How do you keep track of your pre-cruise plans?

[Z'Loth]

It has been twelve years since my last cruise, so plenty has changed. I'm taking advantage of technology to organize my paperwork, although I will have hard copies "just in case". :) Since I'm use Android on my mobile devices, I'm using Google services.

 

Google Calendar - This is where I have everything scheduled. It's an appointment book, so I can set appropriate "milestones" for completing things, including verifying that I have my passports.

 

Google Drive - This is where I have my confirmations stored in PDF format. Included documents:

• Cruise booking
  
• Travel insurance
  
• Airline confirmations including flight numbers
  
• Pre-cruise hotel reservation
  
• Receipt for cruise excursions and drink purchases
  
• Scans of passports and driver's licenses (only during the trip)
  

Yes, I can also put in excel documents, word documents, and text documents. Why? I can then pull up the documents from my phone, my tablet, or my computer.

 

As for your other questions:

2. How early to you plan your excursions? - I have a end-of-August cruise, so I've booked two of the excursions in mid-April. These are excursions that I really really want to take.

 

3. How early to make hotel reservations for the night prior to sailing? - Depends. Because there is a major conference happening prior to the cruise, I've booked two nights at a hotel within walking distance.

 

5. What other bits should I consider? Checking the tips articles for stuff to bring along on the cruise and, more importantly, what to leave at home. (Including the coffee maker)

Edited May 1, 2017 by Z'Loth

[nyllrap]

I simply create two folders on my computer. One I put on my computer desktop and put anything in there related to the cruise. The other is a folder I create in my email and put emails related to the cruise there. I don't do an excel spreadsheet or anything. But when it gets close to the cruise, I start to print out relevant documents and put them in a paper folder. We generally don't book cruises terribly far in advance. When I book, I then start to look for hotels, parking options, shore excursions, etc. and book them pretty soon after booking the cruise.

[DuckTollerFans]

Thanks everyone for these great suggestions. I started a spreadsheet with some of your ideas.

[GottaKnowWhen]

Thanks everyone for these great suggestions. I started a spreadsheet with some of your ideas.

 

:D I hope you put a copy into DropBox so we can all share! :')

[DuckTollerFans]

I will do that when I fill it in a bit more. I've been so busy lately, I need to focus a bit more on May 2017 than 2018.

 

Soon!