Cruising - Debarkation Day

 

For most people, Debarkation Day is when one returns to the Real World.  Although I once combined a 13-day cruise with 5 days on land, most people will be leaving the ship on Debarkation Day and traveling home immediately afterwards.  And the above photo should give a good idea of how confusing it can be at the final port on their cruise.

Most ships will usually reach their destination ports early in the morning, and will expect people to be ready to leave the ship once it is cleared to discharge its passengers.  This usually happens by 7:00 am.  One should be ready to leave one’s cabin as soon as possible after this time.

Because the ship arrives early in the morning, I usually do my last day packing before going to breakfast.  One should make sure that all bags have been packed, all valuables have been removed from the room’s safe, all toiletries have been packed in the carry-on or personal bag, and that nothing else has been left in the cabin. 

Since I usually will not have checked out of the cabin at this time, I go for one last breakfast on the ship. Passengers wanting one last breakfast on the ship will want to make an early visit to the main dining room or buffet, so that they can leave the ship at their assigned times.  Most of the time, the buffet areas will be overcrowded, so it may be hard to find a table on debarkation day.  If open, I try to find a table in the main dining room for my last breakfast, as I am usually not in a hurry to leave the ship.

Passengers are assigned prioritized debarkation times.  For example, “Self-Assist” passengers debark first on many ships, as they require the least assistance from cruise line personnel. Next in line often will be passengers with transfers to local airports (with or without cruise line associated tour).  Many passengers will have flights that take off sometime in the afternoon.  Finally, the remaining passengers will debark the ship.

Once passengers leave the ship for the last time, they will be reunited with their luggage at the cruise terminal.  Bags will usually be found in zones associated with their ship given luggage tags.  However, most bags look alike and can be stored in the wrong zone.  I have found that using a tracking device such as an Apple Air Tag or Tile Tracker has been quite useful.  When my bag was placed in the wrong zone at the terminal, all I had to do was activate an app at the terminal to locate my tracker device.  The device would start beeping, and my bag became easy to find.
Next (on most cruises) one will go through customs.  Although this process has been streamlined at many US cruise terminals, foreign ports may have different processes for non-citizens.  Be prepared to fill out customs declaration forms in foreign ports, as they are simply making sure that all appropriate duties have been paid, and that no contraband is being brought into their lands.

After clearing customs, one is “free.”  One will leave the terminal and seek out appropriate transportation.  If using a cruise line transfer, buses will be in front and waiting for passengers.  Otherwise, one will either go to an arrivals area to be picked up, to a cab stand to get a ride, or walk to mass transit as needed.

 

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.