Reply To: JoCo Cruise Crazy 3: All About the Ship

Another bit while I’m thinking about it:

Board the ship as early as possible on embarkation day. The ship usually begins boarding around 11-11:30am, with possible delays due to customs/disembarkation delays from the previous cruise. Priority boarding begins with suite and upper-level Crown & Anchor society members first, followed by general boarding.

Once on board, there are several options open for lunch, but not the main dining room. Keep in mind that you’ll have whatever carry-on luggage with you until they open the rooms around 1-1:30ish. Then you can drop off your carry-ons in the room. Later that afternoon/evening, luggage that you left with the porters will be delivered outside your door. I suggest keeping anything you may need including a change of clothes for dinner (if needed) in your carry-on in case the luggage isn’t delivered in time. And, of course, all medications and gadgetry should be in your carry-on as well.

Now, the reason I say to board the ship early is because you’re paying for that day – you might as well get on the ship and start enjoying those amenities. It’s also the best time to explore and take pictures of this beautiful ship. Having that extra time before everyone is on board to learn the lay of the land… err ship, really helps. Though it is a large ship, it isn’t so hard to figure out where everything is once you get used to it. If you are so inclined, you can download PDFs of the deck plans. For our last cruise, I kept them on my iPad just in case, but never needed to refer to them once on board.

Ok, I’ll stop babbling now!