You have choices when it comes to checking your bags on a cruise. Usually, you can check your large luggage during boarding, and it will be delivered to your stateroom. However, that can take a few hours, so you'll want to keep carry-on luggage that includes items such as a swimsuit and sunscreen with you.

On embarkation day, you typically hand your large, tagged suitcases to porters at the cruise terminal before you even check in. These porters will load your bags onto large pallets to be brought onto the ship and eventually delivered directly to your stateroom door, usually by late afternoon or early evening. Because it can take several hours for your luggage to arrive, you should keep a carry-on bag with you containing essentials like your passport, boarding passes, medications, swimwear, and a change of clothes for dinner. This allows you to start enjoying the ship's pools and buffet immediately without waiting for your room to be ready or your bags to arrive. On the final night of the cruise, the process reverses: you place your packed bags outside your cabin door by a certain time (usually 10 PM), and the crew whisk them away to be picked up in the terminal after you disembark the next morning.