PLANNING AND EVEN MORE PLANNING

There is no question that part of our enjoyment of cruising includes all of the planning that we put into each and every adventure.

This includes: researching and determining what we will do in each port-of-call, selecting shore excursions along with pre and/or post cruise hotels, arranging airline flights, deciding what clothing and other items to take along with us, as well as a multitude of other items.  Collectively, this helps to make for an exciting and a successful journey.  

We try to make each of these items a lot of fun, and you can do this too.

The key is to keep on top of everything, stay organized, and not wait until the last minute to pull everything together. It's not much different than most things in life.  The more time and effort you put into this, the more successful your adventure will likely be.

To facilitate all of the planning, we begin the process a year or more before the start of our journey. We use a combination of spreadsheets and word documents to keep us organized.

Typically, one of us takes the lead on each respective item, while we each assist one another.

For example, with input from Anne Marie, Keith takes the lead booking tours, making flight and hotel arrangements, making requests for private vehicle transfers, obtaining visas, determining what vaccinations we will need, and handling some of the other travel related items.  He makes reservations for specialty restaurants as well as other reservations that we can do before boarding the ship.  He also pulls together a household checklist of items that he will complete before the trip begins, and coordinates items such as the forwarding of mail, and the paying of the household bills.  Another item he prepares is a spreadsheet showing the itinerary, average historical temperature highs/lows for each port of call, along with other information for each day including planned tours.

At the same time, Anne Marie takes the lead for many other items and one of the major areas includes each and every item we will take with us.  The challenge is to be sure that we have a sufficient quantity of items including clothing, cosmetics, toiletries and medicine while not taking unnecessary items.  Anne Marie considers utilization of these items from prior cruises, the length of each voyage, the itinerary as well as expected weather conditions.

She prepares a detailed listings of all clothes we need to take. Since while on the ship she keeps track of what we wear each evening, she looks back at what we wore in prior years as she determines what we will take on each succeeding cruise.

She keeps track of all of this utilizing several documents.  

At the same time, Anne Marie also determines all of the toiletries, medication, and other products that we will take with us and amasses a listing that details literally hundreds of items along with their respective quantities.  

She determines all items that we need to purchase either at home or after we arrive to Miami before the start of the cruise.  

She also takes the lead in the packing of all of these items and makes a secondary list that shows each and every item, by suitcase, that is packed.  This is done so we can easily find those items that have been packed, and also should luggage go missing we have a complete record of what was packed in each piece of luggage.  She also pulls together a summary of our plans while in Miami for our pre-cruise.

As mentioned, once on the ship, Anne Marie keeps track of all outfits we wear in the evening.

She also pulls together a household checklist of those items that she will take care of around the house before the start of the trip.

There are certainly other items that we each pull together, but hopefully this gives you a feel for what we mean when we talk about the planning of this adventure.

We pack fairly early because it is just too much to leave until the adventure nears.  We now send several suitcases directly to the ship  using a shipping service, rather than taking them ourselves.  

Numbers are assigned to each piece of luggage to match the packing list that Anne Marie has prepared.

(Luggage Ready For Pickup By Luggage Service)

This is a real team effort which is made a little easier because of our experience taking other World Cruises in the past.

Coming next: "Putting It All Together".   We will highlight not only the specific items that we take care of prior to the start of the adventure, but also many of the time frames for their completion.  We hope this will be especially beneficial for those of you who are booked on a long voyage for the very first time or for those of you who are considering taking a long trip in the future.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY........

"Whatever you are be a good one." - Abraham Lincoln

Keith and Anne Marie