- Embarkation and disembarkation. On sailing day, look at your documents or have your travel agent show you what time you can start to board. It will take time to have your ticket processed, get your cruise card and line up for boarding.

The last night of the cruise, you have to pack and put your luggage in the hall by 2 a.m. Don't put on your night clothes before you pack. You might accidentally pack up the clothes you are going to wear off the ship the next day. The last morning, breakfast is served early. The cruise lines like you to get out of your cabin right after breakfast, so the stewards can prepare for the next occupants. You are advised to wait in the public rooms with the rest of the horde until your group is called to disembark, with your hand baggage.This wait can be one or two hours

Better to return to the cabin after breakfast and explain to the steward that you will stay there until your group is called. Stewards usually do not mind, since they have umpteen other cabins to prepare.

- Dress code. Mornings and afternoons are always informal. Breakfast and lunch are served in the dining room at open seating -- guests are ushered to tables and seated with others -- and at the Lido buffet, where dress is even more informal, since many folks are coming in fresh from a dip in the pool.

The dress code for the evening is described in the daily activities sheet you will find under your cabin door in the morning. Dinners are served in the main dining room at assigned tables, or on some ships at a variety of smaller dining rooms that you choose on a daily basis. The general rule is that after a day in port, dress for the evening meal usually is informal or casual. On sea days, the dress is either semiformal or formal.

- Tipping. The cabin steward, dining room waiter and busboy are the main suitors for your financial rewards. On most ships, the cabin steward and waiter each get $3 to $4 per day per person; the busboy gets half that. Most lines offer recommendations on tipping, but it is your choice in the end.

Leave the cabin steward's tip in an envelope he will find easily when he goes in to turn down your bed after you go to dinner on the last night. The waiter and busboy will hover around at the end of dinner to get theirs.

Remember this is a time for fun and relaxation. Somethings are not going to go as planned, let it be. If you let things bother you it will take away the pleasure of the trip. You are not going to change much by getting excited. Go with the flow.
Let It Be.