Getting off the ship, and what's happening at this terminal — both in one place now.
Then check it again in the morning, in daylight, with the door open.
It is the single most common thing left on a ship, and it is never socks — it is passports, birth certificates, cash, jewellery and car keys. It sits at eye level in a dark closet and it is empty-looking when it is not. Once the ship sails again with the next crowd aboard, getting it back is a long, uncertain business.
Have one person physically open it and reach inside. Do not accept "I already looked."
Passports, birth certificates and IDs go in the bag you carry off yourself — never in a bag you put outside the door. You need them in your hand at the terminal, and checked bags are not accessible from the moment they leave you until you find them in the luggage debark hall (the room in the terminal where checked bags are laid out by tag number, before customs).
Same for medication, phone chargers, car keys, wallets and anything you would not replace.
Do this with the lights on, not at 6am in the dark. These are the places bags and belongings actually get left.
The luggage debark hall is a working floor until it is released — cages moving, nobody allowed in. That is a safety rule, and arriving early does not open it any sooner. It just means standing at a closed door with your carry-on.
Your number, on your phone. When the terminal team posts which tag numbers are out and ready, this page will tell you — so you can spend the last hour of your holiday sitting down instead of queueing at a closed door.
Not switched on yet. Until it is, listen for your group to be called on the ship as usual.
Bags are set out by the colour and number on your debark tag. Find your colour first, then your number — not the other way round.
Ask a porter. It is the job, and they know where your tag number is in the luggage debark hall before you finish the sentence. If a bag is not where it should be, tell someone before you leave the building — a bag reported while you are still in the luggage debark hall is a different problem from one reported from the airport.
That is when the photo earns its keep.
Your ship's own debarkation instructions — tag colours, times and where to wait — and terminal information from staff on the ground always win over anything here.