If it's been a while since your last cruise, you're probably missing the salty sea air, the drink of the day and nightly turndown service. Thankfully, there are ways to relive the glory of voyages past. Below are five creative ideas to help you reminisce.
What better way to preserve your cruise memories than to keep them all in one place for easy viewing? Most craft stores have a wide variety of scrapbooking materials, including books, pages, glue, stickers and other embellishments. Or, if you're feeling like a homebody, you can order a nearly infinite number of supplies online.
But you don't need fancy or expensive accouterments to start. Fire up your computer, print out a few photos from your favorite sailing, and overlay them on those old daily schedules you've been saving. Not only will this activity keep you busy and help your creative juices to flow; it will also bring back some great memories.
Cell phones and digital cameras have made it easier than ever to take and share photos and videos, but unless you find a fun way to organize and display them, you're unlikely to look at them again in great detail after the initial magic of your trip has worn off.
If you've ever wanted to make your own movie, there's no time like the present. Check out programs like iMovie, which is available for Mac and iPhone, or free options like Lightworks and Blender for your computer or the Quik cell phone app, all of which make it easy to turn photos and video clips into digital masterpieces. Before you know it, you'll be reliving sunset sailaways, fabulous meals, interesting excursions and splashy trips down the water slide like they happened just yesterday.
If physical photos are still your jam, you can easily print them out yourself using a personal photo printer, or upload the files to an online service like Snapfish or Shutterfly that will send the finished product right to your home.
Then put your free time to good use by turning these mementos into a collage, which you can later frame and hang on the wall. All you'll need is some poster board, spray glue or a glue stick, and scissors. Position the photos where you want them, glue them down, and voila -- instant travel decor that doesn't cost a fortune and takes up less space than a bunch of smaller, individually framed pictures.
If you're a cruiser who makes a point of saving keycards to help you remember each of your sailings, why not turn them into something fun? Stick some magnetic tape to the back, and they'll become fridge magnets; punch holes in the plastic, and thread them with colorful string to make holiday ornaments; or glue them to a set of inexpensive coasters to protect your furniture when you re-create drinks from the onboard cocktail menu.
If you prefer a more art-focused approach, invest in a magnetic display board that will allow you to attach the cards with the aforementioned magnetic tape. Then you can hang all of the cards on the wall in one impressive layout.
One of the best ways to bring back great cruise memories is to chat about them with others -- even if you're far away from one another. You can interact with other cruisers on social media by following travel companions and crew members on Instagram and Twitter; joining cruise-themed groups or creating communal photo albums that serve as virtual scrapbooks on Facebook; or by chatting with fellow passengers on the Cruise Critic message boards.
Better yet, send an email or post card (real or virtual) to friends with whom you've sailed, or schedule your very own virtual Meet and Mingle via an online video conferencing platform like Zoom.
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