Do You Pre Plan Your Cruise or Take Each Day as it Comes?

I do all the planning for our cruises. On our upcoming Allure/Liberty S2S I planned all shows & excursions (because there are some shows, like the Comedy show, where if you don't pre-book, you don't get in). The second I step on board the ship, all that is done and we go with the flow. I would hate to spend thousands of dollars on a cruise and not see something because I didn't pre-plan/book it. Anticipating a cruise is part of the fun and pre-planning adds to the anticipation. Having said that, the most relaxing cruise we ever took was on FOS where we had been to all the ports and just stayed on the ship for the most part.

I do try to pre-plan as much as I can so that once I get onboard I don't have to worry about anything. Of course we are very flexible and if something comes up that doesn't "fit" we wing it.

What I have found when I don't pre-plan everyone looks to me to figure out what to do next. If we have at least somewhat of a plan it lets me relax and actually be part of the vacation.

For the ships where reservations are needed, yes I do book them, but again if we don't make one we try for another time, don't stress over it. We have been on Allure twice and still haven't hit everything we want to try!

So plan all you like, but in my opinion, be as flexible as possible once onboard so that you can actually relax and enjoy.

We preplan the shows and dinner but do whatever moves us at the time. The best part of the bigger ships is that there always seems to be room to do what you want when you want. We have yet to be disappointed. Now if it could just stop snowing here in Boston!

I'm in Boston too!! Ugh- planning my cruise is the only thing keeping me going- 78 inches in the past month or so is ridiculous!!

I'm in Boston too!! Ugh- planning my cruise is the only thing keeping me going- 78 inches in the past month or so is ridiculous!!

I don't envy you for being in Boston this year. Heard you were getting another dumping of snow. Stay warm.

Thanks for the replies. For those that do plan, do you try and get a copy of a compass beforehand? I'm thinking I'll try since for example, if I hadn't seen one, then we may have missed the sail away dreamworks parade /party as I wouldn't have known about this otherwise (i.e. if we had booked an early dinner).

I avoid looking at the compasses posted here ahead of time. I like to be surprised. Only if I need to book an excursion do I plan ahead. We like the specialty restaurants but we go late, so we just book them when we get on board. The only thing I'd really like to plan is a cabana at Labadee, but since we can't pre-book those I'll do it once onboard. We don't go to shows either, so it's really not necessary to plan anything!

I cruise solo, am not a fan of shows or the MDR, and have been to most of the Caribbean ports. Other than figuring out how to get to the boat, I plan absolutely zero. But, that's what vacation is to me. I love waking up in the morning (or afternoon), rolling out of bed and going, "what do I feel like doing today??"

Most of my vacations lately have been with DH and two little boys at Disney. For those, I am THE Planner Extraordinaire. I plan those trips to within an inch of their lives. And when there is a moment when there's nothing scheduled, or the plan breaks down, everyone looks at me to figure it out. Hmm, wonder why I always come home exhausted and sick?

So this time, I'm going on my cruise solo! It's going to be a shock for me, but for the first time in about 15 years, on my vacation I will only be responsible for me! I am planning nothing, ala katydyd below. I did pick late traditional dining, but I might change that to MTD. :eek:

I like to look at the Compasses in advance--just to see when certain specific things are so I can remember to look for them when I'm on board--and it gets me excited for the trip. Also, my BF is coming on this cruise with me and he's never been on a cruise. Seeing a compass was really helpful to him so he could see what kinds of things there are to do on the ship. The only thing we have booked is an excursion in port. Other than that, we're just winging it.

I love pre-planning! And I read someplace that the anticipation of a fun event can actually bring you more happiness than the event itself. Those of you here with thousands of posts must be very happy people, indeed. :D

In addition to just being plain fun, we're also traveling with 12 people. Pre-planning means we'll actually see each other on the ship. It doesn't mean we're going to be attached at the hip, just that there will be a certain number of places each day where we're guaranteed to find people because we know their schedule already.

Also, worst thing when planning activities with large groups on the day of:

What do you want to do?

I don't know, what do you want to do?

Maybe we could...

How about...

But so-and-so doesn't like...

Ok, so what if we...

No, let's do XYZ instead.

Wait, we've been debating too long, XYZ started 10 minutes ago.

So...what do you want to do now?

I don't know, what do you want to do?"

I'm in Boston too!! Ugh- planning my cruise is the only thing keeping me going- 78 inches in the past month or so is ridiculous!!

I agree! We are from NY and with this horrible weather,( not as much snow as Boston where we live downstate, but nothing to sneeze at!) I also enjoy the anticipation of a pending cruise. Something wonderful to think about. Planning to me, is half of the fun! We always have a few pending cruises, so once the cruise is over, I have another one to look forward to.

I love pre-planning! And I read someplace that the anticipation of a fun event can actually bring you more happiness than the event itself. Those of you here with thousands of posts must be very happy people, indeed. :D

 

In addition to just being plain fun, we're also traveling with 12 people. Pre-planning means we'll actually see each other on the ship. It doesn't mean we're going to be attached at the hip, just that there will be a certain number of places each day where we're guaranteed to find people because we know their schedule already.

 

Also, worst thing when planning activities with large groups on the day of:

 

What do you want to do?

I don't know, what do you want to do?

Maybe we could...

How about...

But so-and-so doesn't like...

Ok, so what if we...

No, let's do XYZ instead.

Wait, we've been debating too long, XYZ started 10 minutes ago.

So...what do you want to do now?

I don't know, what do you want to do?"

Agree totally. The pre-planning gets you even more excited for the trip. And yeah, I can see with 12 people, you definitely need to plan if you want to do anything together.

Can totally relate to your conversations. ;)

I plan as little as possible on the ship. I wait until we're onboard to make specialty restaurant bookings. The exception will be on Oasis/Allure, where I will make reservations for the comedy show, a cabana at Labadee and that's about it. If we don't get into a specialty, it's not a big deal, so I'm disinclined to prepay for it.

As for shore trips, it depends on the destination. For our upcoming Serenade trip to Nassau/Coco Cay/Key West, I have planned nothing because we are familiar with the ports and will see what we feel like doing when we get up in the morning. For our Serenade trip to Italy last fall I planned every day in port but two and DH planned those, whether they were private excursions or where to wander in town.

I plan the pre- and post-cruise stuff obsessively and if we are doing a lot of things in port I'll create a chart so I don't forget something. Otherwise I just collect confirmations from airlines, hotels and the ship and call it good.:)

We plan almost nothing, might pre-plan 1 specialty restaurant and might plan 1 excursion for next cruise, have not even done a excursion is last several cruises ( been on 57 cruise have done most excursions that we wanted to do)

We pre-plan some things like excursions (especially if not ship sponsored) and shows if we have to and MTD reservations if they let us.

My wife brings a yellow highlighter and one of our nightly rituals is marking the things in the Compass we think might be interesting for the next day. She carries it around in her handbag. That way it gives us a reason to read up on the next day and, hopefully, we don't miss something we might not know about ahead of time.

Tom

Most of my vacations lately have been with DH and two little boys at Disney. For those, I am THE Planner Extraordinaire. I plan those trips to within an inch of their lives. And when there is a moment when there's nothing scheduled, or the plan breaks down, everyone looks at me to figure it out. Hmm, wonder why I always come home exhausted and sick?

 

So this time, I'm going on my cruise solo! It's going to be a shock for me, but for the first time in about 15 years, on my vacation I will only be responsible for me! I am planning nothing, ala katydyd below. I did pick late traditional dining, but I might change that to MTD. :eek:

Good for you, enjoy!!!

My pre-planning depends on the ship.

On the Oasis/Allure, I pre-plan dinner, early seating in main dining room, and pre-book my shows.

On the other cruise ships, I pre-book early seating dinner in the main dining room.

We do not eat at specialty restaurants, nor do we book shore excursions - with Royal nor private.

I do research the islands we are going to visit. We like to visit local museums, churches and art galleries. If there is one that we really want to see, we make note of it, as well as write down the address. If we feel like doing it when on the island we search it out. Sometimes we find something different to do while just walking around.

As far as activities on the ship, I must admit to being a Cruise Compass junkie, and that I do read through as many as I can find for the cruise ship we are going on. I make note of what activities I might want to do. However, all of the note taking, dreaming, and pre-planning of those activities go out the window once I get on the ship. Then we pretty much wing it, but doing whatever we want, when we want. I think, for me, the pre-planning is part of the excitement of going on the cruise. But, I never stick to it, nor do I refer to notes once on the ship.

We have been on the Allure, Oasis and the Quantum a couple weeks ago. Plan it all before you go on the cruise. Especially dinner options.. We did all free dining. On the Quantum you have to sign up for all the dining halls. We didn't and it was such a pain to do it. We went to the crowded customer services. They want you to go on a computer and figure it out. Everything was booked.

And it was taking us too much time to mess around on the computer.So we went to one of the dining halls and an employee finally helped us to figure it out.

Book your shows and all eating places before hand. Or you will be taking up your valuable time on computers. You can always skip anything you don't want to do. And a lot of the restaurants were booked. I learned my lesson.

We have been on the Allure, Oasis and the Quantum a couple weeks ago. Plan it all before you go on the cruise. Especially dinner options.. We did all free dining. On the Quantum you have to sign up for all the dining halls. We didn't and it was such a pain to do it. We went to the crowded customer services. They want you to go on a computer and figure it out. Everything was booked.

And it was taking us too much time to mess around on the computer.So we went to one of the dining halls and an employee finally helped us to figure it out.

 

Book your shows and all eating places before hand. Or you will be taking up your valuable time on computers. You can always skip anything you don't want to do. And a lot of the restaurants were booked. I learned my lesson.

Thanks for the tip. Will definitely book these before we go. I'm sorry you didn't know beforhand and had to spend time when on the ship working it out.