Early disembark from Emerald ?

[Orangefan]

I will walk off early from the Emerald from the 11/8/11 cruise. Will it be on Plaza 5 ? And which side? I don't mind waiting to be off first for an early flight.

I know we have to sign up early for that departure but where can we wait to be off fast?

Sali

[Cruise Junky]

If you're doing self disembarkation, with your luggage, they'll have you meet in one of the dining rooms. They'll let you know which one.

[Pam in CA]

I will walk off early from the Emerald from the 11/8/11 cruise. Will it be on Plaza 5 ? And which side? I don't mind waiting to be off first for an early flight.

I know we have to sign up early for that departure but where can we wait to be off fast?

There is usually more than one group of those doing self-disembarkation. You will receive a group color and # along with instructions to go to a lounge or other location to wait. You will not be allowed anywhere near the disembarkation area; they check the colors and numbers, shooing away people who shouldn't be there. Announcements are made only in the designated areas. You will follow the others in your group out the door, across the gangway, and through Immigration and Customs. You will need one hand completely free to hold onto the escalator for your safety and be able to handle all of your luggage, including carry-on, purse, incidentals, etc. There will be someone at the top of the escalator to enforce this. Otherwise, you'll need to wait for the elevator which could be a 15-20 minute wait. It gets crowded because people do self-disembarkation who shouldn't or can't manage their stuff.

[PescadoAmarillo]

On the Emerald in Fort Lauderdale walk off disembarkation typically starts about 7:20am (we do B2Bs and I always note this). In my recollection, it is usually on Deck 6 by the PSD, but you might be gathered anywhere awaiting clearance from the local authorities.

[champagne lover]

When Emerald is in FLL is port side always to the port or does it vary?

[pablo222]

When Emerald is in FLL is port side always to the port or does it vary?

 

Varies -- depending on which side of the ship may need maintenance

whilst alongside.

[pablo222]

I will walk off early from the Emerald from the 11/8/11 cruise. Will it be on Plaza 5 ? And which side? I don't mind waiting to be off first for an early flight.

I know we have to sign up early for that departure but where can we wait to be off fast?

Sali

 

If you sign up for self-disembark --- where you carry all your own

bags off, you will be in the first group. In Ft. Lauderdale, this usually

starts around 7:20. They will tell you a day or two before where to

meet -- which will probably be the deck 5 dining room, and folks

will walk off from there. They will leave in the order they enter

the dining room, so people who are really impatient get there really

early.

 

If you sign up for the early flight group, again they will tell you a

day or two before where to meet (probably the casino) -- and

right after the walkers, that group will go.

 

All of the groups have to go to a particular location at a particular

time, then, an announcement is made in that location that the

group can go. There are no longer shipwide announcements, and

people waiting at random everywhere.

 

And, the walking can vary wildly, depending on your crowd.

Sometimes there are 50 walkers, and sometimes there are 500.

 

The advantage of being up front is that you don't have to wait

in a long customs/immigration line.

[Orangefan]

Thank you everyone for your great info.

Since not only are we walking off but have an early flight. If they keep track of when you enter the dining room ,would 6:30 am be the best time to go there so I would be out close to first ?

Although we could go to the Platinum lounge, I feel the people in the dining room might get the info first to disembark. Your thoughts?

Sali

[loveJake]

Thank you everyone for your great info.

Since not only are we walking off but have an early flight. If they keep track of when you enter the dining room ,would 6:30 am be the best time to go there so I would be out close to first ?

Although we could go to the Platinum lounge, I feel the people in the dining room might get the info first to disembark. Your thoughts?

Sali

 

Sorry if this does not answer any questions you have asked, however there is an early flight which I want to book, but always chicken out because I know what can happen. Do you mind telling me what time your flight is? Thanks

[Cruise Junky]

Thank you everyone for your great info.

Since not only are we walking off but have an early flight. If they keep track of when you enter the dining room ,would 6:30 am be the best time to go there so I would be out close to first ?

Although we could go to the Platinum lounge, I feel the people in the dining room might get the info first to disembark. Your thoughts?

Sali

 

They don't keep track of when you enter the dining room. It would be those sitting closest to the exit door (and it's not the main entrance to the dining room) that would leave first, but it's one continuous line up walking off. It really doesn't take too long.

[Orangefan]

LoveJake, the early flight ( 10:15 ) was chosen because the next flight left at

5 something and was going to get home after midnight. I struggled with the decision. In April , I had a 11:00am flight. We left the Platinum lounge and claimed our luggage, took a taxi and was at the airport at 8:30. When I bought the airline ticket I also bought flight insurance for $19.50. It covered a lot of scenarios including the cruise ship arriving late into port. While I would rather leave at noon, I am thinking positive. I will be at the disembarking lounge early and ready to go.

Sali

[Orangefan]

Cruise Junky, to be honest I never looked for the exit in the main dining room. I guarantee that will be the first thing I will look for in the mdr. I will also ask about the exit procedure at disembarkation at the main desk.

Sali

[pablo222]

Although we could go to the Platinum lounge, I feel the people in the dining room might get the info first to disembark. Your thoughts?

Sali

 

I always find the Platinum/Elite lounge to be a nuisance.

 

They use Club (con)Fusion, and it's not at all close to any

exit --as it's on deck seven, all the way aft.

 

They usually have the CC host and a helper there. As the CC

host is notified of which group is disembarking, the helper escorts

those folks to the gangway -- which is either deck five or six,

midship.

 

What time is the flight you are considering?

[Pam in CA]

Thank you everyone for your great info.

Since not only are we walking off but have an early flight. If they keep track of when you enter the dining room ,would 6:30 am be the best time to go there so I would be out close to first ?

Although we could go to the Platinum lounge, I feel the people in the dining room might get the info first to disembark. Your thoughts?

Sali

You are asked to go to the lounge or wherever you are asked to meet no earlier than 10 minutes before you assigned time. This is to keep the lounge from becoming crowded. Getting there earlier won't get you out earlier. Your assigned time is the approximate disembarkation time. There are never any guarantees that will be the time as so many things can delay disembarkation. Immigration officials can get there late or be slow, the ship can arrive late, it can take longer for the port to clear all the passengers, etc. Remember, all passengers have to be cleared before they allow disembarkation to start and often, non-US passengers are unaware of what they have to do.

 

Also, you may or may not be in the first, second or even third group to disembark. There are often several self-disembarkation groups and they are interspersed with "regular" disembarking passengers. I've seen self-disembarkation groups be 5th or 6th to disembark. There are many passengers with early flights who choose not to do self-disembarkation and they are assigned early times as well. They never disembark all of the self-disembarking passengers first.

[loveJake]

LoveJake, the early flight ( 10:15 ) was chosen because the next flight left at

5 something and was going to get home after midnight. I struggled with the decision. In April , I had a 11:00am flight. We left the Platinum lounge and claimed our luggage, took a taxi and was at the airport at 8:30. When I bought the airline ticket I also bought flight insurance for $19.50. It covered a lot of scenarios including the cruise ship arriving late into port. While I would rather leave at noon, I am thinking positive. I will be at the disembarking lounge early and ready to go.

Sali

 

That is the same time (10:10 SW to Baltimore) the flight is that I was looking at, way cheaper then the later flights, still can't make up my mind since we will have our 3 grandkids with us, 17, 16 and 10 (teenagers would be the worse). Thanks

[GlobalGypsy]

You should be able to make a 10:15 flight no problem. Then again, you can never predict the unexpected. On one cruise we had a passenger die the night before disembarkation. That really held things up with customs and the first group never got off the ship until after 9:30. :(

[Stevesan]

My last two cruises at Port Everglades I used self disembarkation. I followed the rules and was at FLL between 8:30 and 9:00 each time.

If time is tight, you can expedite a taxi by engaging a porter. I understand you will have your luggage with you, but the taxi lines can be long and a porter will take you directly to a cab.

 

You'll be okay without waiting at the ship's exit door. :p

[PescadoAmarillo]

95% of the time you'll be fine with 10:15am. We don't like to stress, so we'd pass up a 10:15am direct flight for a connecting flight at noon, but if our options were a 10:15am direct or a 3:00pm or later direct, we'd take the earlier flight.

 

Like others have mentioned, things can happen. We were delayed at Princess Cays one time, and didn't arrive in Fort Lauderdale until after 10:00am. By the time the ship was cleared, it was after 10:30am.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the self disembarkation info, we are cruising Princess after several years of HAL and I could not remember if Princess offered that option or not.

 

Kirk