What time do you like to get to the pier?

We r leaving on our first Hal cruise. On past cruises (carnival and rccl) we get there prior to the time carnival recommends. Will Hal be the same way? I will be leaving on the Zaandam this Sunday out of Vancouver.

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I normally get in around 1130am for a cruise that leaves around 4 or 5.

Gives you ample of time to eat, unpack (if your bags make it on time), explore the ship and prepare for the muster drill.

But others I've travelled with in the past prefer to get there later to avoid the crowds and tend to get there around 1pm - 2pm. But I want to enjoy every minute of my cruise :-)

I'll try and help! A lot depends on your stateroom, We always arrived around noon as We had special lines to get aboard. With Mariner status and such Hal I believe starts around 11:00 am and it could be a cattle call situation:D

We usually get to the pier for check in around 1030 -11 am.

In Vancouver we stay at the Pan Pacific,and take the elevator down to the terminal after our luggage is collected from our room, last time the luggage was collected 1015.

We normally rent a van for ourselves & another couple & try to leave home by 9:a.m. . That gets us to the pier by 11:00 to give our luggage to the porters.. Then our DH's return the van & the ladies wait for them to come back before checking in with our hand luggage.. We all are 4 star & can board early to enjoy having lunch in the Lido day of departure..

My friends DH or I usually do the driving.. This next cruise, we're going with a different couple & I've decided I did not want to drive this time...Today heard about a car service who would pick the four of us up at home & take us to Fort Lauderdale for a reasonable price.. Will check it out & if it's good will have the service pick us up about 9 to 9:30, so we should all be ready to check in by 11:30..

Unfortunately, these friends are one star Mariners & can't board early.. Therefore, we will either wait for them to board or we will board early & wait for them in the Lido for lunch..:) That might be the best plan so we can get a table before it gets crowded..

We like to board for cruises that depart between 4 and 5 pm between 1 and 2 o'clock. Most of the time you don't have to wait in line for baggage, check-in and security but just walk through right to your stateroom. Have in mind that the staterooms are not ready right at the beginning of boarding for you and that most of the people are on the lido with their carry on luggage waiting for the rooms to get ready. You miss the mariner brunch but I would recommend to arrive late for sure.

As we usually go to the port city the day before we sail, so get to the pier about 11. Lately seems like people are arriving later than that so have had no problem checking in and a minimal wait for boarding when the ship is available.

We try to get to the pier around 10:30.

Boarding starts around 11:30 and HAL tries to have all the cabins ready by 11:30 thus you can drop off your carry-ons and do whatever you want to do.

We also try to get to the pier by 10:30 AM. That way by the time we check in we have a short wait to board (generally 11-11:30 AM). Drop the carryons in our room, explore a bit and have lunch. Great way to start the cruise IMO.

Also, at 10:30 am the checkin lines are generally not too long.

Ignore the 1 PM checkin time HAL states on their documents!!!

I like to get there between 2 & 3 because most people are usually onboard by then, which means we don't have to queue and we get a more peaceful lunch. As a bonus, our cabin is always ready by then.

We say every cruise "Oh we don't have to get there THAT early" and still turn around and get there at 10:30 and always end up in the middle of the stampede. I think DH would pitch a tent at the port if given the option. Just the mere site of our ship is one of those "YES!! We are on vacation, hot diggity dog! Toss the work phone overboard and hand me something with an umbrella in it!" moments. We get to FLL the day before and go down to the beach to wave goodbye to the ships leaving the day before ours. We are hopeless! :D

We like to board for cruises that depart between 4 and 5 pm between 1 and 2 o'clock. Most of the time you don't have to wait in line for baggage, check-in and security but just walk through right to your stateroom. Have in mind that the staterooms are not ready right at the beginning of boarding for you and that most of the people are on the lido with their carry on luggage waiting for the rooms to get ready. You miss the mariner brunch but I would recommend to arrive late for sure.

Actually in Ft. Lauderdale they normally do not start the boarding until all cabins are ready.. HAL tries to have all cabins ready by 10:30 to 11:00...The past few years, we've been able to drop our luggage in our cabin & then go up to the Lido for lunch.. Occasionally, we've had to wait only because officials have been on board going over a newly arrived (in the USA) ship..

We usually arrive around 11:30 or noon.

We get there around 11:30-noon. Since we always stay at a hotel the night before (except for the very rare time we may sail out of Seattle) we head to the pier immediately after check-out.

We haven't had to wait for our cabin to be ready in years.

It's good to know that the cabins are now ready most of the time. On our previous HAL cruises, we had to wait in public areas until they made an announcement. It's been a few years since we sailed on HAL.

Generally we like to get to the port around 10:30. I don't have to be the first one on the ship, but like to be one of the first ones so we can have lunch in the main dining room.

Thanks for all the responses! It really helped. I know how early my husband and I like to arrive with Carnival. It appears we can arrive at the same time with Hal. Having said that, we have my dad with us. As excited as I am for the cruise, I know I may have some bumps. My husband likes to be first, and my dad likes to hang back. [emoji30] it will be interesting.

We believe once we r on the ship, vacation starts [emoji108]so we try to take advantage and get on early. Just like headhunterke, erewhon, daveokc, fatcat, and geoherb.

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It appears lots try to arrive around 11 and others after the herd.

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Have in mind that the staterooms are not ready right at the beginning of boarding for you and that most of the people are on the lido with their carry on luggage waiting for the rooms to get ready.

It's good to know that the cabins are now ready most of the time. On our previous HAL cruises, we had to wait in public areas until they made an announcement. It's been a few years since we sailed on HAL.

Thanks for all the responses! It really helped. I know how early my husband and I like to arrive with Carnival. It appears we can arrive at the same time with Hal. Having said that, we have my dad with us. As excited as I am for the cruise, I know I may have some bumps. My husband likes to be first, and my dad likes to hang back. [emoji30] it will be interesting.

 

We believe once we r on the ship, vacation starts [emoji108]so we try to take advantage and get on early. Just like headhunterke, erewhon, daveokc, fatcat, and geoherb.

 

 

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You may have to wait..

They normally board disabled Psgrs first & then they board suite Psgrs & then they start boarding by either area /number/letter or color..

We usually are in the first group after all Disabled & Suite Psgrs, have boarded only because we are 4 star Mariners.. Since we will be with one star Psgrs, we may wait for our Friends or go on up to the Lido to get our lunch..

When you check in they normally give you a color code or letter or number or area for boarding.. They will call out those colors/numbers/letters or areas so everyone will not try to board at once..

You may have to wait..

 

When you check in they normally give you a color code or letter or number or area for boarding.. They will call out those colors/numbers/letters or areas so everyone will not try to board at once..

Sure you may have to wait past 11:30 for boarding to begin, but in the last 5 years or so we haven't had to hang around public areas once on board waiting for our room to be ready.

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Agree see my post No. 12..

But since these Psgrs have never been on HAL before, they may have to wait a bit for boarding to begin depending upon how many disabled & suite Psgrs are boarded first..

When we go in Oct. we are booked with one star Psgrs on two separate booking No's...So we will either have to wait until they are called to board or we will board beforehand & wait for them in the Lido unless they are given the same boarding time when we all check in..We probably will not use the special check-in line because that one is usually slower than the other line..

After years of getting to the pier prior to the start of boarding our last couple of cruises we have boarded after 1pm and as others have mentioned breezed right on board, no waiting at any point during the process. By then the food options have also slowed down a bit from the mad initial rush.

They normally board disabled Psgrs first

This has been our experience so we try to get there about an hour before boarding and check-in then wait in the wheelchair area. They (HAL and RCCL) have always seemed to want to get the mobility impaired people on ahead of the "stampede". Also we've seen that they insist on wheeling mu wife onboard rather than me pushing her. It really helps too if needing to take an elevator either to cabin or somewhere to wait and I think they like to get the elevators cleared for the foot traffic. It also gives us a chance to head to the Lido Cafe ahead of the crowd.

Does Seattle follow the 11am boarding as I've seen in the above threads? If so we would have our son drop us off at 10am.

We normally rent a van for ourselves & another couple & try to leave home by 9:a.m. . That gets us to the pier by 11:00 to give our luggage to the porters.. Then our DH's return the van & the ladies wait for them to come back before checking in with our hand luggage.. We all are 4 star & can board early to enjoy having lunch in the Lido day of departure..

 

My friends DH or I usually do the driving.. This next cruise, we're going with a different couple & I've decided I did not want to drive this time...Today heard about a car service who would pick the four of us up at home & take us to Fort Lauderdale for a reasonable price.. Will check it out & if it's good will have the service pick us up about 9 to 9:30, so we should all be ready to check in by 11:30..

 

Unfortunately, these friends are one star Mariners & can't board early.. Therefore, we will either wait for them to board or we will board early & wait for them in the Lido for lunch..:) That might be the best plan so we can get a table before it gets crowded..

Could you please explain a bit more about being able to board before your friends. Thanks.

Scott & Karen

Could you please explain a bit more about being able to board before your friends. Thanks.

 

Scott & Karen

We are 4 star Mariners & have priority check in as do all 4 star.. They usually send us to the priority check in line which gives us the advantage of boarding earlier than others in our party.. Our Friends have only been on HAL once before with us, so they are 1 star..

They would have to check in on the regular line & be given a boarding card which indicates when their group will be boarded ...

We on the other hand could actually board earlier since we have priority check in but think we should wait for them before boarding...

It also depends on how many 4 stars are on our cruise.. We've been able to board many times much earlier than others, but sometimes we find the priority check in lines are much longer than the other lines especially on the longer cruises..