Port Arrival Time

We got a port arrival time between 10:30 am and 10:45 am at Port Canaveral. How crowded with the check in be? What is the estimated time we will be on the ship?

George

It will be very crowded and will get worse as boarding time approaches. Your estimated wait time at tat point is probably an hour+. Typically they start boarding about 11:30, and then proceed pretty rapidly with just about all the passengers in the terminal gettin on board by about noon.

Boarding starts about 11:15-11:30. Concierge guests will be boarded without any fanfare thru a side door, and then the announcements will start.

Yes, with your PAT, things will be crowded but you should be able to go thru quickly. And you'll get a very low boarding number, so you should be boarding about 11:30-11:45. For that hour between your arrival and boarding, you'll go thru security, check in, and (if you wish) do kid registration. If there is a line for kid registration, wait and do it after boarding--there is rarely a line on the ship.

We sailed on the Wonder a couple weeks ago and had a PAT of 11:00-11:30. We got there shortly before 11 and had maybe a 5 minute wait if that the check-in and got boarding group 5. They didn't start boarding until roughly noon, but Concierge of course boarding earlier. Being in group 5 our number was called within 10 minute of the "family of the day". If you are on the Fantasy or Dream expect a more crowded terminal and longer lines. Cabins were ready at 1:30.

They no longer do kids registration in the terminal (at least they didn't for this sailing). That is done online prior to boarding. The counter area is still there, but was not staffed. If you didn't register the kids online you did it onboard at the Club, Lab, etc. They also did the bands onboard at the club regardless of registering online or not. This resulted in longer waits onboard during the open house to get the kids club bands, etc.

They no longer do kids registration in the terminal (at least they didn't for this sailing). That is done online prior to boarding. The counter area is still there, but was not staffed. If you didn't register the kids online you did it onboard at the Club, Lab, etc. They also did the bands onboard at the club regardless of registering online or not. This resulted in longer waits onboard during the open house to get the kids club bands, etc.

Yes, the actual "registration" has been on line in advance for several years, but you still have to "confirm registration" and get the band issued. Sorry that I wasn't up to date on taking it out of the terminal--a good move IMHO. The terminal is busy enough without issuing the bands there. But, as you noted, that would increase the lines once on board. Did they still have the tables set up in the halls where people who didn't register in advance could do it on the ship or were they in the same line as those just needing bands?

On our most recent DCL cruise, we were on the first bus from MCO. When the bus arrived at the terminal, about 10:20, we were allowed into security and used both security lines. The people who were waiting (those with 10:30 PATs and those who just showed up early because they felt like it) were able to do security after our bus group and move thru the process. There are 20+ check in stations, so that goes fairly quickly especially if people have followed instructions and have all their documents ready.

We've just been allocated a 3pm port arrival time for our upcoming Med cruise, but we're likely to arrive at the port a good hour before that. Will we have to wait until our allotted time?

We've just been allocated a 3pm port arrival time for our upcoming Med cruise, but we're likely to arrive at the port a good hour before that. Will we have to wait until our allotted time?

Life in Barcelona is a little different than at Port Canaveral. But no, you are not likely to have to wait till 3pm.

On our last cruise out of BCN, boarding didn't start till about 12:30. And the check in personnel were VERY confused. Previous cruises had been on more of a Port Canaveral sort of schedule. One thing that was different was that we were required to line up and someone verified that we had the booklet that DCL mails to us (the one with the luggage tags in it) before we could even get into the terminal. Obviously, this additional step took time, and this was a relatively long line..maybe 20 minutes.

Bottom line, you'll be fine arriving an hour early. Just don't expect them to be as smooth or organized as PC typically is.