One of the crucial elements of planning a cruise is the preparation beforehand - it's important not to underestimate the amount of background work that needs doing so that things flow smoothly and you have the relaxing and enjoyable cruise you deserve! From the moment you book a cruise there is a lot of information that you need to keep at your fingertips - booking numbers , contact details, flights, reference numbers, logins, transfers, packages, upgrades, loyalty level perks. hotel booking, excursion bookings & DIY plans - it all needs keeping track of!

This is why I hope you'll love The Cruise Planner - it is designed to work with you as you plan a cruise and to keep all that information in one place. It reminds you what still needs to be done and planned as it records everything efficiently in one place. Start a new Planner as soon as you book your cruise and get things organised!

The Cruise Planner is much more than just a place to record all the information and details that you need - it also helps you organise and plan what you are going to do ashore. It really is best to get all your excursions and trips ashore planned and sorted before you even leave home! Apart from anything else once you’re onboard you will be amazed at how much it can cost to connect to the internet! You really don’t want to waste valuable time ashore looking for WiFi hotspots so you can check out Tripadvisor for things to do!

So firstly there is the cruise arc planner - this gives a complete overview of the cruise with space to note times of arrival, departure, sunrise and sunset time, currencies amongst other things. Its really helpful when you’re looking at a the whole cruise experience as you can see if you’re in danger of overload by planning too many archaeological sites or full day excursions on consecutive days. Then there is a section of Port Excursion Brainstormers which helps as a discussion aid to help everyone decide what the focus of each day ashore will be

Fully customisable Packing lists have a page of suggestions next to a blank page

Then there are loads of other things to discover things in The Cruise Planner

Customisable, comprehensive packing lists & worksheets.
A list of recommended phone apps to download before leaving home
Cruise Arc Planner
Cruise Diary
Journal Section
On board information sheets
Contact sheets

The diary pages have space where you can make a note of any invitations or bookings for a specific day - there is also have a Journal section to record all the special moments of your cruise. With a section to note down all the details about your cabin and about the staff and crew the you meet So The Cruise Planner eventually becomes a permanent Travel Journal which you can see keep, both as a handy reference of arrangements that you made and as a reminder of a perfect cruise

Taking notes at the port & Destination presentation

We’ve been overwhelmed by the lovely feedback we’ve had since the first Cruise Planner was published. People say it both enhances your cruise experience and ensures your memories of it stay fresh. This is a recent message from one happy customer…

"I’m having so much fun preparing for our February cruise using The Cruise Planner! I always do a Journal of each trip, but this is special and so helpful with keeping everything together. I don't want to rush the cruise, but I can't wait to use it onboard nightly and then to complete it at cruise end. Since it's signed by Cathy Rogers, the author, I may add a few more autographs from Crew. I Love The Cruise Planner." Debi B-M

At present there are actually TWO editions of the Planner - the original portExplore Version and the new limited edition Cruise Addicts Planner which is very similar but has an added section of puzzles - cruise related word search, sudoku and Travel Dingbats - to while away the time!

Filling in the journal at the end of a day ashore…

More versions will be coming out in the soon - some targeted at a specific Cruise location - Alaska for example and some of the original design but in different colours - Ive been asked for this as if you have more than one cruise in preparation you will be able to know quickly which Planner is for which cruise!

Both versions of The Cruise Planner cost £8.99 and are available either through Amazon or the Bookshop

Bookshop

The two versions of The Cruise Planner with our book The Confident portExplorer - also available through the links above.

I hope you enjoyed reading about how I designed the Cruise Planners and how I hope they will be useful on every step of your cruise journey.

You can order yours through the Bookshop link above!

Happy portExploring!

Love

Cathy

xx

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