What is the First Thing You Do when You Board the Ship?

Just a quick, and perhaps fun question...

When you first board the ship for your cruise, what is the first thing you do? Do you have any rituals you adhere to?

For me...as soon as I make my way to my stateroom and drop off my carry ons, I call to make specialty restaurant reservations for the cruise. I then go on a self-guided tour (exploration) of the ship.

How about you?

Straight to the Main Dining Room, order a bottle of Champagne and enjoy nice leisurely lunch !

Smile. :D

Usually, it's just having lunch.

If we need something specific, we head right to the appropriate person. Getting open changed to fixed, booking the behind the scenes tour, booking a tour or a Pinnacle if we haven't done that on line. YOur chances of getting what you want are better if you get right on it.

And then lunch.

Back in our days of sailing QE2, we had a definite ritual. Go to the library to snag a book before all the new mysteries were checked out, then up to Sundeck to reserve loungers in our favorite spot and say hello to the staff up there. Then DH and I would look at each other, sigh, and say "We're home." Now I arrive on a ship with books loaded on my kindle, and I've got a lounger on my balcony. A different version of being "at home."

Getting rid of our carry-ons is probably our first priority. From there it depends if the ship is new to us or not. If it's new we'll take a short self-guided tour to check out where different venues are and what they look like. Typically it's less crowded at initial boarding and it's easier to get around. If we've been on the ship before, and assuming we're boarding at our typical noon or so time, we'll go find some lunch. With the advent of on-line reservations for tours, etc., we don't rush to the front desk/excursions office as much as we once did. Our "golden rule" is to relax and enjoy the cruise from the moment we get on the ship so we try not to rush about.

You're probably going to get more replies from the few folks who do something other than go to lido for lunch - as we all know, on day 1 by far the most crowded section of the ship is lido deck - lunch, bar, and pool!

That's why like some of you, the first thing I do after getting to my cabin and looking around, is touring the rest of the ship - back and forward on every public deck if it's a new ship for me, or to specific rooms & lounges for photos. I'll go pretty much everywhere EXCEPT lido - and other than small lines formed by the dining room, Pinnacle, and Purser/Shore Excursion staff, the rest of the ship is largely empty...a great time to tour.

Getting rid of our carry-ons is probably our first priority. From there it depends if the ship is new to us or not. If it's new we'll take a short self-guided tour to check out where different venues are and what they look like. Typically it's less crowded at initial boarding and it's easier to get around. If we've been on the ship before, and assuming we're boarding at our typical noon or so time, we'll go find some lunch. With the advent of on-line reservations for tours, etc., we don't rush to the front desk/excursions office as much as we once did. Our "golden rule" is to relax and enjoy the cruise from the moment we get on the ship so we try not to rush about.

This is exactly what we do but says it better than I could! The only thing I would add is that, right after lunch, we go to the Neptune Lounge to meet our Concierge.

I drop my carry on off in my room and go to the lido for lunch.

1. Securing a table near the feeding trough that I paid for.
   
2. booking the Behind the Scene's ship tour
   
3. dining changes if needed
   
4. unloading my carry-on's when the room is available.
   
5. I hear for some they might hit the pools and spa's while it's quiet.
   

I'm with Randy. Drop the carry on luggage.

This is exactly what we do but says it better than I could! The only thing I would add is that, right after lunch, we go to the Neptune Lounge to meet our Concierge.

I didn't think about the concierge but indeed we try to meet them early on. Actually I think there's only been one time, maybe two, that the concierge wasn't in the lounge when we first boarded and went to our cabin. I do remember one concierge actually coming up our cabin to find us and introduce themselves. It's a lot easier for us as we stick to the smaller S and R class ships so we're right there so to speak rather than being a distance away from the lounge.

then to dining room for lunch, next I go to the front desk to order flowers and my partner goes to Explorers desk to list for Mah Jongg. then back to cabin to check the time for muster and order a big bucket of ice.Also stop at dining room desk to request our dinner time and table, tip M'D to get same time and table every night.

The first thing we do is drop off our carry-ons in the cabin.

Then re-confirm all the pre-booked reservations.

Then go to lunch.

We go to our room and drop off our things, and then do a top to bottom walk through. Even though we've been on all the ships before, this is our walking ritual, exporing this ship, looking for crew we recognize or any changes. We'll take the elevators up to the Crow's Nest, and then weave our way deck to deck, top to bottom.

Once we do our walk through, we'll check on our dinner assignemnt and table, and make any changes to that if necessary. We also sign up for the thermal suite. We always come into town at least the night before, and have a leisurely breakfast so dont feel the need to rush to find food. After we do these things, we'll grab a bite in the Lido.

We've always been lucky with our luggage arriving quickly, so by this time we typically have things to unpack. My husband and I travel so well together, whether on a ship or in a hotel, we have an unpacking system that works for us. Everything in its place, a place for everything...we are such creatures of habit. We do like to put on music in our room, and travel with one of those Bose portable wireless speakers. We'll listen to some tropical music, and then end up falling asleep....right about the time the drill announcements start!

After the drill, it's definitely a nap, then shower and cocktails in the Ocean Bar before dinner.

Imagining all this is making me excited for our upcoming cruise next month!

I love the excitement of boarding a ship, the newness of having so many days ahead to enjoy the cruise. Nothing like sitting down for that first Fresh Grapefruit Cosmo, knowing there are 10-14 more days of that to come.

Mah Jong on the ship? Tell me more? Should I bring my card? Do they play for money?

Go to the cabin, drop the bags. Go to the MDR for lunch (so far it's always been open). Visit the Neptune Lounge. Unpack as bags are usually there pretty quickly. Have a "drink of the day" no matter what that drink is - it's my own tradition.:D

Since I usually fly to port a day or two ahead, on embarkation day I order a late room service breakfast/brunch at my hotel, eliminating the need to find lunch once aboard. If my cabin is available, I kick off my shoes, say aaahhh, have a glass of preordered wine to celebrate, and relax and people watch from my balcony or Lanai deckchair until muster time. If my cabin is not available, I find the nearest open lounge, skip kicking off my shoes, but order a glass of wine, say aaahhh, and watch everyone else scuttle around until my cabin is ready.

The comment about breakfast reminded me of our pre-cruise tradition. If we're sailing out of FLL or MIA, we stay in South Beach before the cruise. We have breakfast at the News Cafe and have champagne or a mimosa to get us into the cruise mood.

First dump luggage in room. Head for library next and check out paperback exchange. At end of cruise its usually full. I bring a few that I leave behind. Most of the time I find several that I have wanted to read. Than go check out slots in casino.

On HAL I'm wheeled to my cabin, and first off check that my scooter is in there. This last cruise was the first time it wasn't there, so I called the office about it, and had the steward send out the search parties, too.

Then, it's unpack the carry-ons, so there's room for the suitcase when it arrives, and read through all the paperwork on the desk. All that takes a great deal of time.

I then head to the Shore Excursions Office to review my selections, and make whatever changes are necessary. Next is off to the Pinnacle to check on reservations, and make any additional requests.

By now it should be close to 2:00 PM, so it's time for lunch. When finished, I check if my suitcase has been delivered. Frequently it has been, and I unpack. I like to get that chore done before muster, and usually just make that dealine in time.

After muster I can relax for the first time.

Um, we christen it. ;)

We will normally go directly to our cabin to check it out, drop our carry-ons and introduce ourselves to the room steward(s). I normally verify that all the invitations and reservations have been delivered. We used to head to the MDR for lunch, but it was closed on our last cruise, in September, so we found a table by the pool and had lunch there instead. Following lunch, we like to (re)explore the ship before heading back to our cabin to unpack and have a drink on our balcony before muster drill. We try to make the first few hours as relaxing and unhurried as possible, setting the tone for the days to come! :)

Like Peter, smile when we cross the "gang plank ". :-)

We always arrive at the pier after lunch. This avoids having to wait to get on board. Also the buffet is always ridiculously crowded on embarkation day. Once we get to our room we simply relax on the balcony and watch all the port activity of embarkation.

Drop off carry on in cabin and then go to MDR for a nice relaxing lunch. Then go to lido where wine offerings are set up and order my wine for the cruise.

Then back to cabin to unpack suitcases and then muster.