Cruise Buddy

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Add Your First Cruise ​

When Cruise Buddy is empty you'll see a "Plan your first cruise" prompt with a New cruise button. Tap it (or the floating New cruise button on the dashboard once you have cruises added) to open the four-step wizard.

You can fill the wizard in fully now, or just add the basics and come back later — every field except the absolute essentials can be edited from the Edit cruise screen at any time.

📷 Screenshot needed: New cruise wizard – Basics step (/images/getting-started/add-cruise-basics.png)

Step 1 — Basics ​

The Basics step captures the essentials of the booking:

  • Cruise name — what you'll see on the dashboard. Most people use the destination, e.g. "Norway Fjords 2026".
  • Cruise reference — your cruise line's reservation number. If you're sailing with P&O Cruises, this is what Cruise Buddy will use to look up your itinerary automatically.
  • Cruise line — the operator (P&O Cruises, Princess, Royal Caribbean, etc.). Pick from the dropdown or type your own.
  • Ship name — searchable from Cruise Buddy's bundled ship list. Suggestions are filtered by the cruise line you've selected, but you can still type a custom ship name.
  • Booking reference — the reference from the agent or website you booked with.
  • Departure port and Disembarkation port — leave the disembarkation port blank if you return to the same port.
  • Start date and End date — the day you board and the day you disembark.
  • Travellers — the number of people in your party. You can type a number directly, or use the Assigned people section below it to pick individuals from your People list. When people are assigned, the traveller count updates automatically to match.
  • Fly cruise — toggle on if you're flying to or from the ship. Turning this on enables the Flights section in the Travel tab.

Assigned people ​

The Assigned people section underneath the traveller count lets you link specific people from your People list to the cruise. Tap Add traveller to search and pick someone. Each assigned person appears as a chip; tap the × on a chip to remove them.

Assigning people here means their names appear as tappable chips on the Overview tab of the cruise, and they become available in the passenger picker when adding flights on the Travel tab. If no people are assigned, the Overview tab shows the raw traveller count instead.

Step 2 — Cabin ​

  • Cabin number — your cabin or stateroom number.
  • Cabin type — Inside, Outside, Balcony, Suite, etc. If Cruise Buddy has cabin categories for the selected ship, this field suggests them as you type; otherwise it stays free-form.
  • Deck number — used to default the Deck Plans viewer to the right deck.

Step 3 — Price ​

  • Cruise price — the total price you're paying.
  • Deposit paid — the deposit already paid. This is recorded as a payment on the Balance tab.
  • Onboard credit — included onboard credit. This is added to the Spend tab as a negative spend so the running total accounts for it.
  • Final balance due date — when the remainder is due. Cruise Buddy uses this to surface reminders.

Step 4 — Itinerary ​

The Itinerary step lets you build the day-by-day plan up front. For each day:

  • Choose Sea day or Port stop.
  • For port stops, enter a Port or location and Country. Cruise Buddy can geocode the location to drop a pin on the day's map.
  • Optionally add Arrival and Departure times.
  • Add a quick Note if there's anything to remember.

P&O Cruises auto-itinerary

If you're booked with P&O Cruises and you entered a Cruise reference in Step 1, Cruise Buddy can fetch the official itinerary directly from pocruises.com and pre-fill this step for you. Tap the import button on the Itinerary step to try it.

You can also add or change itinerary days later from the Cruise's Itinerary tab.

Saving ​

Tap Save on the final step to create the cruise. You'll be returned to the dashboard, with your new cruise appearing in the Active, Upcoming or Past section based on its dates.

Editing later ​

To edit any of the wizard fields, swipe right on the cruise card on the dashboard and tap Edit cruise, or open the cruise and choose Edit from the action menu. The edit screen has the same four steps so you can jump straight to whatever you need to change.