You’ve Booked a Cruise on the Celebrity Apex. Now What?

If you’re like me, after booking, you hang on every word from the cruise line. You’ve invested a lot of money. It’s your vacation. You want to get it right. To make sure you get it right, download Celebrity’s app and keep an eye on your emails. If you’re headed for the Caribbean on the Apex, here’s what you can expect from Celebrity in the months, weeks and days before you cruise: 

Months before 

Promotional emails – Once you book, be prepared to be bombarded by Celebrity’s emails on beverage packages, wifi, excursions, specialty dining and the like. If you’re buying one or more of these, it’s best to do it now because the prices will go up once you’re onboard. 

45 days before

Online check in – This opens up about 45 days before the cruise via Celebrity’s mobile app. You'll also get an email that announces, "It's TIme to Check In." We received it on March 11 for an April 18 sailing. 

Refer to Celebrity’s website, https://www.celebritycruises.com/faqs, for details on what forms of citizenship and identification you’ll need. Once this is done, your boarding pass (“Xpress Pass”) will show up on the app. Note that online check in must be completed at least four days before the cruise. 

About one month before 

Luggage tags – You can find these in the last pages of the cruise document (“Guest Ticket Booklet”) that comes via email about a month before your trip. The luggage tags are in color; if you don’t have a color printer, you can get them printed easily from your local UPS or FedEx store. Or, you can print them in black and white. 

About 10 days before 

Reminder email – This includes last-minute details on what to bring to embarkation, as well as a reminder to check in and select an arrival time, if you haven’t done so already. 

About a week before 

Get excited – Around now, daily activities for the cruise start showing up in the app. (The evening shows, though, don’t show up until you actually board.) 

Two days before

Health questions – Each person on your trip will be required to answer two quick health questions on their app before embarkation. 

One day before 

Helpful tips – An email will tell you how to redeem your purchases of excursions or spa treatments; or drink, dining, wifi or photo packages. 

Breezing through embarkation in Port Canaveral

While I can’t guarantee you’ll have the same experience we did, Celebrity’s embarkation at Port Canaveral was the easiest we’ve had in 31 cruises. They usually dock at Terminal 1, which is easy to get to. Confirm the pier at portcanaveral.com, where you can also get directions and maps. 

There is ample outside parking (the garage fills up with Royal Caribbean cruisers) and a free shuttle van (note: tips are welcome). We parked the car at noon, hopped on the shuttle and were swiftly deposited at the terminal. To our shock, there were no lines anywhere and in mere minutes, we were in our stateroom, clinking glasses in delight! 

Musing’s Top Tip: At disembarkation, ask a port staff member where to pick up the shuttle to get back to your car. It’s not well marked (just a small sign on the ground outside) and hard to find.

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.