Disembark Without Distress

If you can’t walk off, you’re bringing too much stuff, says my suddenly wise travel companion.

The backstory: his big black bag—which looks like hundreds of other big black bags—was nowhere to be found in the cruise terminal on Disembarkation Day.

By the time we hooked up with the bag-taking couple, they were already at the airport. Our stuff nearly ended up in Maryland. We live in Florida.

Your bags could end up in Maryland too. Or Timbuktu. If you think it can’t happen to you, just peruse the forums on cruisecritic.com. It seems no matter how many pink pompoms or ruby red ribbons you put on your luggage, some folks can still think the bag is theirs.

And so, we’ve begun to, as the cruise lines call it, “walk off.” For the unfamiliar, this means that instead of letting the crew take your bags the night before the cruise’s end and delivering them in the terminal, you take them all with you when you leave.

What we’ve discovered is that there are many joys to walking off, such as:

A peaceful night before. The evening hours before Disembarkation Day used to be, for us, a panicky packing marathon, as we scrambled to get the bags into the hallway by the deadline. Now there’s no deadline and much less stress.

Smiling through the Disembarkation form. That dreaded form seems to show up earlier and earlier in the cruise—you know which one I mean—it asks how you’re going to get home so you can be scheduled for departure. It’s wonderful to check off the “walk off” option.

Leaving when we want. You don’t have to gulp down breakfast, drag your carryon to the theater and sit around impatiently waiting for your number to be called. You can just eat and get off the ship.

App it and it’s even faster. If you’re leaving from Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades or Miami’s Seaport Cruise Port, do the Mobile Passport. Simply download it before the cruise from Play Store or Apple’s App Store to do part 1. You do part 2 when you’re about to leave the ship. It’s easy and you’ll breeze right through Customs.

Once you do walk off, you’ll always walk off. It takes some of the edge off what is already distressing—the end of your wonderful cruise.