Cruise tips to help you have a smooth embarkation

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16th January 2023

Arriving for your cruise holiday – what you need to know

The moment you have been waiting for has arrived – EMBARKATION DAY! It’s exciting and it marks the start of your cruise holiday. But, when is the best time to arrive at your embarkation location? We have some cruise embarkation tips to help you out!

That really is the killer question and post-Covid, more rules and regulations are surrounding this that have been implemented by the respective cruise lines. Why? To simply ensure a smooth boarding process for every guest.

Let’s look at some of the more popular things people ask when it comes to embarking on their cruise ship.

You can also learn about the best Mediterranean embarkation ports in this article.

Take a closer look at the Cruise port in Southampton or find out more about Tilbury Cruise port in our cruise blog!

Cruise Terminal in Southampton

When should I arrive for my cruise?

This depends on a lot of things, but if you’re travelling from out of the area, we’d always suggest you arrive at least 1 day before your scheduled cruise day. The last thing you want on the day is unnecessary stress, delayed flights, traffic jams or worse.

Arriving a day earlier allows more flexibility should something en route go wrong, and it also means you can start your cruise holiday fresh-eyed and well-rested.

We offer all our customers the option of booking pre-and-or-post cruise hotel stays and can tailor-make a package to suit you. For many people that may embark in ports such as Civitavecchia near Rome, Miami or New York, they tend to want to arrive several days earlier than their sailing, to also make the most of their time in the embarkation city.

At Logitravel, we can package your entire cruise holiday as one! This will include flights, hotel stays and, of course, your chosen cruise plus you can add transfers if you need to. Our agents are on hand to help you tailor-make the ultimate cruise holiday.

Furthermore, depending on how far in advance you are booking, it may also be possible to hand-pick your cabin or suite, but please speak with our experts at the time of booking as this does depend on availability.

Cruise Terminal in Barcelona

What time will I embark?

Your cruise line will usually inform you of this when they issue your cruise ticket/e-ticket. Before COVID, passengers could arrive at any time within a set period. However now, you’ll likely be allocated a time slot and it’s important you stick to this as closely as possible. Obviously this allows for a smoother embarkation process for everyone.

As a general rule, embarkation can be anywhere between 12 noon and 4pm, but this does vary per line and your port of embarkation.

What does embarkation entail?

Once you arrive at the port, you’ll proceed to the main terminal building and once called forward, you’ll check in. You will normally register your credit or debit card for onboard purchases and subsequently be given your cruise card.

Next, you’ll go through standard security checks before finally embarking on your cruise ship. Usually, embarkation is a smooth and swift process. In some instances, you can be checked in, through security and onboard in less than 30 minutes.