How do you count days on your cruise?

[LandlockedCruiser01]

When you cruise, I'm sure you use some sort of system to keep track of days of your cruise.  While it varies from person to person, obviously, the following seem to stand out the most.

 

Normal calendar - That when you use the month and day, and maybe the year.  It's the one cruise lines themselves use.  It offers the most connection to land life, particularly when it's needed, like for perpetually connected workers and people needing to care for family back home.

 

Days of the week - That's when you only count "Monday", "Tuesday", etc., without the month and day.  It works just as well as the first one, but becomes impractical on cruises longer than 7 days, and downright unusable on very long cruises, like "Around the World in 80 Days".

 

Itinerary-based - This system completely disconnects from land life, and only uses a what's relevant to the current cruise.  Using my latest cruise as an example, "Embarkation Day", "Catalina Day", "Ensenada Day", "Sea Day", and "Debarkation Day".  This system is also used in a sentence, like "The formal night is on Catalina Day".

 

Numerical count - This is similar to the above, but counts the days, rather than itinerary events: "day 1" or "first day", "day 2" or "second day", etc.  The same system is also used in a sentence when describing what's happening on the ship.  For example, "the Hasbro Game Show is on the third day".  The debarkation day may be counted numerically or simply called "debarkation".

 

Hybrid system - That's when you use a mix of the above.  For example, on a transpacific cruise that passes through Hawaii, you use an itinerary-based system for the string of port days on Hawaiian islands, and a numerical count for the string of sea days before and after.

 

Your own system - You tell me.

 

So, which system do you use to count days on your cruise?  (Let's focus on most common 3- to 7-day cruises.)  Vote in poll and post in comments.  Discuss!

Edited September 22, 2019 by LandlockedCruiser01

[mom says]

Amber says whut????  🤔

[clo]

1 hour ago, LandlockedCruiser01 said:

When you cruise, I'm sure you use some sort of system to keep track of days of your cruise.

Nope.  I keep scratching my head wondering why anyone would need to.

[denmarks]

If you look at the link below you will see a Google Doc that I created. Near the end I created a table that shows the location of the ship every day during the countdown. Each day I delete a day. There are now 72 days left.

[clo]

4 minutes ago, denmarks said:

a table that shows the location of the ship every day

But it doesn't really serve any useful purpose, does it?  Just feeds your anticipation?  Does it matter which day are sea days and which are ports?  I am sincerely not being snarky.

[denmarks]

12 minutes ago, clo said:

But it doesn't really serve any useful purpose, does it?  Just feeds your anticipation?  Does it matter which day are sea days and which are ports?  I am sincerely not being snarky.

 

I agree the location is meaningless but it was something to do for a few hours.

[clo]

2 minutes ago, denmarks said:

 

I agree the location is meaningless but it was something to do for a few hours.

Oh, I know.  I sometimes pull out the itinerary and just skim it 🙂

[ldubs]

I voted "normal" calendar.  Not sure I really keep that much track of days.  Instead it is more of a "where are we tomorrow".  

 

When Mrs Ldubs says we have to put our luggage in the hallway, then I know the cruise is almost over.   

[clo]

3 minutes ago, ldubs said:

Instead it is more of a "where are we tomorrow".  

This^

 

Also there is one calendar I'm going to create for Oceania.  It's for reservations for the four (included) specialty restaurants.  Our first two nights I'm not interested in them.  So I'm figuring every other night and that will cover eight of the 11 nights.    You can see where our priorities are.  LOL.

[lenquixote66]

I only count sheep,never days.

[clo]

15 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

I only count sheep,never days.

Whereas I prefer to eat sheep aka lamb.

[cruizergal70]

5 hours ago, clo said:

Nope.  I keep scratching my head wondering why anyone would need to.

Yeah, I don't get it either.

[lenquixote66]

33 minutes ago, clo said:

Whereas I prefer to eat sheep aka lamb.

I neither eat sheep or lamb

[clo]

2 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

I neither eat sheep or lamb

Do you eat other meat?  I grew up in the South and Mother thought that it was all mutton and that she wouldn't eat it.  When I moved to SF in the 70s I discovered L.A.M.B. and fell in love with it.  Mmm.  I'll return to the regularly scheduled programming 🙂

[lenquixote66]

34 minutes ago, clo said:

Do you eat other meat?  I grew up in the South and Mother thought that it was all mutton and that she wouldn't eat it.  When I moved to SF in the 70s I discovered L.A.M.B. and fell in love with it.  Mmm.  I'll return to the regularly scheduled programming 🙂

I eat some meat. I never lived anywhere but N.Y. 

[clo]

5 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

I eat some meat. I never lived anywhere but N.Y. 

Maybe on your next cruise, if there's some lamb on the menu, ask them for just a forkful and see what you think.  

[Bizmark'sMom]

I use calendar days. I am not yet retired, so I do keep track.

 

On the off topic - I love lamb and really like goat as well.

[clo]

Just now, Bizmark'sMom said:

I use calendar days. I am not yet retired, so I do keep track.

 

Oh, yeah.  The small best thing I love about retirement is making a cup of coffee...and sitting down and drinking it.  The best part is traveling.

 

Ah, yes, cabrito.  Love it also.

[navybankerteacher]

27 minutes ago, clo said:

Oh, yeah.  The small best thing I love about retirement is making a cup of coffee...and sitting down and drinking it.  The best part is traveling.

 

Ah, yes, cabrito.  Love it also.

Aah !  But HOW you drink that coffee matters also -  sipping it in bed while doing the NYT crossword is a preferred approach.

[Flatbush Flyer]

OP: with a little thought and Excel (or Numbers), you can create a single (double-sided) "cheat sheet" that covers all your bases (day, date, port with arrival/departure times, purchased tours/duration, shipboard events, flight info, pre/post cruise hotels, transfers, reservations, etc). On the back side, you can have all your necessary contact info for reservations, insurance...... You could even go so far as to have a small set of translated phrases, local currency conversions and area codes/dialing instructions. And you could even color code it (e.g., red fill for anything still TBD)

 

We tend to do longer, complex cruise itineraries including pre/post land stays. Our "cheat sheets" can easily handle 40+ days while still using readable font sizes. Of course we have actual docs (both hard copy and electronic PDFs) on hand and, when time permits, we'll put it all in TripIt on our phones.

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Aah !  But HOW you drink that coffee matters also -  sipping it in bed while doing the NYT crossword is a preferred approach.

Retirement defined:

When you go to Home Depot (usually for the fifth time still trying to get the right size/type item), you don't have to look at your watch.

[lenquixote66]

46 minutes ago, clo said:

Maybe on your next cruise, if there's some lamb on the menu, ask them for just a forkful and see what you think.  

Never shall I eat lamb

[clo]

9 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Aah !  But HOW you drink that coffee matters also -  sipping it in bed while doing the NYT crossword is a preferred approach.

Well, we've had dogs for over 25 years so we have to get up before the coffee but yeah.

[clo]

6 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Retirement defined:

When you go to Home Depot (usually for the fifth time still trying to get the right size/type item), you don't have to look at your watch.

LOL.  Oh yeah.  That's why we pay the pros who only have to go to THD once 🙂

[lenquixote66]

My definition of retirement is the ability to sleep later than 5:30 AM