What To Do ONE MONTH Before Your Cruise! Let The Countdown Begin!
Can you feel the excitement? Only 30 days left!
Can you feel the thrill just knowing you only have one month left before you walk up the gangway to your dream cruise vacation? When my children were little we used to make loops to represent one day, and each morning one of the children would remove the paper loop leaving behind the number of days that were left for the countdown! What delight!
Well, we are no different when we grow up, so lets create our own countdown cards. Place them on a stack, and glue one edge with modge-podge to tear one page off at a time, or simply make a hole in one side and slide a metal loop in the hole to keep the cards together, taking one off each day.
Let’s have some fun creating our countdown together!
Day 30: Check that your passport is ready for your international cruise vacation. Even if you go to Hawaii on a cruise, you will stop by a port like Ensenada, Mexico, and you will need your passport. Make sure it is not going to expire soon!
Day 29: Which excursions will you go on? Watch your budget to be sure you’ll be happy doing these excursions.
Day 28: What is your itinerary? Start with the hotel you will stay at, and air flights you will use prior to embarking on your cruise. Each day (mostly likely on your cabin bed or counter) you will receive a daily forecast of activities for the next day, so this will help. But for now, take a look at the cruise ship’s images online, and the layout of the cruise ship, and plan some general things you would like to explore each day. Add your port stop adventures and excursions that you know about right now. You’ll add to this itinerary later.
Day 27: Chat with your family to help plan who will watch your home and put the garbage out, water the lawn/snow removal while you are gone. Put a plan in place.
Day 26: Check that you have your special dress for formal night. If your cruise is longer than 7 nights, you will need two formal dresses.
Day 25: Pick out the book you’re going to read on your cruise vacation. Order it now.
Day 24: If you’re going on Carnival or Royal Caribbean, be sure to order door magnet posters or decorations that you can add to your cabin door. (No tape allowed.) The Dollar Store, Zurchers, or Oriental Trading have a few options, but you could make them yourself too. If you’re going on a Disney cruise be sure to make or purchase (perhaps on Etsy) a fish extender. If you don’t know what this is, take a look at one of our previous blog posts for details.
Day 23: Be sure to connect on Facebook with other passengers who are also going on your same cruise. Join a cabin exchange group to add to the fun!
Day 22: Decide on your cabin exchange gifts. Watch for details on your Facebook group, but typically you bring along small gifts to simply place in the other cabin’s fish extenders, or cabin door container, just to extend happiness and fun to fellow passengers. You in return receive small gifts from them!
Day 21: By now your door magnets or fish extender has arrived in the mail. Be sure to put the decorations together to have everything ready in a ziplock bag for easy access when you arrive onboard.
Day 20: Create your packing list, or simply use ours. See previous blog post. Sometimes it’s the small things like socks, or a charger that you forget that are the items you REALLY need the most!
Day 19: Gather the luggage from the basement that you will be using on your cruise. Place it in a space that is available for ease of packing.
Day 18: Start packing the essentials like your medical kit. We have one for quick access if you just need the basics. Take a look! (Don’t forget to add sea sickness medication, or prescription tablets etc.)
Day 17: Check the Facebook cruise group for any updates you need to be aware of relating to the gift exchange.
Day 16: Did you order your beach hat and sunglasses yet? We have gorgeous beach hats, just perfect for your vacation! Be sure to add it to the area when you are placing your luggage so you don’t leave your beach hat or sunglasses behind.
Day 15: Do you like to journal? Order one quickly if you need one for your cruise. It’s the perfect way to document your feelings while on a cruise. You’ll be able to refer to it again and again.
Day 14: Download your cell phone images onto your desktop or external hard drive, so you have plenty of space on your cell phone for new cruise photo memories.
Day 13: Be sure to get updated photos of children and grandchildren on your phone as you will want to show them off to your new found passenger friends.
Day 12: If you’re planning on mailing postcards home, be sure to gather stamps for the post office.
Day 11: Gather all the important cruise documents and place them in one waterproof bag. You’ll need things such as a passport, luggage tags printed and ready to go in your sturdy luggage tags (see ours for quick access to a sturdy set), cruise information papers etc.
Day 10: Finalize your cruise port excursions and add them to your itinerary.
Day 9: Don’t forget bug spray if you’re going to certain areas.
Day 8: Pack steward thank you cards and dollar bills to thank your steward for excellent service. They really work hard to make our cruise experiences magnificent! We have gorgeous thank you cards and envelopes just the perfect size so you won't need to fold the dollar bills.
Day 7: Do all the laundry and begin your packing. Check off items on your list so you don’t forget the small things. Roll shirts and swimsuits to maximize your travel space. Place socks inside shoes, and take the air out of zip lock bags to vacuum seal those for more space in your bags.
Day 6: Get your hair done. Nothing better than feeling all ready and put together before the last minute panic.
Day 5: Be sure to have cabin exchange gifts ready and packaged in individual bags for quick access as you need them. Place them in your luggage.
Day 4: Gather your cell phone camera supplies, including your charger and airpods.
Day 3: Add your email “out-of-office” to your email scheduling before you forget. You really need to have down-time so let others at work know you will only be checking emails on your return. They will understand the need to get a good rest and return rejuvenated.
Day 2: Check in for your flight to your cruise embarkation destination. Normally it is wise to fly in the day before your cruise so you don’t miss your embarkation time.
Day 1: Time for last minute checking and go get your nails done. You’ll feel special and ready all the way down to your fingertips. Calm and peaceful, relaxed, yet excited! That’s the way to go!
Day 0: Time for action! Enjoy every moment of your cruise and bring back your memories to share with us!
We have created your very own countdown here. Download your copy and simply glue all the top edges together with modge podge, or place a metal loop into the hole of each card to keep them together. Then remove one card each day beginning with day 30. Enjoy! (We can’t wait to hear of your adventures!)