Can we overthink and overplan?

[serendipity1499]

I've often wondered about this myself, as I'm somewhat of an overplanner..:)

 

However, as others have said it's always fun for me to plan ahead, but would love to hear from PV Girl to find out if her new plan for her summer vacation was more of a surprise & better for her..

Edited September 11, 2014 by serendipity1499

[sammiedawg]

I missed this thread the first time around. I think many overthink the ship experience, trying to find menus and photos of everything on the ship. I believe you should relax and let the ship come to you. But planning port activities has paid great dividends for us as we have learned how to seek out the best private tours and DIY activities.

[PathfinderEss]

I just let the cruise happen, instead of over planning it. I guess I have never been much of a planner, more my DH's job.:D:D:D

[3rdGenCunarder]

I agree. If you like to take pictures, you take pictures. I don't want someone else's photos in my online albums and on my walls. We, too, did one of those photo tours last year in Alaska, and we're doing another one this year in Saint John. They are loads of fun, and I picked up some really good tips.

 

I'm another one who takes pictures. Lots of them. My parents always had their cameras when we traveled. I learned to count by counting seconds in Mom's darkroom, and had my first camera when I was 6. (Dad always loaded the film for me) For me, taking pictures is part of what I do when we travel. When I die, someone will probably have to pry my camera out of my "cold dead hand"!!!

 

And I'm a planner. I get that from my Mother, too. Dad always called her the "cruise director."

 

I LOVE lists! For me, planning extends the fun of the trip. I can make a one-week cruise give me months of fun because of the planning and anticipation. I check out our ports and come up with a list of things we might do. DH looks at my list and we come up with a final "menu" of things to do, but that's the extent of his involvement in planning. I almost always list more than we can do so we can make up our minds as we go. My itinerary lists sites we're interested in and their hours of operation. So if something doesn't work out, like an unexpected closure of a museum, we've got a "plan B" ready to go. I see planning as a way to be ready for anything. (I was a Girl Scout, and we believe in being prepared)

 

I'd estimate that we do a ship's tour for about half of our ports, and always a ship's tour if what we want to see is farther than a quick cab ride back to the ship. But if a port looks easy to do on our own, we get ourselves off the ship as early as we can and set out.

[ANSalberg]

Just a thought - can we overthink and overplan every little detail of our trips, so that there is no "magic" and surprise left when we actually take it?

 

You are so right to be concerned about "Over- planning" to the point where the JOY is gone! ONE thing about cruising is that -with the exception of YOUR ship SINKING in the middle of the ocean -most problems are minor OR they aren't your problem anyway! You are "on vacation" and what happens AND how you take it is honestly up to you. We overheard some woman complaing once that "My WHOLE cruise was ruined -My coffee was served luke warm one morning" AT first I laughed thinking it was a joke - it wasn't. On another cruise [on another line] at the M & G one man "found out" that he paid more for his cabin than someone else [ probably common OR mis-represented easily!] the people AT the M & G told him "Forget it -you MAY be comparing the wrong things; location/ add-ons/ star status/ LIES! [ maybe he made it up!] BUT he couldn't put it aside and it ruined his cruise.

Vacations are just that- getting AWAY from "Normal" into "special" -you are seeing OUR world; differently -You are meeting people you never thought to meet; other passengers or crew from another continent! You are being WAITED on hand and foot! AND you don't HAVE to do dishes or vacuum!!!!!!!!!! What could be BETTER?

Plan what you NEED to plan; air fare - packing - mail pick-up - someone to fetch you at an Air-Port........Then relax and enjoy EVERYTHING you are experiencing that is wonderfully DIFFERENT!

And have a GREAT cruise! Anne ;)

[SeagoingMom]

I do a ton of "planning" before I have ever booked a cruise -- I immerse myself in the message boards, ship descriptions, cruise websites, etc. and get almost the same joy out of this sort of "virtual" cruising as I get on my actual cruise -- maybe more!

 

I do recognize that once I decide I want to book a cruise, my anxiety level goes up, because now the cruise (and the money involved) is real, not virtual, and "mistakes" I might make are real, too! So I begin to panic a little.

 

So our most recent cruise was designed for me to relax. I planned it so I would not have to plan much, if you get my drift. I booked a 7-night cruise with only three port calls, and therefore 4 sea days. Sea days for me are the most relaxing. No planning is necessary -- we go with the flow! (Though I still like to plan my wardrobe n detail. :o) It is port calls that require planning for me, and we chose this particular western Caribbean itinerary because in two of the ports we could walk off the ship at our leisure, and walk or take a cab to where we wanted to be, then return to the ship at our leisure. At the third port we booked a non-stress ship's excursion.

 

This cruise revolutionized my thinking about cruising. Previously I was stressed because I wanted to make sure whatever cruise I chose included the perfect port calls, and that I did not miss the best of the possible things to do at each port. I now realize that it is the ship and the sea that I value most, and the ports, and all the planning involved in choosing them and deciding what to do while at them, are secondary.

 

I am learning to de-stress my cruise experience, and that, for me, is a really good thing!

[SoCal Cruiser78]

...This cruise revolutionized my thinking about cruising. Previously I was stressed because I wanted to make sure whatever cruise I chose included the perfect port calls, and that I did not miss the best of the possible things to do at each port. I now realize that it is the ship and the sea that I value most, and the ports, and all the planning involved in choosing them and deciding what to do while at them, are secondary.

 

I am learning to de-stress my cruise experience, and that, for me, is a really good thing!

 

It gets even less stressful when I do a cruise with ports I have seen before. Then I have a "been there, done that" attitude. If the weather is bad, or the line for tenders too long, I just stay on the uncrowded ship while in port and let the first-timers rush off to their excursions. That can be even better than a sea day, with no lines onboard for buffets, etc.

[Lovely other]

I enjoy the planning and the research involved in our trips but I don't think I could plan each days outfit, meal times, bathroom breaks etc.

 

We don't do organised excursions (my idea of hell) but I do like to read up about a place and plan what I'd like to see and do. Hubby just does what I say lol. I have a love of travel guides and always take a couple with me on each trip, however this led to an embarrassing melt down at the airport this month.

 

Blame it on OCD, the drugs I'm having to take to keep me going or just a general build up of stress from health problems, house renovations, job loss etc but it is never acceptable to have a tantrum like a 4 year old at 5am in Luton airport. My guide books hadn't arrived on time from Amazon so I was left looking for them in the airport shops ...no luck on either norway or Amsterdam, we were running late for our flight, I was hungry and I'd had no sleep ...cue me throwing my carry on bag down , stamping my feet and declaring there was no point in me going now and I just wanted to go home :eek:

 

My poor hubby just walked away and left me stood there while I got angrier and angrier only to return 5 minutes later with a sandwich and a hug. I never did get the guidebooks but I had a wonderful trip .....

[SeagoingMom]

It gets even less stressful when I do a cruise with ports I have seen before. Then I have a "been there, done that" attitude. If the weather is bad, or the line for tenders too long, I just stay on the uncrowded ship while in port and let the first-timers rush off to their excursions. That can be even better than a sea day, with no lines onboard for buffets, etc.

Yes, I think this is exactly why I am beginning to be able to plan lower stress cruises -- because I have already cruised a few times and expect to cruise again and again. The first couple of times, I didn't know that cruising would become a frequent thing for me, so each cruise had to resemble a "once in a lifetime" event, so to speak. It did not occur to me in the first go-rounds that I would eventually be revisiting ports, and also, that one port basically resembles the next -- at least in the Caribbean, where we cruise.

 

In addition, we have found ways to cruise less expensively than we did at first, so there is less pressure for me to plan every hour of every day just to "get my money's worth." We have not yet revisited ports, nor stayed on board ship all day while in port. But even as I was planning our most recent cruise to be low-stress, my stress levels were rising, and I was ready to simply get on the same ship with the same itinerary as we had done previously, to eliminate stress entirely. We did not, in the end, do that, but I think it will happen sooner or later. It will be a little like my husband's childhood family vacations -- every summer he spent a week or two at the same fishing camp in Minnesota, and he still talks about it today.

 

I have always been a person who wants to see and do something new, but I think I am changing. Vacations, when I was young, single, and independent, or married with no kids, were exciting adventures for me. Now they represent rest, relaxation, and recharging so I can go back refreshed to my daily responsibilities. When my regular responsibilities diminish as I get into a new life stage, I may want to go back into vacation-as-adventure mode again, if I have the energy! :rolleyes:

[SeagoingMom]

I enjoy the planning and the research involved in our trips but I don't think I could plan each days outfit, meal times, bathroom breaks etc.

 

We don't do organised excursions (my idea of hell) but I do like to read up about a place and plan what I'd like to see and do. Hubby just does what I say lol. I have a love of travel guides and always take a couple with me on each trip, however this led to an embarrassing melt down at the airport this month.

 

Blame it on OCD, the drugs I'm having to take to keep me going or just a general build up of stress from health problems, house renovations, job loss etc but it is never acceptable to have a tantrum like a 4 year old at 5am in Luton airport. My guide books hadn't arrived on time from Amazon so I was left looking for them in the airport shops ...no luck on either norway or Amsterdam, we were running late for our flight, I was hungry and I'd had no sleep ...cue me throwing my carry on bag down , stamping my feet and declaring there was no point in me going now and I just wanted to go home :eek:

 

My poor hubby just walked away and left me stood there while I got angrier and angrier only to return 5 minutes later with a sandwich and a hug. I never did get the guidebooks but I had a wonderful trip .....

 

Oh, dear... :eek:

 

I wonder which helped more, the sandwich or the hug! (Your husband is a very lovely person, I think!)

[corkpopr]

just go where the day takes you, we never plan in advance.

[Homosassa]

The need to over plan is what is making sure that I never book on the beehives of the seas or other large ships where it seems to be necessary to make reservations six months out for dinner and shows.

 

That is not cruising or relaxation to me.

 

I rather take each day as it comes and have the time to spend more time at an activity if I wish or moving on to another place when bored.