Cruising - Preparing for debarkation

 

Sadly, the most enjoyable cruises must end.  And the day before a ship returns to port is always the saddest part of the cruise for me.  Although I still have a little bit of time left on the ship, I am constantly aware that I will be back in the “Real World” the next morning.

The first thing I usually take care of is packing for debarkation.  I make sure to always keep essential toiletries and a full change of clothes with me, making sure to have an extra day’s worth of clothing with me in a carry-on or personal item in case of travel delays when returning home.  Given how many people make the mistake of packing clothes needed on debarkation day, Emma (emmacruises.com) sells a disembarkation day t-shirt on her site.

But what about the rest of one’s clothes?  Most people going on a cruise pack both a carry-on bag and a full-sized suitcase, as they often need more than a small bag for a week’s (or more) clothing and other essentials.  And this is where the first decision must be made.  Once the bag is packed, one must decide whether one uses “self-assist” debarkation (a.k.a. Express Debarkation, Express-Departure, Walk-Off, etc.) or one uses the normal debarkation procedures given by the cruise line.  In the case of self-assist debarkation, one must transport all of one’s luggage through customs and out of the cruise terminal. No help will be given by anyone from the cruise line. This can be a major problem when one must handle more than one item of luggage. Yet, there is one important advantage to this form of debarkation – most cruise lines allow “self-assist” cruisers to be among the first people to leave the ship after reaching port. However, if one chooses “normal” debarkation, cruisers will attach identification tags (provided by the cruise ship) which will be used to place bags in selected areas of the terminal building.  Once ready, cruisers will put their bags outside their stateroom door (usually between 10:00 pm and Midnight) for porters to move to the terminal building when the ship reaches port.  To prevent confusion when retrieving bags at the pier the next day, one should consider using a tracking device such as an Apple air tag or Tile tracker to help find one’s bags at the pier.

To the cruise line, the most important thing to be taken care of is the settlement of financial accounts.  All expenses incurred on the ship (minus cruise credits) will be summed and applied to one’s payment mechanism (usually a credit card account).  Because the cruise line wants to have a complete listing of cruise charges before the night is over, one’s ship steward will usually lock the mini-bar on the last evening of the cruise. 

Sometime on the last evening of the cruise, one should review the final bill to make sure that only valid charges are being applied and to make sure that all valid credits are applied as well.  For example, I have seen bar bills applied to the wrong account because an incorrect room number was associated with the charge.  Additionally, port fees and missed excursion credits (only for excursions purchased through the cruise line) for missed ports should be reflected on the bill at this time.  If not, it is much easier to talk to guest services on the last night of the cruise than to talk with them on the day of debarkation.