Carnival Stop misleading guest with embarkation time

[jakzak10]

Just printed out my documents for next weeks Glory sailing and of course it states boarding 1:30 -4pm. Now I have been on 26 cruises, 5 being with Carnival so I know better. But with the low prices Carnival is promoting there are many new people cruising for the 1st time. Can you imagine the mayhem at the pier if everyone showed at 3pm. There is no way in heck they could board so many in such a little time frame. Fact is Carnival as well as many other cruise lines count on the fact that many guests will arrive early to space boarding out. How about being honest and state boarding begins at approx 11:00, but the least crowded time to board is between 1:30 and 3:30.

Just a suggestion!

[Cruising Golfer]

Wouldn't that be Carnivals problem??? If you know better DO IT!!!!:D

[allener58]

Then more people will show up at 11 and it will be mayhem at 11:p

[Rena921]

That time frame works perfectly for me.... All the first timers will show up at the posted time, so there are no lines when I board at 11 am. :D

[Elmo31]

You can show up at anytime. Carnival sends times out to try to regulate the flow of traffic.

[BeachChik]

I don't get how it is misleading. Yes maybe they board early more often than not but there are times that doesn't happen and they board at normal times. If they said we board at 11am and there were delays for any reason people would be pitching a fit that they had to stand around and wait. This way if you chose to get there early and boarding is delayed its too bad because you made the choice to get there before they tell you to.

[Waterloomarc]

If they said we board at 11am and there were delays for any reason people would be pitching a fit that they had to stand around and wait. This way if you chose to get there early and boarding is delayed its too bad because you made the choice to get there before they tell you to.

 

Well said. Nothing else to say about it. :)

 

 

 

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[steven93921]

Pretty sure there will never be a crush of passengers showing up at 3pm, even if the entire cruise were filled with first time cruisers.

[kybluecruiser]

They can only allow early boarding if customs allow them to. So if you get to the pier early and are allowed to board early it is because customs allowed it. I got to Charleston early once and had to sit in the parking lot maze for an hour and half due to customs cot giving the clear yet. Showing up earlier then posted boarding time sometime works sometimes it,doesn't.

[Big_G]

I don't get how it is misleading. Yes maybe they board early more often than not but there are times that doesn't happen and they board at normal times. If they said we board at 11am and there were delays for any reason people would be pitching a fit that they had to stand around and wait. This way if you chose to get there early and boarding is delayed its too bad because you made the choice to get there before they tell you to.

 

This reminds of a recent thread where the person showed up at 10:30 because he always has and wasn't allowed to board until after 12:00. He wasn't happy even though the boarding time was clearly at 1:00. The cruise lines can't win.

 

 

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[craftykitty]

Just printed out my documents for next weeks Glory sailing and of course it states boarding 1:30 -4pm. Now I have been on 26 cruises, 5 being with Carnival so I know better. But with the low prices Carnival is promoting there are many new people cruising for the 1st time. Can you imagine the mayhem at the pier if everyone showed at 3pm. There is no way in heck they could board so many in such a little time frame. Fact is Carnival as well as many other cruise lines count on the fact that many guests will arrive early to space boarding out. How about being honest and state boarding begins at approx 11:00, but the least crowded time to board is between 1:30 and 3:30.

Just a suggestion!

 

No more mayhem than having 2600 people show up at 10:30 and all demand to be boarded prior to noon. Personally, I don't want to be in the cattle call to board.

[swodog94]

The wife and I did the Post-Hurricane Sandy "Cruise to Nowhere" on Pride last fall and way too many folks showed up at the last minute. The cruise was soooo cheap that the preponderance of the folks on the ship were first-timers. We were on the ship having a snack at around 3pm and saw a loooong line of cars still trying to get in to the port area. We looked at each other and said "no way are we sailing on time"...and we didn't. It was almost 6pm before we took in all lines and got underway.

[near the beach]

It’s not misleading. Carnival just doesn’t want all the passenger to show up at once. It would be better for the passengers if they didn’t.

[sparks1093]

Just printed out my documents for next weeks Glory sailing and of course it states boarding 1:30 -4pm. Now I have been on 26 cruises, 5 being with Carnival so I know better. But with the low prices Carnival is promoting there are many new people cruising for the 1st time. Can you imagine the mayhem at the pier if everyone showed at 3pm. There is no way in heck they could board so many in such a little time frame. Fact is Carnival as well as many other cruise lines count on the fact that many guests will arrive early to space boarding out. How about being honest and state boarding begins at approx 11:00, but the least crowded time to board is between 1:30 and 3:30.

Just a suggestion!

 

By announcing it the way that they do they cover themselves in the event of a delay in the ship returning or clearing Customs. Similar to a hotel having a check-in time of 3 pm even though I am often able to check in earlier.

[RAVI360]

This reminds of a recent thread where the person showed up at 10:30 because he always has and wasn't allowed to board until after 12:00. He wasn't happy even though the boarding time was clearly at 1:00. The cruise lines can't win.

 

 

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soooooo true

[katiel53]

Just printed out my documents for next weeks Glory sailing and of course it states boarding 1:30 -4pm. Now I have been on 26 cruises, 5 being with Carnival so I know better. But with the low prices Carnival is promoting there are many new people cruising for the 1st time. Can you imagine the mayhem at the pier if everyone showed at 3pm. There is no way in heck they could board so many in such a little time frame. Fact is Carnival as well as many other cruise lines count on the fact that many guests will arrive early to space boarding out. How about being honest and state boarding begins at approx 11:00, but the least crowded time to board is between 1:30 and 3:30.

Just a suggestion!

 

 

I think you are the one who is misleading people as Carnival sends those messages to stagger boarding times. Not everyone gets a notice to board from 1:30-4PM. We have gotten them saying to be at the port at 11AM, others have gotten them for later.

 

They are also taking into consideration that there are people who will 1- be arriving by plane and will arrive earlier than 1:30 2- people who are staying in hotels with check out times like 11AM or noon, and 3-people who feel they can do whatever the heck they want and show up when they want.

 

Whether you agree or not, it is just to make things easier for people to board, the intent is not to tick you off!

[Out to sea!]

It’s not misleading. Carnival just doesn’t want all the passenger to show up at once. It would be better for the passengers if they didn’t.

 

Also those showing up at 1:30 or later can go directly to their cabin without having to take up room on the Lido deck or in the buffet with their luggage.

[omalley16]

Imagine if everyone showed up at 4 :o

 

 

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[cruise_girl2002]

Just printed out my documents for next weeks Glory sailing and of course it states boarding 1:30 -4pm. Now I have been on 26 cruises, 5 being with Carnival so I know better. But with the low prices Carnival is promoting there are many new people cruising for the 1st time. Can you imagine the mayhem at the pier if everyone showed at 3pm. There is no way in heck they could board so many in such a little time frame. Fact is Carnival as well as many other cruise lines count on the fact that many guests will arrive early to space boarding out. How about being honest and state boarding begins at approx 11:00, but the least crowded time to board is between 1:30 and 3:30.

Just a suggestion!

 

more people would show up at 11 and it would be extremely crowded, people want to get their vacations started asap.

[cruizinisthebest]

Then more people will show up at 11 and it will be mayhem at 11:p

 

Exactly. Not everyone will show up at the same time. They just won't. I've been there to check in right slap dead in the middle of that suggested time slot and still got through within a reasonable amount of time. And this was before any printing of documents ahead of time. Besides this what fttf is for. Too bad for folks who don't know about it. They should read the forums on CC! :D

[Sh1035]

Some of us are not in any rush for the buffet cattle call the first day where amazing layers of food are tossed on a plate.......some of us would prefer to see the city we are in and have a nice lunch on the beach or the bay..plenty of days we won't have a choice.

 

But always have that I want my money's worth ASAP crowd. The ones you don't invite over for dinner at 6 because they will show up at 5 for free food first. So we tell them 7 and sure enough they show up at 6! No bottle of wine or anything to bring :(

 

Funny thing we all don't even tell them about our cruises. Fell for that once, cancelled all tips and didn't tip for any excursion.

 

I feel it spreads out the loading of the ships just fine. Don't see any issue.

[Socref124]

Just printed out my documents for next weeks Glory sailing and of course it states boarding 1:30 -4pm. Now I have been on 26 cruises, 5 being with Carnival so I know better. But with the low prices Carnival is promoting there are many new people cruising for the 1st time. Can you imagine the mayhem at the pier if everyone showed at 3pm. There is no way in heck they could board so many in such a little time frame. Fact is Carnival as well as many other cruise lines count on the fact that many guests will arrive early to space boarding out. How about being honest and state boarding begins at approx 11:00, but the least crowded time to board is between 1:30 and 3:30.

Just a suggestion!

 

They are trying to prevent the masses from being upset if the ship is not ready for boarding at 11am. We have been at the port and not allowed to board until Noon and there were a lot of upset people. Could you imagine if they printed that you can board from 11 am till 3pm how many people would be ticked if they had to wait until Noon? Then someone would start a thread asking why you state you can board at 11am when you couldn't board til Noon.:(

[G_Girl]

I think you are the one who is misleading people as Carnival sends those messages to stagger boarding times. Not everyone gets a notice to board from 1:30-4PM. We have gotten them saying to be at the port at 11AM, others have gotten them for later.

 

They are also taking into consideration that there are people who will 1- be arriving by plane and will arrive earlier than 1:30 2- people who are staying in hotels with check out times like 11AM or noon, and 3-people who feel they can do whatever the heck they want and show up when they want.

 

Whether you agree or not, it is just to make things easier for people to board, the intent is not to tick you off!

 

I just printed out our boarding passes and saw the embarkation time of 1-3 pm and wondered about it. I did purchase the FTTF package and so I guess expected the time to be earlier because of that. It sounds like from what I'm reading here though that we could show up at 11 if we like and still board just ignoring the time printed on the passes. Is that correct?

[Cruising Golfer]

G Girl;

You can show up whenever you want, when you board is up to customs and when the ship clears...:D

[Out to sea!]

I just printed out our boarding passes and saw the embarkation time of 1-3 pm and wondered about it. I did purchase the FTTF package and so I guess expected the time to be earlier because of that. It sounds like from what I'm reading here though that we could show up at 11 if we like and still board just ignoring the time printed on the passes. Is that correct?

 

Yes ma'am. The earlier, the better (more time on ship).