Let’s face it, cruise disembarkation day is the worst day of a cruise! However, it’s till important to plan for the cruise disembarkation process. Cruise passengers want to avoid any cruise disembarkation mistakes, that can cause problems even after the cruise is done.
Whether you’re a first time cruiser, or a seasoned cruiser, these cruise tips can be helpful. In this video we go over cruise disembarkation day tips, as well as things not to do on a cruise debarkation day, or last day of the cruise.
Great for Carnival cruisers, Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, Celebrity cruises, Norwegian cruise line, Holland America & more. These are first time cruise mistakes no one wants to make.
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ABOUT ME
Hi! I’m Ilana! I live in Montreal, Canada with my husband Frank. We can often be found dreaming about and planning future cruises, ideally to hot and sunny destinations! I believe in having fun, being kind and that you are never too old, or too young, to live the life of your dreams!
Please note that I do not sell cruises on Life Well Cruised. This and all other videos are for entertainment purposes only. I share my own opinions, personal experiences and information with other cruise travellers, which I hope can be helpful. Please contact your travel agent or the cruise line directly for advice and any information specific to your booking.
Some video footage courtesy of Royal Caribbean
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46 Comments
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Me and my 7 yyr old daughter went on our first cruise 2 weeks ago. We cruised royal carribean to coco cay an Nassau .we swam with dolphins at blue Lagoon island. We never felt unsafe an had a wonderful time. I watched almost all of your videos b4 we went . So I wanted to give u a shout out on taking your time to give us new cruisers all the tips and tricks. Yiu are the best !! #sailgal #1
🙂
I wish we had known we could change our group to a later debarkation. We had a hotel in Seattle, but were scheduled the first group off. I also wish we had known more about debarkation; that's the one thing I took for granted and really didn't research much. I had NO idea you were supposed to set your luggage out the night before; we got back to our cabin late, and our room steward was like "you gotta hurry if you want us to take your things". Thankfully nothing was forgotten, but that was a pretty big surprise.
Also, when checking the safe please put your hand INSIDE and run it around in there to make sure there's nothing stuck in the corners such as rings or other jewelry, keys, credit cards/wallets that are dark colored.
My bad, I bought a bunch of Rum on a trip to the VI. They take it and store it for when you disembark to be met with your luggage. I was in a hurry and forgot about it so I left too soon. Hats off to RCL, it took a month or so but they sent all 12 bottles to my house! NO ADDITIONAL CHARGES. I'm talking about Rum you can only get there, not your local store. I sent them a Thank you in my survey. $200 off my next cruise. WHAT?
We just got home from our 15 day cruise to Hawaii. Your videos and planer helped so much especially when we had one port canceled do to weather that I had booked a non cruise-related excursion with. I had filled out the excursion sheets from your planner that included the contact information for the excursion company I was able to call them and get refund while still on the ship with the customer service desk phone.
I have a last day tip. We keep on swimsuit in our carry-on the for the last night of the cruise we were able to use the hottub after dinner and we had it to ourselves and it was a great time to recap our trip. Hung them in the shower overnight and were dry to pack in the morning.
Midship elevators?
What about on ship cash? I heard you forfeit the money if you don't use it? Any tos on this subject?
I avoid putting items under the bed. A couple days prior to end of cruise, during down time I start packing items we aren't going to use/wear. And put our final day items in a bag so we aren't doing everything last minute.
We will never self disembark again. Such a hassle lugging suitcases down stairs. Really don’t save any time.
New subscriber here, this video was so helpful! I have a really late flight after our cruise in August and didn’t think about a last day excursion! Great tips! 🙋🏽♀️Hello from Brooklyn!
You are such a wealth of knowledge and I love checking out your clips.. on this clip I heard you say “Rule of thumb”…. By you saying that I am sure you don’t understand what that means.. it means The size of your husbands thumb is the size of the stick he is allowed to hit you with .
I really appreciated all the information. I will have to check about buses to the airport. I love your videos.
Accidentally left my cell phone in the cabin. We did get it back.. but it took 4 months and a lot of phone calls!
Put your cruise card or a shoe in the safe. You can't get off the ship without it. You won't forget anything in the safe.
AirTags help finding your luggage in the “warehouse”.
Somehow our stateroom’s remote control ended up in our suitcase!
Great video as always. Are you able to get off a ship at a port and not return? I’m cruising to Alaska in July and one excursion I was looking forward to was Butchart Gardens. That excursion was canceled as we are arriving too late, around 8 pm. I’d like to get off the ship, stay the night in BC, visit the gardens and take the ferry back to Seattle. Is that doable?
I lost a $30,000 engagement ring in my safe…. Of course it wasn’t found on disembarkation day when I realized it. It was on Royal Caribbean. Thank God it was insured. My steward attendant’s family scored big on that ring.
Very helpfull. Thank you.
Front elevators for self embarkation, great tip. Thanks Ilana!
This month we did a cruise on Royal Caribbean first time we have parked at terminal I recommend. We self embarked since we are always up early we were 3rd in line and they allowed us to start. I'd say Wonder of the Sea has this down to an art no cutting which happened pretty covid. We were in the vehicle and on the road by 630. But wish I'd watch before lol my one mistake was throwing the seapass in my purse. Thanks for sharing your tips
Hello I have a cruise planned in fort Lauderdale, Fl in September. I plan on driving instead of flying because it is cheaper but I am trying trying to figure out where to park my car. Could I park my car at the Airport and is there a shuttle that takes personnel to the celebrity cruise line port?
The last cruise, we had a late flight back. I wish I had booked an excursion instead of waiting in the airport.
My wife and I have done 5 back to back cruises. Awesome. On the second cruise you are unpacked, know the secret places on the ship and kind of have the ship to yourself for about half a day.
I remember my first cruise the disembarkation was so miserable. I remember sitting in the ship’s atrium for hours waiting for my group to be called. If only I had known self-disembarkation was an option!
Love your planner!
love your advice… our only 2nd cruise .we are ex barcelona and have had so many cruise tips, thak you illiana
7:20 On most lines room service is not available on debarkation morning. They want you out of your cabin, not staying in it to eat or leaving more dirty dishes to clear on turnaround day.
I start packing my clothes two days head I have learning disabilty works for me
Hi! First time cruiser, group of 5 moms, 5 teens 🎉. We need to arrange a transfer in Barcelona to our accommodations, however they need a disembarkation time…what would a reasonable time to tell them that we will be able to get off the ship? It docks at 5am. Thanks!!
We left several bathing suits in a drawer that we forgot to check.😮
I wished I have had heard your video before my last Royal Caribbean Cruise.
I lost my SeaPass card for an about an hour before reporting it.
I got a new Card reissue but never imagined that the old one was not going to be disable right away. Someone got hold of my card and went shopping, used my card and made a lot of purchases.
It took me over 2+weeks to solve the Fraud committed with my card and to get a refund.
I made over 12 phone calls to finally talk to someone that was able to help me.
Please if you loose your SeaPass card do not leave the Ship without checking your final Statement on embarkation day.
Save yourself some time and aggravation.
I had such a negative experienced post Cruise. I felted very frustrated, and hopeless. Before and during your Cruise they all care about you and your money but once your Cruise is done they just don’t care anymore…
Thanks Llana!!
I made the mistake of not checking my last invoice. I did check it 5 days into the cruise. Great tip on that. I had bought refrigerator magnets of ships 🚢 in Bermuda and forgot them as I put them on the wall and when I double checked the room, I forgot to look up the wall. 🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️ Left my souvenirs in the stateroom. Always look up as well.
I have a question about using your phone to use the cruiseline app and checking your invoice. How can you do this if you don’t have an internet package on the ship?
Thank you for all you videos! So helpful!
Thank you Ilana for all you do. I worry about everything when I travel. Your video's are so helpful. I have a huge list of them saved so I can go back over them a couple of months before I cruise. 😂
Your videos are awesome. We are on a 10 day Quebec City-Maritimes-Boston-Ft.Lauderdale cruise late September to Oct 10th. We have an excurison booked with airport transfer that morning. Have you used Luggage forward? We are thinking about using it. Anyone else have any experience with this?
Go early skip breakfast! 7:15
Ilana possibly one of your best tips. We were given tags for a 6:45 disembarkation. I left a note for our attendant and now we have 9am tags – thanks a million, what a super tip. 🎉
Have you ever done a early disembarkation like I wanna get off in Columbia instead of Tampa ….
I decided to get flights home the day following the cruise,but am not sure what people do with their luggage between disembarkation until hotel check in at 3pm? Do any of you have advice or recommendations for hotels in miami they have had really good experiences with as I plan this part?
Thank you for all your tips and advice for both embarkation and debarkation. It was my first cruise with Royal Caribbean and we went with carryon and a personal bag each. Self debarkation was easy.
Please please please. If you are traveling with children, make sure they can control their luggage. Too many times I’ve seen smaller kids trying to carry a suitcase that weighs more than they do while dad and mom are trying to hurry. Don’t rely on kids to carry large suitcases.
A lot of the errors people make with airlines can probably be attributed to scheduling through the cruise line. The recommended flights are usually the same day, within a few hours of embarkation and disembarkation. Luckily I'm a worrier and decided early in the process to allow more time so we'll be arriving the day before our cruise