Embarkation day: Those first couple hours

[bumbershoot]

“On embarkation day, after I first get access to my cabin, and before the safety drill, I...”

Well, BEFORE I have access to the cabin, if I'm hungry I'll get some food. Maybe hit aquaduck. We don't use the pools b/c they are tiny and unsafe. I explore the ship.

If there's anything to book, I book. Like the free island "5k". Or Palo.

Check out the kid club, or now it would be wherever my teen would go.

One we have access to the cabin, head there and arrange my carried on items. If the bags are showing up, snag those and start getting that stuff put away. I'm a big fan of hanging items up.

It would just be my son now for this, but I'd have his suit sent out to be pressed, and any khakis as well (we like to look nice for dinners so he wears long pants apart from the first night)

Open one of my bottles of wine and have a drink. Breathe. Relax. And read the Navigator, either print version or on my phone app.

 

[serenitynow]

Well, BEFORE I have access to the cabin, if I'm hungry I'll get some food. Maybe hit aquaduck. We don't use the pools b/c they are tiny and unsafe. I explore the ship.

If there's anything to book, I book. Like the free island "5k". Or Palo.

Check out the kid club, or now it would be wherever my teen would go.

One we have access to the cabin, head there and arrange my carried on items. If the bags are showing up, snag those and start getting that stuff put away. I'm a big fan of hanging items up.

It would just be my son now for this, but I'd have his suit sent out to be pressed, and any khakis as well (we like to look nice for dinners so he wears long pants apart from the first night)

Open one of my bottles of wine and have a drink. Breathe. Relax. And read the Navigator, either print version or on my phone app.

Just out of curiosity, what do you consider unsafe about the tiny pools?

 

[DaddysPrincess]

Never been on DCL; however I have done 5 or 6 cruises on other lines. I like to unpack and/or take a nap.

 

[DaddysPrincess]

Oh another thing we do first is make sure our tables at dinner are where we want/with the whole party. I've had experiences where our big party was all split up among several tables. Much easier to figure out beforehand

 

[pfp258]

Swim! We love to be first in the adult pool and on a lounge chair. Our children are grown up though

 

[aggiecruisers]

Unpack our luggage and put everything away. My dh takes our dd to the club's open house and I can get everything unpacked and put away in about 20 mins. I use packing cubes for our clothes, so that also makes unpacking very quick. We've been on 4 cruises with our 5th coming up, so I pretty much know where to put everything we bring. I then join dh and dd in the club. If I need to go to guest services for anything I'll do that after unpacking, otherwise I just relax and do things as they come.

Packing cubes? Will be traveling with my mom who is disabled and my wife and daughter will be helping her. Can you elaborate on what these are or pictures?

 

[shoes99]

Packing cubes? Will be traveling with my mom who is disabled and my wife and daughter will be helping her. Can you elaborate on what these are or pictures?

Www.ebags.com has a sale on their brand packing cubes. I just bought another large size set. I also use 2 gallon zip lock bags for packing.

 

[RedSox68]

Packing cubes? Will be traveling with my mom who is disabled and my wife and daughter will be helping her. Can you elaborate on what these are or pictures?

They are the greatest travel invention since the suitcase We love them. We have three sets -- each set has a large one, a medium, a small and two long & narrow ones. Here's how we use them:

The large ones are for folded t-shirts and shirts (I put tissue paper between them and fold them stacked to prevent wrinkling), shorts and capris.
The medium ones are for sleepwear, swimwear, etc.
The small are for socks, scarf accessories, slips, nylons, etc.
The long ones are for underwear -- when folded just right they fit nicely in a long line.
We also have shoe bags (or you can use large lunch bags)

Then you just fit them into your luggage like a puzzle and it saves so much space. We use the long narrow ones to fill in the gap at the bottom of the luggage where the struts run. When you unpack, you can just throw them onto the shelves in the closet. We do hang up the one with the shirts in it, but the rest we just keep in the cubes and use as we go.

 

[serenitynow]

They are the greatest travel invention since the suitcase We love them. We have three sets -- each set has a large one, a medium, a small and two long & narrow ones. Here's how we use them:

The large ones are for folded t-shirts and shirts (I put tissue paper between them and fold them stacked to prevent wrinkling), shorts and capris.
The medium ones are for sleepwear, swimwear, etc.
The small are for socks, scarf accessories, slips, nylons, etc.
The long ones are for underwear -- when folded just right they fit nicely in a long line.
We also have shoe bags (or you can use large lunch bags)

Then you just fit them into your luggage like a puzzle and it saves so much space. We use the long narrow ones to fill in the gap at the bottom of the luggage where the struts run. When you unpack, you can just throw them onto the shelves in the closet. We do hang up the one with the shirts in it, but the rest we just keep in the cubes and use as we go.

Everyone in our family has different color packing cubes. Makes it much easier to pack and unpack for the kids. Each person unpacks their own cubes and puts them away. Every kid knows which cube is theirs to find that specific toy and put things away. It cuts down on the chaos in the room, just drop the cubes in the drawers and go.

 

[RedSox68]

Great thread by the way!

 

[DaddysPrincess]

We also have shoe bags (or you can use large lunch bags)

those cubes sound nifty! But what you said about shoe bags made me laugh because I literally use my bf's shoes as bags. They're size 15/16 and I usually put our socks and a few of my shorts/shirts rolled up into them. Packing really gets difficult when you have a giant coming along lol

 

[RedSox68]

those cubes sound nifty! But what you said about shoe bags made me laugh because I literally use my bf's shoes as bags. They're size 15/16 and I usually put our socks and a few of my shorts/shirts rolled up into them. Packing really gets difficult when you have a giant coming along lol

Actually, even for regular shoes that's a good idea about the socks - we put socks and even deodorants or hairbrushes -- anything long or bulky -- into our shoes to save room.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Love the packing cubes. Also a great way of not over packing and limiting the amount of clothes to what I really need.
Easy to unpack and put away as soon as our stateroom is ready. I am one who does a load of laundry the day before disembarkation. Easy packing the night before to roll off the ship first thing in the morning.

 

[RedSox68]

Love the packing cubes. Also a great way of not over packing and limiting the amount of clothes to what I really need.
Easy to unpack and put away as soon as our stateroom is ready. I am one who does a load of laundry the day before disembarkation. Easy packing the night before to roll off the ship first thing in the morning.

I give you credit to go home with clean clothes For me, unless it's a long cruise and we are running out of things, I prefer to do them when I get home in the comfort of my larger laundry space

 

[Cruising Engineer]

I give you credit to go home with clean clothes For me, unless it's a long cruise and we are running out of things, I prefer to do them when I get home in the comfort of my larger laundry space

I knock out the laundry the day before only because I know when we get home, which takes several hours and one plane change to get to Albuquerque and then drive home, it's late in the day and I have classes at the university first thing in the morning. A day at home after a great cruise would be heaven.

 

[RedSox68]

I knock out the laundry the day before only because I know when we get home, which takes several hours and one plane change to get to Albuquerque and then drive home, it's late in the day and I have classes at the university first thing in the morning. A day at home after a great cruise would be heaven.

As I got older, I made sure include that in my vacation plans - a day off after returning home is a given now!

 

[southerngirl528]

Packing cubes? Will be traveling with my mom who is disabled and my wife and daughter will be helping her. Can you elaborate on what these are or pictures?

Www.ebags.com has a sale on their brand packing cubes. I just bought another large size set. I also use 2 gallon zip lock bags for packing.

LOVE packing cubes! For a lot of years, every item of clothing in my luggage, both carry-on and checked bags, are in packing cubes, along with a few of the 2.5 gallon ziplock for larger clothing items that I very neatly fold and slide into the bag, then sit on the bag and zip it closed. Makes it super flat and keeps my nice clothing items ready to just hang up or wear!

Here's a link to one of my favorite packing cubes, and like Shoes99, I usually order from ebags.com & go through my favorite airlines (www.aadvantageshopping.com) to order and get extra miles!

https://www.ebags.com/product/eagle...ression-cube-set-sm/351117?productid=10601245

 

[BuzzLightyearInTampa]

Experienced Disney cruisers are asked to complete the following sentence for the benefit of us first-timers:

“On embarkation day, after I first get access to my cabin, and before the safety drill, I...”

From the time I get on the ship;
1.) Stop in the atrium and soak it in that I'm finally on the ship after a year (or more) of planning.
2.) Cabanas for lunch
3.) By this time, the rooms are open ~1:30 PM, so go to the rooms, take photos and drop off backpacks, start to unpack if any bags are there.
4.) Do a self-guided walking tour around the ship to see what has changed since the last time we were on this ship. Include stops at kids clubs, bars, theaters, gym, etc. Stop at the spa for rainforest passes (length of cruise for me is a must).
5.) Meander around the ship, sit down and relax in different areas and just soak in being on the ship.
6.) Make the way back to the room before the drill starts.

 

[RedSox68]

From the time I get on the ship;
1.) Stop in the atrium and soak it in that I'm finally on the ship after a year (or more) of planning.
2.) Cabanas for lunch
3.) By this time, the rooms are open ~1:30 PM, so go to the rooms, take photos and drop off backpacks, start to unpack if any bags are there.
4.) Do a self-guided walking tour around the ship to see what has changed since the last time we were on this ship. Include stops at kids clubs, bars, theaters, gym, etc. Stop at the spa for rainforest passes (length of cruise for me is a must).
5.) Meander around the ship, sit down and relax in different areas and just soak in being on the ship.
6.) Make the way back to the room before the drill starts.

I love your #1 -- just soak in that feeling of finally being on vacation

 

[cheermom2four]

We usually head to buffet so its not crowded yet. We only eat a very light breakfast since we can consider the first meal lunch on the ship . Hubby always takes youngest to kids club then swimming while I go and unpack so we dont have to do it later. We used to have later dining but this next time we are trying the early so I want to get everything put away before then.