Carry my own luggage off the ship

[Doglover48]

Hi Everyone,

 

This is our first cruise and we saw we have to have our bags packed and ready at 10PM the night before disembarkation and placed outside our room. A friend of mine told me some cruise ships have express check out where you can carry your own luggage down the next morning. Does Celebrity do this?? Our flight out of Puerto Rico isn't until 1PM so we were hoping to be some of the last people off the ship, around 10AM.

 

Thanks!

[cruisestitch]

Celebrity does allow you to carry your own luggage off, but you'll be assigned the first departure times, not the last ones. The system is designed specifically for those who want to be off the ship early. Last disembarkation time will be around 9 or 9:30 so you can't stay on the ship any later than that.

 

You can ask at the Guest Relations desk about being the last ones off, but keep in mind that you'll have to vacate your stateroom by about 8 a.m. and will have to keep your luggage with you and move it all yourself, no help from Celebrity. If you have any mobility issues, it's not a good option.

[tunaman2011]

Greetings

 

Celebrity offers "self-disembarcation". You have to handle all you luggage without assistance. Just make the request when you fill out the disembarcation form during your cruise. You will be informed where/when to meet to begin the process.

 

Good Sailing

Tom

[dondiane]

Hi Everyone,

 

This is our first cruise and we saw we have to have our bags packed and ready at 10PM the night before disembarkation and placed outside our room. A friend of mine told me some cruise ships have express check out where you can carry your own luggage down the next morning. Does Celebrity do this?? Our flight out of Puerto Rico isn't until 1PM so we were hoping to be some of the last people off the ship, around 10AM.

 

Thanks!

 

Carry your own are some of the first people off the ship. In your room they will leave a form for your requested disembarking time. When you receive your tags if they are too early you can go to guest relations and they will give you ones for a later time. We've done this on our last two cruises and it has not been a problem.

[Lsimon]

The reason the "carry off" group is the first, or early, departure is that they do not have to wait for all the luggage collected the night before to be offloaded and organized in the departure terminal.

 

We've never done it but we've read some reports here on cruise critic of it sometimes being a bit chaotic with people jumping lines and such trying to rush off the ship. Presumably these are people worried about making early flights. Keep in mind that you may find yourself needing to carry all your luggage down stairways without assistance if you choose this option.

 

If you have a 1PM flight my recommendation would be to just indicate that on the form you'll be asked to fill out after the cruise begins and go through the normal process where you luggage (except for the bag you need the last night) is checked the night before and claimed in the departure terminal. If you get off the ship a little after the time you're assigned there will not be an issue and you might even find it easier to get your luggage if the most of the others in your disembarkation group have already finished.

 

Then relax and have a nice breakfast on board in the morning. Unfortunately breakfast ends a little earlier on disembarkation morning but you can still enjoy it. Unlike some other cruise lines that only have continental breakfast on embarkation day, Celebrity has a full breakfast in the buffet and dining room although room service might not be available. If everything goes normally and on schedule they'll be calling for the last of the disembarking passengers to get off around 9:30 or so. With a 1PM flight you should not have any concerns at all and can relax as much as possible with the disembarkation and airport check in process.

[librarylady19]

If you are in no hurry I would strongly recommend NOT doing the self disembark. We had no choice on our Reflection cruise as our flight was at 11:45 am so we wanted to limit delays.

It felt like half the ship opted to do self disembarkation. We arrived at Ensemble Lounge at 6:45 am as instructed and the line was already down to Tuscan Grill. 100s of people! There was definitely whining and line cutting galore.

 

If you do not have to make an early flight, simply ask for the latest disembarkation, enjoy breakfast and one last walk around the ship before leaving. You will not have your luggage so drag around if you put it out the night before.

[nojoke]

We always do self-disembarcation. But then, we don’t carry much luggage--so it is so much easier for us than to have to worry about putting luggage in the hall and finding it in the terminal.

Another idea: The ship sometimes offers a tour of Miami with drop-off at the airport at 11 a.m. That would take up the time until your flight. You can also pay extra to stay on board longer--at least that was possible on the Equinox in Dec. 2012.

[cruisestitch]

Mmmm... the OP isn't flying out of Miami.

[gelo7]

If you are in no hurry I would strongly recommend NOT doing the self disembark. We had no choice on our Reflection cruise as our flight was at 11:45 am so we wanted to limit delays.

It felt like half the ship opted to do self disembarkation. We arrived at Ensemble Lounge at 6:45 am as instructed and the line was already down to Tuscan Grill. 100s of people! There was definitely whining and line cutting galore.

 

If you do not have to make an early flight, simply ask for the latest disembarkation, enjoy breakfast and one last walk around the ship before leaving. You will not have your luggage so drag around if you put it out the night before.

 

I concur.

[cruisestitch]

sorry, duplicate post