First Cruise Tips: What Nobody Tells First-Timers

The most useful first cruise tips are about timing, not packing hacks. Fly in the day before, because the ship sails without late passengers. Keep medication, documents and swimwear in a carry-on, because checked bags can reach your cabin after the ship has left port. Read the daily program every evening for all-aboard times and clock changes, and do not book your flight home before about noon.

Almost every expensive first-cruise mistake happens on the first day or the last. Here is what the brochures leave out, in the order you will need it.

Before you book

Choose the cabin’s location, not only its grade. A cabin under the pool deck or above the nightclub costs you sleep however nice it is. Midship on a low or middle deck moves least in a swell. Our guide to the best cabin location on a cruise ship shows what to check on the deck plan.

Sort out documents early. US citizens on closed-loop cruises, which start and end at the same US port, can often sail with a birth certificate and photo ID, but a passport is what gets you home if you have to fly back from a foreign port. The rules and the risk are in do you need a passport for a cruise.

Decide on insurance before final payment. Medicare and most US health plans pay little or nothing at sea or abroad, and the CDC advises cruise travelers to check their coverage and consider insurance that covers medical evacuation and care on board. See our guide to cruise travel insurance for what it covers.

In the weeks before you sail

• Do online check-in as soon as it opens. Carnival opens it 14 days before sailing and requires it, with an arrival appointment, by midnight Eastern the night before. Other lines work the same way.
• Download the line’s app and log in at home. It holds your boarding pass, daily schedule, dining reservations and, on most lines, the muster drill.
• Buy what you know you want before you sail. Wi-Fi, drink packages and specialty dining usually cost less pre-cruise. Carnival’s Wi-Fi plans are $1.60 to $2.50 a day cheaper bought in advance.
• Prepay gratuities if your line allows it, to lock in the rate and keep a few hundred dollars off the final bill.
• Pack with the dress code in mind. Most seven-night cruises have one or two optional dressier nights, and smart casual is still accepted in the main dining room. Our guide to what to wear on a cruise covers each line, and the cruise packing list covers banned items such as irons, garment steamers, candles and, on most lines, surge-protected power strips.

Getting to the port: fly in the day before

This is the single most important first-cruise tip. The ship leaves on schedule, whether or not your flight lands, and missing embarkation is your cost unless a covered delay caused it and your insurance pays out. Even then, insurance returns money, not the vacation.

Cruise lines do publish same-day minimums, and they are tight. Princess’s flight guidelines ask domestic flights to land at least 2 hours before the ship departs at Fort Lauderdale and 3 hours before at Miami, and say Orlando arrivals for Port Canaveral must land by 1:00 p.m. One cancelled flight wipes that out. A hotel near the port the night before costs far less than the cruise you would lose.

Embarkation day

Your checked bags will not arrive with you. Porters take them at the terminal and the crew delivers them to your cabin later. Royal Caribbean says they may arrive after sailaway. Carry everything you need until evening: documents, medication, chargers, swimwear, sunscreen and a change of clothes.

Arrive at your appointment time, not hours early. Boarding windows are staggered, and early arrivals often just wait in the terminal. Cabins on many ships are not released until early afternoon, so plan on lunch and a walk around the ship first.

Do the muster drill. It is mandatory and you will not sail without it. On Royal Caribbean, the drill has three steps: watch the life jacket video and listen to the emergency signal in the app or on your cabin TV, then check in at your assigned muster station. Carnival, Norwegian, Princess and the other big lines use similar systems.

Put your phone in airplane mode before the ship sails. At sea, phones can connect to the ship’s own cellular network, which your carrier bills at maritime roaming rates. Turn Wi-Fi back on separately if you bought a plan.

Book shows and specialty restaurants early. Popular time slots go on the first day, often before you sail.

A simple plan for the first afternoon:

1. Have lunch at the buffet or whichever dining room the app says is open for embarkation day.
2. Complete the muster check-in as soon as stations open, before the queues build.
3. When the cabin is released, check the air conditioning, safe, lights and bathroom, and report problems to guest services that day.
4. Confirm your dinner time and any prepaid packages in the app, since a package missing from your account is easier to fix before you start ordering.
5. Walk the ship once from bow to stern with the deck map, so you can find your way back to the cabin at night.
6. Go up on deck for sailaway.

Money on board

Your cruise card, or the app on some lines, works as a charge card for everything on board. Nothing feels like paying, and the total is easy to lose track of. These are the costs that most often surprise first-timers:

Check the running balance in the app every couple of days. Errors happen, and they are far easier to fix on day four than in the line on the last morning.

Food: more is included than you think

The main dining room, the buffet and most casual counters are included, and you can order as much as you like. Two appetizers, a second main course, two desserts: nobody minds and it costs nothing. The buffet is calmest half an hour either side of the peak lunch rush. If you want a set dinner time and the same table each night, choose traditional dining; if not, flexible dining lets you turn up when you like, though waits are longer at peak hours.

Port days

All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before the ship sails, and it is printed in the daily program and the app. It is on ship time, which may not match the time on your phone in port when the ship has not changed its clocks.

The ship waits for its own tours, not for you. Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Princess commit to waiting for their own late-running excursions, but an independent tour that runs late is your problem. The trade-offs are in ship versus independent excursions.

Take your cruise card and a photo ID ashore, and a copy of your passport photo page if you are carrying the original.

You do not have to get off. A port day with most passengers ashore is the quietest time to use the pools, the spa and the gym.

Staying well on board

The CDC says seasickness still affects up to 25 percent of cruise travelers despite modern stabilizers, so bring a remedy that works for you and take it before you need it. Our guide to cruise seasickness covers what actually helps. The CDC also notes that norovirus causes most gastrointestinal outbreaks on cruise ships, and its advice is simple: wash your hands with soap and water often, especially before eating and after using the restroom. Hand sanitizer at the buffet door is not a substitute.

The last night and leaving the ship

Luggage usually goes outside your cabin door the night before, on most lines by late evening, so pack on the last night and keep out clothes, medication and documents for the morning. If you can carry your own bags, most lines let you walk off early with them instead.

The bill is settled automatically to the card on your account. Check the final statement in the app before you leave.

Do not book an early flight home. Ships dock early, but clearing the ship, collecting bags and passing customs take hours. Princess’s guidelines say domestic flights should leave at least 4 hours after the ship arrives at Fort Lauderdale and 5 hours at Miami, and no earlier than 12:50 p.m. from Orlando after a Port Canaveral cruise. A flight at noon or later is the safe choice, and later still is better when you are flying internationally.