In addition to the Spa tour visit on day one, it's beneficial to visit the theater box office to make reservations for any shows that you want to see. Not only do you get better choices on desired timing, you can now coordinate your evening dining plans around the known show times. The Box office staff can also let you know of the times and dates of other performances not requiring reservations that you may be interested in. You'll know well in advance of these opportunities rather than finding out from the Dailies schedules the night before and can make plans accordingly. On some cruise lines, the box office staff also manages tender boat scheduling behind the scenes. You can ask about advice for getting good time slots for tendering, and they can let you know their recommendations.
Great tips! I try to clear the muster drill as soon as I board. So happy it's being done virtually or semi-virtually. NCL required a check-in at muster station after watching the video on-line and CCL had a very brief in-person demo. Both were quick & easy. Avoid trying to carry on all your luggage. Check everything you can and go light. Depending on when you board, you may have to lug your things around the ship with you for hours. Also understand that check-in time at the port does not necessarily mean boarding time. Ships don't usually start boarding until 11a/12p but might give you a check-in time at 9a, meaning you'll be in a holding pattern until boarding can begin.
Im a pretty chill cruiser. Getting to the port city atleast 1 day early with all required documents is my only absolute must do. Everything else Im pleased to go with the flow and just take it all in.
Hi Sheri and Cttv family. My tip is for those who have to wear the patch behind your ear for vertigo and seasickness. Put that bad boy on the night before you board. I found out the hard way on our first cruise 10+ yrs ago. By not doing this it makes embarkation day less fun and it may prevent ya from enjoying the food , drinks and sail away party. Glad to hear y'all are getting rain but hope you are able to stay away from flooding situations. 🛳💚✈️
I was on the Viking Mars last year for a cruise with my dad. As far as I know, only the buffet was open the first meal on the cruise (lunch). I also found that if breakfast is provided at your hotel, you should probably eat breakfast even if you plan to eat after you get on the ship. (On this Viking cruise, my dad and I didn’t eat breakfast and was going to wait until lunch on the ship. The buffet was open but personally I wasn’t a big fan of the offerings that day…I did eat a little but I was starving by dinner time. 😂)
Also wear comfortable shoes on embarkation day, I wore shoes before because they looked good with my outfit. I rubbed a blister the first day of my cruise and that was just from walking around the ship (these were not new shoes either). If you plan to walk around the ship the first day, wear sneakers.
I have another reason why you should print your boarding docs. My recent cruise did not have any of my OBC credits for some reason. I was able to show the OBC desk my credits and then they were able to fix it. I would have had to wait until I contacted my TA to correct without it. You can't get to it on your app once you are your ship if its an error. Plus, technology does go down so better to have a back up. Save a copy of your edocs on your phone or tablet too. if you booked your flight thru the cruiseline, it will have your flight information so you can double check and show the airline if something happens.
Aussie here, off on our very first cruise next month to New Zealand, from Melbourne. We're in NSW so we have booked first class seats on the XPT train from Sydney to Melbourne the day before and it's now part of our holiday. So excited!
Don’t forget to have a backpack filled with swimsuit, coverup,poolside shoes, sunscreen etc for when to use after boarding and maybe having something to eat, until your luggage is delivered to your stateroom.
One thing I have learned the hard way for embarkation day is wear comfortable, weather appropriate clothing and the really big one, comfy broken in shoes. You will be surprised at how much walking you do on embarkation day and getting a nasty blister on day one is no fun. Also it’s hot in Florida ya’all, you are going to sweat.
We plan our travel to the port after we schedule our arrival time online. Same with the return home. We don't line up a service or taxi until we are officially off the ship, and have bags in hand. Lyft or Uber will only wait for 5 minutes, and sometimes that isn't enough to avoid a cancellation charge. Pro-active, not reactive.
The thing I like to avoid on cruises is packing my luggage the day before I go to the port. I usually pack 2-3 days before I leave for the port, which I sail out of Port Canaveral
Put your stateroom number on masking tape attached to your bag in case the cruise line tag gets torn off. We had one of the plastic holders with metal cord get torn off.
My travel agent always sends us laminated luggage tags with a loopy thing to attach to our luggage. I love this. Don’t forget sunscreen in your carry on bag on ship. Made this mistake and got burnt my first day on cruise 😔
So glad I came across your channel! I’ve been doing tons of research on what to bring, what to do/not do, and packing tips since this will be my husband and I’s very first cruise. We’ll be going on Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas Feb. 5th! Thanks for all the helpful tips! I’ve been so nervous that I’m going to forget something 😅 Hoping for a smooth embarkation day out of Galveston, TX!
One of the worst things I've done on embarkation day is wear something uncomfortable. Despite the suggestions to pack extra clothes or swim suit in my carry-on bag, I never made use of them so I stopped doing it...which meant when I ended up wearing a less than comfortable outfit, I was miserable until my luggage came and I could strip into literally anything else.
First family cruise. Embarking on Norwegian Bliss Jan 22. We’ve got 5 kiddos (ages 13-4) and we are so excited! I hope to start packing in the next few days! All these videos and tips have been so helpful.
Going on a cruise in a hot climate… always take a swim costume and sun tan lotion in my backpack… it was Boiling the day we got to London (Tilbury cruise port) and I wished I’d had a T-shirt with me .. had a long sleeved T-shirt and sweated until we got our suit cases and Could’ve had a swim and a sunbathe till state room were open
We're good! The only thing we do we shouldn't is rush to the buffet after we get a cocktail, and we never really had to talk to the maitre d. Good tips though... We always tell our traveling companies to fly in a day early because stuff happens!
108 Days till we are in your neck of the woods on the Panorama! Driving from DFW to Longbeach. We travel carry-on only, so m backpacks and both 22" rolling luggage stay with us and we board around 12:45 or 1pm most of the time so just take my stuff with me to the room and have everything with us.
If I knew that I would have as I missed my cruise last year due to flight out of Adelaide South Australia as I was flying out in the day of the cruise as they say hindsight it's a wonderful thing
Did almost everything your mention EXCEPT the spa tour and took a look at the playground. And this was on the Carnival Mardi Gras a week ago!!😂😂 Plus (Delta airlines) our luggage was 50lbs + & had to pay the $100....wait I think I got a break . ☺ This was our 2nd cruise!!😂😂 Goin to keep these tips on the playlist for our next 🛳 in '25
Hello! Always a delight to listen to you all! Thanks for the reminders! i have been enjoying catching up on all your podcasts! Adds such smiles to my day! Counting down our cruise--- 16 DAYS! Celebrating 30yr anniversary on NCL Escape going to Caribbean! Cant wait!
Wonderful tips!!! We showed up to Long Beach within our window of time. There was one line everyone was in that went to the parking area. When we neared the front of the line we noticed there was multiple areas people broke into. We were about 10 min. past our arrival time at that point. We explained & begged for forgiveness to the staff directing, and they let us enter with the crowd entering at that time. We found out that they had a special line for anyone that was late, and it was about an extra 2 hours to embark in that area we found out later! Wowzer!!! It isn't like it was in the past where you could just sign up for early embarking and show up late..
Some of these are such basic common sense. It's sad people think a bag will be at their door immediately or that bringing some items is okay. Reminding people they're on a major cruise with 2,000 to 6,000 people seems to really upset them. You're not paying luxury line prices. Why do you expect luxury line service at a fraction of the cost? 🙃
Do you recommend avoiding MDR on first night? I thought I heard that somewhere and made a reservation for specialty dining on our HAL Alaska cruise in June. Thoughts on this?
Happened to us one time when we booked our airfare through the cruise line we made it but it was just in time it was super stressful and aggravating before I even got on the boat
Princess let’s you choose your flight - the only way to do it. We are usually flying internationally across the continent and try to arrive 2 or even 3 days beforehand. This makes for a much more relaxing start to the cruise and helps with the time change.
Thanks so much for this Sheri I agree with everything your the best 💛💛💓💙💙💙❤️❤️💓🤍🤍💗🖤🖤💚💛❤️💙💙💗💞💞💞💖❤️🔥❤️🔥💖💘💞🤍🧡🖤💜💚💛❤️💓💙💙💙💙❤️💛💚💚💛💗🧡🤍💗🖤❤️🔥💖💞💞💖❤️🔥🛳️🛳️🛳️🛳️🛳️🛳️💜💜💜💚💛🖤💗🖤🖤💗🤍
