Cruising Journals

[valancy1]

Hi Debra, since the cardstock is 2 ft in length and too large for inserting into the scrapbook, I cut it into a couple of pieces and scrapbook from there. A lot of folks will sign their names on it, and I will try to keep that part of the cardstock together. Hope I clarified for you!:p

 

Thanks Marie, like your idea!

 

I did individual pages--one for each day of my cruise--and people wrote some dumb stuff on them. There were a couple of nice things, but we must've been near some kids (we saw them often) and they always talked about how tall my husband is (he's 6'10") and wrote it day after day on my pages.

 

Most of the pages I used on the ship I will cover with some other cardstock and add pictures. There wasn't anything really nifty on there this time. But I LOVED having the decoration on the door--it definitely helped us find our cabin a bit better. :)

[cruisergal 1]

I love the travel journal idea. I always used to keep a journal when I was younger, but have gotten lazy in years past. So I went out and bought myself a journal for our cruise in March. I can hardly wait to fill it up with happenings.

[Northern Light]

I have really enjoyed reading this forum, even though a lot of the comments are a few years old. I also take a notebook and start to journal while waiting for the plane to taxi out to the runway. We did a Mediterrean cruise last spring that was very, very intensive so sometimes was just to tired to write, but I tried. We are taking another cruise the end of next month that promises to be far more relaxing so hopefully more writing can also be done. Last trip I took a spiral bound book because it was easier to write in than a hard cover bound journal. Memory does fade as soon as I get home, so this helps keep it fresh while I plan my scrapbook.

 

Happy scrapbooking and cruising.

 

Sandy

[JanetMarie]

And don't forget the little plastic zip lock baggies to place your "daily" findings while on the cruise. Label the baggies with the day's festivities and you'll be ready to scrap, once home. :o

[Dizzy Moo]

The last cruise we went on I made "journals" of sorts for myself (and DH), and the 3 other couples that traveled with us. They were the 1" 3 ring binders that are sold at office supply stores. I printed out a cover that showed a picture of our ship, it's name & the dates of our cruise. Inside I put 3 page protectors for each day of the cruise. Each day there was a cover page that had the date and location we were suppose to be along with a list. i.e. Things we did today, meals, shore excursions, etc. That way if we didn't really have time to write a lot, we could hit the highlights. The blank page protectors were great for the cruise compasses as well as other memorabilia and I also included lined paper for extra journaling. Every morning I would open up the album to what day it was & take a picture with my camera(s) so that it would be easier to remember where we were when the pictures were taken. (a LOT of islands look the same from the balcony-LOL) Plus that helped keep the days straight incase the wrong day got printed on the picture. Another good thing to add to that is to burn a cd for each day of the pics & slide those in the appropriate day as a backup. Since I love to scrapbook it was a great way to keep up with what we did & where & the pages I printed made a nice starter page for each day of the cruise.

 

I love the idea someone posted of also journaling sounds, smells etc. as you sail. It really brings you right back onboard till you cruise again.

[junior 1]

I am so glad that this thread is still going on. It is nice to know that so many people like to journal. I have kept journals for years because I some times get events mixed up and it is so good to have the journal to keep my memory on the right track. I am now putting in the outline for my Freedom rocks the canal cruise. I expect to have a great time on that cruise and a whole lot to journal about. :cool:

[Philly Steve]

Thanks to all who revived this thread. Some excellent tips here.

I kept a journal during our last cruise and I became hooked. I was going to start a new journal for our next cruise (used half of the old one last time) but I like the idea of comparing notes from the last cruise.

 

Now, I'm thinking blank journal books may make good gifts for our Meet & Mingle cruise mates. Not everyone will use them but those who do will be able to preserve a little more of what always seems to be a very fast week. ;)

[Smilely]

Our family has journals from our grandmother's travels in the 40's, 50's and 60's. She traveled in Europe and all over the US. We get great pleasure reading about her adventures with her friends.

I have kept journals since I started international travel in the early 80's and realize that maybe one day my grandchildren will be reading them. What a wonderful gift I will leave. However, I look back and wish I had given more details - food eaten, costs of things, etc. I will keep trying to add the details.

[JanetMarie]

Smilely ~ that is so awesome that you are able to read your grandma's travel journals! How different travel was in the 40's, 50's . . .

 

Scrapbookers, don't forget those plastic baggies for each day of your trip. Whatever you collect from that day, toss in the bag and label it with the date. Once back home and when you are ready to scrapbook, you'll have a pretty good idea of what you did each day.

 

Journal folks ~ I still hang a construction sheet on our cabin door, with a pen attached to a thick elastic, fully decorated with lines for passerbys to sign their name. It's neat to see where people are from and most of the time they even drop a cute little line like, "This is different" (meaning my decorated construction sheet on the door). One time we must have had a bunch of Vegas people on our deck cause' I got signatures like Doris Day, Sammy Davis Jr., Harry Connick Jr., Elvis, etc. It was really funny.:o:o:o

[JanetMarie]

Wanted to post to you gals/guys to say I hosted a cruise party for a bunch of friends. I went to the dollar store and purchased stickers, ribbon, things of that nature. I put the items in a gift bag (also purchased from the dollar store) and gave the bag to my friends so that they would have some sort of travel journal to commence upon their return home from their respective cruises. :p:p:p

[sbartist]

I keep notes as well as the daily newsletter to help jog my memory:

 

Alaskan Cruise By Sbartist

 

Journaling 08-17-09 By Sbartist

 

Journaling 08-18-09 By Sbartist

[hethry6207]

I want to say thank you for all of your wonderful ideas and information! You truly inspired me! Before we left for our trip this past week, I picked up a great leather journal with a world map on the front (fitting, I thought) and was able to journal all throughout the cruise! I also left several pages at the beginning to journal about our other trips we've taken since we got married in 2007. I am updating a trip every day or two with what I can remember from it, and plan on journaling everywhere we go.

 

I scrapbook also so I plan to use the journal notes to doodle quotes from our days writings, etc.

[Crusincat]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading everyones thoughts and ideas. I too started a journal on my first cruise this past Feb. 2009 on the Celebrity Galaxy. Every night before bed, my friend and I would write in our journals however after a few nights had past, I was so tired from being so busy during the day that I would just curl up in bed and just about pass out. I have been home now for 8 months and I really need to finish it before my next cruise in 27 days on the Carnival Senstation to the Bahamas. One thing that I did on my FEb. vacation is that i kept the receipts from everywhere we went. I have burger king etc in Puerto Rico, receipts from Tortola B.V.I. etc so that I can go back and see what I paid for whatever it was I bought and enjoyed. Hope this helps others. Happy Sailing & Journaling to everyone.

[Guest LuvMyPride]

I have been doing this also. When I was on the Carnival Pride a few years ago they had Journals in the gift shop and I bought five of them. I have one for each of my cruises. I am also a scrapbooker and have made some small photo journals to go along with each of my writing journals. I love it and it's so much fun.:)

[mtchg]

...just used regular notebooks. A couple of them are very specific with comments on decor in each room....but I have to admit with my last few cruises my enthusuiasm waned and

it became more of a burden so i stopped.

 

However, for the first time (and possibly the last?) I am doing a much more expensive 14 nite Meditteranian cruise as opposed to the usual caribbean runs. So, I will purchase a nice

cruise journal and resume journaling for incredible journey coming up.

 

 

Mitch

Edited February 3, 2010 by mtchg

[Frankly,Darling]

Oooh, I love this topic! Travel is about the only time I keep a journal anymore. My journals have become my favorite souvenir, more so than my photographs, and I love to junk them up with memorabilia, etc...

 

Right now I'm reading a book that I think a lot of you journal-junkies might like. It's Writing Away: A Creative Guide to Awakening the Journal Writing Traveler by Lavinia Spalding. While parts of the book preaches-to-the-choir to those of us who already love travel journaling, I have still found tons of great inspiration and ideas to improve my travel journals. I'm totally geeked about it and keeping my journal on my upcoming cruise!

 

Okay, I'm hoping to revive this topic... Where on a cruise ship is your favorite place to journal? (I will be sailing on RCCL Liberty... if you have any tips on this ship, all the better!)

[CruiseAdict218]

that's a really neat idea!

I've done journals for special trips or special short term jobs -I don't know why I never thought about it for my cruises

 

I always do up a cruise photo album/scrapbook with various info written down on scraps of paper (stuff like who our dinner companions were, the names of fun drinks I tried, fun things I heard), and I always include the daily ship activities and things like our door signs/decorations and if I have info on the places I visited (like maps, AAA travel guide, etc.)

 

I like the idea of maybe a slim journal I could add into the album...

 

 

Thats a pretty kool thing you do, and i luv taking the decorations for memories[The kool luggage tags, Carnival's Pins and now im going with princess so ill get the Stamp :]

[mtchg]

early in the morning..drinking coffee.....sun coming up..

 

Mitch

[JanetMarie]

One of the most memorable things I did with my journal (one of my journals, that is), is to hang on the outside cabin door a scrapebooked construction paper with a cruise ship and folks snorkeling, etc. . . and then I had another piece of blue construction paper with a pen attached to a cord. I had a lot of fellow passengers "sign" the paper and I incorporated that into my journal . . . another fun thing to do and look back on. Happy sailing!

[Waihekean]

When my mother goes on a special vacation, she always makes these beautiful journals with photo's, all sorts of tickets and other travel memorabilia.

She and I are going on our first cruise (Dawn Princess) and I had been thinking if you would be able to buy special cruise journals (either from the ship or Princess Line) on the ship. It would be a great souvenir, even if it only had the outside cover with cruise ship photo or logo.

Seeing from the above posts, not many people seem to be doing journals and I guess nowadays most people will only do digital photo's and video.

But has anyone seen souvenir photo albums with paper pages maybe?

[JanetMarie]

I recently started adding postcards to my journals . . . you know the ones you can purchase for 25 cents or so on each of the islands . . . Sometimes postcards have a bit more clarity and/or detail than photographs. I just wanted to add this tip for all you journal and scrapbook enthusiasts out there! Happy sailing on the high seas, everyone!

[travelfirst]

I take a small notebook on all cruises and trips.

I have been doing this for years and have them all in a tote.. Its fun to take them out and read them.

I had planned to type them all out and put them in a binder one day but only have one done so far.

One of my daughters likes to write so I think she will have fun with them one day.

[collectingcoke]

I keep a journal to remeber what we did that day so I can scrapbook it easier, I also keep manilla envelopes for each day to keep all my goodies sorted.

[JanetMarie]

I journal write on the promenade deck, sitting in one of the teak chairs, as we sail along the high seas. There's not a lot of foot traffic as compared to the pool decks, and it is truly peaceful and serene for me to write as I glance out over the water. :o Glad to see this thread is still going strong!

[GlendaleCruiser]

I found a small, inexpensive journal and have used it for the last two Med cruises and intend to keep adding to it.

 

It was very helpful when I started organizing my pictures as it helped me remember where I was when I took that picture in the church, etc. Since the pictures were in number order, I wrote notes in my journal to coincide with the pictures that I was taking and it helped TREMENDOUSLY.

 

Example: In the Vatican, I wrote that I had taken a picture of the Pieta, then the Pope's new vault (and the story that went with it, now that he is declared Blessed), the the picture and notes of the soldier and the spear and the statue of Veronica................all these journal notes helped me remember why I took that particular picture in the first place.