Lori’s Cruise Tips & Advice
Passports
Traveling with a Passport (book, NOT card) is best! While you may sometimes be able to cruise without a passport, if there were to be any emergency (for you OR a loved one back home) you would NOT be able to consider flying into the U.S. from a foreign destination unless you have a passport. This peace of mind is priceless. BONUS: The passport line when disembarking the cruise ship is always much shorter!
REAL ID-compliant Driver’s License
Beginning May 7, 2025, all air travelers 18 years of age and older will need a REAL ID-compliant driver's license or another acceptable form of ID (a passport) to fly within the United States.
Arrive Early
Whether driving or flying to your cruise port, I strongly recommend arriving to the city of embarkation at least a day prior to your cruise to avoid any traffic or flight delays that could cause you to miss your cruise. A restful night at a hotel near your cruise port totally beats the stress of traveling on the day of your cruise AND gets your vacation started early. A win-win!
Luggage - Boarding
When you board the ship the hallways to guest rooms are typically locked while staff finishes cleaning until around 1-3 pm, so I recommend dropping at least your larger bags off with the porters outside the terminal to deliver to your stateroom (they will set them in the hall outside your room). This way you aren't stuck lugging all of them around while you wait to get into your room. On this first day the public areas are usually quite packed and elevators are the busiest on this day and disembarkation day so it can add some stress to the day trying to get around with heavy luggage.
Airplane Mode
To avoid unexpected roaming charges at sea or in foreign destinations, I recommend turning airplane mode on any cell phones and connecting to the ship’s free wifi to continue using the cruise line’s app, or connect to paid wifi if you purchased a wifi package. You can usually share the purchased wifi between different devices, but only one can be connected at a time.
Extra Keys
You can always visit Guest Services and request extra keycards for your room(s), and this may be especially helpful if you have kids cruising in a separate room.
All-Aboard Times & Excursions
When getting off the ship at your ports of call, be sure that you know the all-aboard time AND that you have the accurate ship’s time on your watch/phone. I strongly recommend being back onboard at least an hour or 2 before the ship departs. The ship WILL NOT WAIT for late arrivals and travel insurance will not cover expenses if this happens due to negligence. Excursions booked with the cruise line that run late are the only possible exception, which is why I highly encourage booking cruise line excursions over other options.
Luggage – Disembarkation
There are generally 2 different options for disembarking - Luggage Assistance or Self Carry (you can decide on the last full day of the cruise). If you choose to have Luggage Assistance you will need to have your large bags packed and set in the hallway outside your room the evening before the cruise ends. The staff will collect these bags and place in a section in the cruise terminal for you to grab after you get off the ship. With this option you will have an assigned time to disembark. If you're in a time crunch situation I would not recommend this option. If you go this route, remember to keep an outfit in your room for the next day - people have been known to disembark in their pj's due to forgetting this, lol!
If you choose Self Carry you will most likely be in one of the first groups called to disembark and you will need to carry all of your luggage off the ship.
Plan on having oodles of extra patience on disembarkation morning as elevators are crazy busy and packed with people and luggage. Being the first off as early as possible can help avoid the bulk of the crowd!
