There’s no denying that AI is rapidly advancing and becoming part of everyday life. Over the past two years, it has surged in both popularity and functionality. AI is no longer something that feels futuristic or limited to certain industries. Instead, it’s become an accessible tool that many people use daily, often without even realizing it.
While there are endless use cases for AI, whether in your personal life or your professional life, I find myself using AI more and more for travel planning. From answering quick questions to helping organize more complex logistics, it’s become a very helpful tool when I plan my cruises.
I’m a busy person, so I don’t have as much time as I’d like to dedicate to planning trips. While I love travel planning, it can be very time-consuming. And while cruises are easier to plan than other vacations, there are still many moving parts to consider. Between comparing itineraries, researching ports of call, evaluating excursions, and understanding onboard options, it can quickly become overwhelming.
And while I have a fantastic travel agent, I still like to plan my cruises as much as possible. I enjoy being involved in the details and making sure everything aligns with what I’m looking for in a trip. AI has really improved my ability to stay informed and plan quickly without combing through websites for hours. It allows me to research efficiently while still feeling confident in my decision making!
I highly recommend using AI to help plan your next cruise if you want to save time. If you're looking for ideas on how to leverage this tool, I've provided a list of the best ways I use AI to help plan my cruises.
1. Researching itineraries
I’m a destination-focused cruiser, meaning I like to book my sailings based on the itinerary. I’m always looking to cross another new country or port of call off my bucket list. Because of this, one of the top ways I’ve been using AI is to search for itineraries that match my exact criteria.
For instance, my husband and I wanted to plan a Mediterranean cruise for this fall. We wanted to book either a Celebrity Cruises or Royal Caribbean sailing that visited ports of call in Italy, France, and/or Spain.
For this request, I provided AI with a list of places we wanted to visit, along with our fall timeframe (preferably in September or October). My husband prefers cruising on newer ships, so I requested that AI only look for itineraries in Celebrity’s Edge or Solstice class.
Additionally, I asked AI to compare Royal Caribbean sailings that visited ports of call in Slovenia or Albania for comparison purposes. I'd love to visit these ports of call eventually. Just for fun, I also requested any Silversea cruises that visited Tunisia, which is high on my bucket list!
This was super handy for my cruise planning. AI was able to provide an accurate list of itineraries that fit our timeframe and criteria, including the Celebrity Equinox cruise we ended up booking. While I could have spent hours going through each cruise line’s website, this saved me a significant amount of time. It allowed me to easily compare itineraries and cruise lines to fit my specific criteria.
2. Planning my daily agendas
As I mentioned, I love travel planning, but I don’t always have the time for in-depth research like I want to. Instead of planning everything on my own, I’ve been leveraging AI to help research and plan every port of call on my cruises - and it’s saved me so much time!
Most of the time, I’ll ask AI to compile a list of the top things to do in each destination for our cruise. I will also have AI provide location details on whether those attractions are close enough to the cruise port to explore on our own.
AI is able to create a detailed and personalized guide for each port of call to visit the main sights. If you’re like me, this is especially helpful if you want to come prepared, but don’t necessarily have the time to research every hour of your trip.
Of course, sometimes it’s nice to walk off the ship with no plan and see where the day takes you. I love exploring a new city and discovering the hidden gems that a travel guide might not always mention. Other times, it’s helpful to have a clear plan with everything you want to see, which allows you to maximize your time.
Not to mention, you can also ask AI to personalize your recommendations to reflect your travel style. For example, I’ll tell AI that I prefer walking around in the trendy areas of town and like to try local cuisine. I also prefer shopping and sightseeing rather than focusing on museums or history. This helps tailor the suggestions to better match my interests. It’s important to provide as many details as you can to AI for more personalized results. The more information you feed it, the better your results will be!
3. Excursion planning
My husband and I cruised to New Zealand recently aboard Celebrity Edge, and we had an amazing time. We ended up booking excursions in every port of call to truly maximize our time visiting this beautiful country.
However, we didn’t have as much time to plan this cruise because we changed plans just a few months before embarkation. Originally, we had planned to cruise to India on Celebrity Millennium, but some geopolitical tension over the summer had us rethinking our plans. Instead, we switched to a New Zealand cruise before final payment was due and scrambled to plan our cruise within a few months.
Because of the late change, we were short on time to plan excursions, and my husband had a few specific priorities. For instance, he wanted to visit a winery, see the Hobbiton movie set, and also do a kayaking excursion.
We were debating whether to book independently through Shore Excursion Group or book directly with the cruise line. To compare options, I saved a PDF of the excursion listings from both Celebrity and Shore Excursion Group. I asked AI to help identify the best excursions for each port and make sure we could fit in everything we wanted to do.
Instead of combing through each port’s excursion list manually, I had AI provide recommendations and used that as my starting point. Some of the excursions with Shore Excursion Group were significantly cheaper than those offered by Celebrity. Even better, Shore Excursions Group provided tours that Celebrity’s didn’t offer in certain ports!
For example, AI helped us plan a Hobbiton tour from Auckland with Shore Excursion Group instead of booking through Celebrity from Tauranga. It also recommended a winery excursion in Tauranga that wasn’t offered by the cruise line. In addition, AI suggested doing a kayaking excursion in the Bay of Islands, as this fit our schedule and criteria.
4. Creating a detailed schedule for the trip
I truly enjoy creating a detailed schedule for each trip, including flights, hotels, cruise excursions, and port times. I like having a convenient schedule handy throughout my trips with all the necessary details and reservations.
However, these schedules take a while to structure. So, for my recent cruises, I decided to have AI compile all of my cruise details and create a schedule for me. I provided AI with all of our reservation details, itinerary schedule, excursions, ports of call, flights, and hotels. I asked AI to organize everything into a structured itinerary that I could use during our trip.
More specifically, I requested that AI include a table with port arrival and departure times, along with our excursion schedules. Having a personalized schedule that included both the ship’s itinerary and our booked activities helped me quickly see when we had free time for each port.
I saved a digital version of the schedule on my phone for the entire trip. This made it easy to review our plans at a glance, and it gave me a convenient reference to use during the trip.
5. Weather planning
Another helpful way to use AI when planning a cruise is to understand weather patterns. My recent cruises to New Zealand and South America included a wide range of temperatures, and I found it difficult knowing what to expect.
Instead of looking up each port individually, I asked AI to provide general expectations based on historical weather trends and extended forecasts for each destination. This gave me a more tailored overview of the weather across the itinerary without having to research each port individually. It saved me a lot of time and helped me feel more prepared.
I also asked AI to provide more details than just the temperature. It can explain what the weather will actually feel like, including things like wind, rain, and overall conditions.
This was especially important for these itineraries because the weather can change so quickly, especially on sea days or during scenic cruising. For example, even when temperatures didn’t look that cold, areas like Fiordland in New Zealand or Cape Horn in South America can feel much colder because of the wind and rain.
I also asked AI to break things down by port and by day, which made it easier to understand how the weather would change throughout the cruise. This helped me plan when I’d need heavier layers versus lighter outfits, especially since these itineraries covered multiple climates. With some sea days sprinkled throughout our itinerary, I could also plan what to expect for these days onboard the ship.
6. Outfit and packing ideas
Along with weather planning, I’ve also been using AI to help with packing guides, tips, and advice. As mentioned, my recent cruises involved a wide variety of climates, and I found this made packing more difficult.
For example, during my cruise to New Zealand, our embarkation in Sydney would be significantly warmer than in other ports, especially while visiting Fiordland National Park in the Sounds. As we moved further north around New Zealand, the weather would be much warmer.
The weather pattern was similar while cruising across South America a few weeks ago. While Buenos Aires was hot and Uruguay was mild, the conditions became much colder as we traveled south toward Cape Horn.
Because of this, I had a difficult time figuring out what to pack and how to plan outfits. I asked AI to help create outfit ideas for each day of the cruise and then compile a general packing list based on our itinerary, weather expectations, and excursion plans.
I also provided details about our excursions to AI, and it suggested specific items to bring. For example, AI recommended packing a waterproof daypack for our South America cruise, as the Falkland Islands could be rainy. This was a fantastic suggestion, and it ended up being one of the best things we brought. My daypack kept our belongings dry while we explored Bluff Cove and watched penguins in the pouring rain!
Other ways you could use AI to help plan your cruise
The possibilities are endless when it comes to leveraging AI to help plan your cruise vacation, and it will only get better over time! If you’re looking for other ways to use AI for your vacation planning, here are some other ideas that could save you time and money.
1. Drink Package Calculator: If you’re unsure whether a drink package is worth it, you can ask AI to help calculate your breakeven point. This is how much you’d need to drink during your cruise to break even on your purchase. You could provide AI with your preferred drinks, drinking habits, itinerary details, and current drink package pricing. With all this AI can estimate whether purchasing a drink package makes sense based on your habits and cruise pricing.
2. Deciding which cruise line is best: I am someone who is very brand loyal to Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, so I typically know which cruise line I want to book. However, if you’re new to cruising or deciding between your options, you can ask AI to compare cruise lines. In this way, AI can outline the pros and cons of each cruise line with all the necessary details you need to know. It can help you determine the best choice that fits your travel style.
3. Choosing the right ship: Cruise ships vary widely, even within the same cruise line. For example, Royal Caribbean’s newest Icon Class ships are vastly different from smaller ships like Grandeur of the Seas. It’s vitally important that you choose the right cruise ship for your vacation, and a little bit of research can go a long way. If you’re trying to decide which cruise ship you should book, you can ask AI to compare ships based on your travel party, preferences, and budget.
4. Cabin selection help: Choosing the right cabin location and category is another important part of your cruise experience. This is your home away from home, so you want to be comfortable during your cruise. If you’re trying to decide which cabin you should book, you can ask AI to recommend the best cabin locations and categories for your needs. This could be based on factors like noise levels, proximity to amenities, mobility needs, or motion sensitivity.
Allie Hubers
Allie Hubers has been cruising since she was a toddler. What started as a yearly vacation with family quickly turned into a passion for travel, cruising, and adventure. She's sailed on 50+ cruises and visited more than 60 countries. Hubers even studied abroad on Semester at Sea, sailing the world on a ship while taking courses for college and visiting 4 continents.
She has contributed her travel and cruise expertise to numerous publications, including Business Insider, US News & World Report, and Travel Lemming. Hubers earned her MBA in Data Analytics and works as a senior strategy analyst.
