Burnt out?

[cruise182]

Do you ever get tired of all the planning? I have been planning all the cruises and vacations for the family. This is the first cruise that I haven't really planned. Can't get into it. I only have one port planned and that is only because I am going with another poster who has planned the excursion. I kind of have the feeling that maybe this cruise I will just go with the flow. Is this good....bad...neither? I do have air and hotel planned but that it! Just curious if anyone has ever felt the same way and what did they or didn't they do.:)

[cactusrose]

Yes, I've been there. Sometimes it get's to be too much. Especially if you have more than one cruise to plan. Sometimes it's just nice to wander around town and do a little shopping. Of course it depends on the town. Sometimes, there really isn't much to do so you need to take a tour. Anyway you can always decide on board if you want to book something through Princess or wait and take a tour offered on the dock.

[FANC6]

I feel the same way about our upcoming cruise. I'm also the one who does all the planning and for this next cruise to the Mexican Riviera I only have one port excursion booked. For the other ports we are going to "wing it", probably just grab a taxi and see a few sites and then just sit and have a drink on the beach or a snack at a local restaurant. I think I'm getting tired of being too structured on our excursions and want to just be more spontaneous. I did all the planning for our Mediterranean and Hawaii cruises and I'm glad I did but this time I'm hoping to sit back, relax and go with the flow!

 

Good luck and have a great cruise!:)

[CruiseFever]

Do you ever get tired of all the planning? I have been planning all the cruises and vacations for the family. This is the first cruise that I haven't really planned. Can't get into it. I only have one port planned and that is only because I am going with another poster who has planned the excursion. I kind of have the feeling that maybe this cruise I will just go with the flow. Is this good....bad...neither? I do have air and hotel planned but that it! Just curious if anyone has ever felt the same way and what did they or didn't they do.:)

 

I think you're looking at it wrong.

 

I don't think you're burned out at all.

 

I think you've just gotten so good at it that the tremendous effort it once took to have a fabulous cruise you can now do in your sleep.

[Iamthesea]

FANC6 - We only planned one excursion on our cruise to the Riviera and then picked up the others the day of porting.

If you haven't planned anything for Puerto Vallarta, I have a plan for you. Get off the ship ASAP and look for a tour guide named Hector. He is usually standing near the pier, is wearing a white uniform and has a green Suburban. He gave our group of 6 a fantastic tour around the town and out in the country, along the waters edge. We stopped at a Tequila factory, a couple of shopping bazaars and an authentic Mexican restaurant. We saw famous houses, sampled Tequila and ate great food. We were also able to see cliff divers. A great day for little money. If you decide to look into a tour with Hector, let me know and I can send you a photo of him, so you know who to look for.

[suntan]

I too am the planner of our vacations and I must admit that I am not as excited about our upcoming 2006 crusie as I usually am. The first year I was so excited I didn't mind doing all the planning. I was so excited I used to talk about it all the time at work and annoy my co-workers. This year, I seem to only get excited at milestones - such as 6 months to go (we book about a year in advance), when the final payment is due, when the cruise documents are delivered to me. As for the shore excursions, I provide everyone with a printout of those available to us and we have a couple of discussons about who is interested in doing what. I used to try to get everyone together on excursions, but now I tell the others if you don't want to come on a shore excursion with me, that's fine - I'll see you later. This weekend we booked our 2007 cruise - I'm certainly not excited about this yet.

[Breezey]

I too am the designated planner. Not sure how I got elected but I used to love researching places we were going. All our cruises to date have been Caribbean or Mexican Riviera. Trust me when you decide to go on a Med cruise, watch out. I have never spent so much time figuring out what to do when we only have one day in a place like Athens, etc. While I am not complaining because this will be a fantastic trip, it is quite overwhelming and as you said you do get burnt out. We leave on Thursday for our cruise on Sunday. For 3 of the ports we have hired private drivers (thanks to recommendations on these boards) and the rest we will wing it as a previous poster mentioned.

[Breezey]

I feel the same way about our upcoming cruise. I'm also the one who does all the planning and for this next cruise to the Mexican Riviera I only have one port excursion booked. For the other ports we are going to "wing it", probably just grab a taxi and see a few sites and then just sit and have a drink on the beach or a snack at a local restaurant. I think I'm getting tired of being too structured on our excursions and want to just be more spontaneous. I did all the planning for our Mediterranean and Hawaii cruises and I'm glad I did but this time I'm hoping to sit back, relax and go with the flow!

 

Good luck and have a great cruise!:)

 

Agreed. Mexican Riviera is the best place to do that. If Zhihautenjo (sorry about the spelling) is one of your stops, I suggest you wander near the port but if you like the beach, take the water bus right at the dock and go to Playa Los Gatos (maybe a five minute ride). It is a wonderful beach.

[10X]

I too am the designated planner. Of the 10 cruises my wife and I have been on, we've only done 2 alone. Number 11 (Sea Princess 14 nights Jan. 2006) is coming up soon, and numbers 12 & 13 (back to back Crown Princess 7 nights Jan/Feb 2007) will be booked this week. We will have family and/or friends with us on all those cruises.

 

However, I don't plan everything down to the last detail for everyone. I tell everyone up front that this is their vacation and they should enjoy it as they wish. They should not feel obligated to go on any excursion just because someone else is. They also should not feel bad if someone doesn't want to go on a particular excursion with them, afterall, it's their vacation too. At the end of the day, we will all meet for dinner and discuss our various activities. We might even get some ideas for something different to do on our next stop at this port.

 

What I do is research what's available. I look at ship's excursions for ideas, read everything I can on this board, do Internet searches, then send out a group e-mail letting everyone know what's available. It's then up to them to book the excursion.

 

Sometimes I coordinate for some in the group, like those who might like to scuba dive with me. Since so few in our groups scuba dive, this only makes sense.

 

I bookmark each web site that all of you post here, then get back to it and research it later, checking to see if it's something worthwhile. I usually forward these URLs on the group e-mail list. Again, if it's something they want to do, then they should book it, I don't do it for them.

 

This makes things much easier for me and makes everyone take some responsibility for their own vacation. Plus, they can't blame me if they didn't like what they did, because they booked it, not me. It was their choice.

 

I also pass on good information that becomes available on this board. Things like poor taxi service, hidden fees, and other things I think they should be aware of.

 

All of this gives my group a ton of information to look at, but it is they who must make the final decision, not me. It is they who must book the excursion, not me. I just take care of my wife and myself.

[FANC6]

Iamthesea, MY DH was planning on going fishing in PV and I'm thinking of spending part of the day at the Krystal Resort(I hear the massages there are good and better priced than on the ship). Thanks for the info about Hector and I will pass it on to our roll call group.

 

Breezey, thanks for the info about Zhihauntejo(sp) but unfortunately we won't be going there on this cruise. Maybe another time.:)

[cruise182]

I have figured out why I feel burnt out. Every time I come here to get my cruise info.......I get this:

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It is becoming so tedious to get on the boards to ask a question or search. In the past if I had a question I could come here and in 5 minutes have an answer. So very VERY frustrating!!

[Pam in CA]

Every now and then you need a cruise just for YOU. My sister separates them into "vacations" and "working" cruises. On our 'vacations,' we just chill out, do a minimum of planning and look forward to being onboard, meeting people, relaxing, reading, etc. On 'working' cruises, we do a lot of planning about what we want to do and see. They are usually very port-intensive cruises and we come home ready for a vacation. (You know the feeling?) So, we alternate cruises between those we know are going to be interesting but tiring and those that everyone will do their own thing and we'll meet for drinks and dinner.

[chopper825]

I am the planner of everything in my family. If I don't plan we don't do. So because I want to do - I plan. This cruise I am really looking forward to because we are going with our closest friends. I am enjoying the planning but find that I keep changing my mind. I think that is a sign of old age. All the necessities are done except the excursions. I booked one - which I think I am going to change. Am definate about what I want to do on another although not booked and unsure about the third. Fortunately, my friends and husband are pretty easy and just go with the flow. Only four months away now and I am getting excited.

[Genessa]

I am absolutely the planner in our group and have occasionally gotten "burnt out".

I love researching all the little details and giving everyone a list of options, but on our last cruise (April), I just wanted to be on vacation. I booked two excursions - one for me, one for three of us and ended up cancelling the one for just me - on a 10 day cruise.

I knew what we were going to be doing at most of our ports, but three we decided to just "wing it".

Now we have two more cruises booked and one I can't seem to generate any enthusiasm for - friends we used to vacation with but haven't been able to in several years asked us to go with them on this one - and we will probably just spend lots of time relaxing.

The other one is to Hawaii and there is just so much to see that I am waiting for the winter to really start researching. However, we are planning a European/Med cruise in 2007 and I can't stop thinking about that one!

[sandbag7]

I find my energy for planning ebbs and flows; I would suggest walking away for a few days and then seeing how you feel. With 1728 messages sent (as of now) you MUST be tired.

[cruisequeen10]

I do all the cruise and land planning. For one, it keeps me away from watching too much TV. When my friends say they are interested in going somewhere, I always pipe up and say, can I help you.

[DonLou]

I like to do intense research for our trips. I even make up a notebook of what we will be doing each day (or hour sometimes). When we actually do the trip, it turns out we don't do most of the stuff in the book. This is either because we get interested in something else, it's too much to do, or my research wasn't really that accurate. Too much information will fry your brains. To tortuously paraphrase a famous quote, "I know half my research is useless, I just don't know which half".