BrightyB

IRL Joanie and Sail7Seas: I'm the tall, bald guy, usually wearing glasses! My co-workers know me as "Jerry".

As this will be our second season in the renovated terminals (4, 19, 21, and 26) hopefully , things will go more smoothly at check-in. Although our work schedules are not assigned until late this summer, I'm hoping to work check-ins for Noordam, Westerdam, and Zuiderdam. If you travel on one of these, please say "HI"!

Krazy Kruiser: I guess I should have mentioned previously that I am a HAL check-in agent at Ft. Lauderdale for the past five years. As the terminals that HAL now uses were renovated last summer, the debark and embark are done in two different areas allowing the doors to usually open at 9:30 unless there is a serious delay in unloading the ship from the previous trip.

You may "check-in" and receive your cabin keys usually as early as 9:30am. However, actual boarding of all passengers usually doesn't start until 11:30am. As a Neptune Suite guest, you will receive a small plastic card with an "S" (for Suite) as you enter the terminal which will allow you to be in the first group to board the ship when the boarding commences. As has been suggested, arriving at 1:30pm or later usually allows for immediate boarding after check-in as the long lines are gone! The ships sail at 4pm from Ft. Lauderdale so be sure to arrive before 3pm!