Cruise in the Southern Caribbean. Day 1. Boarding. What new cruisers need to know.

Still, cruises should be counted from the first day you board the liner. This is right.
For some reason, I counted our first two cruises from the first day when you wake up on the ship and go to breakfast. And your first cruise day begins.
But now I realized, already on our third cruise, that it is not correct to think so.

Boarding on Day 1 is at lunchtime. That is, from lunch you can already swim in the pool, sunbathe, dance, drink cocktails and Coca-Cola, enjoy the rest on the upper deck and even just go and sleep in your cabin, which you have already settled in.
And all this while still in the port, when you have not even gone to sea.

When you went out to sea, restaurants open for dinner, and you already have a full dinner. Who is in the same dining restaurant. Where is the buffet usually located?
Who is in a restaurant where waiters serve you at their own table, which they give you, and with neighbors that you will have permanently.

Thus, the first boarding day is Day 1 of the cruise.

How did we land on the liner this time.
Everything was very simple.

You need to understand that we had, of course, different concerns. Do not forget that cruise companies did not work for 2 years, ships were in ports, there were no cruises.
We didn't know if all the restrictions had already been lifted. And, although information from the cruise company came to the post office that there were no restrictions anymore, we still took vaccination certificates with us (we are vaccinated), and we even took a paper that we had recently been vaccinated against the flu. with myself.
And we also took covid tests with us so that if something suddenly went wrong, we could do the tests right there.
In general, the past almost 3 years of the pandemic affected the fact that we tried to take with us everything that they might ask us.

In fact, they didn't ask for ANYTHING.
We went through customs and were on board in just 10 minutes.
Routine passport checks, scans, some questions and - welcome on board, enjoy your trip.
In general, everything is fast and without problems.

What do first-time cruisers need to know?

About luggage.

1. Stickers for luggage.

You need to print the stickers that came from the cruise company at home on your luggage, and fix them with a stapler or tape so that they stick to your suitcases and bags.

This is how it looks.

When you drive up to the terminal at the port where your liner is standing and where you will come through customs, you will be immediately met by loaders.
As a rule, they are dressed in the uniform or vests of port employees.
They will immediately want to take your suitcases, which you will later see standing outside your cabin.
You give them the suitcases and tips.
In our case, it was $10 per suitcase, that is, we gave $20 to the porter.

Can you not give your suitcases to an obscure porter and take them inside with you?
To be honest, I can't tell. Because we haven't tried it.

2. Backpacks or other hand luggage.

Experienced cruisers know that suitcases can get to their cabins fairly quickly (depending on which porters, depending on where your cabin is located).
And your suitcases can reach your cabins only after a few hours.
Since most passengers prefer not to waste time, but to go up to the upper deck and already start sunbathing and swimming, you better take bathing suits with you in your hand luggage, a set of what to change into later, some slippers or flip flops on your feet instead of hiking sneakers, for example.
And then you will not wait for your suitcases, but simply start your cruise right from the moment you land.

Are luggage lost?
Yes, sometimes it happens, just like sometimes it happens during flights, nothing more.
I always take at least one change of underwear in my backpack, shorts - a T-shirt for changing in the cabin and sun. my equipment (laptop and all charging cords).
So, if suddenly my suitcase wants to travel without me, for the first time I have everything, and everything else can be bought on the ship or in the ports where we stop.

This is how passengers spend their time on the upper deck even before the ship leaves.

Ready for your cabin.

Everything is different here.
During the first cruise, we waited for our room to be ready in the main foyer of the ship until we announced that our room was ready over the speakerphone.
Perhaps this was due to the fact that we went on a cruise after Hurricane Matthew, all cruise liners were very late in disembarking passengers, boarding our ship was also delayed, perhaps this was due to the fact that the cabins were not yet cleaned up and ready for a new cruise.

This time we just boarded the ship and went to our cabin, the key to which was already in an envelope that was stuck in our room.
On our ship there were no mailboxes near the cabin (many ships have them, and then you will find the entire cruise schedule and everything that is brought to you every day in these boxes).

We took out a magnetic key card and went into our cabin.

First videos from the ship:

To be continued.

All photos and videos are the property of the author.

Read the first posts about our South Caribbean cruise here:

1. Cruise in the Southern Caribbean.

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