daily- and to remember the cruise -not on a daily pattern. Many years ago I started with a note book such as highschoolers use -Now I use more of a think "ledger" and I write ALMOST every day -HOW I FEEL about that day or where we visited and how it went for that day.

When I get home I make sure postcards or snapshots are ledgered on "their" day and then my family can read it if they choose.

What's kind of nice about "journaling" a trip as long as several months - is you can write DOWN your frustrations -whatever they are, and LEAVE them "there" in your journal/ You've 'vented' without hurting anyone.

Also on longer cruises -you can say later [ without the journal] "Now WHERE was it we saw that museum -was that Hong Kong or Singapore?" While you may have written down what a thrill it WAS to BE in China learning about new things......and specifying what those new things were! I find journaling very relaxing emotionally! ;)

[ZSandy25]

I love all your ideas, thank you.:) I tend to do the highlighter in the daily program before I go to bed. One of my hobbies is making books, functional as well as art forms. I like to make a book to fit the cruise, I include making pages with envelopes to hold different things, ticket stubs, postcards, etc. for each day of the cruise.

 

I then insert blank pages to write in journal form so I remember what I did and where I did it. Each day has it's own section, I have pre-written what port we will be in and if an excursions is planned the info, etc. I do love the handwritten word.

 

The sections keep me organized and it's a great place to reference back to if someone asks a question on CC and I know the answer.;)

 

Above all I do relax on the cruise and always have a grand time.

[newlaxfan]

I use a cheap plastic folder with about 8 sections in it to keep info for each port day, or other important days.

 

I use a highlighter to highlight the activities I want to do that are in the daily newsletter.

 

If there are any days that are looking full, I write down on a post-it the ones that interest me. I don't do all the activities usually -- I decide what I feel like doing at the time.

 

This past cruise I took some small magnets and used them to keep the daily newsletter out in the open.

[newlaxfan]

LOL! My concept of a vacation includes trying things I haven't done before ... a segway tour ... snuba ... steel drum class ... I'll sleep at night, not going to use too much vacation time in the day for that.

 

Interesting that people are judging how others choose to spend their time.

[newlaxfan]

Thanks everyone. I like the advises given here to not micro manage our cruise and use a highlighter. And stow away my iPhone in the safe and not over think things :)

 

Hey, whatever floats your boat...! :D

 

For me a lot of the fun is in the planning, so I milk it for all it's worth!

[Fouremco]

If you have to keep track of your activities on a vacation, perhaps you should revisit your concept of a vacation?

va·ca·tion

vāˈkāSHən,və-

noun

1.

an extended period of recreation, esp. one spent away from home or in traveling.

As our extended period of recreation involves a lot of different activities, it's helpful to plan them in advance and to keep track of them. If your idea of a vacation is vegging in the sun for two weeks, or some other form of rest and relaxation, wonderful, but don't presume that everyone should share your particular tastes.

[julia]

If you have to keep track of your activities on a vacation, perhaps you should revisit your concept of a vacation?

 

 

Hmmm... perhaps you've never been on a 28 day cruise that entailed 17 private tours with various companies, lots of meeting times & places, and many with payments due in different currencies? Yikes!

 

Some people cruise to relax and some people cruise to tour, and that often requires organization and scheduling (which isn't "micro-managing") I clearly recall a couple who missed a fantastic tour with us because they got their days mixed up. :eek: They were truly bummed about it, and vowed to "calendar everything" in the future.

[OVgirl]

Hmmm... perhaps you've never been on a 28 day cruise that entailed 17 private tours with various companies, lots of meeting times & places, and many with payments due in different currencies? Yikes!

 

Some people cruise to relax and some people cruise to tour, and that often requires organization and scheduling (which isn't "micro-managing") I clearly recall a couple who missed a fantastic tour with us because they got their days mixed up. :eek: They were truly bummed about it, and vowed to "calendar everything" in the future.

 

Your comments really show that "one size doesn't fit all".

Obviously, some of us are responding based on a 7 day Caribbean cruise and others on longer cruises with more ports (eg. Mediterranean).

 

And it looks like everyone has a different, favourite method. Some use electronic devices and others still like to use paper.

 

Whatever works for each of us, works. Who's to say one way is better than the other.

 

Main thing is that we all want to get the most out of our cruises.:)

[WhansaMi]

This thread got me thinking.. I always end up with paper on the cruise, not only to be organized, but because I really do plan to "do something" with the stuff at one point, like a scrapbook. Then it sits in a bag for years, and I throw it away.

 

Since I run off stuff anyway, I was wondering... does anyone know of a decorative book with envelopes within it, that I could use, as I go along? I saw something online called the "Smash Book", but I couldn't tell if that is what I need. I just thought that I could put my schedule in there, along with ticket stubs, and jot down some thoughts. I could use a thin regular notebook, but I would, optimally, like it to look nice!

 

Thanks to anyone who can provide some guidance.

[fuzzywuzzy]

I use a cheap plastic folder with about 8 sections in it to keep info for each port day, or other important days.

 

I use a highlighter to highlight the activities I want to do that are in the daily newsletter.

 

If there are any days that are looking full, I write down on a post-it the ones that interest me. I don't do all the activities usually -- I decide what I feel like doing at the time.

 

This past cruise I took some small magnets and used them to keep the daily newsletter out in the open.

 

This sounds similar to what I do. I buy a small binder and put in dividers and plastic report or paper protectors sleeves. I put in any relevant emails that I print off prior to sailing. Also info at certain ports where we have tours planned or information. I also put maps or transfer info in here as well.

I always take a highliter for the daily itineraries and post it notes to stick on the mirror to remind ourselves about reservations that have been made onboard.

 

I also take a Ziploc bag for all our receipts then that way they are not scattered everywhere in the cabin.

[Tampa Girl]

Hmmm... perhaps you've never been on a 28 day cruise that entailed 17 private tours with various companies, lots of meeting times & places, and many with payments due in different currencies? Yikes!

 

Some people cruise to relax and some people cruise to tour, and that often requires organization and scheduling (which isn't "micro-managing") I clearly recall a couple who missed a fantastic tour with us because they got their days mixed up. :eek: They were truly bummed about it, and vowed to "calendar everything" in the future.

 

 

You make a good point. Although we have been on 25-day cruises, I think we prefer the laid-back approach. On a Med cruise, I can understand why calendaring tours would be wise. I was thinking OP was including shipboard activities as well; hence my initial post.

[Lady Chew]

I also use a spreadsheet. It includes hotel & flight info, ports, pre-arranged excursions if we have any, etc. I print out several copies. One of them gets taped up on the wall over the desk, and I just write on it when I need to make a note of any additional activities.

 

When we go to the Caribbean, it is usually just one page.

 

When we've taken our longer, exploration cruises, it's been anywhere from three to fifteen pages!

 

I use a separate folder for all of the important papers - boarding passes, confirmations, etc, keeping them in the order I need them. When done, I either cut them up or move them to the back if I want to hang on to them for awhile.

 

I don't like to mark up the newsletter, so I don't!

[sherilyn70]

Originally Posted by Tampa Girl

If you have to keep track of your activities on a vacation, perhaps you should revisit your concept of a vacation?

I like to keep track of my activities. My idea if a vacation is getting out and doing things I normally don't have time to do. I have plenty of goofing off and napping time at home. My husband and I like to explore, study history, and I enjoy photography and nature... neither of us likes swimming, sitting in the sun or hanging out at beaches/pools. We like to take port intensive cruises with lots of tours, when we're not cruising we go to gaming conventions where we play 3-4 games (board games, role playing, card games, etc) and socialize non stop for 5 days. We do try to schedule one day of downtime at the end of it when we get home to recover, but this is what we enjoy doing.

 

I track my activites through TripIt on my phone and will also add calendar entries to my phone. I'm not micro managing, i like to leave free time for random activities, but it's good to know what we definitely have on our list of things to do and don't want to miss.

[Tampa Girl]

O.K. I understand. Some like to spend their vacations in perpetual motion. Others, like us, who spend every day in perpetual motion, like to spend our vacationns just relaxing. You are right. Everyone to his own.