What to Expect on Your First Cruising Holiday

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Your first cruise? Here is what you need to know about a typical initial embarkation process

Testing the waters by taking your first cruise? Make sure you have your passport and any visas required (in some countries – such as the People’s Republic of China, or Russia – you might go ashore on organized excursions under a group visa). Pack any medication you may need, and advise family members and friends where you are going. You already have been sent your cruise tickets and documents by the cruise line or your travel agent. Increasingly, e-documents are provided. A typical document package might include:

• Air ticket (or e-ticket boarding pass or reference code)
  
• Cruise ticket
  
• Luggage tags
  
• Embarkation card (to fill out before you get to the embarkation point)
  
• Discount coupons for the shops on board
  
• Bon Voyage gift selection form
  
• Shore excursion brochure
  
• Onboard credit account form
  
• Guide to services on board (including e-mail)
  
• Ship’s telephone and fax contact numbers
  
• Coupon for tuxedo rental

Assume that you’ve arrived at the airport closest to your ship’s embarkation point, and retrieved your luggage. It is likely that there will be a representative from the cruise line waiting, holding aloft the company’s name. You will be asked to place your luggage in a cluster together with those of other passengers. The next time you see your luggage should be aboard your ship, where it will be delivered to your cabin.

You will be asked for your passport, which you deposit with the check-in personnel. Be sure to ask for a receipt – it is, after all, a valuable document, and preferably have a photocopy of the main pages to keep with you. If you are cruising from any other port in the world that is not a US port, be advised that each country has its own check-in requirements, setups, and procedures (passport control and inspection, for example).

Documents in hand, you will then proceed through a security-screening device, for both your person and hand luggage, as at airports. Next, you’ll walk a few paces towards the gangway. This may be a covered, airport-type gangway, or an open one (hopefully with a net underneath it in case you drop something over the side). The gangway could be flat, or you may have to walk up (or down) an incline, depending on the location of the gangway, the tide, or other local conditions.

Once on the gangway, you will feel a heightened sense of anticipation. At the ship end of the gangway, you will find a decorated (hopefully) entrance and the comfortable feel of air-conditioning if the weather is hot. The ship’s cruise staff will welcome you aboard. Give them your cabin number, and a steward should magically appear to take your carry-on luggage from you and take you directly to your cabin. At last you’ve arrived.

Things to check

The door to your cabin should be open. If it is locked, ask the steward to obtain the key to open the door. Aboard the newest ships, you will probably be handed an electronically coded key card. Once inside the cabin, take a good look. Is it clean? Is it tidy? Are the beds properly made? Check under them to make sure the floor is clean. On one cruise I found a pair of red ladies’ shoes, but, alas, no lady to go with them.

If there are problems, bring them to the attention of your cabin steward immediately. Or call the purser’s office (or reception desk), and explain the problem, then quietly, but firmly request that someone in a supervisory position see you to resolve it.

Your luggage probably will not have arrived yet (if it is a ship carrying more than 1,000 passengers) so don’t sit in the cabin waiting for it. Put your hand luggage away somewhere, and, deck plan in hand, take a walk.

Familiarize yourself with the layout of the ship. Learn which way is forward, which way is aft, and how to reach your cabin from the main stairways. This is also a good time to learn how to get from your cabin to the outside decks in an emergency (these are rare, but they do happen).

Regulations dictate that a drill must take place within 24 hours after the ship sails from the embarkation port, but a Passenger Lifeboat Drill typically takes place before the ship sails.

After the drill (you’ll find your lifejacket in the cabin and directions to your assembly station will be posted on the back of the cabin door), you can take off the lifejacket and relax. By now, your luggage probably will have arrived. Unpack, then go out on deck just before the ship sails. It’s always a magical moment, and a good time to meet some new faces. You’ll soon be ready for that first night’s dinner. It is simply amazing how the sea air gives you an appetite.

Berlitz Guide © Apa Publications 2008