A Simple Guide to All the Things You Should Do One Week Before Your Cruise

If you are planning to cruise, there are a few essential things you should do the week leading up to your cruise that will make things run smoothly. I’ve been able to cruise many times and have gathered a list of everything that you will want to do the week before cruising like arranging transportation, printing boarding passes & luggage tags, pre-paying the gratuities, linking your credit card to your stateroom, and more. Follow along with my list in the show notes and you can check things off as you prepare for your cruise.

iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Podbean

A Checklist of Things To Do One Week Before a Cruise

Complete the online check-in on your cruiseline’’s website
Review any COVID restrictions
Book COVID tests if required
Consider your transportation (self-drive, will you need a taxi or Uber ride from the airport, want to hire a private driver?)
Review or make hotel reservations if needed. We generally arrive the night before the cruise and stay in a hotel.
Pre-pay for any desired cruise amenities such as wi-fi, water delivered to the stateroom, beverage packages, and photo packages. These are all discounted before the cruise and will cost more once you are on board.
Review excursions. Excursions and usually booked right after booking the cruise for the best selection. If you still need to book something, now is the time to do it. Review confirmation emails and make sure you are all set. Review what items you need to bring on excursions - will you need closed-toed shoes, a water camera, a raincoat, etc.
Print all of your documents such as boarding passes, luggage tags (print extra copies in case some tear or you want more than one bag per person carried to your room), COVID test results, and excursion booking info.
Gather your passport. Plus bring vaccine cards if required,
Pre-pay gratuities on the cruise line’s website if you didn’t pay this at the time of booking. It’s nice to have this paid before the trip so that the expense is taken care of before you get on the ship.
Check the weather for your destinations. This will help you determine what to pack. Will you need a rain coat, jacket, umbrella, or just a lot of swimsuits?
Confirm or make any desired onboard reservations such as specialty restaurants, spa treatments, and additional entertainment. Also, see if you need to schedule time for your kids in their kid clubs.
Money prep. Link your credit card to your stateroom. Your stateroom key will be the only way to charge things while on the boat. Decide if your kids will have spending privileges and add them to the account if needed.
Decide which credit card(s) to bring. If you will be traveling internationally, use a credit card that doesn’t have international transaction fees like the Chase Sapphire card, This is the card we use and have been happy with it.
Bring a debit card so you can easily pull money from ATMs if needed.
If you are going to a foreign port and will want local currency, a great way to get some is to use an ATM. Most destinations take credit cards or USD so don’t pull a lot of foreign currency unless you have confirmed that you will need it.
Download the app for your cruise line. Many cruise lines now offer the daily schedule of events only in the app. If you’ve cruised in the past, you know that each evening a schedule for the following day’s events was left in your stateroom. On our recent cruise, that was no longer the case. The schedule was only found in the app.
Also, the apps generally have a chat option that can be used on the boat so that you can communicate with the people in your travel group.