1. Prepare and pack well in advance. Spread the stress of making travel arrangements, packing, doing notifications, etc. out over the month before the cruise. That way you will not start your vacation stressed.
2. Drive to the port of embarkation the night before unless you live close. Many cruise ship port hotels will offer you a week's free parking in their parking lot and a free breakfast if you stay with them the night before the cruise departure. The winter is the off season in beach towns and they are desperate for business. Many will even help you arrange taxi service to the ship. You are going to have to pay for parking anyway. This way there is no question of your missing your boarding.
3. Schedule an early boarding time. Most ships start boarding at 1:00 PM for a late afternoon departure. If you board at 1:00, you can go straight to your cabin, park your carry on luggage and other gear, freshen up a little bit and head straight for the nearly empty dining rooms and buffets for a nice lunch included in the price of your cruise. You will then have a couple of hours to explore the ship or take advantage of the great "day of boarding" discounts while everyone else is scrambling to get through the boarding process. If you want massages, spa treatments, etc. this is the time to do it. Discounts may be as much as 50% during boarding hours.
4. Do not pack an outfit to wear on the return trip home. There will be a small laundrette not far from your cabin. Simply wash the outfit you wore on the trip down and put it back on when you are ready to leave the ship for your return. This also means you don't have to over-pack underwear, socks, etc. since the laundry is so handy. Leave your heavy coat, gloves and cold weather gear in your car. You're not going to need them on the cruise. Usually, a light jacket is all you need in the port and on the ship.
5. Pack light. Sheila and I each have a shoulder bag where we carry our ID, money, electronics, spare glasses and emergency meds. We also have a small high quality carry on rolling "pilot's case" that contains our weeks supply of meds, med devices, toiletries, a couple of changes of underwear, a bathing suit and a change of clothes. These stay with us through boarding and are not checked. Everything else fits in one medium sized rolling suitcase that is checked.
6. Pack Casual. Shorts and golf shirts for men and shorts and tank tops for ladies and of course bathing suits and cover ups are all that are needed for daytime wear. Many cruise lines only have one or two "formal nights" in their dining rooms. The rest of the time "resort casual" is fine. That means a shirt with a collar and slacks for a man and nice summery dresses or pant outfits for ladies. If you are careful to choose mix and match items you will only need to pack two or three of each. Jeans, athletic wear and shorts are frowned on in dining rooms in the evening. Athletic wear may not be allowed at any time. Men can pack good quality dockers instead and get double duty out of one pair of pants. Ladies can choose "packable" comfy light dresses and skirts to get the same benefit. If you want to do the "formal night" that's fine. Pack for it. But, on those nights you can also eat at one of the several buffets and specialty restaurants and save yourself the bother of another piece of luggage.
7. Mark your checked bags with streamers that you can spot easily. There will be literally hundreds of pieces of luggage just like yours. You need to be able to spot yours instantly from a distance. I use
yellow "Crime Scene" tape. It always gets my bags checked through at a
high priority.
8. Carry on anything you can't do without. We have never had a lost
luggage problem but we have heard some real horror stories. Pack your
meds, medical devices, spare glasses, essential toiletries and a change
of undies or two in your carry on bag and keep it with you until you are
safely in your cabin.
9. Check carefully before you spend too much on a phone plan. You may not even need one. If an emergency develops back home you can always be contacted through the ships satellite radio communication center. Just make sure family and friends have that number. I discovered that my phone plan (T-Mobile) actually covers Mexico, most of Central America and some of the Caribbean. So, every time we pull into port, I check and usually have phone and sometimes even SLOW data service.
10. Check carefully before you spend too much on a data plan. Do you really want to be on the internet that much on your vacation? I usually spring for a relatively cheap ($5.00 a day) social media only plan that lets me stay in contact with close friends, send a few selfies etc. It's more than enough.
11. Think about staying on board in port. Unless you just positively absolutely have to say that you set foot in Honduras or Jamaica think about spending the day on the ship. It will be deserted from approximately 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM. This is wonderful time to enjoy the pools, hot tubs and other recreational facilities without the crowds. This is also a wonderful time to get know some of the crew.
12. Don't do anything stupid. There is a long list of prohibited items (like guns and other weapons, booze, illegal drugs, etc) as well as other do's and dont's. Read it carefully and just do what it says. Cruise ship boarding is handled by the TSA. While I have always found cruise port TSA officers to be far more friendly and helpful than their counterparts in airports they will still send you to jail with federal charges for breaking the rules. Once you board the ship you are in a foreign country. The laws of the country where the ship is registered will apply and the Captain and his security staff have complete control. Again, just play by the rules because the alternatives are very unpleasant.
These are a few of the things we have learned from our research and experiences that help us enjoy our cruises. We hope they help you as well.
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Postcript: After we booked this cruise, I developed an arrhythmia and my cardiologist recommend we not get that far from medical help until it was properly diagnosed and controlled, a procedure which often takes weeks or months. So we had to cancel. As difficult as this was, Covid broke out on cruise ships during the period we had booked. So, it would appear that hard as it was to accept a new physical concern we may have also dodged a major bullet.
