Passport

• Many people embark on a cruise to escape the everyday paperwork and monotony of life, but Excel can be vital in helping you prepare for your vacation. Prior to a cruise, you'll need to gather multiple sets of paperwork for each member of your party. The information you'll want to prepare first is your passport, since it takes the longest. Check your passport far in advance of the trip, as the United States Department of the Treasury notes that processing applications and renewals takes four to six weeks, and you won't be able to set foot on the ship without one. Make column headers in Excel for categories of "Application Date," "Posted Date," Tracked Online Date," "Received by Treasury Date" and "Expected Home Receipt Date." Create one row for each member in your party.
  
  

Excursions

• For some cruisers, getting off the ship is as important as getting on. In each port city the ship sails into, you'll have the opportunity to sign up for excursions, which are group tours catering to every kind of activity, such as arts and culture, high adventure, shopping and sightseeing. Prior to your cruise, use Excel to organize and help facilitate the excursion process. If you're organizing for more than just yourself, using Excel to form an excursion checklist can be an optimal way to decide what to see. List all of the excursions anyone in your party is interested in, along with the information your cruise line provides about age restrictions, health requirements, length of time and cost. Once you have the checklist headers laid out, allow each member of your party to make a check for the top three. Use the winning excursion as your decision or, if trip members are old enough, use the Excel checklist to keep track of who is going where when it comes to trip day.
  
  

Packing

• Packing for a cruise involves far more than just bathing suits, and having an Excel checklist can mean the difference of leaving something vital on shore. Your cruise company will advise you of some of the more general things to pack, such as casual clothes for days on board, fancier clothes for dinner, exercise clothes and accessories. You'll also want to take stock of your daily routines before the trip and add things to the checklist such as medications, sun protection, things your children utterly cannot travel without, electronics and their chargers, and anything else necessary to be comfortable on the trip. Print out the checklist and use it as you fill suitcases.
  
  

Setting Off

• Between exiting your home and arriving at the dock, you probably have a number of things to settle before being able to enjoy the cruise. With Excel, you can keep track of pre-vacation to-dos such as stopping the mail, alerting your credit card companies of going away, getting the pets situated and setting timer lights. When you complete each of these tasks, highlight the cells in a new color or remove them from the list. You'll have an at-a-glance of what's left before leaving.