CRUISE PORTS

What is a cruise port?  When you book a cruise vacation, this will be the city and place that you go to catch or board your ship.  There are many cruise ports in the US and you can now catch a ship in Texas, Alabama, Florida, California and several other states and many cities within them.

If you are driving to your cruise port you will find driving directions with your cruise docs or on the internet for that particular cruise port.  Expect the cruise port to have plenty of parking and when you arrive you can park, take a shuttle to the ship or walk. Parking fees and rates will vary and check online to see what the fees might be.  Expect to pay over $10 per day when you park and some can cost much more per day.

If you are flying to catch a ship, you will either arrive early or on the day of departure.  Once you arrive at the airport, if you have purchased transfers to the ship, you will be met by a representative of your cruise line and they will direct you to the staging area to catch the cruise lines bus.  If you are staying overnight at a hotel, you can catch the hotel shuttle or taxi and then take a shuttle or taxi to the ship when your departure day arrives.

When you get to the cruise port, you will be directed to a building or check in area.  Once there you will give your luggage to the porters and they will take care of getting your luggage scanned and loaded onto the ship for delivery to your room.  Always remember to keep all valuable, jewelry, money and medicines with you in your hand carry bags and never let them out of your site.  Be careful with any large amounts of cash and wallets/purses when traveling, even at friendly cruise ports.

Most cruise lines will allow you to start boarding your ship a couple hours before the ship departs.  Some will let you board at noon or 1 pm for a 5 or 6 o'clock sailing.  Silversea has an option where you can pay $100 per guest and get on the ship by early morning and enjoy a restful day onboard.

When you travel, you want to have the proper documents that you will need to travel.  The laws have changed since 9/11 and we recommend that everyone have a passport today!

The laws have been changed and it is going to be mandatory to travel with a passport very soon so get an application today and get a passport before the rush.  It is easy, cheap and they are good for ten years for adults and five years for children of certain ages.

When traveling on some itineraries you will need to fill out documentation or visitors cards for the countries you will be visiting.  When you get onboard the cruise ship will collect your passports and documentation until the morning you depart and disembark the ship.

Depending on the cruise line and cruise port will dictate the amount of people in line and the waiting time you may experience when checking in for your cruise.

One of the best ways to expediate your boarding is to have your paper work filled out properly and listen to directions from the onsite cruise representatives.  If you are booking into some of the higher category suites and staterooms, there may be a chance that you will have your own special area for check in and that you will miss most of the general passenger lines and the wait game. 

It doesn't matter how long you wait or the experience, once you are finished checking in at your cruise port, you will then board the ship for the time of your life and all the waiting and hassles will be forgotten as you decompress and begin what will be a wonderful cruise holiday.