Port days - time off the ship

[Wecruise8]

How long before sailing time do you have to be back on the ship on shore days?

[Essiesmom]

Minimum 30 minutes. Princess tells you what time to be back, not what time the ship will sail. EM

[Cruisin' Chick]

How long before sailing time do you have to be back on the ship on shore days?

 

If it's a tender port, you should pad the time as often the line to board the tender gets very long right before the time to return to the ship. Plus, sometimes the time to get from the pier to the ship via tender could be 15-20 minutes.

[rdsqrl]

Princess will have notices in the daily newsletter delivered to your cabin each evening, as well as a sign near the gangway as you disembark, as to time to be back onboard. Bear in mind that in some cases, this can be ship's time, which might not be the same as port time. Usually they are but you'll want to depend on your watch set to ship's time, not on random clocks on land, just in case.

And while the all-aboard time may be 30 minutes, there is no way I would plan to arrive back with that short a window. If all-aboard time is 4:30, I aim for no later than 4, unless I'm within sight of the ship. Especially on St. Thomas, for example, the traffic can be really horrendous and you can be fooled by how close you seem to be to the ship when in reality it can take you much longer to get there by road. Better safe than sorry!

[Putterdude]

Normally it is 30 mins but it will be posted in the Patters the night before and on an easel as you depart the ship. We generally allow ourselves about an hour just to be on the safe side.

[MustangGT]

We like to be inboard early enough to watch from our balcony as people race to make it to the ship! :D. Never ceases to amaze me how many people take the dear sweet time!

[MustangGT]

We like to be inboard early enough to watch from our balcony as people race to make it to the ship! :D. Never ceases to amaze me how many people take their dear sweet time!

[Pam in CA]

If the ship is docked, you must be onboard at least 30 minutes before sailing. That's when you should be back onboard, not at the pier because they then start removing the gangways and preparing to sail. It takes about 30 minutes to do that. You should always plan on being at the pier at least 30 minutes before then to take into account traffic, mechanical problems, flat tire, you name it. It's not unusual for passengers to miss the ship because they didn't plan on being back a little earlier and something delayed them.

 

If the ship is tendering, the last tender usually leaves the port dock an hour before sailing. It takes about an hour to break down and remove the shoreside embarkation area, raise the tenders onto the ship, raise anchor and sail. Plan on being back at the dock at least 90 minutes before sailing.

[Nebr.cruiser]

It's usually 30 minutes, but my personal goal is at least one hour ahead, with two being better, especially if not on a cruise ship excursion (we hardly ever are) or if on a tour that is quite long or goes many miles from port.

[teripp]

I like an hour to one and a hal hours so I can board go to the IC get a large coffee and some chicken salad :) head to my balcony and just watch the island and then sail away. To me its very relaxing after a hectic day in port.....

Ter

[Colo Cruiser]

The onboard/sailing time is posted at the gangway. ;)

[Jetnoise]

Turning this question on its head - how quickly can one expect to disembark? I am in the process of arranging tours for some of the islands we will be visiting during the Sea Princess' Caribbean cruise Jan. 10th-24th and obviously need to arrange a meeting time/place with the tour operators. If, for arguments sake, we are docking at 08:00, what time can I realistically expect to be off the ship (assuming it is not a tendering port)?

 

Cheers,

Ralph