Planning the trip LOVE it or HATE it!?!?

Hello All!!

I am planning my next cruise ( #2 !!!) I have realized...or rather been told...I am obsessed!!!!;) I enjoy the planning, checking, and re-checking rates, researching ports, and making endless note cards about ALL of our options, and FINALLY BOOKING!!! Don't get me wrong once I am ON vacation all planning goes out the window...but I have to have everything in order before I leave.

Do you enjoy planning your vacations? (cruise or land) What part gives you the biggest thrill? Just Looking? Booking? Finding the perfect little thing to pack or bring along? Joining a Roll Call? Booking excursions?

I would love to hear what you enjoy most (or least) about planning.

Young cruiser I love every part of it. Every time I talk about the cruise I am living it. It's wonderful.

Laura

Hi Young Cruiser,

Yes, yes, yes, I love every part of planning the cruise. Only my second, but first using CC.

Since I teach and am off for the summer I have a lot of time to research our cruise. Like you, I too am obsessed. Checking prices...did we make the right decision to include air...am I courageous enough to book private shore excursions....did we pick the right cabin...the right ship...the right cruise...the right time of year....I love it all!

Thanks everyone for all the advice and helpful hints!

I think the planning is part of the fun! Even if you go through a TA, you still have decisions to make, brochures to read....I can't imagine ANY vacation where I just "pack and go" without the research phase!

Had to laugh when I saw this.

I have been accused of enjoying the planning more than the cruising. Not quite true, but almost!:p

Even if I did use a TA I would still research like a crazy person. Not because I'm obsessed with everything being perfect, I just love reading as much as I can about the ship I will be sailing and the places I will be going. Makes the time between cruises go by faster!!

Glad I am not alone!!!!!! Keep on voting!!!!!!!

Ashley

I am a planning freak! I love it, love it, love it.:D We usually book our next cruise while still on ship so we can get on board credit and by the time we get home I'm already planning the details for it. My fiancee on the otherhand is the type to just leave everything unplanned until the last moment.

I plan and research for many months before our cruises, so I'm glad to hear

I'm not the only obsessive one out there! I even plan the clothing for each

day so we don't take the entire house along with us. My family laughs at

me, but they always thank me during the cruise for making sure they have

everything they need and for the excursions, ship or independent.

We are going to Disney World 3 weeks from today. It's been 25 years

since I've been there, and I was almost overwhelmed when I started planning and doing my research! Talk about major changes:)

Planning definitely builds up your anticipation. It also allows you to have

a good idea of what you're doing when you get off the ship in port.

Love the planning--gets me excited for the actual vacation!

Planning the vacations is one of the best parts!! Especially packing !:) And when you research everything you can be more in control than just giving it all to some tour operator:)

I suppose anyone bothering to respond to this poll is an overplanner like all of us...

I am baaad... I have folders for our next three short trips this year, an envelope for various cruise-related tidbits (no cruise until summer 2010...waaah! :( ) and bookmarks galore online.

Sadly, I think I've got most of our vacation money "mentally spent" into 2012. :eek:

I will say, I've saved a bundle researching. For example, for our San Diego trip this fall, I've found some great deals on the big attractions, and a condo at a better rate than the 2 hotel rooms we would need. Now if I could only get a deal on the gasoline to get us there!

PHXscuba

"You can't have everything -- besides, where would you put it all?":D

Planning the trip, reading hints on cruise critic, almost as much fun as the vacation itself. emphasis on almost.

Half the fun of any trip is the planning. :D

I absolutely love it! I like going into the detail of every stop, allocating a budget, and so on!

I'm with all of you. Planning the cruise is half the fun. Sometimes the details like finding a place to stay are a pain, but overall I am having a great time learning about where we are going and our choices of things to do, buying some new clothes, and meeting people on Cruise Critic. It is almost ALL good, and being obsessive about it helps.

When it ends, I get PCD! Then I have to go make copies of our pictures and show everyone...:D

Love the poll, but it is (fairly) obvious that most of us that hang out on the CC boards LOVE the planning and community that planning a cruise offers. I am trying to get the next cruise organized with our friends (we cruise with 2 other couples), and you can tell from my login that I am the one that does most of the leg work....but I LOVE it! So, as soon as the cruise to Europe is finalized, I will have a new count-down clock posted, and will be planning (and surfing the CC boards) until we leave. Until then (the itinerary/ship and date have been selected...just waiting for those deposit commitments:rolleyes:), I will be hanging around, giving what I hope is good information about cruises that we have taken, and enjoying the posts!:)

:rolleyes: I LOVE planning. My son & DIL (my traveling partners) just laugh at me but they appreciate all the planning I do.

We took a cruise to Alaska last year and I had a 3 ring binder with helpful tidbits for each port (eating, shopping, sites, etc). A friend at work is leaving Saturday on an Alaskan cruise and is taking my book! The book gets to go but I'm here. BOOHOO

I do this on every cruise and I'm sure I'll do it again next year on our Med cruise. The minute I step foot on the ship, I say, "It's over - I'm here". My DIL always laughs and says, "No, we are just starting". But, she understands that half of my trip is over - the planning!

Dewana

:rolleyes: I LOVE planning. My son & DIL (my traveling partners) just laugh at me but they appreciate all the planning I do.

 

We took a cruise to Alaska last year and I had a 3 ring binder with helpful tidbits for each port (eating, shopping, sites, etc). A friend at work is leaving Saturday on an Alaskan cruise and is taking my book! The book gets to go but I'm here. BOOHOO

 

I do this on every cruise and I'm sure I'll do it again next year on our Med cruise. The minute I step foot on the ship, I say, "It's over - I'm here". My DIL always laughs and says, "No, we are just starting". But, she understands that half of my trip is over - the planning!

 

Dewana

Hey Dewana: I saw your post and replied to it yesterday on RCI. We might be on that cruise. It will either be that week, or the week before. I will let you know as soon as I know. We are waiting for our friends to "jump" on board. Hope to join you on the RCI rollcall board soon!

I LOVE the planning part. Once I have our cruise planned I start with buying new clothes. Not too many just a dress or two. Then we start looking at the island and what there is to do and if we want to do our own thing or do a group outing. I can never wait to get onboard and start meeting people. This will be our first cruise that we will hopefully meet others from CC, I am a newbie to these boards so it will be a blast I'm sure!

We are already looking at what cruise we want to do for 09 and hopefully we will do 2. One with just the two of us and then one shorter cruise for the MIL and DS.

Regardless, as I said I LOVE the planning part. DH doenst get too worked up until it gets closer, me? I get excited the minute I start looking no matter how far off the next one is.

Agree... Planing makes it real... difinetly part of the fun!

I agree with the other posters....I enjoy the research for the best price,I enjoy researching the ship, I enjoy researching the TA's (I use TA's because) I enjoy the planning and the researching that goes into selecting the excursions (whether they be the ship's or private tours)....I also learn things along the way about the places I'll go....all in all I think it makes for a more enjoyable cruising experience and I feel in some way it makes me a more interesting person:D

Andy

I also love the planning and researching! I already started a file on the cruise that we haven't even booked yet for 2009. :p

I always ask my husband if I am driving him crazy yet with all my research but he is just happy he doesn't have to do it. Plus after ten years of marriage I suppose he is used to my obsession with planning.

Planning is almost as fun as the cruise itself. I LOVE planning!

I voted

•Don't mind...but spend very little time planning.

But I would have rather voted for an option not available

•I like doing some planning but prefer to leave room for spontaneity.

Some of hubby's and my more pleasant memories are from things that we did spur of the moment and doing because our traveling companions wanted to do something.

If I had rock-solid plans for everything, I'd be a nervous wreck trying to keep everything on track and on time.

I'm with all of you. Planning the cruise is half the fun. Sometimes the details like finding a place to stay are a pain, but overall I am having a great time learning about where we are going and our choices of things to do, buying some new clothes, and meeting people on Cruise Critic. It is almost ALL good, and being obsessive about it helps.

 

When it ends, I get PCD! Then I have to go make copies of our pictures and show everyone...:D

Ha! We call it 'post-cruise-withdrawal'.

Planning can be a slight chore, but getting 'into' a cruise vacation

builds the anticipation, and I can't think of anything sadder

than indifference.

As another poster mentioned, we are (here at CC), largely a more

involved sample of the cruising community, and delving into the details

and sharing tips and experiences with others (I've learned some extremely valuable things in these forums), makes the cruise more satisfying.