Ship Departure

[arrow3]

I was looking at some old Compass pages and noticed that it says you must leave your room by 8AM.

 

* Can you eat breakfast in the dining room the last day?

* Why must you leave your room by 8AM and sit and wait somewhere else until you can leave?

 

On Carnival, you were allowed in your room until you wanted to leave. We ate breakfast in the dining room the last day, then went back to our room and packed up. Once we were through, we simply went down to the lobby and waited in a short line to exit the ship. Seems like a better system to me.

 

Do they really enforce this 8AM rule? I would think as long as you are out of the ship by 11AM then everything is good.

[Honey's Gal]

On all the RCI cruises I have been on, we had to leave by 8AM. We also had breakfast in the Windjammer, the dining room was not open.

 

The reason for this is to clear the ship as quickly as possible and to clean the cabins for the next group of pax. I don't know that people sitting in their cabins, especially if on a balcony would actually be able to hear the announcements of the colors when they are to leave. If you don't leave at your specified time, I would assume your luggage could get mixed up with the other colors and cause confusion.

[madforcruising]

Yes there is breakfast in the dining room th last day and again yes you have to leave your room that early because the room attendants have to make up the room again for the new guests coming aboard. It would be worse to them if peoplewouldn´tleave the rooms that early. Embarkation day is always very busy for them. They have to clean and set up the rooms for the new guests, lug around all the luggage of the past and future guests and make sure to welcome the new guests.

I don´t know about carnival, but on NCL we were told to be able to stay in our room until departure. It was areal pain for the room attendants and they started to clean the rooms around us while we have still been there.

[Max Circus]

Only Windjammer is open for breakfast - not the dining room from what I recall from last two cruises.

 

You have to think of the passengers that are waiting to board that day. They begin arriving to the terminal around noon and will start boarding shortly thereafter. If you're not out of your room, they aren't able to clean it properly - causing the new passengers a delay. Have never been on Carnival so I don't know how they handle.

[arrow3]

Yes, that makes sense but it just seems pointless to have more than 3000 people sitting around with luggage in lounges all over the ship. There were no "colors" or anything on Carnival -- and it was a large ship as well (Carnival Destiny). We just kind of went at our leisure down to the lobby. The line was short since not everyone was rushing to get off at once, and it was a nicer way to end the trip. We were given a time that we had to be off (of course) - I believe it was 11AM.

 

Thanks for the replies.

[Max Circus]

That's a cool way of doing it. Sounds as if the Carnival stewards need to make fast time of cleaning the cabins - unless maybe the ship you were on wasn't going out that same day (agree that is unlikely) or maybe had a late night departure (??).

 

I will agree that the last day aboard is very depressing - just sitting around waiting . . . it's the hardest part . . . .or so says Tom Petty.

[Aleciajoyful1]

We have had breakfast in the main dining room on disembarkation day on both cruises after leaving our cabin. We were able to sit and enjoy breakfast while killing some time before we left the ship.

 

The last cruise on Serenade of the Seas, they released us off of the ship by deck numbers, not colors.

 

So they started with deck 10 and worked their way down. We sat on lounge chairs outside and waited. Our cabin was on deck 3, and as they approached deck 5, my husband was getting very ansy. We started towards the doors and walked off with no problems. Noone checked any of our paperwork and when we went through customs, we went right to our luggage. It was very easy!

[Sheffie]

. If you don't leave at your specified time' date=' I would assume your luggage could get mixed up with the other colors and cause confusion.[/quote']

 

When sailing the Horizon we learned that we could sit on the aft deck next to the buffet area, sipping our last morning coffee, and wait till the last color was called to depart. We went down to the luggage area and ours was the only one left in our color area. Sure made it a lot easier than sorting through all that luggage, and we got to spend a little more time on deck than if we'd have gone when our color was called.

 

Michelle

[island lady]

Yes, that makes sense but it just seems pointless to have more than 3000 people sitting around with luggage in lounges all over the ship. There were no "colors" or anything on Carnival -- and it was a large ship as well (Carnival Destiny). We just kind of went at our leisure down to the lobby. The line was short since not everyone was rushing to get off at once, and it was a nicer way to end the trip. We were given a time that we had to be off (of course) - I believe it was 11AM.

 

Thanks for the replies.

 

Hmmm...since you have already been on this ship, you already know that the ship does not depart until 10 pm. A little different than a ship that departs at 5 pm. We are talking about a whole different turn around time. What time did you board the ship?

 

cheers!

[arrow3]

Yes, that's true now but I was on it in July 2000. It departed at 5PM from New York. The day it arrived back in port, it also departed at 5PM. The ship was going to Canada.

 

All around a much better departure operation than I am expecting from Royal Caribbean.

[island lady]

Yes, that's true now but I was on it in July 2000. It departed at 5PM from New York. The day it arrived back in port, it also departed at 5PM. The ship was going to Canada.

 

All around a much better departure operation than I am expecting from Royal Caribbean.

 

Wow!! That IS a quick step for Carnival. I am leaving for my first RCI cruise in 3 months, so I am yet to discover how the disembarkation process works with them.

My last large ship cruise was with NCL, and we had the same situation, that we were told we could leave at our convenience.

 

Though this next cruise departs and returns only 5 miles from my house, so leaving early is not an issue for me.

 

Cheers!

[Mabers]

We were on the Sovereign 2 weeks ago and we had a full brekkie in the main dining room or coffee and.....in the Windjammer. We cleared our cabin of carry-on and stood/sat in one of the lobbies nearby. When the restroom called between 8A.M. and our colour code, we were able to go back to our cabins....no problem.

M.

[arrow3]

Yea the last day is sad. I'm not trying to lengthen it but all I'm saying is that it would be nicer if we can sit in the comfort of our room, especially on the balcony, until we needed to get off the ship...this way you can still eat breakfast and then leave early if you had an early flight or leave later on if you had a later flight.

 

Otherwise, when they call your color...theres going to be a herd of people heading toward the exit. If you can leave at your leisure, its much more organized and laid-back. Sitting in a loung with hundreds of others is not how I'd like the trip to end..I'm sure everone can agree with that! :)

[Schplinky]

It might help you to know that colour groups are assigned based on people's needs. If folks have an early flight to catch, they get early colours. If they are not pressed, they stay on longer. Allowing folks to leave at their leisure would mean that all the luggage would have to be ready from the get go, since they don't knw the order people will choose to leave in. Also, if folks decided to stay on til the end, then they would not be able to let the new pax into their rooms until later in the day.

[wardnlis]

I don't mean to sound dumb, but we are sailing on our first cruise, Voyager of the Seas, Sept 23rd and our itineary says disembark at noon, does that mean we have to leave our rooms at 8am? Or is it a different time depending on what time your paticular cruise ship is scheduled to disembark? Does the ship only arrive at port at noon? Four hours seems like a lot of time sitting around with my carryon luggage? We are driving back to PA, and trying to get an idea of what time we will arrive home? :confused: