Embarkation day-what’s your favourite thing to do

[SunnyD800]

As mentioned before we are on Iona in August for our first cruise. 
 

Just wondering what you all do once you get on board on embarkation day. I know everyone is different but nice to hear people’s little routines and favourite things to do 😊

[terrierjohn]

20 minutes ago, SunnyD800 said:

As mentioned before we are on Iona in August for our first cruise. 
 

Just wondering what you all do once you get on board on embarkation day. I know everyone is different but nice to hear people’s little routines and favourite things to do 😊

On  P&O we do very little other than unpack and then get ready for dinner, because very little is happening. On Princess we head for the Piazza grab a drink and listen to whichever on board group is performing.

[jeanlyon]

Go to the lunch, unpack, go to muster station and then relax before hitting the bar at 7pm.

[FangedRose]

I follow the instructions. Go to muster station to get my boarding card scanned. Then find cabin and dump hand luggage. Then eat (either embarkation lunch if in time or buffet), hopefully by then luggage has been delivered so unpack. By then it is time to get ready for dinner.

[Cathygh]

Drop hand luggage, go to muster, walk the ship from top to bottom, unpack

[Josy1953]

Drop hand luggage in the cabin, go to muster, stroll round the ship to checkout where everything is, go back to the cabin and unpack as soon as the bags arrive.

 

[showingdiva]

It depends whether I have been on the particular ship before or not.   If I have, unpack, discover what is happening (non-P&O), have some lunch, watch the muster drill on the TV, book the evening's show.   If I haven't, go for an explore.

[Thejuggler]

Depends on timings, but usually a quick lunch then a visit to each deck to find all bars and restaurants, casino, theatre etc as its usually quieter at that time.  Then to cabin, find the lifts and work out which lift bank to use on our deck to get to where we need to be on the ship.

 

Nothing worse than finding a really good tucked away bar about 4 days in!

[david63]

Favourite thing to do on embarkation day - get on the ship!

[AchileLauro]

Our normal routine is to clock in at the muster station then if possible dump our coats and bags in the cabin and proceed to the buffet for a spot of lunch. It's become almost a tradition with me to have a salad for lunch and to sit outside on the terrace to enjoy it with a soft drink. I was very much looking forward to doing this when we boarded Arcadia two weeks ago.

 

Unfortunately when we boarded at 2.30 we found the Belvedere buffet absolutely chock a block. Never mind we will go for a drink and come back shortly when it dies down a bit. We then went to the Aquarius bar only to find a long line of people snaking across the deck queuing to get served at the bar. "Oh well, let's try the East bar on deck 11" I says to my wife. Only to find that East bar is closed and remained closed for the duration of the cruise. I know "let's try the Crow's nest". We waited 25 minutes in the crow's nest to get served, (they refused us service at the bar, yet some were being served?). It was then a further 20 minutes after ordering from the waiter until our drinks were brought to us. After our drinks we though it's probably less chaotic in the Belvedere now. Yes it certainly was, it was shut with roller blinds pulled down over all the serving counters.

Not a good start to the cruise!

 

We took this short cruise to try out Arcadia as we had doubts about her after hearing very mixed reports about the ship. We were seriously considering taking a much longer Med cruise on her but it looks like we made the right decision by playing safe and instead booking on Aurora for our main holiday later in the year.

We are fully aware that these short cruises are atypical and sometimes degenerate into booze cruises such as this one was, but we were still able to make a valid judgement about the ship and the way that it is operated (disappointing).

[SunnyD800]

Thanks for all the replies. Great to hear what everyone gets up to when you get onboard. I suspect it will be muster, cabin, food and explore for us. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

On P and O we book 710 club as soon as we get on several times

[kalos]

13 hours ago, david63 said:

Favourite thing to do on embarkation day - get on the ship!

That's our favourite too and get out on the balcony and watch the world go by.

[Purdey16]

What I like to do is once on the ship , muster station first , drop of stuff in cabin, check my dinner table number and go to investigate it if it’s appropriate for me , making sure it’s only a 2 top or 4 at a push, then unpack and get ready for dinner early and go to the crows nest and watch the sail away with cocktails and then go to late dinner and late show, no need to investigate the whole ship that first day , I try to make my boarding as calm as possible but never achieve this , I’m a planner and like things orderly so things have to be sorted out straight away or I get restless, I hate it when the luggage arrives late around 6 last time, mucked up all my plans 😂😂

[AchileLauro]

I should add that from when my foot touches deck from the boarding gangway I'm on holiday, so car keys, wallet and phone are all locked in the safe as soon as possible. Then it's normally just unwind and go with the flow, though sometimes that can be more than a bit hard, especially if it was like our recent Arcadia cruise that I previously detailed.

 

P.S. And before anyone asks, NO I don't carry my phone with me in the hope that the useless P&O website may be working for me while on board. It hasn't worked for me for the last two cruises so I don't waste my time with it.

Edited May 19 by AchileLauro

[FangedRose]

23 hours ago, Cathygh said:

Drop hand luggage, go to muster, walk the ship from top to bottom, unpack

No muster anymore.

[FangedRose]

23 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

Drop hand luggage in the cabin, go to muster, stroll round the ship to checkout where everything is, go back to the cabin and unpack as soon as the bags arrive.

 

No muster anymore

[Interestedcruisefan]

Just now, FangedRose said:

No muster anymore.

You do still have to go and get scanned off at the muster point though

 

To show you know where it is

[FangedRose]

3 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

You do still have to go and get scanned off at the muster point though

 

To show you know where it is

Yes I know, but you should that on boarding before finding your cabin. Always directed to your muster station when greeted upon boarding

Edited May 19 by FangedRose

[Interestedcruisefan]

Just now, FangedRose said:

Yes I know, but you should that on boarding before finding your cabin.

Yes

 

Normally get directed to do that as well

 

 

Edited May 19 by Interestedcruisefan

[FangedRose]

Just now, Interestedcruisefan said:

Yes

 

Normally get directed to do that as well

Just edited my reply to say that 😬

[Windsurfboy]

I thought your card was by cabin door, don't you need that to register at muster Station. 

[Cathygh]

1 hour ago, FangedRose said:

No muster anymore

We have always gone to our cabin to collect the room cards and then gone to our muster station to scan them. Besides the ships are now doing full musters, every 6 months I believe.

[FangedRose]

12 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

I thought your card was by cabin door, don't you need that to register at muster Station. 

You don't need your cabin card, they scan the QR code on your boarding pass

[FangedRose]

1 minute ago, Cathygh said:

We have always gone to our cabin to collect the room cards and then gone to our muster station to scan them. Besides the ships are now doing full musters, every 6 months I believe.

They don't scan the card, they scan the QR code on your boarding pass. Always been directed to do that immediately on boarding, you get asked "what's your muster station" and pointed towards it. It is almost always on the way to your cabin anyway, and it is on the boarding level so saving an unnecessary trip in the lift when people have still got their hand luggage with them. Why do two trips when one will do? I am aware that a "proper" muster drill is needed at times but that is the exception.