Boarding day cruise ship tips for 2022

we've shared a lot of boarding day tips over the years but what should you know about the first day of your cruise in 2022 i've got the boarding day tips for the reality of cruising right now sharing with you up next [Music] hey everyone it's matt from royal caribbean blog.com the first day of your cruise embarkation day is a really fun day it's the beginning of your vacation all that planning all that excitement coalesces into the first day there and it can be overwhelming in a good way because there's a lot of emotions and also a lot of things that you need to take care of to ensure that you have a great first day on your cruise certainly you can just kind of wing it and show up and i'm sure you'll get on board the ship but there are simply ways to make the entire experience easier better and faster and that's what we're here to talk about ways to improve your first day onboard a roller coaster cruise and as i mentioned earlier i've shared embarkation day tips but the embarkation day process has changed significantly since 2020 certainly and with that in mind i wanted to revisit what you should know about the first day of your cruise and we're really talking about getting from wherever you're traveling from on the morning of your cruise onto the cruise ship so the terminal experience the check-in process and all that there's a lot of moving parts and some new changes that are required as related to the protocol so let's jump into it things you need to know number one do your online check-in as soon as possible to get a boarding time back in the day you didn't really need to worry too much about boarding times they were more suggestions than required but now royal caribbean does require and enforce their boarding time so the first thing you want to do is make sure you have the royal caribbean app downloaded on your phone then when online check-in opens up which is usually around 45 days before your sailing get in there to your account and get a check-in time you can actually get a check-in time without completing the rest of the check-in process this is pretty helpful if you're like you're at work or something like that and bam it's time to check in for your cruise you can always get a boarding time and then go back in later and put in your passport information all that that's important as well but the boarding times are important and there are only a limited amount of slots for each time that's out there so be realistic about the time you can actually arrive to the cruise terminal and then decide what's the best time for you and get the earliest time slot for most people they want the earlier time slots than later ones and those go fast so that's why you want to do your online check-in as soon as you can to make sure you get that boarding time if you're outside the boarding time window meaning you go to the real green app you go do the online check and it says oh online check it's not available yet it will list a date in which online checking will open up for your cruise and my advice is make a reminder on your phone on your calendar so that way you can go in right on that first day to get one of those early check-in times then of course later on make sure you take care of the online check-in process in general put in every single piece of information your passport information take selfie photos the more time you spend at home or at work wherever doing the online check-in the less time you will spend in the cruise terminal standing around and doing the exact same thing if you don't do it in the app you're going to do the same information in the terminal it just takes longer something else you need to think about in the weeks leading up to your cruise and that is of course getting a coven 19 test as we all know you need to get a negative test regardless if you're vaccinated or not leading up to your cruise if you're planning on getting a test at a pharmacy or doctor's office or some other place then you definitely want to schedule your coven 19 test as early as you can depending on where you're going the ability to schedule a test in advance can really vary all over the place but do your homework figure out exactly when you're going to schedule it this is especially important if you have unvaccinated children because unvaccinated children need to get a pcr test and it's really important to get that test done as early as you can as of recording this video pcr tests are required to be done anywhere within the three days before your cruise and i would recommend getting it done exactly three days before your cruise because the pcr test results take a little bit longer to do that if you're a vaccinated person then you have the choice obviously of getting an antigen or pcr test number one get an antigen test the results come back way faster and number two skip getting a test at a pharmacy or some other location instead get the at home test that royal caribbean recommends it's the only at-home tester earl coming offers which is the abbott's binax now home test it's the proctored one that has a video call as part of it it is so much easier and simpler to do this the results come back very quickly about 15 or 20 minutes and it's the same process if you were to go to a pharmacy but number one you're not going to have to worry about getting an appointment number two you're not going to an area that potentially is exposing you to coven 19 because a lot of people that are at a pharmacy or a doctor's office might be sick and number three it's just way more convenient you don't have to leave home you can just do it right there it's super quick so get the at-home test buy them in advance or schedule your test whatever the case may be going back to the unvaccinated kids for a moment if you have unvaccinated kids look for an email from royal caribbean about a week or two maybe three before your cruise to schedule the in-terminal test for them unvaccinated children in addition to the pre-cruise tests need to get a test done at the cruise terminal and you'll get an email to register them before your cruise so make sure you fill that out and schedule a time so now that you've scheduled your covet test now that you've got your covent test i think it's a really good idea to print out your kova test results it is easier and faster to show a proof of negative test on a piece of paper than on a phone especially if you have more than one person that's traveling real quick will accept a digital copy where you just show it on your phone the problem is when you're going to show different results is that you got to scroll back you have to take the phone back to yourself you know go back to a different photo go to a different app whatever it's just more cumbersome and slower it's just easier in my opinion to have the printouts of those results just make sure the printout has the most important information where you got your test done the negative result the type of test and the date the test was taken this is usually pretty much standard issue but if you got it done in a weird place that might be a different story but make sure you have it printed out it's just a simpler process and speeds things up now another thing we're going to have to talk about when it comes to coven 19 protocols and that is of course you know you're bringing your coven 19 vaccination card with you it's a requirement to go on a cruise currently if you're above the age of 12. and if you have your coven 19 vaccination card i think it's a really good idea to get a plastic holder for it rather than just bringing it in its natural form if you will the cup of 19 card is really important and i think having one of these plastic holders which basically look like lanyard holders you might see at a conference is just an easier way to ensure that not only do you have it with you but also it's protected against accidentally being folded spilled on ripped etc i don't like the idea of laminating it especially with booster shots and whatnot just easier to have and be able to take it out but having it in a plastic sleeve is a really good idea something else you're going to want to print out are your luggage tags this is true not only of 2022 but really any year print out your luggage tags rather than relying on the porters to provide it for you certainly they can do that but when i cruise out of the port of los angeles in december of 2021 it was actually a huge line to get luggage tags but regardless you would definitely want to print out your own luggage tags put them on your luggage so that way when you arrive at the terminal you're just handing them off and you're good to go now we talked about the very first tip about scheduling an online check-in time right well your check-in time is important so arrive at your check-in time and adhere to it royal caribbean is enforcing check-in times and i would really hate for you to arrive an hour or so early and for them to say no i'm sorry you can't come in here and then stand around for an hour or so make sure you check in at the time that you chose if you're maybe flying in and it's just not going to work out you have no choice but to arrive early on and you say what should i do well i consider having breakfast somewhere else depending on the port you're sailing out of there's plenty of restaurants usually within the area so maybe go have breakfast hang out there you can usually drop your luggage off early and then go somewhere else if that's a concern if you don't have a rental car or some other way to store your luggage but i would definitely plan on adhering to your check in time it's super important when it comes to that now let's talk about one of my favorite changes to cruising since 2020 and that is the muster drill process i think it's a really good idea to do your muster drill as soon as possible emuster is super easy the days of having to stop what you're doing on the first day of your cruise and report to your muster station with everybody else is long gone so here's what you want to do number one you can actually fill out your health questionnaire the morning of your cruise or really even on the way maybe to the cruise terminal in the car this is the standard form about a dozen or so questions asking you you know have you had any symptoms of this or chills or fever anything like that take care of all that you can do that before you arrive at the terminal then once you're at the cruise ship you can start doing the beginning of the muster drill process number one you're gonna have to watch a video in which they demonstrate how to put on a safety jacket number two you're gonna play the sound of the emergency siren and then when that's complete you should report to your muster station to get checked off that you've done everything possible my advice if you do all this before you actually get on the ship you can do this in the terminal you can do this on the car is to just get it done with and go to your muster station ideally you have this all done so when you walk on the ship you can go immediately to your muster station but if you didn't have time to do it yet take some time now to get it taken care of once you're on board the ship complete those two steps and then go to your muster station to complete once you're at your buster station all they're going to do is just basically verify you did everything they're going to scan your cpass card or at least we'll ask you for your room number and check you in that way if you don't have your cpas cards yet and then explain to you this is where you go in case of an emergency and that's it it's so easy just knock it out i don't know why some people wait hours and hours later on an embarkation day to get it taken care of once you get it done it's just super simple and one less thing to worry about so i think it's really important something else you want to really take care of when you get on board that ship right after that muster drill is to book shows and dining once you get on board so another change that rokerman has made and this hopefully will go back but as of right now you can't pre-book anything as it relates to entertainment on board so what you want to do when you get on board the ship is connect to royal caribbean's wi-fi and no it does not matter if you have an internet package or not you can use the royal caribbean app without an internet package connect to the wi-fi let them know you're using a package or not and then reserve your shows once you're on board the ship you can go in the royal caribbean app go through the scheduled events and find the different shows and reserve times it's really important to reserve times because sometimes the theater has reduced capacity on there and as a result you want to make sure you get a slot for you waiting to go and get a time later on can result in shows being sold out so my best advice is as soon as you get on board the ship book those shows if you have a dining package well just like in 2019 you're going to want to go make reservations for the restaurants as you know you can't make reservations for a specialty package before the cruise that's okay once you're on board go to any special restaurant and they can book any other special restaurant for you so that means if you go to chop's grill first not only can they book you chop scroll but they can book you giovanni's izumi sabor any other special restaurant on board their systems are interconnected so they're able to do that for you my advice is get that done with so that way you get the times you want and you're all set speaking of signing up there's one more thing you should be doing to sign up on the first day of your cruise now that you've walked on board took care of the muster drill booked your shows booked your dining or you wanna make sure you take care of your kids go to adventure ocean as soon as they open up because they're gonna have their open house and depending on the protocols there may or may not be limited time slots for adventure ocean usually adventure ocean opens for their open house around 1 p.m could be a little different maybe 2 p.m but check the cruise planner for that regardless this is the time in which not only can you sign your kids up which will save you time later on but also get a sense if you need reserve times or how the process is going to be for check-in with coven 19 there are still limited capacity in adventure ocean and real quick has been experimenting with different strategies sometimes offering limited time slots you can sign up for in advance sometimes doing a first come first serve process whatever the case may be you want to talk to the staff get an idea of what to expect and then basically get yourself in line with that if it's reserving times my advice is get as many times as you can up front and then roll the dice later on on the cruise in terms of times later on if they're doing first come first serve well in that case register your kids as usual and then plan on showing up early i would imagine if you want to get your kids into session i'd be lining up at least 15 minutes before they open perhaps even earlier than that and the last tip i have for embarkation day which is important and this again is a oldie but goodie and that is bring a carry-on bag with you and check the rest of your luggage it never ceases to amaze me first and foremost how many people lug all their luggage on board the ship rather than giving it to the porters yeah you got to tip the porters it's like a dollar a bag in my opinion well worth it to make the process of getting from the curbside on board the ship so much easier i just don't think it's worth it to have to lug all that stuff around for you they'll deliver for you no problem at all but equally important bring a carry-on bag in the carry-on bag you're going to have the most important things your travel documents passports covered 19 cars test results etc but also important things you might need in the time in which when you get on board the ship until your luggage is delivered medication all medications should be in there you never know that's important to keep in there you also maybe have a change of clothes in there perhaps swimsuit because the pool the water slides the flowrider those will all be open on ambrication day and most people have no idea and the first day is when you have the shortest lines for these attractions so you can change one of the public restrooms and then go enjoy it that's a really good idea maybe put your book in there some electronics but the carry-on bag is the way to go and also if you're carrying any non-alcoholic beverages like bottled water or soda or bottles of wine put that in your carry-on luggage if you put in your checked luggage your luggage is going to be flagged by security because they're going to see bottles of something they don't know if it's booze or if it's water they're going to hold it back it'll take you longer to get your bags don't do it that way just put in your carry-on bags there you go there's about 10 or so tips on how to have an awesome first day on board and these are really tips that adhere to going on a cruise in 2022 there's been plenty of changes and it's important to be aware of all these changes and i hope that if you follow all of them you're gonna have a super easy and fast embarkation day process getting on board your cruise don't forget to of course take some time to relax enjoy have a drink and relish the fact that you're getting on board a royal caribbean ship if you found this video helpful hit that like button below it also be sure to subscribe to our channel by hitting that subscribe button turn on your notifications that's that little bell icon and that way you'll be notified when we have a brand new video to share this has been matt from royal caribbean blog.com and we'll talk again real soon

Channel: Royal Caribbean Blog

Views: 603,425

Keywords: Royal Cribbean, RCCL, Cruise, Travel, Embarkation day, First day, Boarding day, Cruise tips, Cruise advice

Id: j_9uBMHXzNs

Length: 14min 42sec (882 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 08 2022