Am I the only crazy one that has everything booked for my January Cruise??

[luckyprincess]

I get so excited by the planning and information gathering stages, I swear! I want to do everything right now. I already have my hotel, got my airfare yesterday - only have a few hundered more to pay on the cruise itself....

I can't wait to start booking shore excursions, wine and dine and specialty restaurants! I wish it would open up to me already!:p Am I the only one that does this? My family thinks I'm crazy because I'm always planning something. Today I'm looking through excursions to narrow down what I want to do at each port lol!:)

[Moondawgie]

Princess, I am like you and my family thinks I'm crazy as well. To me, it extends the vacation when you start early.;):D

[BroncosFan2010]

I don't think you are the only one who plans ahead as much as you do.

 

My next cruise is over a year away, and we already have almost everything planned. I have a folder for each island, and I do tons of research and fill the folders full of beach ideas, shopping information, places to eat lunch, and any excursions we may decide to do.

Some of the excursions we will book early, but on some of the islands we visit, we will just see what kind of mood strikes us, then go to the folder and find the best option. Say we want a private cozy beach: I have a name and location of one in the folder. Say we want to experience a bit more of a party atmosphere, I have something in the folder for that. Snorkeling, it's there! People call me crazy, but we are never left not knowing what we could do!

[pieter&sharon]

Nope. I can always change the booking if the price goes down. What's to lose?:)

[land lover]

Not the only one, many do. But, I don't.

 

I never look at planning anything until I make the final payment, simply because I do not want to waste my time until I feel I am really going...... to many variables are in my life can quickly take away my excitement for a trip and all my planning was done in vain.

[tomko2]

Our theory regarding the joy of travelling is that it is made up of three very important and equally wonderful components:

1/3 planning

1/3 travel

1/3 memories.

 

Kathy:)

[printingchick]

The ONLY reason I have not booked everything for my March 2010 cruise is that we're traveling with other people this year. I always thought it would be fun to drag others along, but then it becomes a debate about what to do on each island, particularly when different members of the group want to insure that they do some stuff together. To be honest, not having everything nailed down already is stressing me out!! Why can't EVERYONE plan ahead???

[LisaH]

I get so excited by the planning and information gathering stages, I swear! I want to do everything right now. I already have my hotel, got my airfare yesterday - only have a few hundered more to pay on the cruise itself....

I can't wait to start booking shore excursions, wine and dine and specialty restaurants! I wish it would open up to me already!:p Am I the only one that does this? My family thinks I'm crazy because I'm always planning something. Today I'm looking through excursions to narrow down what I want to do at each port lol!:)

 

I am a planner as well and 1/2 the fun for me is the planning part. Enjoy yourself...

 

We are booked for March 2010 and I had that booked in May 2008.

[jvw]

I like to plan ahead - booked our Feb 2010 cruise in Feb 09, booked the flights in June as soon as I found a deal on non-stop flights, booked the pre-cruise hotel two weeks ago. I just go ahead and book everything and then tell the others in our group where we are going and when. Not a bit controlling, am I. ;) We like to have something to look forward to during the long, cold Maine winters!:D

[PeterPan]

For my Jan 31, 2010 cruise on AOS, I booked the cruise on 31 Oct 08, the airfare in March 2009, and the Hotels in April 2009. Waiting for the excursions to become available so I can book one of those, too! :D

 

As you can see by my countdowns, I have cruises booked until April 2011 :eek:.

 

Book early and often!

[waterbug123]

I get so excited by the planning and information gathering stages, I swear! .....Am I the only one that does this?

 

Nope! My December cruise is booked, airfare for it has been booked for a couple of months, 3 specialty restaurant reservations have been made, AND my packing list is started! Only 154 more days...

[waterbug123]

Our theory regarding the joy of travelling is that it is made up of three very important and equally wonderful components:

1/3 planning

1/3 travel

1/3 memories.

 

Kathy:)

 

Oh, I like that!!!! So true!

[PeterPan]

OOOOOHH! Someone mentioned packing lists!! My packing list for the January cruise is completed. The items we "own" are marked and the other items are listed on a "to buy" list. We are buying one item every 2 weeks until it's time to leave. It's fun to watch the list shrink!

 

I have "bare bones" packing lists started for our other cruises, but won't work on them real hard until we return from our cruise.

 

I also have 3 ring binders put together for each cruise that contains our booking receipt, and we start collecting information on ports, our airline receipts, etc. in the binders.

 

Wow! Now that I have typed all this out, perhaps we are a bit "rear orifice" retentive in this cruise planning thing......:eek::p:D

[aislynmae]

I love that you posted this.

I got my cruise 6 wks ago, (won a auction) and made my airline plans, got a rent a car while in PR pre cruise, and working on a hotel right now. I will be done like dinner.

I have been looking at all the activities in the different islands.

AND my hubby does not even know we are going yet.

Its not till April 11,2010, so I am even more ahead of the game.

:D

[luckyprincess]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE you all!! Thank you for sharing your crazy antics with me! lol:p I can so relate! My bf and I always joke that i'm just as much his personal assistant as gf because I plan everything for him on vacation lol! I don't plan every minute, but I have a folder with everything in it - interesting excursions, tip and tricks,receipts - all of it!! Well - here's to planning for our wonderful cruises!:D

[pcur]

I get so excited by the planning and information gathering stages, I swear! I want to do everything right now. I already have my hotel, got my airfare yesterday - only have a few hundered more to pay on the cruise itself....

I can't wait to start booking shore excursions, wine and dine and specialty restaurants! I wish it would open up to me already!:p Am I the only one that does this? My family thinks I'm crazy because I'm always planning something. Today I'm looking through excursions to narrow down what I want to do at each port lol!:)

 

Nope, I'm with you, Princess. I've been planning our October cruises since May 2008!!!!! My DH keeps quiet, because he reaps the benefits of having his travel experiences go smoothly, and at the lowest cost I can find.

 

I just ignore my sons' teasing................but, that will end this December when we take them WITH US to the Caribbean!!!!!!! :D:D

[pcur]

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention I'm about to do my "dry packing" for our 9/30/09 cruise as soon as my DH gets busy out of the house. :D Gotta pack and weigh beforehand, you know, so I can decide what to leave home.

[axzel]

I got everything booked for my may 2010 cruise allready! Hotel, car, airplane and the cruise itself!

[fungirl28]

Trust me, you are not alone. The moment that I book my cruise, the planning starts. I have the "to buy list" the "to pack list" and the "packed list" My nightmare is that I'll leave something behind. I usually start packing 2-3 months before and as I buy new things, they go right into the suitcase and I mark them off the appropriate list. Ususally a week before I leave on the cruise, I'm ready! :D My hotel, air, transportation to the hotel and to the port is taken care of and I booke my specialty restaurants yesterday. :D

[yogimax]

Sounds like you really enjyt the planning process, as do many of us. Enjoy!

[SingingPixie]

I've got cruise and pre-cruise hotel booked for Feb 2010, but we're waiting for the budget airlines to release fares to hopefully get a better deal than what's out there now. Plus, my brother just graduated from college, and may be living in another city by then, so we might as well wait to see how that plays out before booking airfare.

 

I've picked out all of my private excursions (down to the vendor) but haven't yet booked, because I want to wait for everyone else (mostly brother and his girlfriend) to decide what they want to do- in case they want to join us anywhere, I want to have correct numbers.

 

If this were my own cruise, I'd probably be done by now, but since it's 6 adults (of two generations) in 2 different states (possibly 3, depending on where my brother finds a job) it's taking a bit longer. At least my boyfriend is easy- he'll pretty much go along with anything I want to do!

[pcur]

I've got cruise and pre-cruise hotel booked for Feb 2010, but we're waiting for the budget airlines to release fares to hopefully get a better deal than what's out there now. Plus, my brother just graduated from college, and may be living in another city by then, so we might as well wait to see how that plays out before booking airfare.

 

I've picked out all of my private excursions (down to the vendor) but haven't yet booked, because I want to wait for everyone else (mostly brother and his girlfriend) to decide what they want to do- in case they want to join us anywhere, I want to have correct numbers.

 

If this were my own cruise, I'd probably be done by now, but since it's 6 adults (of two generations) in 2 different states (possibly 3, depending on where my brother finds a job) it's taking a bit longer. At least my boyfriend is easy- he'll pretty much go along with anything I want to do!

 

Sounds like our family cruise this December.

 

DH and I getting to FLL two days ahead and renting the car.

Next day is Grandma arriving from St. Louis.

That night around midnight we have son #1 flying in from Oakland, Ca

Son #2 and fiance arriving also at that time from Detroit

 

The only thing I have planned is outings for Grandma. The sons and fiance can join or not. We told them we only ask a meal a day with them. They want to go to all the stuff with Grandma!!!

[relaxandenjoy]

I LOVE reading all of these posts! My first cruise was a last minute deal. I took my parents with only 2 weeks notice. I thought my Dad was crazy when he said they'd missed out on looking forward to the vacation. Now I completely understand!!! Everything for my February cruise is booked and paid for! I love looking at these boards and thinking about shore excursions, clothes, meals, etc etc etc!

[Cruisin'Kim]

The ONLY reason I have not booked everything for my March 2010 cruise is that we're traveling with other people this year. I always thought it would be fun to drag others along, but then it becomes a debate about what to do on each island, particularly when different members of the group want to insure that they do some stuff together. To be honest, not having everything nailed down already is stressing me out!! Why can't EVERYONE plan ahead???[/quote

 

A bunch of us always cruise together, and there is the main rule we have: everyone do what they want, if you want to do what we want, that's great, if there is something else one of us would rather do, that's great too! We usually all get together for dinner, and if one couple has done something different we get to hear all about it then!

[relaxandenjoy]

I agree with Kim. We always travel in a group but we each do exactly what we want. There's usually one excursion that we all plan together (most involve rum punch :rolleyes:), but otherwise we do our own thing. That's not to say we don't run into each other on the islands and spend some time together, it's just not scheduled that way. Dinner time is our time to catch up, hear what everyone did, and see what people bought.