Ok, the paperwork is just about the most complicated part of the entire check in process. It’s not too bad though. Let me offer you some tips to help speed things up for you. Your travel agent, or whoever you book through, you all the paperwork through the mail. There will be a brown booklet, which looks just like the booklet you get at an airline with your boarding passes in it. In this booklet, you will find lots of forms, you also may have coupons in there for account credits on board, and your transfer coupons will be in there if you purchased them. ALSO, somewhere in the packet will be some long, skinny pink and white forms. They are usually folded up and shoved into the bottom of the smaller envelope that the booklet is in. These are very important. They are the Bahamas Immigration forms. I can’t tell you how many times a day I hear guests say “but we aren’t going to the Bahamas.” Yes, you are. Castaway Cay is in the Bahamas, most people don’t realize that. You will need to fill out one of these for each and EVERY member of the family…even kids. Sign your name at the bottom of kids’ forms. In the middle is a section that says “arriving by” which is where you will check “Cruise Ship” and then at the bottom of that section, you will put the date that you will be going to Castaway Cay, and “PC” for “Port Canaveral.”
As for the rest of the paperwork, if you can get online, and do the online check in, more than 48 hours prior to sailing, that will make things go much quicker for you. If you do, you MUST print the Cruise Contract Signature form, and the Payment Authorization forms, they both require signatures. If you don’t print these forms and bring them with you, we have to have you fill them out again. If you don’t do online check in, then you will need to pull four forms out of the booklet you got in the mail and fill those out. First, is the first page in the booklet, which says “Mailing Information” in the top right corner. If you have more than one state room, you will need to do this for each room. You will then need to pull out the “Payment Authorization” (located towards the middle of the booklet), the Embarkation form, and the Cruise Contract (which is a form with a bunch of boxes for name and signature on it).
When you fill out the Payment Authorization form, remember to fill in ONLY the last four digits of your credit card number. You will also need to list every person that you are going to allow to have charging privileges. On the Embarkation form, it will ask for the name and number of an emergency contact. This must be someone NOT on board the ship. On the Cruise Contract, you must list the name of EVERY person in the room, and every box needs a signature. List adults first, then minors. For minors, leave the signature box on the top empty, and check “minor” below. Then print and sign YOUR name below that box. When you’re done, clip all four forms together, and put them away safe so you can bring them with you.
Doing this will make your check in time much quicker. The quicker you check in, the quicker you can get on board!