So you’ve booked a cruise, congratulations! Cruises are such a fun type of trip that combines getting to see beautiful parts of the world, with the ability to spend a lot of time with your friends and family and not spend any time planning! Since cruises are a very unique type of trip, how to keep a travel journal for a cruise is different than other travel journals. Below is a step-by-step guide of how to keep a travel journal for a cruise, from choosing your supplies to ideas of what to capture, based on the unique experience that is a cruise vacation. Keeping a travel journal on a cruise will capture that great moment in time forever. You’ll be so glad you have a unique memento with all your memories of your cruise.
Before the Trip
Gather your Supplies
A cruise is a special type of trip, one that requires some special thought about what is best to bring. When you keep a travel journal for a cruise it’s important to remember a few things: there’s going to be a lot of water! Paper and pens hate water, so think of buying waterproof materials when and if you can. Especially if you think it will be more portable.
Remember, you’ll be able to keep your travel journal and supplies in your cabin, so you can bring whatever supplies you’d like in your suitcase and then decide which to take out with you at each port of call. You can see my recommendations for travel journal kits here.
Choose your Travel Notebook
Like I said above, the main thing to think about when you’re choosing your travel journal for a cruise is the water factor. Maybe you’ll just keep your journal in your room, so you don’t have to worry about this. But if you want to carry your journal around, consider buying a waterproof travel journal. There are so many good options. I really like Rite in the Rain or for a smaller option, I also like The Indestructible Field Book. To read more about water proof journals, you can check our my journal resource page here.
Choose Your Supplies and Make Your Travel Journal Supplies Kit
Okay, so because you can keep your travel journal supplies in your cabin, you don’t have to worry about the weight or amount as much. Of course, you don’t want your luggage to be half travel journal supplies (that doesn’t sound half bad to me), but you can bring more than you would on a regular multi stop vacation, where you would be changing hotels a lot.
When thinking about what kind of supplies to bring, again, think waterproof. I always like to use waterproof pens (because my water bottle spills in my back so much!) and they have archival ink so you don’t have to worry about your memories fading over time.
For photography, an iPhone photo printer would be a great idea because you could keep it in your cabin but have access to it so you could print photos during your trip instead of waiting to print them all after. You can read more about my favorite portable photo printers here.
For other supplies, I like to bring a variety. Some kind of glue to stick things down. Washi tape and other stickers for some fun and variety. I always like to curate my travel journal supply kit to each trip. So for a cruise, some boat/nautical stickers would be so fun to include!
Create a Fun Cover
Every traveler’s notebook needs a cool cover that instantly describes the trip. For a travel journal for a cruise, try to include a map of the route and maybe the ship itself. Or if you’re using a leather journal or something that already has a cool cover, leave it how it is and wait to put the map on the inside.
Include the Basic Information
It’s important to start your journal with the most basic information about the trip. It acts as a reference for you before and during the trip, and as a great starting place for your future self when you look at the travel journal years from now.
For a travel journal for a cruise, there is special information to include that is unique to this type of trip. For this travel journal, make sure you include the following:
- Name of the cruise ship
- Dates of the cruise
- Length of the cruise
- Time zone
- Port name
- List of ports of call
- Languages spoken in each port of call
- People you traveled with
- Itinerary
Include a Map
The last and most important thing you should include in a travel journal for a cruise is a map of your journey. Cruises are so fun because you travel to so many different places in one compact trip. Including a map can help you visualize your trip as a whole and visually remind you each port of call. A map is an essential in all of my travel journals and in a travel journal for a cruise, its even more so.
During the Trip
During the trip you’ll want to capture the unique happenings on the cruise ship. Here’s a list of ideas of journal pages and what to include in your travel journal while you’re on the high seas.
Log of the Day to Day/Highlights
So much happens each day on a cruise. Your days are always jam packed with fun outings and you’re always exploring something new. Because of this, keeping a log of what happens each day is a great way to capture all the details so they don’t all run together in your mind once you return from the trip.
This can be done so many ways. You can simply write down the highlights for each day in a logbook style. You could use photos and found objects to make a collage or you could choose one photo a day and write a memory next to it. There’s no wrong way, just do whatever feels right for you.
Take Photos, Lots and Lots of Photos
The best compliment to a written log of your day is a photo (or photos) of your activities. Not only is it great to capture you and your cruise mates in action, but the scenery is most likely gorgeous and no matter how good your writing skills, a photo will always be a great compliment.
Include Facts About the Ship and Crew
A unique thing about keeping a travel journal for a cruise is the ship and the crew. They’re your home and your hosts. You’ll spend many days on a giant moving ship. No other type of trip can say that. For that reason, include facts about the ship and crew that you learn during your cruise.
It would be a fun afternoon activity to do some investigating about the ship. Strike up a conversation with a crew member and ask them facts about the ship. The more you know, the more you’ll connect to the ship and the experience.
Include A list of All the People You Meet
Another unique aspect of a cruise vacation is that you’re with the same people for the length of the trip and because of the nature of the cruise, you often get to know some very interesting people from all over the world. Wether they’re your dinner companions or someone you met at the pool, its fun to engage with people and then write down interesting things about them later in your traveler’s notebook.
Include Details About the Weather
Another big part of a cruise vacation that should be included in your travel journal? The weather. It’s a big part of a cruise and so fun to document in your journal. Try adding these details in your daily log. Was it sunny or cloudy? Did it rain? Was it hot? How did the air feel on your skin? These are all things that will jog your memory as you look pack through this journal later. It will remind you of how each day felt as you glided over the ocean.
Save All of Your Mementos and Add Them to Your Journal
Itineraries, schedules of evening entertainment, menus, bingo cards, your karaoke song request slip, the list goes on and on. There are so many mementos that you could collect that aren’t souvenirs you buy at each port of call. Saving these mementos and adding them to your travel journal in each day log will add texture and memory to each day. There are so many details that are hard to remember and more fun to see the itinerary with the ship’s logo than to simply read about it in a diary form.
Enlist Your Friends and Family
There’s a lot of time to spend with you’re travel companions while you’re on a cruise. Ask them their favorite parts about the trip or the day and record it in your travel journal. It makes a really fun page in your travel journal for a cruise because everyone likes different activities, it captures each person’s unique perspective and will be great to look back on next time you go on a cruise with them.
Include Your Favorite Activities
There’s so much to do on a cruise! Wether its onboard activities like watching a movie under the stars, doing karaoke with other passengers, dancing after dinner or seeing a show, write down all the activities you loved and why. This probably won’t be your last cruise vacation so while you’re experiencing each activity its great to record it in your travel journal so you’ll remember for next time. This can also include activities you didn’t like. Sometimes, that’s just as important to record so you don’t do it again on your next cruise!
Include the Activities You Wish You Did But Couldn’t
Of course, there’s so much to do on a cruise ship, and so little time. There are always activities that you want to do, but don’t make time for. This is also a great thing to record in your travel journal for a cruise ship. As your trip does on, make a list of all these activities and make sure to look back on it at the end and add any missing activities. Just like the page on favorite activities, this page can really help you plan for your next cruise. You’ll be so glad you did!
After the Trip
After you return from the trip is a great time to fill in any missing parts of your journal. Or for some who collected memories, mementos and photos but didn’t add them to their journal, its the perfect time to make their spreads. If this is you, don’t worry! Making your spread after can be a great way to extend the trip. Just make sure you do it close enough to your cruise that you don’t forget too many details.
Print Out Any Missing Photos
If you didn’t bring an instant camera or portable printer with you on your cruise, when you get home is a great time to go through your photos and decide which ones should be printed and included in your journal. I would recommend getting them professionally printed or printing them yourself using a great printer and photo paper. The images will last a long time and look great! Go here for my favorite printers and photo paper.
Fill in Spread With Missing Memories or Info
Look through your travel journal, especially your daily logs. Ask yourself, “Is there anything missing from this day that I want to capture? When I think back on this day, what do I remember? Is it included?”
This is a great practice to make sure you don’t miss anything. While you’re on the cruise it’s so easy to get busy going from activity to activity and forget something important that happened. Once you’re home, you can take time and space to remember each day and fill in any missing information.
Make Finishing Touches
Go through your travel journal one last time and make any finishing touches you want to complete the journal. This is a great time to add stickers, stamps or color. Maybe you already did, but if you didn’t make sure you love the look and feel and add some fun elements if you want.
Keep in a Special Place and Share with Friends
Now that you spent all this time on your journal, make sure to put it in a special place so it doesn’t get lost. And if you’d like, share parts of it with friends and family. It’s fun to look through photos of other people’s cruises, but more fun to hear the stories. Your special travel journal for a cruise will have captured those special stories and be there to share with loved ones for years to come.
Keeping a travel journal for a cruise is a special thing that can really keep the cruise present in your mind for a long time. It can also be used to store information that you can use the next time you take a cruise. Have you kept a travel journal for a cruise? Do you have any special tips or tricks that you used? Share them in the comments below.