Making Magnets has been an integral part of the planning process for me ever since our Med cruise in 2010. I spend many happy hours looking through the Photobuckets of talented designers to find inspiration and then request my favourite designs. I like that this makes our door look more personal and also helps us to find our cabin quicker in a corridor where every door looks like the next. On some of our more recent cruises, I had difficulties with Magnets not sticking to the door properly and falling off. So for the last cruise, I decided to just laminate the designs and stick magnetic tape to the back. This worked extremely well and none of the magnets moved even slightly. So this is what I have done again this time. The only slight issue is that my cheap laminator is getting rather too hot after a while and this makes the edges curl. Still, I had plenty of time to get the magnets done and just laminated them in small badges of 6 to 8 at a time.
Normally most of my magnets are pretty generic. Although they tend to be personalized with the date of the cruise, the actual design could be used for any cruise. I then have a few magnets that are specific to the itinerary or to the ports of call. This cruise is different. I have a few generic Magnets, but most of them are specific to the itinerary or the ports of call. Here are my generic magnets:
Other than that my magnets fall into four categories: Itinerary Specific, general Panama Canal, Panama Canal 100th Anniversary and Ports of Call.
The star attraction of this cruise is definitely the Panama Canal for me. So I have a nice variety of magnets for this. This is also a rather special year for the Panama Canal. In August of this year, the Panama Canal will celebrate its 100th anniversary so of course I need some magnets to commemorate this this.
Normally I have one or two magnets with the itinerary on them, but I recently came across some great designs that are symbols made up of words. I really like those and they contain all the ports of calls and other information about this cruise. I also have a couple of more traditional itinerary magnets.
While I was browsing, I came across some really cute porthole designs with the ports of call for a Med itinerary. I asked if something like this could be done for the ports for this cruise. I really love how they have come out.
Another designer did some different port graphics for me and I really love them, too.
Now I just have to find the time to actually add the magnetic tape, but that can be a task for the weekend.
like you I have had several pillowcases done for the girls over the years and once home not known really what to do with them, but the plate would be a lovely idea 
Sealions wonderful! I hope you manage to get to the market this visit. Those crafts sound very charming. It must be difficult to pace yourself on souvenirs with luggage restrictions on flight home! Although I have to admit we always purchase an extra bag now lol...
