Organizing Papers for long trip

[Ocalapat]

Okay, HAL cruisers, how do you organize all your excursion information for a lengthy cruise so you can find it once you get onboard? So you can review your plans, show up for the right excursion at the right time, etc. I am thinking a binder with dividers but that is where I am stumped. How do I organize this? By individual port? by country and just put the different ports in order? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Pat

[RuthC]

I don't bring a vast amount of paperwork, but what I do bring I organize in chronological order (wherever possible), under different headings.

I have my travel plans to/from the ship in one heading, with the confirmations of car service (if used), flight, overnight hotel, transfer to ship (if used), boarding pass, flight home, car service (if used).

Shore excursions are in order as we go to the specific port.

Miscellaneous paperwork, such as on-board credit confirmations, scooter rental info, travel insurance go under a separate heading.

[3rdGenCunarder]

As soon as I book a vacation, I set up an itinerary on my computer. Just a word doc, nothing fancy. I add to it as plans progress. I sometimes also do a table formatted like a calendar for a quick "at a glance" version of the basics.

 

When it's time to start printing docs, I print out the itinerary, sometimes one day per page. Then I paperclip each day's docs/tickets to that page. It all goes into a pocket folder, with everything in date order. It sleeps easily into a briefcase or my carryon, depending on if I'm traveling with my laptop. This has worked for land/sea trips as long as 3 weeks. The trick is to keep the pages in order, then you only have to deal with one small set of pages on any given day.

Edited January 18, 2016 by 3rdGenCunarder

[baggal]

I use a 1/2 or 1 inch (depending on the length of the cruise) 3 ring flexible binder. In addition I buy insertable dividers with pockets and tabs for a 3 ring binder to put in the binder. I label each tab of the pocket divider by date. So for example on the date I fly to my destination, that pocket has the information for my local ground transportation and my boarding pass. The next pocket, for the next day, would hold information for the ground transportation at my destination as well as the hotel confirmation.

 

This way I can find what I need quickly and remove the whole pocket from my carry on, where the binder stays for the entire trip. I can remove pockets as I need them and return them to the binder when I'm done.

[GRACECRUISE]

I am a list maker and researcher so I love to plan long trips. Our longest was 35 days and I start a small binder. First I have a check list that goes in front so I know what has been done. Dividers are set up for flights to ship, hotel, ship info and boarding passes, then a tab for each port. It will either have excursion information or research about the port and what we plan to do.

 

Once all plans are made, I prepare a calendar page that shows each day and where we will be. It also has time in port and plans also special dinner reservations. We tape that to the mirror so everyone knows what is happening.

[sotiris]

I like to use a different colour paper for each day/port. I print out each day's activities/tickets in a specific colour and then clip them together. I find I can quickly find the tickets/info for each day. Once the info is all colour co-ordinated, I put the papers in proper sequence.

 

If the trip is really long, I just repeat the colour pattern.

[Omega1]

All my 'paperwork' is stored in Dropbox on my iPad. I only print anything that I definitely know will need a paper copy. Using Dropbox means that I have all docs on my iPhone as well. I don't have room to travel with large ring binders.

[Ocalapat]

All my 'paperwork' is stored in Dropbox on my iPad. I only print anything that I definitely know will need a paper copy. Using Dropbox means that I have all docs on my iPhone as well. I don't have room to travel with large ring binders.

 

I am probably going to show my ignorance here, but I thought you had to be connected to the internet to see what is in your dropbox. Can you download it all to your ipad/iphone and have it available when not online?

Thanks,

Pat

[3rdGenCunarder]

All my 'paperwork' is stored in Dropbox on my iPad. I only print anything that I definitely know will need a paper copy. Using Dropbox means that I have all docs on my iPhone as well. I don't have room to travel with large ring binders.

 

If I'm traveling with my laptop, I load paperwork onto it. I also email the really big things to myself so I can grab them from the cloud on my phone if I have to. Of course, this and the Dropbox option assume you'll have access/signal when you need the docs.

[iancal]

We only print items that we need hard copy...which are very few.

 

The rest are on my ipad and dw's ipad, and on our email. We often travel for two or three months at a time so printing everything would be a waste of paper, take up space in our carry on, and add to the weight.

 

Our plans are often flexible and it is not unusual for us to change plans, hotel reservations, etc.

 

We do however keep copies of any bill that has been charged to our Visa. We also keep car rental check in reports.

We agree these to our statement postings.

Edited January 18, 2016 by iancal

[3rdGenCunarder]

I am probably going to show my ignorance here, but I thought you had to be connected to the internet to see what is in your dropbox. Can you download it all to your ipad/iphone and have it available when not online?

Thanks,

Pat

 

You should be able to store downloads to your phone. My phone will do that--I just never think of doing it.

[RMLincoln]

I like to have paper copies with me plus electronic copies on laptop and separate thumb drive of all bookings and reservation confirmations, vouchers, OBC... yes, I like redundancy! Once I needed to a hard copy of an private excursion voucher and had to email it to a hotel and have the clerk print it out for me (kind of them to oblige).

 

For paper copies I use plastic page protectors as file folders; they are clear and very light.

I use one for each segment, and mark and store them chronologically, such as: home to ship: 1st cruise: 1st land tour; cruise 2; land tour 2... We have traveled like this for 4 months with 3 cruises, multiple land tours, freestyle touring on our own with connecting flights, car rental reservation or info on transfer options, hotels reservations with a goolge map of how to get there form the train station, airport etc.

 

As we travel, I disposed of the reservation confirmations but I use that plastic page protector for receipts from that segment.

 

I turn the page protectors sideways (ring-binder-holes up) and use a Sharpie pen to write the name of the segment between the holes... this then is the top and I tuck the whole set in either a plastic report holder or just a split 9x11 envelope (so it has two closed sides and two open sides) and that holder goes in my carry-on, all the segment labels up so I can easily find what I need.... and it is always with me, I never pack it in the suitcase.

 

Hope you find a system that works for you. m--

[Krazy Kruizers]

I don't take a laptop anymore -- haven't in years. And I don't have any of those fancy phones.

So when we book a cruise, I start an itinerary on my computer and to each date add whatever we have planned for that date/port.

When we are ready to leave, I run off that itinerary with all information and back-up documents and confirmations.

I have to plastic envelopes we got on Princess cruises. One holds the airline boarding passes and passports and the other one has hotel reservations. Those go into a pocket in my purse which is handy to get to.

All other information goes into my Concord folder and into my carry-on.

[sppunk]

I store everything in my Dropbox account. Airline passes in Passbook. The silly HAL embarkation paper we just throw in a carry on pocket.

[Lizzie68]

I have an old HAL document holder/wallet with some dividers in, and everything is folded into each section in the order in which I will need them. ie Flight boarding pass, hotel, cruise boarding pass, and then sections for excursions, dining reservations, confirmation of OBCs and other purchases.

[1of4]

I have to keep everything straight for everyone so I use a flexible plastic folder that looks like a 0.5 inch binder but it is not. It has 12 dividers inside that cannot be removed and elastic bands over the two outside corners that keep everything inside. Each trip I assign one tab for major plans: air, hotel, cruise embarkation, prepaid receipts for beverage plans and cards, excursions, dining plans. Another tab is for the cruise itself. I will have created a calendar with the months (s) and the major activity of that day. I use a magnet and put this up on the cabin wall. That tab also contains info on private tours and roll call activities and the CC roll call members names. The remaining tabs are for post hotel and flight information.

 

I always bring clip magnets, a highlighter, a hole punch, and mark off activities as they pass. I highlight special dining arrangements on the calendar as we tend to forget them as we relax. But I never discard papers in the cabin. I bring them all home and shred everything.

[lazey1]

I have an old HAL document holder/wallet with some dividers in, and everything is folded into each section in the order in which I will need them. ie Flight boarding pass, hotel, cruise boarding pass, and then sections for excursions, dining reservations, confirmation of OBCs and other purchases.

 

This is what I do also.

[luv2cruisenz]

I also make a summary spreadsheet that I print in largish font on a large sheet of A3 paper so it is readable. This has the basic itinerary and next to each day I list the important stuff to remember like M&G time/place, shore excursions, pre-booked dinners etc. I stick it on the wall in the cabin using bluetak so it doesn't leave a mess or rip off any wallpaper.

 

During the cruise I also put post it notes on the mirror if there's something I need to remember to do for the next day or so, such as collect passport from front office, 10am presentation etc. When I'm in holiday mode I don't always remember stuff! Sad but true

[forwardho]

I also make a daily itinerary detailing activities,excursion and anything in the port I want to see. On our Alaskan cruise I had three colored coded pocket folders ,green for land,blue for the cruise, and red for Vancouver. In each folder I placed information on each port and discarded it when we left each port.

[feathersandnananose]

It's somewhat bulky, but I use a plastic document folder with 8- 12 divisions. It holds items for each stop - I just group things in a sensible way (Flight info, first stop, second stop, etc....). I like it because when I throw out the copies of my reservations, etc. that I no longer needs, it will hold receipts and flat mementos (small maps, postcards, thin guidebooks, etc.).

 

Then I keep it after the trip - as part of my trip records.

[Btimmer]

I use a combination of most of what has been shared above. But to refine it for my personal taste, I use a small three ring binder and copies of the cruise agreement and silly HAL boarding pass (I have found that a copy of that silly pass on my phone has worked to get us past the gate attendants before doing the counter checkin. At the counter, we've never been asked for the silly pass!) go in that binder in date order along with screen prints of all shore excursions and pre & post cruise hotel and travel documents. However, as backup, I run all these documents through a scanner and email them to myself at two different email addresses AND put a copy on my smart phone (iPhone6). A copy also goes to my wife who has a copy as well. At the end of the cruise I keep the 3 ring binder of documents including whatever might also be added during the cruise.

 

For our passports and credit cards and driver's licenses AND credit card telephone numbers, I separately scan those to a PDF file that's stored online in Dropbox & OneDrive plus a copy is available on our phones. I carry a paper copy of our passports in a separate location in case our passports and phones are stolen.

 

For our upcoming cruise on the ZAANDAM departing 1/31, I also created a spreadsheet of each port day with information about the shore excursion (whether HAL or other) and what the financial arrangements were (a number of them are shared excursions with other CC members that I need to pay when we board or take the excursion).

Edited January 19, 2016 by Btimmer

[crystalspin]

I'm like 1of4 and feathersandnananose and use a pocket folder/file like this (or similar):

 

I've used 6-7 pocket and 10-12 pocket, depending on the length of the cruise, and when we did the transAtlantic/Mediterranean I bought this one:

 

But it turned out to be JUST TOO BULKY (we travel with only carry-on bags and daypacks). So instead I grouped printouts by country and used a file I already had with fewer pockets, allowing one pocket for pre/post papers like the car-parking contract, and one for things for the stateroom walls.

 

I like sotiris's idea of printing on different color paper, too.

[1of4]

This is what I use:

 

 

I have the sections named: Itinerary, Flights, other transport, hotel, day trips, and then customise for the trip after that.

[dbsb3233]

First off, I do all arrangements online and always get email confirmations. I create a folder in my Gmail for each trip, and drop all pertinent emails there.

 

Then before the trip, I create a Word document with a day-by-day itinerary where I make notes to myself (reminders) and I copy just the important pieces from the emails (like the tour guide's meeting place directions and phone number). It's pretty much my to-do/reference list during the trip. Then I download the Word document onto my cell phone so I always have it ready to open offline during the trip.

 

I also take photos with my cell phone of all important documents (boarding pass, passport, visa pages, tour confirmations, maps, etc.). That way I have a backup copy (offline) on my phone just in case.

 

I still print some documents too, but not very many. I always carry my phone, even though I may not have data service. That's why I download lots of stuff directly into the phone so I can get to it without data access.

 

I also save offline maps in Google Maps to my phone for each destination. And I search for tourist maps in PDF format to download as well (PDFs are better because they're higher resolution and can be zoomed in on better). Lastly, I SAVE FOR OFFLINE USE any web pages with useful reference info.

Edited January 19, 2016 by dbsb3233

[PatsyAnne]

I have copies of calendar pages for the trip (month style), and enter information about flights, hotels, cruise, etc. on it. This helps me make sure that I have all the dates right for my flights and reservations. I print the itinerary for the cruise, and write independent shore excursions on it. I paper clip the excursion papers to these sheets, in date order. Sometimes I use a divided folder for different categories. I daydream a lot. I frequently check for changes to flights and argue with airlines over unworkable connections.

 

When it's time to leave for the trip. I check for each day of the trip to see that I have the paperwork I may need. This can include the confirmation emails for HAL tours, as well as those for independent excursions. For independent excursions that require cash, for payment and/or tips, I use an envelope for each containing the papers and cash for the tour, and keep it in the room safe until needed. For instance, in St. Petersburg, the envelope included all the paperwork needed to join the tour (get past the gate), the required payment, and recommended tip. Each night I can get rid of any paperwork I no longer need, like hotel reservations or tour confirmations.

 

While I am computer literate and use them extensively in preparation, I have run into too many instances where paper documents were needed or shortened the time to resolution of problems to not bring copies.