to self-disembark or not?

[jalinga]

Anyone here have had good experiences with self-disembarkation? Is it faster to get off the ship? We are leaving on a Carnival cruise next week (sailing out and coming back to Ft. Lauderdale). I've never done self-disembarkation before. Was wondering what would be the pros of it versus having your luggage picked up the night before.

 

If we do self-disembark, must we be the first group to leave the ship early in the morning or can we take our time to have breakfast and then grab our luggages and leave whenever we want?

[Almost Packed]

I think it depends....I have done both.

 

When I travel with the kids, I set my luggage out the night before. We enjoy breakfast or room service and take our time getting off the ship. I don't want to keep up with kid(s), luggage, other people who are cranky their vacation is over, lines, stairs etc.

 

If it's just me and dh, and i DID NOT bring everything but the kitchen sink, we will do self debarkation.

 

Yes, you get off earlier. But sometimes just having a coffee and breakfast before the chaos of a day of travel begins is nice.

 

IMO, if you have the time to take it slower, that's what I would do. Why stress after a great cruise.

[BeyondKen]

I always self-disembark, usually right away in the morning, there's time to get breakfast.

 

If you sleep a little late just get off a bit later.

[mzloolue]

We usually self debark.

 

It kind of depends on who is with you, how much luggage they have and can they physically handle their luggage themselves.

 

Since we will be driving all day it is nice to get an earlier start and get home a bit earlier.

If we were staying in the port city or had only a short distance to drive, then I would not be as motivated to get up early and get going.

You know the old saying, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

 

I have found that it is best just to go to the buffet and get breakfast on that last morning.

Sometimes service at breakfast can be SLOW.

[SadieN]

We almost always do self-assist. Since we are Platinum we are scheduled to be the first off. Usually we leave towards the end, getting into the regular debark line.

 

No matter how your luggage is handled you need to be out of your cabin by 8-8:30. The debark letter will tell you.

Edited June 29, 2014 by SadieN

[JennN]

I've never done self-assist as we're not "drag your luggage around with you" kind of people! Plus, we're never in a rush to leave the ship. We usually get breakfast in the dining room and leisurely say adieu to our vacation. It is hard enough disembarking with just out backpacks (that weigh 30 pounds by that last day wither the stuff we can't fit in our luggage). We never fly out the same day before 4pm so there is really no need for us to rush. The latest we've ever been off the ship is 10:45am.

 

My MIL have been in Zone 10 and us in Zone 22 and she's waited with us until we're called before and no one has ever said anything to her. One time her luggage was just spinning on the carousel and the other, it was just in a row with the few others left in her early zone.

[KirkNC]

We always do self disembarkation. We get to keep our luggage the last night, we are the first off the ship and avoid the massive search for our luggage.

[092306]

We've done both and probably prefer self assist when we can do it. Pros are that the process is quicker and you don't have to look for your luggage among so many bags that all look similar. Down side to self assist is the elevators filled with people and there luggage so it sometimes takes a while to get an elevator down and then a long line to exit the ship. If you don't wants to be among the first off with self assist, it will be easier to navigate once most are off.

[morganboys]

we have done both and after doing the self assist on the freedom we will do the self assist in the future. much easier then searching for your bags in all their mess.

[riffatsea]

We always do self assist and now always have FTTF so we can get off the ship early.

We still manage to eat breakfast so that is not an issue.

Everyone has to be out of their cabins by about 8:30AM so the staff can start cleaning.

You must be able to handle your luggage on your own so if you have many bags that are just too much for you then you cannot consider self assist!

We are very light packers so it is easy for us.

You'll have to decide if it is a good idea for you.

[evandbob]

I like self assist as I only take one carry on piece of luggage for a 7 night cruise. I'm often in the airport, usually MIA, before 9AM.

 

I can also go platinum zone 1 but rarely do.

Edited June 29, 2014 by evandbob

[Wheels87]

My wife and I did self assist on the Dream a few weeks ago and were off the ship by 7:15 am. We live an hour and a half drive from the port and were home at 8:38 am. It was actually nice to be at home and feel like we had a whole extra day off before returning to work the next day.

 

It's also nice that you don't have to fret about having your suitcase out the night before and what you are going to wear in the morning, etc.

 

Enjoy!

[ConshyCrock]

We've always done self assist and never had any trouble.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[aaron3219]

We did self on pride. We were off the ship FAST. We were on deck 1 called first and off the ship by 930 am and out of the port by 945. It was fast.

 

I was in the mind set vacation is over I want off the boat and on the road. I had to go back to work at 5 am Monday.

[Velvetwater]

We did self assist and I had the biggest suitcase I could find and a jute bag of alcohol.

 

I didn't mind the morning panic I just didn't want to leave my luggage out the night before.

[OCruisers]

If you pick Self Assist, do make absolutely sure you can manage all of your luggage yourself with NO assistance.

We've seen people who really should not have tried to do this and had an awful time trying.

LuLu

[tbbtravels]

I have done both and prefer the self assist.

I hate standing in lines. Hurts my back.

 

I was one of those people in the past that took way too much and had trouble getting off the ship either self contained or putting my bags out the night before. Heck I took so much stuff I had problems taking my luggage from the pile to the escalator to the car.

 

Over time we have learned to pack lighter and do things to make it easier on us. We take full size bottles of toiletries (half full) and toss em b4 we leave. Take only what we will wear. Take less shoes too. We also prefer to stay on the lower floor and cheaper rooms too - so we are called earlier to debark.

I only take a small bag on the ship with my meds, a dinner outfit and sodas - but I check a 24" rolling larger bag.

When I am ready to debark - I put that small bag inside my rolling suitcase and we are usually off the ship and in our transportation by 7:15. We always get up early and eat breakfast b4 we leave the ship too.

I just hate the lines and grumbling people complaining, shoving into you to get off the ship. I prefer to get off b4 they do.

Edited June 29, 2014 by tbbtravels

[tbbtravels]

If you pick Self Assist, do make absolutely sure you can manage all of your luggage yourself with NO assistance.

We've seen people who really should not have tried to do this and had an awful time trying.

LuLu

Guilty! But I learned from that.

[losijon]

Self assist both times and off the ship very quickly.

 

 

.....................................................

Carnival Pride 7 day Mexican Riviera: September 2008

 

Carnival Inspiration 4 day Mexican Riviera: September 2013

 

Carnival Miracle 15 day Hawaii: coming October 2015

[WindsorFred]

we have done both and after doing the self assist on the freedom we will do the self assist in the future. much easier then searching for your bags in all their mess.

 

 

Same here. Breakfast and back to the room by 8:30 to grab the luggage then up to Lido for a bit and finally off the ship.

[aaron3219]

Guilty! But I learned from that.

 

I seen quite a few people struggling to manage their bags....

[pungo3]

I have always done self-assist, as far back as I remember them offering it. I pack light anyway, and it's so much easier wheeling out of the terminal than spending 20 minutes hunting for luggage. I highly recommend it! Have a fabulous cruise.:D

[Athankfulheart]

We have never done self assist, but plan to on our next ( and maybe all future) cruise. We are doing a week in PR and then sailing the Valor next year and plan to do one backpack each so we can do carry on only for flights so we are also going to do self assist. This will get us back into PR faster which will be nice since we will have 2 nights of our " week in PR' on the back end of our sailing. We have these backpacks and although our kids all have roll-aboards, we may switch them over to these if they work well for our trip.

[Lovefuninthesun]

Even though I hate that whole goat-rodeo in the terminal with the zone debarkation, we still usually choose that route since we normally aren't in a hurry to get off the ship -- usually driving home.

 

It is nice to set our luggage out the night before and check one more thing off our list. Then we can have a leisurely breakfast, and only have to worry about a carry on to schlep off.

[h_blond2]

We always do self assist. We usually have things planned after the cruise and we want to get off the ship as soon as possible. Self assist disembarks first, then the rest of the people are called off by zones.

 

Sent from my GT-P5210 using Forums mobile app