Organizing Cruise Docs

[karlanee]

Just thought I'd pass on this tip. It's something I thought of and implemented this week. We'll be sailing in less than a month on our second cruise. I learned a lot on the first cruise last year. I had kept all our documents in one of those plastic envelopes that has the string to close it. It was convenient, but I've gotten more organized this time.

 

I have a household notebook that I keep for organizing myself. I thought, why not do this for our cruise?

 

I have a 1/2" clear-view white three ring binder. On the front I put a printed picture of our ship. Inside, I have four plastic sleeves, one has our receipt from Carnival, and on the back our printed FunPass. The second has our birth certificate copies in an envelope that I've slipped into the sleeve. The third has the maps I bought from Can-Do Maps of Cozumel and Playa del Carmen. The fourth has our cruise docs in it.

 

Then I have punched three holes in all the printouts I have. I've seperated them with tabs to keep it organized. I have one that has planning stuff, such as a timeline planning list (from a cruise website run by a great lady) and a couple of packing lists. I have one for the ship - it has our itinerary along with the FAQ sheets from Camp Carnival info on the website. We had our girls highlight things they were interested in. I have a section for Cozumel with the printed shore excursion list and the printout of information I found on another website about Cozumel. It also has the coupon for a free margarita I printed from Los Cinco Soles website in case we make it to Poncho's Backyard. The last tab is for Playa del Carmen and has similar printouts.

 

This may seem a bit obsessive - I'm not highly organized, I assure you. The reason I did this notebook is for that very reason. I had piles of things here and there, and could never find what I was looking for. I decided to put it all in one place. I'm paranoid about getting to the ship and not having some important paper or item I need for reference. This way, I just pack my notebook in my carryon and away we go!

 

If anyone has ideas to add to this, feel free!