rolloman

Just returned today from the Thanksgiving cruise. Embarkation nightmare for most. Debarkation nightmare as well. I have never seen traffic backed up like I saw on embarkation day. The ship left about an hour and a half late to due to luggage not being brought on board. The shuttle between the two piers was reported to me from several to be around an hour. Folks were parking and walking almost a mile because pier 6 does not have enough spaces. Now that the pier is not going to be finished by January..they certainly have a lot of things to fix going forward.

No, no, no .....

 

This article doesn't say they ARE doing this ..... just that some consultant said they "would need to" add 4 new terminals....

 

Everyone getting all up in arms over this ... its by no means a definite... my god .

Settle down guy.....this is just one article from today...everything is being talked about HERE, LOCALLY, on a daily basis. Ground breaking has already happened for the multi-million dollar dining and entertainment complex, new pier 1 will open in a few weeks, several additional ships are now scheduled to home port here and more are on the way....

According to CLIA, it's not at all unlikely. In 2012 (the last year for which complete data were available) the embarkment numbers stack up as:

 

Miami - 1.887 Million

Port Everglades - 1.797 Million

Port Canaveral - 1.707 Million

 

Which means that PC only has to add 180,000 passengers/year to match Miami.

 

That equates to the equivalent of one additional ship doing 7-night itineraries and carrying ~3461 passengers/cruise, or one ship doing a mix of 4 and 5 night cruises carrying an average of 2465 passengers/cruise.;)

Correct, and just to what we know, NCL bringing a ship, Celebration cruiseline bringing a ship, Quantum making port visits.....this alone will be enough to surpass the other port counts. Port Authority folks have made it clear...Port Canaveral will be the largest, busiest cruise port in Florida.....soon.

Do you know if there is any way to do this OBC or it must be ordered before boarding?

From what I understand it needs to be booked in advance. The rooms are decorated prior to you boarding. If there is not enough participation the event is cancelled and you will be refunded.

There is absolutely zero chance port canaveral will ever see more cruise traffic than Miami or PE.

You could not be more wrong.......

I was actually talking about if they were to use the new terminal 1 which is scheduled to open the day we return, I doubt I could park there on the 23rd if they are not officially opened yet.

I guess you will have to wait and see how your particular sailing pans out. The circumstance may not relate to your sailing.

That's if they will allow you to park at the new terminal if that is the one you would be coming back to

There will be other cars parked there from previous voyages. It will not be a problem. For instance as I said previously...current Explorer passengers will be shuttled from pier 6 to 10 tomorrow. Meanwhile, next cruise passengers tomorrow (which is mine) board at pier 10 and come back to 6. So the shuttles will be running between the two piers tomorrow and when I come back. The same will hold true for you.

Things are looking up here in Port Canaveral. Terminal upgrades, additions and expansions, more ships on the way and a multi-million dollar entertainment complex being built.

http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2014/11/22/port-canaveral-needs-cruise-terminals-handle-growth/19427835/

Something you could do, reverse logic, park your car at the terminal the ship will be returning to and then take the shuttle to your embarkation terminal. This way when the ship comes back your car will be where it needs to be.

FYI....upon arrival, probably be a good idea to drop your bags first before heading to park.

Interesting, but there was always going to be at least one of these situations happening when the new terminal opened. It gives the port authority a good opportunity to do a practice run before they have to do it again in December.

The lessons learned from this go round are:

Do not wait until the last minute to notify passengers.

Make sure said notification states shuttles will be provided.

Do not send out conflicting information on cruise documents. (Half said 6 the other half said 10)

Do not make passengers beg for cruise docs. For Monday's upcoming cruise most did not receive docs at the 30 day mark. You had to call and have a force download in order to get your luggage tags. Some folks still do not have their docs. I personally had to call 3 times and only (last week)after I called Crown and Anchor was it resolved.

Due to RCCL pier 1 not being completed on time, a logistic issue has occurred for the Explorer of the Seas. The ship recently sailed into PC and embarked the current cruise passengers at pier 10. Unfortunately for these passengers when they arrive back on Monday November 24, they will find the ship will be located at pier 6. Transversely new passengers leaving on Monday November 24, will find the ship located at pier 10 upon its return.

This morning I spoke to a port authority official. The cruise line will be offering free shuttle service to your specific parking lot for those who drive in for the cruise. The bus will be located in front of you as soon as you walk out of customs.

Royal Caribbean has also issued the following announcement to boarding passengers:

Hello, this is Royal Caribbean International. We would like to provide you with some important information regarding your November 24th, 2014, sailing onboard Explorer of the Seas out of Port Canaveral. Please note that check in for your cruise will take place at 9241 Charles Roland Drive Terminal 6, Port Canaveral Florida, as stated in your cruise documents. Check in will take place from 12:00 PM to 4:30 PM. We invite our Suite, Crown & Anchor Pinnacle, Diamond Plus, Diamond, Emerald and Platinum guests to arrive anytime between 12:00 PM and 4:30 PM. We strongly encourage and recommend all other guests arrive at the following designated times based on your stateroom deck assignment to enhance the check in and boarding experience. Guests on Deck 10 at 12:00 PM, Deck 9 at 12:30 PM, Deck 8 at 1:00 PM, Deck 7 at 1:30 PM, Deck 6 at 2:30 PM, Deck 3 at 3:00PM, Deck 2 at 3:30 PM. On November 29th, 2014 the ship will be docked at Terminal 10 which is a different terminal from where you boarded. We look forward to welcoming you onboard.

As long as it was not 69.00 per day...good deal.

If I get to port around 10:30 to 11:00 like I was planning will I really have to wait until 12 or later to board? I want to get this vacation started!! :)

To answer your question directly, yes you may have to wait until 12 noon to board, not uncommon at all. As a matter of fact last weekend at the same port the Explorer did not allow passengers to board until around 2 pm. Multiple circumstances can and often do arise. I find more times than not boarding does not commence until 11:30.

I was on the Celebrity Constellation a year or so ago and we spent the night there.....only because when we went to leave the wind was so bad the ship could not thrust away from the dock....interesting enough they opened the Casino and shops so it really did not matter if we left or not. Still not sure how they pulled that off but hey...glad they did.

I have been on both a couple of times. As far as differences, it comes down to this.....Sunshine has a couple of slides and Dr. Suess, where Freedom has ice skating, rock wall, flowrider and Dreamworks characters, shrek, madagascar and parades. The little ones swim/splash area is larger and more interactive on Freedom. The overall ship and entertainment hands down goes to Freedom. I had issues with the kids club on Sunshine. My 6 your old just completed her 30th cruise and the Sunshine was the only ship she ever refused to go back into kids club.

As far as itenerary goes...not a fan of Belize for young family. Long tender ride, only to arrive at a T-shirt stand. Not advisable to venture out the gate unless you are on a RCCL organized tour. Costa Maya...purpose built cruise port in the middle of nowhere. Beach day. Roatan...Honduras is the murder capital of the world,(google it) a young cruise employee was murdered in the street recently just outside the gate over someone trying to steal his cellphone. NCL stopped going there over this.

Freedom itenerary takes you to Cayman, beautiful island with 100% employment. Falmouth, nice shopping, do not leave the gated area unless on a tour. Labadee, probably the best private beach areas any cruiseline has (exception Disney Castaway Cay).

So to sum it up...this choice is a no brainer....Freedom hands down....and no I am far from Loyal to Royal.....this is an honest assessment. Let me know if you have any further questions.

 

Sometimes I think they plant info with staff to start rumors, who knows,

Everyone has to keep in mind this is a business decision. There is strategy involved between all the lines on where to put each ship and who to match up their fleet against. It only makes sense, we the public would be the last one to know. Secondly, I am sure waiters, room attendents and the like are virtually in the same 'need to know' category as us.

You will have to wait for Oasis 4 to come out. Then one goes to PC.

As I have stated before...they did not build a new multi million dollar terminal, dredge the channel for the largest ships and start the building of a new entertainment complex to have this now set empty for 3 years. Port Canaveral will be getting a new (er) RCCL ship soon. Count on it.

I have posted this many times before and usually recieve a round of static from posters........ If you get to the port before 10:30 AM you are in the way. Passengers are trying to get off and get to their transportation home, porters are weaving around with heavy luggage, service vehicles are moving in and around to get their equipment and replenishments onboard. You, the early bird, are not going anywhere except standing in line or best case having the opportunity to sit on a hard plastic seat for an undetermined amount of time.

I just got off a Princess ship last week and my porter almost crushed a couple of people as we tried to plow through a mass of passengers outside in the boarding line at 9:30 AM.

Absolutely ridiculous.

I disagree with those who say it was under utilised, well not on the Freedom and Voyager class I've sailed on. So that's 4 times Liberty, 2 x Freedom, 2 x Mariner, 3 x Adventure, 1 x Navigator. Always busy in the evenings, and not too quiet during the day. My experiences only. Then again I'm not a bean counter for RCI.

Amazing.....

Just a thought...if there is only 5 people in the room with you it does not necessarily count as "busy"

Will the shows be the same? Can anyone tell me what the current shows are?

You can always call Royal and ask what the entertainment will be for any upcoming cruise you may be on.

Every time I have visited the Viking Crown Lounge on Oasis class it has always been empty. I'd sit and have a drink but it was uncomfortable with several bartenders and waiters staring at me. I thought to myself, what a waste of prime space and labor. I am happy to see that they are trying something different. Something needs to be up there that is going to attract people. Lets give it a try.

Exactly, I have been in the Viking Crown Lounge at just about every time of day (love the views it provided) and it was always empty, (with the exception of smaller ships where they set up evening C&A lounge. It amazes me the sudden outpouring of folks who are devistated because it was there one and only "special" place.

The aft-staircase-Deck 6-complaint was one I had read quite a bit by some forum members, but maybe they were just first-timers on Princess Cruises and didn't know any different. Another complaint was that the 'layout' of the Royal-class was just so 'different', to which I countered with an extensive reply, here...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=43625816&postcount=193

 

:D

I am well aware other Princess ships as well as Carnival have the deck 6 layout. You seem to be missing the point......when you build something new, you should improve upon it. There are now 3600 passengers, more free flowing space should have been taken into account, not taken away. Dead end stairs and removal of stairs on this ship created elevator madness. One other item of note, when you are in the elevator area you have 3 seperate banks of elevators you can push the button for. This is what everyone does. So basically, because of this, you have crammed elevators stopping at every single floor on a 16 deck ship, often times with no one getting off or on. It is not fun and a bad design.

See my comments in red

The fact that the venue may be bigger than other Princess ships means nothing, it is all relative......there are also 3600 passengers on the Regal, more than any other Princess ship. I have a 3 car garage...way bigger than my previous home which was only 2. I now own 4 cars......... If I need to go into the horrible behavior which this oversite fueled...I can do that.

The stairs in the aft, if you go to deck 6, lead you to nothing but the dining room. in order to proceed anywhere else, you have to take the stairs back up to deck 7. How about the stairs located in a few spots that actually go up into nothing.....it is quirky....beautiful ship...but quirky.

As far as the card, you could have gotten caught in the repeat charge net some banks use. If they get pre-auths for the same amount repeatedly, the account is flagged. May not have been in Princess' control (though they could have responded better)

That is a thought but the first temp charge was 10.00 and the second was for 58.00....... I am confident somebody at 2 AM fat fingered the input and it got kicked back.

Was on this cruise, just got home. I will agree the ship is beautiful, the food was fantastic. One of the best buffets I have seen since the 90's. I was in a standard balcony. The bathroom is small and has the ugly shower curtain but outside of this, the room was fine, plenty of storage areas, balcony large enough to eat breakfast comfortably.

Now a couple things I did not like at all, both theater areas are WAY too small, there was fighting every single night for seats. I witnessed some of the rudest behavior in a long time because of this. People were standing in the isles. You have a ship which has 3600 passengers and you make a tiny venue? The shows were outstanding but what good is it if you can't enjoy?

No stairs in the center of the ship? Aft stairs only go to deck 6. Elevators were crammed and I mean crammed with additional long waits. Again this caused issues and rude behavior.

This morning I was met with a surprise which spoiled my mood. As I was debarking the ship, my seapass card beeped and I was told to go to the pursers desk. The desk said my card did not go through ($100.00) and they needed to process it. Funny thing is both of their temporary charges went through on the 6th and the 7th and now on the 9th the card does not work for them? Somebody screwed up and I was the one who had to pay for their mistake by standing in the dreaded line for 45 minutes so they could fix their mistake. I told the guy out of all my cruises this has never happened and he said "first time for everything sir"....yeah uh huh...nice response.

Anyways, lots to like about this ship but there are some quirks for sure.