Conquest - self debarkation; what time were you off the ship?

[Mrs Booboo]

As anyone done self-debarkation on the Conquest lately? If so, what time were you off the ship? Any problems getting a cab to the airport?

[jgmpuma]

We were on the Conquest the week of 2/28. On Saturday, the day before we returned to NO, it was announced that they were trying a new procedure called "casual debarkation." Instead of calling people by baggage tag colors, passemgers were allowed to debark whenever they wanted to. Debarkation began at about 9:00 when Customs cleared the ship. We waited until about 10:00. Everything went pretty smoothly up until the time we left the terminal with our luggage. Because of construction, a large part of the dropoff/pickup area is unusable. It is a pretty chaotic scene, so expect some delays.

 

I don't know what things were like for the prople who tried to leave the ship at 9:00, but from what I could tell, it wasn't a big problem.

 

There were plenty of cabs available.

[dlb1357]

I was also on the 2/27 sailing and we had an excursion thru Carnival in NO the day we returned. All of the self-debarkers were in line with us and the line flowed very smoothly once customs cleared us at 9am. We were outside on a bus about 15 minutes later (including finding our luggage). Don't know what the taxi situation was because busses were in another area.

[bluejeans]

This is the best thing Carnival could have done, IMHO. My daughter and her husband left the ship early, around 8:00, because of an early flight. But my BF and I hung around the ship till 10:15 and most everyone had left the ship by then, and still quite a few trying to get cabs, but I think all in all it went pretty well. Todd (the CD on the Conquest) will announce when the gangplank is clear several times over the loudspeaker. Just off her this Sunday, and hopefully they will keep it like this.

[Mrs Booboo]

Thanks guys! I'm feeling a little bit better about making our 11:30 flight. It was supposed to be at 12:00, but the stupid airlines moved it up!