A pack built for your sailing
Your ship, your ports, your dates, your people. About a week to write. Tip what it was worth.
The packs already written cover eleven sailings. Yours is probably not one of them — there are thousands of itineraries and one person writing these.
So if the sailing you have booked is not on the shelf, it can be written for it. Same eight sections, same structure, calibrated to your week: the ship you are actually on, the ports you are actually calling at, the season you are actually sailing in, and the people you are actually travelling with.
It is calm by design, like the rest of them. No urgency, no upsell, no countdown.
What arrives
The same eight sections as every published pack, none of them generic:
- The ship — layout, cabin guidance, where the quiet is, what is worth booking before you sail and what is not
- Day by day — the rhythm of your specific week, sea days included, because a sea day is a plan too
- Port by port — pier or tender, how far the town is, what is walkable, what needs booking, what to skip
- Packing — calibrated to that route in that season. An Alaska list and a Caribbean list are not the same list, and generic advice gets this wrong more than anything else
- Budget — an honest breakdown, including the parts cruise marketing tends to leave until you are aboard
- The people you are travelling with — solo, multi-generational, mobility considerations, dietary or religious observance, whatever actually applies
- Emergency contacts — a fillable handoff card with the embassies covering your ports, the State Department line, and the cruise line’s numbers framed honestly. Fill it in once, give it to one trusted person at home
- Offline — a PDF to print and an offline-capable HTML version, because the ship’s wifi is not a plan
How it goes
You write first. Cruise line, ship, sailing dates, and a short note about who is going and anything specific you want addressed. That last part matters more than people expect — a pack for two grandparents and a five-year-old is a different document from a pack for a solo traveller.
Questions come back if there are any. Usually one or two, usually about who is sailing rather than where.
About a week later, the pack arrives. PDF and offline HTML. If something is wrong or thin, say so and it gets fixed.
What it costs
Nothing, up front. A custom pack is free the same way the published ones are free.
If it earns it — if it saved you an evening of browser tabs, or told you the one thing about your port that mattered — there is a tip jar at buymeacoffee.com/inthewake. Tip what it was worth to you, or nothing at all. This site takes no cruise-line commissions, sells no shore excursions, and runs no advertising; the full posture is in the affiliate disclosure. Tips are how the writing time gets paid for, and they are a tip, not a toll.
What this is not. A custom pack is not a travel agent service. It does not book your cruise, and it does not arrange transfers, excursions, dining, or seating. It is a planning companion, written once, for you.
To ask for one
Write through the contact link with:
- Cruise line and ship
- Sailing dates and departure port
- Who is travelling, in a sentence
- Anything specific you want addressed
Turnaround is normally about a week. If it will be longer, you will be told before it starts rather than after.
The ones already written
Free to download, no account and no email. If yours is here, you do not need a custom one.
- Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas Western Caribbean, 7 nights Any sailing on this itinerary Download
- Royal Caribbean Icon of the Seas Eastern Caribbean, 7 nights Any sailing on this itinerary Download
- Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas Alaska, 7 nights from Seattle Any sailing on this itinerary Download
- Norwegian Prima Western Caribbean, hosted solo group September 27–October 4, 2026 Download
- Norwegian Encore Pacific Coast, Vancouver to Los Angeles, hosted solo group October 12–18, 2026 Download
- Norwegian Escape Thanksgiving Eastern Caribbean, hosted solo group November 20–27, 2026 Download
- Norwegian Aqua Caribbean, hosted group December 12–19, 2027 Download
- Virgin Voyages Resilient Lady Sisters at Sea, hosted group February 14–21, 2027 Download
- Margaritaville at Sea Islander Western Caribbean, hosted solo group January 9–16, 2027 Download
- MSC World America Western Caribbean, solo edition December 5–12, 2026 Download
- Holland America Volendam Grand World Voyage, 129 days Departing January 4, 2028 Download