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For all our non-cruisers, embarkation day refers to the day you get on the ship. Its usually an equally exciting and hectic day. Between traveling to the cruise terminal, check-in, boarding, and waiting to get into your room, it can be A LOT if you don’t know what to expect.
Here are my top tips for Embarkation Day from a very well experienced cruise traveler.
- Know your boarding time
- Cruise lines have started to give you windows of time to check into help move embarkation along. All passengers need to be on board no later than hour before sailing time (but be sure to check your cruise line policies). If you are traveling far I would recommend getting in the day before to make sure you don’t risk missing the ship.
- Organize your boarding papers
- Prior to your sailing, the cruise line will be sending you paperwork you need to print and complete and bring to sailing. I suggest grabbing a folder and organizing all your papers.
- In additional to the cruise forms you will need a passport (or birth certificate and drivers license), credit card, and printed luggage tags provided by the cruise line.
- Decide on luggage and pack accordingly.
- When cruising you have the option to check bags or carry on. On a 7-day cruise we tend to check bags as well as carry items on we need for that day. It does take some time to get your bags delivered to your room, so if you plan to head to the pool or an early dinner be sure to pack everything you need for that day and night into your carry-on bag.
- Be sure not to pack to heavy, because it could be a few hours you are lugging around bags until you can check into your room.
- Waiting for your Stateroom
- One of the biggest shockers to newbie cruisers is that you don’t have access to your stateroom as soon as you get on board. Remember that this ship just let off it’s last load of passengers hours before you arrived. Be patient and give them time to get your stateroom ready.
- Once you arrive on board you will be able to access food and drinks, so be sure to not over pack your carry on like mentioned previously as the ship is congested in common areas while people wait to get into their room.
- Prepare for the Emergency Drill
- Whether your cruise line does a true mustard drill or they have automated the process, you will need to do some sort of emergency drill before sailing, so don’t try to skip out!
- Watch the Sail Away
- Once you get checked in, get on board, and finally get in your room. Be sure to explore the ship and find the perfect place to watch sail away and let your vacation begin!!