How Late Do You Board

It depends on the cruise line. With Carnival, we do the faster to the fun program and board early. With RCCL, we wait until last minute. We are going out of San Juan on our next one and since it doesn't leave until late, not sure what we will do between hotel check out and boarding.

It may cost you a couple extra $$ in cab fare but why not get to the ship as early as allowed, drop your bags with the porters, do the check in thing, then turn right around and grab a cab to OSJ and tour around for the day?? It gets your bags out of your hands and gives you a full day to walk around. It is too bad that RCL doesn't dock near OSJ as am embarkation point to start a new cruise. In any event its an easy cab ride to between OSJ and the Pan American pier.

We aim to arrive around 11:30...get onboard and head to the pool. I wear my swimsuit under my clothes, so I don't have to find someplace to change. You PAY for day 1..and boarding day IS day 1....use the ship!

Last 2 cruises I was in first dozen checking in. Can't wait to start my Cruze...

We will remain early borders, but we always arrive at the port the day before, so we have minimum carry on as we put everything in our checked bags and only the bare minimum in our carry ons so there is no requirement to rush to a room as soon as it opens, and we manage to find something to do, people to find, or things to see. Now if I lived 5 minutes from a port and have sailed a ship 30 times, I'd board later. Coming up on Enchantment next fall, we will get to the hotel the day before and be some of the first on.

Membership has its perks. [emoji6]

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We used to board after lunch, but if its Oasis we arrive early and hang out in SL or CK. [emoji16]

 

Membership has its perks. [emoji6]

 

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Us too, for three weeks:p

Do the early boarders get luggage delivered quicker than late boarders? I always wanted to drop off the luggage early for this reason.

Why on earth would I want to board later? The sooner I board, the sooner I start enjoying my vacation! I'll continue to arrive early as possible. Yes, crowds in the terminal can be daunting, but I prefer to arrive early enough to be towards the front of the crowd.

Do the early boarders get luggage delivered quicker than late boarders? I always wanted to drop off the luggage early for this reason.

- The crew have "huge canvas buckets" on wheels that hold LOTS of suitcases.

- They seem to throw suitcases in 'til the "huge canvas bucket" is full, then they bring it onboard.

- It seems logical that the sooner your suitcase goes into the "bucket", the sooner it'll be brought onboard. They need to move the suitcases; they don't want to keep them sitting around piling up.

- Of course, you have no control over whether your suitcase is the one that "fills the bucket" and makes the workers say, "Time to bring this one onboard" or whether your suitcase is the very first one in a new "bucket".

We used to board after lunch, but if its Oasis we arrive early and hang out in SL or CK. [emoji16]

 

Membership has its perks. [emoji6]

 

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Did you board the Oasis after 1:00 before you were Pinnacle? How are the lines?

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I am an early border and I like to watch dock side activities.

Using your terms and one of mine I have seen instances of a whole "train" of full buckets shoved to the side by the forklift operators and kind of forgotten for an hour or two.

Your overall logic probably mostly applies, but isn't a gurantee.

I have cruised since 1981, and I figure anytime before dinner is an improvement from when I first started to cruise. However I still pack a first night change of clothes for dinner in my carryon baggage.

I can't claim thorough knowledge of this topic, but here's what I believe to be true based upon my experience:

 

- The crew have "huge canvas buckets" on wheels that hold LOTS of suitcases.

 

- They seem to throw suitcases in 'til the "huge canvas bucket" is full, then they bring it onboard.

 

- It seems logical that the sooner your suitcase goes into the "bucket", the sooner it'll be brought onboard. They need to move the suitcases; they don't want to keep them sitting around piling up.

 

- Of course, you have no control over whether your suitcase is the one that "fills the bucket" and makes the workers say, "Time to bring this one onboard" or whether your suitcase is the very first one in a new "bucket".

Do the early boarders get luggage delivered quicker than late boarders? I always wanted to drop off the luggage early for this reason.

I've never seen a relationship between when the luggage was dropped off and when the luggage gets delivered to the stateroom.

Did you board the Oasis after 1:00 before you were Pinnacle? How are the lines?

 

 

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The lines around 11:45 or so are murder. Not sure when it clears up. I do know the lines around 10am are short. That's when I drop off luggage.

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I get the late check in thing, but for us it will always be the 11 am time slot. Check out of hotel and taxi to port...

Last one, we arrived about 10:30 or so (Baltimore). Suite, so had the suite line, which was short, but the other lines did not look that long.

Checked in, sat down for maybe 15 minutes, then boarded.

Only gripe, it seems we did not get put in the suite area, so did not board first, but not a big deal.

It seems that our 5/31 Anthem sailing will have delayed boarding due to a Coast Guard inspection and passengers are being told not to arrive before 12 PM. Will this delay the cabins being ready and cause a mad dash once boarding is allowed? As a Diamond normally I would get priorty checkin. Wondering how this will be addressed. Also, trying to plan what time for the car service to pick us up.

MARAPRINCE

I like the 1:00pm-2:00pm time as well. Lines are shorter and most importantly I have a cabin to put my stuff in. Then the lines for food are shorter and you can enjoy going around the ship more not wondering what time the cabin will be ready and holding carry on your bags.

I just don't see the advantage of getting on super early. Its crowded, you have to lug your stuff around and my least favorite meal on any cruise is the first day lunch. All personal preference I guess.

But when leaving from a port that is not Miami or Ft. Lauderdale (home for me) I tend to rather enjoy a nice breakfast and walking around the city a bit over going right to the ship.

It seems that our 5/31 Anthem sailing will have delayed boarding due to a Coast Guard inspection and passengers are being told not to arrive before 12 PM. Will this delay the cabins being ready and cause a mad dash once boarding is allowed? As a Diamond normally I would get priorty checkin. Wondering how this will be addressed. Also, trying to plan what time for the car service to pick us up.

 

MARAPRINCE

The port people will likely put people in order of boarding and call the respective groups when ready to board.

usually around 11 to 11:30 boarding has always started around 11:30 except when they are late clearing the ship.. however, they still call priority boarding first

When driving to Cape Liberty (2 hrs from home) I like to arrive around 10:30. This gives us extra time in case we have troubles on the drive.

For years we would always follow the same routine, arrive at pier around 10:45, get inside the terminal and wait until time to board. Then we would board and wait for our cabin to be available (1:30). Last time we changed it up, arriving at 1:30. We breezed through, boarded with no crowds, and immediately went to our cabin, which was ready. It was nice to be able to drop our carryon bags and get our passports in the safe before going to eat. From our experience last time it seems we are in the minority but that was just the one time we did it that way. On our upcoming Allure cruise we plan to arrive at 1:30 as well. How many people are late boarders? And if so what time do you like to arrive at pier?

We are early boarders. Since we are in a suite- we want all the time we can have on the ship- Our vacation begins the moment we enter the terminal.Typically at 10:30 lines not long- we do not mind carting our carry-on with us. Like to have lunch early, before it is picked over if at the buffet or suite restaurant-before it is crowded

If we want any specialty restaurant or spa services, like to do the first day also- We also start the afternoon off with a nice drink.

Why not maximize the day- for me if I arrive later I would be stressed.

Last November we were forced to fly to San Juan the day of the cruise departure. We did not get on until 4 pm. It felt like we missed a whole day of cruising. We had to fly out immediately after disembarking so the 7 day on Adventure felt like a 3 day to the Bahamas.

Early boarding for us. Like to maximize our time on board. We check all luggage except for one small backpack so no need to get to our room right away.

Day 1 is one of my favorite days on the ship, so we are usually onboard by 10:00 - 10:30.

I agree! We get on board as soon as we can. Enjoy exploring the ship and usually we have someone that hasn't cruised so we get to show them around the ship.

We like to arrive at the port between 12:30 and 1:30. I like to be able to drop off luggage in the cabin. We unpack the carry-on and head to the Windjammer for lunch. Much easier for us because DH uses a cane.

On our next cruise we will be driving to the port so we may get there earlier as check out from the hotel is 11am.

Either way the sound of the first ping is great at any time.

Great post, you make good points for arriving earlier or later. Like your next cruise we always arrive from a local hotel, so they want us out too. I get to the port ASAP, and I am prepared and don't stress if boarding is delayed. I have my book, my wife, my phone and I'm not at work. To all, what ever stresses you the least is great!

I agree totally, unless you are on the ship for b2b's or more, then there is no rush.

I'm definitely going to do a back to back sometime, even if it is two short cruises. Talk about stress, packing those bags, putting them in the hallway! ;p