Keeping track

[Kustomcars]

I recently tried to log onto cruise-ships.com, where I keep track of my cruises. They seemed to have shut down and the domain name is for sale. How does everyone else keep track of their details? Date, cruise line, ship name, how many days, ports, etc?

[Flatbush Flyer]

17 minutes ago, Kustomcars said:

I recently tried to log onto cruise-ships.com, where I keep track of my cruises. They seemed to have shut down and the domain name is for sale. How does everyone else keep track of their details? Date, cruise line, ship name, how many days, ports, etc?

Proprietary spreadsheet- constant format but separate single, double sided record for each cruise (paper and xls versions). Displays ports, times, excursion and dining info, special events, entertainment shows, all land arrangements, necessary ID and contact info for everything from airlines to insurance to local money exchange rates.Everything on in one doc (and on one piece of paper).

[shorne]

Well, if you're talking about a database of past voyages, I don't have one—or need one, because I've taken only one cruise so far (with another coming up next month). But for a trip of any length I do write up a document, usually three pages, that I carry on paper in my bags along with copies of any reservations:

 

FIRST PAGE:

 

A title describing generally the destinations

The starting and ending dates

My full name and contact info
The names of any travelling companions (usually none)

Someone to call in an emergency

Information about travel insurance

Details of flights and other transit (such as a cruise)

The number of my passport

Contact information for my bank

Exchange rates both to and from a convenient currency (updated just before departure)

 

SECOND PAGE:

 

Itinerary, each line headed by a date followed by the city or other location; abbreviated references to any reservations of hotels, cars, trains, and the like

 

THIRD PAGE (or fourth if the itinerary runs to two pages):

 

Addresses of people to whom I might want to send a postcard or whatever. Admittedly this is a bit vieux jeu, since nowadays this information is already on my mobile telephone—but so are exchange rates, which I nonetheless keep handy on paper for reference during my trip.

 

All attractively typeset. I just copy an old one and change the contents. I've had the same form for more than twenty years.

Edited April 6, 2023 by shorne

[Honolulu Blue]

14 hours ago, Kustomcars said:

How does everyone else keep track of their details? Date, cruise line, ship name, how many days, ports, etc?

1. I keep all my e-mails related to all my cruises
2. I keep most of the papers and pieces of plastic involved with my cruises
3. I have a folder on my computer with my older photos; Google takes care of the newer ones
4. Most of the cruise lines I've sailed with have some details of my cruises that are available when I log in

[Mary229]

Now that the government shutdowns are over, hopefully, I am back to one cruise at a time.  I book my next cruise while onboard.  The few I have going forward are managed by creating PDFs of important documents and saving them to a file specific to that cruise .  Planning details are down by bookmarking websites to a bookmark folder specific to a single cruise 

[mrgabriel]

If you’ve sailed on only a few cruise lines, you should be able to retrieve a list of past cruises on the website after you log in. 
 

Not a list but a way to reminisce, I keep all of our Seapass cards & use a Sharpie to add our cabin # & ports visited. 

[caribsun]

Pen and notebook.

[neeuqdrazil]

I have a Google Sheets document for each cruise. I'm an inveterate list maker, so it's got a number of sheets within it, but it includes a page with travel details (cruise dates, reservation ID, flights & reservation IDs, insurance policy, hotel reservations...) then pages for lists of things to take (clothes & non-clothes), things to do before the trip, items that I need to purchase (if any), and a calendar with details by day (days to include pre-cruise and post-cruise as well.) There's also a sheet with costs so that I can keep track of how much this is costing me. 

 

After the trip, it lives in my Google Drive, and I copy and update for the next trip. 

[ldubs]

No spreadsheets.   No lists.  No evidence.😀😀😀

[Flatbush Flyer]

9 hours ago, shorne said:

Well, if you're talking about a database of past voyages, I don't have one—or need one, because I've taken only one cruise so far (with another coming up next month). But for a trip of any length I do write up a document, usually three pages, that I carry on paper in my bags along with copies of any reservations:

 

FIRST PAGE:

 

A title describing generally the destinations

The starting and ending dates

My full name and contact info
The names of any travelling companions (usually none)

Someone to call in an emergency

Information about travel insurance

Details of flights and other transit (such as a cruise)

The number of my passport

Contact information for my bank

Exchange rates both to and from a convenient currency (updated just before departure)

 

SECOND PAGE:

 

Itinerary, each line headed by a date followed by the city or other location; abbreviated references to any reservations of hotels, cars, trains, and the like

 

THIRD PAGE (or fourth if the itinerary runs to two pages):

 

Addresses of people to whom I might want to send a postcard or whatever. Admittedly this is a bit vieux jeu, since nowadays this information is already on my mobile telephone—but so are exchange rates, which I nonetheless keep handy on paper for reference during my trip.

 

All attractively typeset. I just copy an old one and change the contents. I've had the same form for more than twenty years.

Sounds reasonable except that I would not put personal ID #s (e.g., passport) or any bank # on a piece of paper that could easily be misplaced/lost.

[shorne]

Passport number? Probably questionable. I have a copy of the first page on my telephone, however, in case I need to have the passport replaced (hasn't happened yet). Maybe I should drop the passport number from my document. It's been useful up to now, however, for filling out forms and such when the passport was less accessible. Then again, I've obtained a mobile telephone since designing that sheet (before the last Ice Age), and some of that information no longer needs to be on paper.

 

Bank? I just put the telephone number down, not any account numbers.

 

The other personal information is meant to be accessible to others—not to thieves, of course, but to anyone who might need it for legitimate purposes in a situation such as a medical emergency or loss of the bag.

[Kustomcars]

I'm not super computer literate, SO I really liked cruise-ship.com's layout. Once you put in your ship, date, days, and ports, it added them all up, told you how many cruise lines, ship and ports, you've been on, how many days all together, etc. I could probably do an excel spreadsheet, but it would take me days to get it right! I was hoping for something easier, and relatively simple, not needing costs, airports, and other details.

[MBP&O2/O]

When I first went to sea, computers hadn't been invented so all of my original records are on paper.,

I recorded staff, ports, distances travelled , and of course sea time,. Also all sorts of odds and ends relating to p2p distances ,time speed tables etc etc.

 

[lenquixote66]

On 4/5/2023 at 3:40 PM, Kustomcars said:

I recently tried to log onto cruise-ships.com, where I keep track of my cruises. They seemed to have shut down and the domain name is for sale. How does everyone else keep track of their details? Date, cruise line, ship name, how many days, ports, etc?

I use something called a pencil .I have a record of every vacation activity from 1945 to 2019.

[ldubs]

4 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

I use something called a pencil .I have a record of every vacation activity from 1945 to 2019.

 

My SIL keeps a diary of all her travels, which are quite extensive.   I'm just the opposite.  Other than pic's, I keep no records of previous trips.  If needed, Mrs Ldubs can tell from the date of the pic when we were where.    

[Sea42]

9 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

My SIL keeps a diary of all her travels, which are quite extensive.   I'm just the opposite.  Other than pic's, I keep no records of previous trips.  If needed, Mrs Ldubs can tell from the date of the pic when we were where.    

Same here. We have our photos and our memories.

Oops! I forgot, I also have cruises listed in my signature. Shows how helpful my memory is! LOL

Edited April 9, 2023 by Sea42

[lenquixote66]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

 

My SIL keeps a diary of all her travels, which are quite extensive.   I'm just the opposite.  Other than pic's, I keep no records of previous trips.  If needed, Mrs Ldubs can tell from the date of the pic when we were where.    

I take pictures of everyone I meet on a cruise with a camera,not a phone.After get the pictures developed I write the names of the people on the back of the pictures.I do the same for non cruise vacations.

[DarrenM]

On 4/6/2023 at 3:51 PM, ldubs said:

No spreadsheets.   No lists.  No evidence.😀😀😀

This. Just my memory for now.

[DarrenM]

On 4/9/2023 at 11:11 PM, ldubs said:

 

My SIL keeps a diary of all her travels, which are quite extensive.   I'm just the opposite.  Other than pic's, I keep no records of previous trips.  If needed, Mrs Ldubs can tell from the date of the pic when we were where.    

I dont even do pics.

 

I was on twitter the other day, and someone asked people to put a photo of them when they were young. Hundreds of people did.

 

I dont have any photos of myself, even from the last 12 months never mind the last 50 years.

 

I had to take one last year for my pass. deleted it straight after.

[DarrenM]

On 4/10/2023 at 12:38 AM, lenquixote66 said:

I take pictures of everyone I meet on a cruise with a camera,not a phone.After get the pictures developed I write the names of the people on the back of the pictures.I do the same for non cruise vacations.

We met three other couples last year, 2 of which we shared the restaurant times with.

 

They were all nice people.

 

I took no photos and cant even remember one of their names. Not one.

[neeuqdrazil]

On 4/7/2023 at 4:47 AM, shorne said:

Passport number? Probably questionable. I have a copy of the first page on my telephone, however, in case I need to have the passport replaced (hasn't happened yet). 

 

One caution for those of us who aren't as tech savvy, and particularly for people who use Apple devices - if you take a picture of your passport ID page, make sure that it's not saved to the cloud, or if it is, check the security settings. I was at my parents' house last month with a friend, who noticed a photo of a passport ID page go by on their internet-enabled photo frame - one of my parents had taken a picture of their passport, saved it to the cloud, forgetting that their photo frame pulls all of the photos from the cloud.  

[shorne]

On 4/9/2023 at 11:29 AM, lenquixote66 said:

I use something called a pencil .

 

I use a pen every day, astonishingly old-fashioned though that may be. The technology no longer works well for communication in a day when many people cannot read cursive writing.

[lenquixote66]

5 hours ago, DarrenM said:

We met three other couples last year, 2 of which we shared the restaurant times with.

 

They were all nice people.

 

I took no photos and cant even remember one of their names. Not one.

Perhaps you will meet them on a future cruise.

[lenquixote66]

4 hours ago, shorne said:

 

I use a pen every day, astonishingly old-fashioned though that may be. The technology no longer works well for communication in a day when many people cannot read cursive writing.

I always have 2 pens in a pocket.

[lisiamc]

On 4/5/2023 at 8:40 PM, Kustomcars said:

I recently tried to log onto cruise-ships.com, where I keep track of my cruises. They seemed to have shut down and the domain name is for sale. How does everyone else keep track of their details? Date, cruise line, ship name, how many days, ports, etc?

Are you maybe thinking of the app Cruise Shipmate? I’ve used them for years, and the app has an easy way to keep track of past and future cruises with countdowns, itineraries, dates, etc. 

Edited April 12, 2023 by lisiamc