Do you use a spreadsheet?

[anricat]

I'm in the midst of planning our Alaskan cruise for August and I'm finding I have a LOT of information. Pre-cruise, post-cruise, excursions, dinner attire, flights, etc.

Normally I just use a text document with everything and then I print it up. It's usually a page, maybe a page and a half, but for Alaska, there are a lot more moving parts somehow and I have 4 pages of stuff!

I'm wondering if a spreadsheet organized landscape with give me more organization with less paper involved when it comes time to print, but I really don't know how to set up something like that. My knowledge of Excel is pretty basic - mostly numbers and figures and not so much formatting, especially for larger bits of text and information.

Does anyone want to share a photo of what their planning spreadsheet looks like? Or perhaps share an already created one?

If you don't use a spreadsheet, can you recommend a better way to organize the information rather than a long vertical text doc?

Thanks!

 

[squirk]

I love planning our Disney trips, and I love organizing data, but I personally have found a spreadsheet to be way too much hassle for what it's worth. I am not bagging on those who do use a spreadsheet - more power to you. But Excel is meant to manipulate large amounts of data (sorting, filtering, and especially calculations) and I personally have not found that there is enough data - or at least enough data that needed to be frequently manipulated - to merit the time investment in constructing a spreadsheet.

If you have an iPhone (or Android or Windows Phone), it might be a whole lot easier to just create custom "to-do" lists exclusively for cruise prep in the Reminders app, and separate notes in the Notes app for the categories you mentioned above - clothing, excursions, flight info, etc. This also gives you the benefit of being able to quickly and easily add/edit on the fly with your phone vs. waiting 'til you get home and open Excel (yes, I know you can access Excel files on your iPhone, but it's a brutal experience).

 

[MickeyEarrings]

I have to-do lists in my phone as well. As I gather things like flight information and hotel confirmation numbers, these notes in my iPhone can easy be sent to my travel companions or to family staying behind.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I don't use one for our cruises, but just because we plan our cruises to be more relaxed. Maybe when I finally convince DD to try Alaska I'll need to break out the spreadsheet.

I do use one to plan our WDW trips, and from the sounds of your trip, you might find it easier to organize everything in a spreadsheet format. I disagree with the PP that spreadsheets are a hassle. Maybe because I use Excel on a daily basis. I use it as a tool to organize.our trip information into a easily readable format. Yes, Excel can be used to sort, filter, and manage large sets of data, but it can also be used to show smaller amounts of information in a custom format. For our WDW trips, I have the days set up across the worksheet and the the various elements of the trip, e.g. which park for the day, park hours, dining reservations, FP+, confirmation numbers, and so on, in color coded sections down the page underneath the appropriate day. Before our trip, I just print out the one page and it has everything I need in a well- organized chart. I think you could find the tool useful for your Alaska cruise.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

Since you aren't overly experienced with using Excel for text, why don't organize in Word using a landscape page and tables? Word is better for working with text, and the tables will give you the grid-like format to organize. I do use Excel, but if you are looking for a printed tool to bring with you, I think you'll do just as well in Word.

 

[katellynne]

I have never needed to organize as much for a cruise EVER until Alaska!! We are going this May and there seems to be so much info. This is my 7th cruise but the rest were all bahamas/caribbean and didn't require this amount of planning. mine is a Word doc organized by port but it isn't that easy to navigate and i also have a Note on my iphone as well. Let me know if you come up with anything!! I think Excel would be good maybe with a sheet dedicated to each Port? Are you traveling with a group? We have 4 cabins, my family and both sets of grandparents. I wish I had used Google Docs so I could share with our party and they could make/see changed immediately.

 

[Winston Wolf]

I do, but not in the way you have. Mine is more for budgeting. So I can keep track of costs, what I've paid for, and what is still yet to be paid. (flights, cruise, hotels, rental cars, dog hotel , etc).

 

[xlxo]

Just throw your decisions up here.... we can help cull your decisions down for you to make that spreadsheet/word document manageable.

Disney has already made decisions for you. You will be visiting 3 ports, plus Vancouver. You will NOT be going to Glacier Bay.

Now... which day do you want to cruise?

• Budget May?
• Warm weather July with fireworks on select days?
• Wetter August with more wildlife?

 

[Mitura]

I use the app Evernote. Its great in that I can capture all my info in its native form. PDF's, text spreadsheets, jpg's. So I have a folder for each past voyage and the future trip so I can reference old items and capture new items. I use it with this discussion board in that I capture pics and text clips right to Evernote.

Evernote is good in that is syncs across all devices (PCS, IPADS, Android) so the Mrs and the kids can input and see items regarding the upcoming cruise on their own specific devices.

Also Evernote works off line. Its like Dropbox but more for notes. So when its off line I can see the notes offline when I'm on the ship and not use Wifi.

Things I have in Evernote are: our Reservation as a PDF, Cozumel coupons for snorkeling, emails with reservation confirmations for sightseeing in Grand Cayman, maps of Jamaica, and most recently the common top 5 things you do when you get on the ship from another thread, just to give you an idea of things it can capture. The last cruise I think I had 25+ documents/images, you get the idea.

I highly recommend it for organizing your trip notes.

Joe

 

[MunFam]

For all of our travels, I create a word document and at the top of the page include the day/date, location and sunrise and sunset. Sometimes, I include a spot for the weather too.

Below it I have a section for our itinerary and then below that are bullet point notes for tips, tricks and cool things that apply to that day/location and hyperlinks. Before we leave, I print it all out and then print copies of our credit card info, medical info and copies of our passports and driver licences and put it all in a travel binder (and all of our travel docs).

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Hello! I'm a Mac user so I use Numbers like Excel and create a spreadsheet with our pertinent information then email it as a PDF file so I can save on my phone in iBooks.

I do each day as an entry and it usually starts with the day we fly out. I put our flight information including flight numbers, times, reservation numbers, any car rental reservation numbers, hotel confirmation number and their phone number, travel insurance policy number as well as a contact number, etc.

For the other days that would be say 8/7/16 Vancouver, if we have plans that day I'll add them in and usually do timeframes if that matters. If we have reservations anywhere I put those as well. For 8/8/16 I'll be putting Disney Wonder )) and then will put anything that is pertinent for that part of the journey such as our DCL reservation number, cabin #, if we have any group meetings I put that time and location, etc. I repeat for each day of the cruise or vacation and add what we are doing.

I also bring a folder with any paper printouts and verifications I might need and I try and highlight on the forms that I need to bring and then put "BRING THIS WITH YOU" so I don't forget. I separate the flight/travelling part from the DCL portion as it just makes it easier for me to keep up that way.

I love having the easy access on my iPhone with me since I don't take the paper folder with me unless it's needed. I also make sure my DH has a copy saved in his iBooks and I email a copy to my Mom so she can keep up (if she wants to) while we are traveling.

Hope this helps,
Heather

Ps. Shoot me an email if you'd like

 

[jetskigrl]

I do, but not in the way you have. Mine is more for budgeting. So I can keep track of costs, what I've paid for, and what is still yet to be paid. (flights, cruise, hotels, rental cars, dog hotel , etc).

This is how I use Excel for our cruises too. I generally save for our cruises by putting money into savings every payday. So by tracking that in excel, I can make sure we are on track for final payment, etc.
I also keep a running cost of expenses (both known like flight and hotels and estimated ones like ship purchases and excursions) to make sure we bring enough spending money on the trip also.

So I have some formulas in my spreadsheets also. If just listing items, I would probably just do it in Word.

 

[anricat]

Just throw your decisions up here.... we can help cull your decisions down for you to make that spreadsheet/word document manageable.

Disney has already made decisions for you. You will be visiting 3 ports, plus Vancouver. You will NOT be going to Glacier Bay.

Now... which day do you want to cruise?

• Budget May?
• Warm weather July with fireworks on select days?
• Wetter August with more wildlife?

Well, we already have everything figured out. It's really more a matter of organizing the information. What times we need to be where, where we're eating, how we are getting places. There are a lot more moving parts than a regular cruise!

It's sort of part of the fun, though, no?

 

[anricat]

I use the app Evernote. Its great in that I can capture all my info in its native form. PDF's, text spreadsheets, jpg's. So I have a folder for each past voyage and the future trip so I can reference old items and capture new items. I use it with this discussion board in that I capture pics and text clips right to Evernote.

Evernote is good in that is syncs across all devices (PCS, IPADS, Android) so the Mrs and the kids can input and see items regarding the upcoming cruise on their own specific devices.

Also Evernote works off line. Its like Dropbox but more for notes. So when its off line I can see the notes offline when I'm on the ship and not use Wifi.

Things I have in Evernote are: our Reservation as a PDF, Cozumel coupons for snorkeling, emails with reservation confirmations for sightseeing in Grand Cayman, maps of Jamaica, and most recently the common top 5 things you do when you get on the ship from another thread, just to give you an idea of things it can capture. The last cruise I think I had 25+ documents/images, you get the idea.

I highly recommend it for organizing your trip notes.

Joe

Evernote is a great app. We often use it for shared documents that DH and I are both working on. We've had some serious issues with syncing and having conflicts and duplicates, though. In this case, though, once we depart it's a static document so that may be a good route. The formatting may be lacking, though. I can't remember the formatting options. That's one things that's sort of tripping me up. I'm trying to color code things like dining (places we might want to eat), times we need to be places, etc, but it's sort of looking like a mess in my text document. That was sort of what led me to spreadsheets - it might be easier to put each thing in a column or row so if I'm looking for something, I know right where to look, you know?

 

[ShelleyTaylor]

I use the app Evernote. Its great in that I can capture all my info in its native form. PDF's, text spreadsheets, jpg's. So I have a folder for each past voyage and the future trip so I can reference old items and capture new items. I use it with this discussion board in that I capture pics and text clips right to Evernote.

Evernote is good in that is syncs across all devices (PCS, IPADS, Android) so the Mrs and the kids can input and see items regarding the upcoming cruise on their own specific devices.

Also Evernote works off line. Its like Dropbox but more for notes. So when its off line I can see the notes offline when I'm on the ship and not use Wifi.

Things I have in Evernote are: our Reservation as a PDF, Cozumel coupons for snorkeling, emails with reservation confirmations for sightseeing in Grand Cayman, maps of Jamaica, and most recently the common top 5 things you do when you get on the ship from another thread, just to give you an idea of things it can capture. The last cruise I think I had 25+ documents/images, you get the idea.

I highly recommend it for organizing your trip notes.

Joe

Another evernote fan!! I have a Travel notebook (folder). Within that I have notes for the flight/hotel, cruise, wdw hotel, each disney park, etc.