Planning Process - Half the Fun!!!

[patti2297]

If it's the Alaska Repositioning cruise you are interested in hearing about, well here goes.....

 

It is on the Celebrity Summit. Leaves VanCouver on 9/16/05 and does Alaska. Inside passage, Ketchikan, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Sitka, Inside Passage, Victoria BC, Seattle Washington, San Francisco, Catalina Island and end in San Diego 9/30/05. They also have one in May leaving CA to Alaska.

Hope that helps.

Ok, I am definitely new to cruising (haven't left for my first yet), and I am definitely another one who LOVES the planning, and this website is a godsend. But, will someone kindly tell this newbie what "repositioning cruise" means as well as Inside passage.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Patti

[JanetMarie]

I hope someone corrects me if I am wrong. It is my understanding the repositioning cruise is that one week period wherein the itinerary changes.

[getaway101]

Basically yes, it's where the ship goes from one end to the other. ie; Alaska to California......Florida to New England....etc. On the Sept. repo. the ship no longer cruises Alaska after Sept. so it makes it's journey to California to start doing Mexico, Hawaii, etc. Hope this helps.

 

patti2297 - Have fun on your 1st cruise.

 

We only live about 30 miles apart. I'm in WV

[zavoria]

Like others have said, this thread makes me feel a whole lot better. I just finally convinced DH to book a cruise, something I've wanted to do since I was 14. And now I'm totally into planning it. He thinks I'm nuts! Of course when we're actually on the ship and he has the right clothes at the right time and we actually have excursions planned he will appreciate my planning a lot more.

 

The only problem for me is that this cruise is partly a celebration of my long worked on completion of my college degree. But first I have to finish it, which means not just researching for the cruise, but doing my classwork as well. I wonder if they'll let me do a research paper on cruising?

[patti2297]

Basically yes, it's where the ship goes from one end to the other. ie; Alaska to California......Florida to New England....etc. On the Sept. repo. the ship no longer cruises Alaska after Sept. so it makes it's journey to California to start doing Mexico, Hawaii, etc. Hope this helps.

 

patti2297 - Have fun on your 1st cruise.

 

We only live about 30 miles apart. I'm in WV

Well hello neighbor! I have relatives in Lewisburg. :) Thank you for explaining that. Now can someone tell me what they mean by "inside passage."

 

Btw, my hubby does no planning whatsoever so I have to do twice the planning! :)

 

Patti

[getaway101]

patti - I've never been to Alaska just know they call it inside passage. Are there actually husbands out there that do the planning? My DH plans that he wants to go and then the rest is up to me. He says I should be a TA instead of an accountant. Yeah, yeah, flattery will get you everywhere

 

zavoria - If I was the professor I would let you do a paper on cruising.

[Grayce]

 

The only problem for me is that this cruise is partly a celebration of my long worked on completion of my college degree. But first I have to finish it, which means not just researching for the cruise, but doing my classwork as well. I wonder if they'll let me do a research paper on cruising?

I just finished my degree in August and my upcoming cruise is a celebration of it. My last course was the geography of tourism. Our final essay was to be a critique of a travel brouchure. Well of course I used a cruise brochure and half the fun was going through the brochure reading every little bit. Nobody ever put so much work into a paper lol. I ended up with an A and one of the few papers I actually enjoyed writing :D

[JanetMarie]

Grayce: congrats!

[hersh]

My husband and I went on our first cruise this past february, to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We looked forward to it for about 9 months, and had so much fun counting down the months. Each month we celebrated on the day that the cruise was scheduled to depart, by buying something to take on the cruise. Not necessarily expensive things, one month it was sunglasses, then sunscreen, then disposable underwater cameras, then caribbean looking shirts. Made the waiting so much more enjoyable.

 

Now we're anticipating our cruise next June with family and friends, most of which have never cruised before, so it's really fun watching their excitement grow too! We'll have to come up with other creative ways to wait for the time to pass, cuz june seems like a very long way off...

[Tarheelbelle]

Kevbear ~ have fun on your upcoming vaca, but NO candles in the cabins!!! Just imagine the ship rolling and the candle rolling and, well, it would surely create a hazard. :mad: We have taken a couple of bridge tours and found out something interesting about the sprinkler system. Each hallway is divided into zones. If there is a fire in your cabin, several of the surrounding cabins sprinklers would be activated. The bridge also has the ability to close those doors that you see always propped open in the hallways. It's really, really interesting.

I take the kind of candles that are in their own tin and very flat and stable. Mainly we use them on the balcony. I agree you don't want candles that will tip over.

[dustyroad]

I take the kind of candles that are in their own tin and very flat and stable. Mainly we use them on the balcony. I agree you don't want candles that will tip over.

:eek: any kind of candle is a very serious fire hazard on a ship. i for one can go without them for a week for the safety of the other passengers, yourself and the ship. also the drippings of candles are very hard to clean. i hope everyone rethinks taking any kind of candle on their cruises.

[mmp13]

Really, cruises are romantic enough! Candles are just not necessary and I don't care what kind you have they are dangerous!

[michmike]

I'm the planner in our group. Enjoy the research involved in settling on an itinerary and then looking into independent shore excursions, hotel and transfer options, restaurants/bars to check out in the various ports, etc.

 

We travel with good friends of ours who are the perfect travel partners as they could care less about planning and their schedules are flexible enough that we can generally call and say "hey, we're going _______" You guys game? He typically gives me his credit card number and says make the arrangements and tell us where and when to meet you. They never second guess or complain and neither couple feels obligated to be joined at the hip the whole time we are gone. We always have a great time.

 

One thing I always do for both them and us, that I would recommend to all, is that I make up an itinerary on my computer early on that has all of the relevant info for the trip on one page. Airline flights and times, car rental confirmation numbers, hotel confirmation numbers, info re transfers, booking numbers, cabin numbers, contact info for any excursions we have arranged in ports etc. With all of these things I include the phone number to contact any of them if something unforeseen happens. Not only is this a good quick reference sheet that saves having to look thru your carry-on for any number of different pieces of paper, but it is something that can easily be e-mailed to family or friends in the event they need to contact you while you are gone.

[JanetMarie]

Mich - yes, I do the same re: airline info, etc. I even insert some sort of clipart to the sheet...yes, I love to plan! ;)

 

I also leave that sheet of info with my brother, parents and neighbor.

[UberCruiser]

Patti -

 

Doesn't look like you got an answer to the Inside Passage question yet. If you look at the actual route that the ships run between either Vancouver BC or Seattle and the south end of Alaska, you will notice that much of the course is between the mainland and small islands - inside a captive channel. The ship does not run out in the open water of the Pacific. There is very little wave action and you're never out of sight of land. On some lines, the return trip south is out in the open water.

 

Done it twice already - very relaxing, beautiful cruise.

 

:cool:

[CrazyforCruisin]

Uber cruiser,

I noticed you were on the Mexican Riveria in Feb. We are booked for the frist part of Feb. How was the weather? Our goal is to be out of the rainy cold winter weather in Oregon so sure hope the sun is shining then!

Patti, The Alaska cruise is wonderful, very relaxing and lots to see. There was very little movement on the ship except one nite I woke up and it was rocking but that was so soothing I just went back to sleep.

I am the planner. My DH justs lets me go for it. I already have our hotel reserved in San Diego. Now looking for airfare. Also checking out shore excursions. Any suggestions for Cabo, PV or Matzatlan? I also put all the numbers, dates etc on one piece of paper to carry with me and to give to family back home. I also took copies of our passports and credit cards and left them with our daughter just in case. To me the planning is as much fun as the trip...Well, almost!:D

[ColoradoJuli]

I am not alone!!!!!

 

Wow am I excited to find out that I am not the only planning guru! I love to plan and organize and plan and organize and plan and...

 

This drives my husband nuts! I keep talking about the cruise. Cruise this, cruise that. He finally told me that he was sick of hearing about the cruise! Anyway, I am thrilled that I found this site. I can talk to all of you about the cruise!

 

I plan our trips for friends and family members. We always have my folks cruise with us and they are a blast. I can always talk to my mom about the cruise because she is excited as I am about cruising.

 

We are booked for a cruise on January 9th on the Dream. I am currently trying to convince my hubby to take me on a cruise for my 40th b'day in May. I found a great deal on HAL. Balcony for $900! 7 days! Can't think of any other way to bring in the next decade!

 

Glad to meet other crazies like me:)

[Patpcozy]

Juli Welcome to the group. I am addicted to these boards. And just planning my heart out. we always go in a group too and they are all thrilled that I am planning so much ahead of time. Enjoy your cruise and your planning

Pat

[UberCruiser]

Hi Crazy -

 

The February weather was ok, certainly better that Oregon that time of year. The only rain we hit was on an early day stop on Catalina. Other than that, the ports were plenty warm to enjoy (70's) without being oppressive. On board, there was plenty of pool lounging going on, but not that many people actually in the water.

 

We are headed back there again this February, so I guess it wasn't too bad...:)

[berly369]

I am so glad I found this thread, I thought I was the only one who planned months in advance. Not a day goes by that I don't read or talk about our cruise. Cruise departing April '05 (booked in June '04) flights booked in July '04 -pre cruise hotel booked August'04 and so on...... my dh just wants me to handle everything and is not part of the decision making at all. Reading the posts for Cruise Critic is great for information and great laughs. It's comforting to know that there are 'fellow' planners out there. Its been over 10 years since our last cruise (started family, went back to school etc.) and now that our daughter is 10, and we are double incomes, I am starting to think CRUISE-CRUISE-CRUISE. We haven't even gone on this one and I am planning where we will go next. I like the idea of highlighters for the daily planner, and lanyard for seapass card. Keep the ideas coming!!!!

[Ocean Spirit]

I just discovered this thread and I couldn't believe that there are others that love the excitement of getting ready for a Cruise! Finding the best deals, checking prices etc. I too have have lists of what to do and take for cruises, camping, beach condo etc.

[JanetMarie]

Hi Berly and Merg! Just the other day I was on the Princess web site looking at the various excusions they are offering for our cruise next year. My DH simply rolls his eyes and leaves the room. ;) I just can't help myself. I need to arrange and rearrange my lists! I have my clothes and cosmetic list on my computer at work, so if I think of something, I can change it right away or add it right away. :eek:

[jturner901]

Does anyone feel like I do...

Two days after we egressed our most recent ship, we were looking for next May's cruise. Planning is a huge part of the fun.

[JanetMarie]

Well, I seem to be running "lists" at work now. I think I somehow need to merge the two!!! :eek:

[markansas]

I have really enjoyed reading these posts - I feel a lot less obsessive regarding the planning process. One thing that I do for each vacation is build an Excel spreadsheet with a very detailed budget. For the cruise I'm budgeting down to fuel (we're driving to New Orleans), parking at the port, how much to set aside for the Sail & Sign card including gratuities, daily casino allowance (how much am I willing to lose?), shore excursions, souveniers, kennel fees for my poor dogs who can't go with us, etc. Then when I have the total target, I divide that by the number of weeks until the cruise and literally set that amount aside each week. It makes it so nice to not have to depend on credit cards while on vacation and coming home with a clean slate on which to begin planning the next one!