If it’s your first time cruising, you likely have a lot of questions and might be feeling a bit overwhelmed. While embarking on a cruise for the first time is thrilling, it’s quite different than setting off on any other type of adventure. One of the primary differences between cruising and land-based vacations centers around getting on and off the ship.

As a travel advisor, I love helping the cruise curious find the perfect ship and cruise line. I also love providing them with tips and tricks that simplify the process and make it far less overwhelming. I’m chatting all about embarkation and getting off/on the ship during port days. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know to simplify the process.

Easy Cruise Embarkation: Tips to Simplify Boarding

Embarkation is the term cruise lines use to talk about the process of passengers and crew boarding the vessel for its next sail. For first time cruisers, this can seem overwhelming, but it certainly doesn’t have to be if you follow the tips and tricks below along with all directions from the crew at the cruise terminal.

Embarkation tip 1: Check in as soon as possible

In the technological age, it’s much easier to go ahead and schedule your embarkation check in time early. Your check-in time will be a window of about half an hour in which you’ll arrive to the port and begin the check-in process. Completing the online check in process as early as possible typically means being assigned an earlier arrival time.

Early arrival times are fantastic because they offer extended time to enjoy the ship. Additionally, the ship is less crowded during the early arrival windows because everyone hasn’t boarded yet. This means you can leisurely enjoy a meal, explore the ship, and get your bearings earlier in the day.

Embarkation tip 2: Fly in the day before embarkation

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen first time cruisers make is flying in on embarkation day. Unfortunately, flights can get delayed or cancelled. If you intend to fly in and drive to port on embarkation day, this leaves little to no margin for error and could result in missing the cruise entirely. Flying the day before allows you to wake up and enjoy a leisurely simple morning prior to boarding your cruise.

Additionally, even if things go smoothly with flights, you may feel rushed. Feeling rushed can often lead to forgetfulness, stress and emotions running high. Creating some margin by flying in the day prior allows you to be mindful ahead of boarding time and make sure your belongings are exactly where they need to be.

Embarkation tip 3: Complete what you can ahead of time

Technology has really allowed cruise lines to maximize time and make things more efficient. In our post-COVID world, most cruise lines require a health check twenty-four to forty-eight hours prior to boarding. Most times this process takes less than ten minutes and asks fairly simple questions about your health and if you’ve had any major symptoms of illness in the past few days.

Most cruise lines have also moved portions of their mandatory safety briefing online. While you’ll likely be required to check in at your muster station with a crew member once onboard, complete the available portions of the briefing prior to boarding so you can spend your time onboard experiencing all your cruise vessel has to offer!

Embarkation tip 4: Arrive at your scheduled arrival time

If there’s one thing I can’t stress enough, it’s arriving at your scheduled time. This is especially true if the ship is considered large or a mega ship. When people arrive outside of their arrival window (either too early or too late) it creates bottlenecks within the system that can be difficult to fix. Arriving on time, or about ten to fifteen minutes prior to your check-in time, is tremendously beneficial and the crew and other passengers will silently thank you.

When considering time, make sure to account for parking if you drove. This can be a lengthy process depending on th