When artificial intelligence first became mainstream with ChatGPT, I would have warned you against using it for planning your cruise.
Since the early adopters embraced artificial intelligence in 2023, it's leaped a considerable amount in terms of capabilities, and I think it can play a helpful role in planning a vacation.
The problem with planning a cruise is it's very nuanced and cruise line (and even ship) specific. I've found AI tends to lump policies and lines together and jump to certain conclusions that aren't reflective of the reality.
However, it's much better at land travel because there's so much more information available.
For my Royal Caribbean cruise to Europe, I determined booking traditional shore excursions was going to be a mistake because it's so easy to get around the cities of Europe on foot and via public transportation.
Instead, I started coming up with a list of places I wanted to visit in each city. That's easy, but how to manage it all so I can see everything in the best order?
I looked to artificial intelligence for the easy answer
I created a spreadsheet of the restaurants, historical sights, and interesting places I wanted to visit in each city. I compiled this list by watching a lot of YouTube videos to get a sense of what there was to do.
My goal was to determine the best order to see everything, minimize backtracking, and incorporate lunch and snack breaks.
I could have spent time popping each area into Google Maps, but I'd have to cross reference hours of operation and then figure out the transportation system in each city.
Almost immediately, I was ready to give ChatGPT a try.
Using ChatGPT is easy, but the secret is to be as descriptive and specific as you can in your prompts to get the answer you want. What I'm effectively asking it to do is read my mind with what I want.
I started out with Oslo, Norway, and wrote out exactly what I wanted. Here's the prompt I used:
I want to visit Oslo, Norway and visit these 4 places:
- Opera house
- Royal Palace
- Vigeland Sculpture Garden
- Karl Johans GateCreate a walking tour that begins where Royal Caribbean cruise ships dock, and ensure the walking tour takes a logical path to minimize backtracking, while taking us through the most scenic and beautiful areas tourists might be interested to see.
Prioritize walking, but if utilizing public transportation (such as the metro system) makes sense, than include that.
Our hours in port are 10am to 6pm, but plan to have us back at the ship by 4pm at the latest.
We have teenagers and tweens with us, so keep the walking pace leisurely.
Suggest spots for lunch or a snack where appropriate, but the 4 places identified are the top priorities to see.
It generated a time based list of each place to visit, how to get there, and what to look for at each spot.
There's a certain amount of trust that its plan will work out, but I was willing to try.
I then asked it to export the tour to a custom Google Map, after reading an unrelated article about how easy it's become to create custom maps.
It initially gave me directions how to add each pinpoint on my own, but at the end it offered to provide a downloadable KML file that I could import into My Maps to save time.
"Heck yea I want to save time!"
It gave me the code to use, I saved it as a file, and then imported the data into Google Maps. Instantly, I had a map planned out with all our stops and in which order to use it.
I repeated this process for each port. After trying it once, it becomes very quick.
Embrace, but use with caution
I loved how easy it all was to create these custom tours, but I was sure to verify it wouldn't lead me astray.
In our first port of Oslo, ChatGPT guessed incorrectly which port we'd dock at. It thought we would be at the Akershus Cruise Terminal, but Independence of the Seas docked near Akker Brygge.
That meant our walking plan was off kilter because our starting point was at a different area of town.
That's not a big deal, because my custom Google Map allowed me to pick the closest spot, and get walking directions and go from there.
In fact, leveraging Google Maps was the best idea. ChatGPT had the plan, but Google Maps gave me real-time advice on if I should walk, taxi, or use public transportation.
I'd advise anyone to export the data into Google Maps to easily reference where you're going.
In Copenhagen, it was correct where we docked and just about everything.
Sometimes the coordinates it used for the custom Map would be off by a block, but it got me so close that I could easily look around and figure it out.
The lesson is you still need to double check your plan as you go, and not simply blindly follow it.
It lacks the benefits of a good tour guide
I think I absolutely did the right thing by planning out my city tour in each port on my own with the assistance of AI, but it couldn't do everything.
I wish I had more information along the way, like I would with a tour. Or at least more information at the places I visited.
On the one hand, I don't love traditional tours where the host points out everything around you at all times and shares an endless stream of historical facts. But on the other hand, I wish there was a little more information about the things we saw.
An audio guide is what I probably want, but audio guides have a lot of extra fluff in them. I'd love to be able to ask questions on the fly, like who is that statue and why are they important? Or what else is nearby that might be cool to see?
Or I could have ChatGPT provide more detail on each stop and I could somehow reference that information in Google Maps or bookmark it somehow.
AI can be a great tool, but it's not foolproof
Without a doubt, using AI to plan my city touring in Europe was a really smart decision that made it so much easier.
I loved how it organized and analyzed what I wanted to do.
However, it was critical that I put in the effort to find interesting things to do rather than rely on it to provide them.
Plus, you can't blindly let it lead you. Consider it your first suggestion, but always double check it as you progress.
Lastly, I'd highly recommend having Google Maps and a cellular data connection so you can make the right transportation decision easily. My favorite eSim to use is Orange sim (this is an affiliate link, that costs you nothing extra but I make a small commission).
