Anyone gone on a Cruise?

rhagfo wrote:
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Something else that many don't include in planing, as I see your are in Illinois plan to arrive at the cruise port location at least one day before your departure. This will protect you from delayed flights. I can't tell you the number of times flying to South Florida, and have a flight delay, and people going crazy because they planed to arrive in the departure city 6 to 8 hours before denature, only to have a major flight delay. Keeping mind cruising outside hurricane season, is late fall winter and early spring, many land storms affect flights.

We talked with people about this... and arrived a day early and stayed in a hotel room. Ask in advance about transportation to the dock... I can almost guarantee you they will have some sort of bus / taxi arrangements. On return, we also had a hotel room... not really sure that was needed, but it was nice to decompress a little before jumping on a flight.

And give yourself time for "boarding".... there will be a LOT of people at the dock. Don't Panic! There will be marked lines, people to help, people to answer questions, etc. The cruises do this all the time, so they can handle crowds. It might seem like a mess and you will never get on the ship, but the boarding will go surprisingly quickly.