PLANNING AND EVEN MORE PLANNING

There is no question that, for us, part of the 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, evaluating and selecting shore excursions, selecting pre and/or post cruise hotels, arranging airline flights,  deciding what clothing and other items to take with us, along with a multitude of other items that help make for an exciting journey.  

All of this can seem overwhelming.  We have learned that the key is to keep on top of everything, to stay organized, and to not wait until the last minute to pull everything together. It is not much different than most things in life.  The more effort you put into planning & preparation, 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.

While usually one of us takes the lead for each item, we review these items with each other before they are finalized.

For example, Keith takes the lead booking the tours with input from Anne Marie, makes the flight and hotel arrangements, makes the requests for the private car transfers, arranges for the visas, determines what vaccinations we need, and handles some of the other travel related items.  He makes reservations for specialty restaurants as well as any 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 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 tours that we have pre-booked and other items planned for each day.  

At the same time, Anne Marie takes the lead for many other items including packing.

She prepares a detailed listings of all clothes we need to take.  She considers the length of the cruise, the breakdown of casual, informal, and black tie optional (formal) nights for evening, along with the expected weather conditions that we will encounter. She keeps track of all of this utilizing several documents.  From there she compiles a list by evening category of each and every clothing item we will need to take.  She also compiles a separate listing of all of our daytime clothing needs.

At the same time, Anne Marie also determine all of the toiletries, medicines, and other products that we will need and puts this onto 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 astray 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.

She also has a document that shows, by type of evening attire, what items can go with which outfit and during the course of the cruise she keeps track of how many times we have worn each evening outfit.  This last listing allows us to figure out items that we used infrequently and might not want to take with us the next time around.

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 the majority of suitcases to the ship directly using a shipping service, rather than taking them to the  pre-cruise hotel.  

(Luggage Readied 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 the time frame for completing them.  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