Tips For First Time Cruising?

Included activities on RCCL run on reservations which don’t open in the app until you get onboard. Get onboard as early as you can and reserve your shows.

If you want to go to a specialty restaurant, book it now. Same with any upgrades you want at CocoCay.

Nassau: Since you’re going to CocoCay, skip the Royal Beach Club. The shopping near the port is great. The people definitely hustle you, but there’s a lot of great stores, some typical of what you’ll find at any cruise stop, some unique to Nassau. I recommend Resorts for a Day for day passes to resorts in Nassau. You’re responsible for your own transportation to and from the resort, but taxis are plentiful and the resort you choose will help you get back. Margaritaville is in walking distance.

Get back on the ship 30mins-1hr before the posted departure time in port. They will leave your arse if you lose track of time.

Arrive near the port the day before the cruise no matter what. It’ll make embarkation less stressful. Plan to get up early the day you leave the ship. They’re going to want you off the ship by 9-10am.

Bring two swimsuits and a few collared shirts (polos, short sleeve button downs are fine) for the dining room. Be better than people who wear t-shirts and shorts to dinner.

Sunscreen. You’re going to see quite a few lobsters around the ship on Day 2. Don’t get so buzzed by the pool that you forget to apply. Being sunburned like that will make the rest of your trip miserable.

If you don’t have a passport, better get one now. You can use your DL and birth certificate to board, but a passport makes life a lot easier.

You can buy international medical coverage (including repatriation) here:

UHC Safe Trip

BCBS Global

I always buy this for Mr. Bluestem & me when we travel abroad. Medical coverage only is usually pretty cheap.

Bring extension cords with multiple connections.

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I assume you cannot fly with the aerosol cans in your carry-on and have to stock up on the smaller cream bottles and sticks.

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You can buy aerosol sunscreen in the Orlando Airport. Search the terminal map for Ron Jon Surf Shop. If you have a tight window this might not be possible. The kind my daughter likes is $17 at CVS. Expect to pay $30 at the airport.

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I've been considering going the day/night before just to make my life easy (especially w 3 little ones).

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Always fly in the day before.

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We will be going on a Disney Cruise this summer and plan to fly into Orlando and get to Port Canaveral.

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What ship and dates?

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t's subject to change because I am letting my wife handle the booking for this trip, I usually do all of the planning for our vacations, and she has confirmed with me about this at least 5 times and has yet to book it. But, right now, Fantasy - 7/26 - 7/31

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I'll be getting off the Fantasy on 7/22.

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Her handling the travel arraignments is also why I am stressing over having enough time because she does not account for things like time to deboard the plane, bring 3 kids through the airport to find the shuttle/transportation, waiting for an available ride, traffic, lines to go through boarding the boat after we've made the kids sit ~2 hours on a plane for, ~1 hour bus ride... She just assumes all will go as scheduled.

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I consider myself a pretty seasoned cruiser and have gone out of Port Canaveral MANY times. I've also tried the "fly in the morning of" crowd - never again. Flight was delayed twice, 1 hour bus ride from MCO airport turned into 1.5-2 hours because we ran into a shite ton of traffic (there were like 4 other ships going out of the same port that day), etc. We literally almost missed boarding the ship.

Fly into MCO the night before you sail, rent a car from budget, drop it off the next day at the port and they will shuttle you to the pier.

If you're staying at the Hyatt at the MCO airport (what we do every time) and doing Disney, you may still be able to book Disney transportation to the Port and from the Port back to the airport on disembarkation day. You would leave your luggage in your room the morning of embarkation and won't see it again until you get to your room on the ship. Super easy.

You'll also get an earlier boarding time. We are boarding group 3.

Highly recommend.