Doing self assist at Disembarkation

[01sunworshiper113]

For those of you that usually do self assist upon disembarkation, how early have you been able to get off the cruise ship, in Miami, if the scheduled port time is 8am? Does the ship usually arrive earlier? I have never done self assist when getting off the ship, the airline has changed my flight and wondering if we can make the earlier time. Thanks.

[Muumuu]

We have had several cruises out of Miami

Earliest off 0645 and latest I think was about 0800

[afcruiser]

WE DID SELF DISEMBARK LAST CRUISE. EASY AND QUICK. OFF THE SHIP BY 8:20 AM.

 

OUR FRIENDS, WHO WERE HANDICAPPED DIDN'T GET OFF UNTIL 10:30:eek:.

 

GLAD WE DIDN'T RIDE WITH THEM.

 

WE WERE ALMOST TO ST PETE'S WHEN THEY CALLED TO SEE WHERE WE WERE AT.

[hftmrock]

I did self assist and had to wait very long. They did it by floor. my floor didnt get called for about an hour and a half. they even started to call zones that didnt have self disembakation before our floor was called. the people waiting (people on our floor) were really pissed.

[skyeman27]

Liberty 12/13 off at 7:45...

[serene56]

I thought with self embarkation you are told to go wait in a lounge somewhere.

 

I have an early flight and the ar service people I am calling tell me they will reserve me a car at 8am

[hftmrock]

I thought with self embarkation you are told to go wait in a lounge somewhere.

 

I have an early flight and the ar service people I am calling tell me they will reserve me a car at 8am

 

this is what happened to me and we waited forever

[Davey Wavey]

I thought with self embarkation you are told to go wait in a lounge somewhere.

 

You can wait in your room if you want. Self-disembark just means you will carry your own luggage. They start with self-disembark BY FLOOR (I usually hear 2 floors at a time starting with the top floor and bottom--like main and panorama then atlantic and lido, etc) then will start mixing in luggage zones in numeric order. The earliest I have heard was at 7:15 and people said they were off and thru customs by 7:45. I have heard them call for the final self-disembark while they were already to zone 10, so you may indeed have a wait. Of course, you could try to jump in line and hope they won't turn you back (I've seen that happen also).

 

If you have early tickets, show them the night before to guest services to make sure they let you off early.

[serene56]

I really need to do self assist this time.

 

Did it once a LONG time ago and we waited in a lounge.

 

Does it matter if we are platinum? do they get off before the calling of the decks?

[kelkel2]

I really need to do self assist this time.

 

Did it once a LONG time ago and we waited in a lounge.

 

Does it matter if we are platinum? do they get off before the calling of the decks?

 

Yes, they take platinum off first. They have a meeting room.

But we have always been able to show the night before that we have early airline tickets and they put us in group one to leave. They will call Platinum/Diamonds and then we can leave. But my experience with it is it's pretty much free for all. I don't really think that if you have a number 12 and you are self assisting you have to go with the number 12 group.

Now, if you are not self assisting it's a different story. They really do want you going with your group number because of luggage etc. But I have always just noticed that if you are self assisting as long as you have everything and are ready they will pretty much let you go whenever.

[01sunworshiper113]

I really need to do self assist this time.

 

Did it once a LONG time ago and we waited in a lounge.

 

Does it matter if we are platinum? do they get off before the calling of the decks?

 

Do you have an early flight? Our flight is 10:55 am out of Miami, trying to decide if I should change. No other convenient flights unless we do 2 layovers! Ship ports at 8:00am...wondering if I will be too stressed over this.:(

[Wayfairers]

Yes, they take platinum off first. They have a meeting room.

 

But we have always been able to show the night before that we have early airline tickets and they put us in group one to leave. They will call Platinum/Diamonds and then we can leave. But my experience with it is it's pretty much free for all. I don't really think that if you have a number 12 and you are self assisting you have to go with the number 12 group.

 

Now, if you are not self assisting it's a different story. They really do want you going with your group number because of luggage etc. But I have always just noticed that if you are self assisting as long as you have everything and are ready they will pretty much let you go whenever.

 

 

This has been my experience too. They call self disembark by floor but if you need to get off earlier due to a flight I've never seen them stop anyone from leaving before their floor was called.

[Cruzinbabe06]

Our flight left at 940a yesterday. Because of Platinum status we were told to meet in the 3rd floor dining room at 745a.

 

At 645a the breeze was not even docked yet. Hubby and I woke up at 530a showered, dressed, final packing and was eating at the buffet around 645a.

 

I kept looking at my watch. The cruise director came on the speakers saying not to come down to deck 3.

 

Breeze finally docked around 710a. He came on the speaker again, saying it would be another 30 minutes because of customs. I start panicking, because we had bags to check, and bag cutoff is 1 hr before flight.

 

We head to cabin at 730a. Grab bags and head forward. Our cabin was on deck 2.

 

There was a free for all. People were on deck 2 stairs, waiting. The carnival rep was there with the radio. I couldn't even get thru the crowd to get to the priority area.

 

People kept hollering out they were going to miss their fight. Finally, around 745a he got the ok. They opened up the door and everyone moved quickly. Including us.

 

We walked right up to the Customs officer, showed docs and headed to the taxi stand.

 

There wasn't a taxi in sight. By now its approximately 755a. We waited a good 5 to 10 min before they started showing up.

 

In the taxi, I keep looking at my watch. Its now 810a. I'm still panicking.

 

When we get to the airport, lots of traffic.

 

We were on American, which is further down. Our driver drove around the cars, bypassing the traffic.

 

Its now approximately 820a. We jump out, grab luggage, pay driver and run in. I had checked in 24 hrs prior, on the ship. Now, i just need to check the luggage.

 

I proceed to use the kiosk, but, didnt have my confirmation written down. It was on my tablet. So now I have to pull out the tablet and hope I get a WiFi signal. I was shaking because now its approximately 830a.

 

Hubby is telling me to relax, but, I work for USAirways. We fly as standby pax, and this was the only flight with empty seats. USAir flights were full to Philadelphia, so making this flight was very important. Thankfully, I had American to fall back on.

 

I found our confirmation, bagtags came out. I was so relieved.

 

With bags checked, we head to security. The line was very long, but moved quickly. TSA was on the ball in Mia yesterday morning.

 

We were given our seat assignments, which is always a relief, when you're on standby. We even had a row to ourselves.

 

Flying can be stressful, and if i was a paying pax coming off a cruise, I would never book a flight before 11a.

 

Disembarking is different on every cruise, and my advice is to just be prepared.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Cruzinbabe06

[serene56]

ugh no way would i book a 9:0 flight.

 

I did a crazy thing and booked 11:15 out of FLL

[Cruzinbabe06]

ugh no way would i book a 9:0 flight.

 

I did a crazy thing and booked 11:15 out of FLL

 

I hear you.

 

I had no choice. Airline employees are on standby, and this was the only flight that had empty seats. So I had to try.

 

Hurry and get off the ship, you should be fine for your flight.

[michaelandjoanne]

Be aware if you are a non-US citizen that you may be the last of the self-assist passengers to be allowed to leave depending on customs wants the ship to disembark. It has happened to me once but may not be for every cruise/port.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[serene56]

Do you have an early flight? Our flight is 10:55 am out of Miami, trying to decide if I should change. No other convenient flights unless we do 2 layovers! Ship ports at 8:00am...wondering if I will be too stressed over this.:(

 

I would book the 10:55 out of Miami if I was sailing out of Miami

 

But yes we have an 11:15 flight out of FLL with a cruise in Miami.

Stupid me was not paying attention

[LizaMM]

I really need to do self assist this time.

 

Did it once a LONG time ago and we waited in a lounge.

 

Does it matter if we are platinum? do they get off before the calling of the decks?

 

I would book the 10:55 out of Miami if I was sailing out of Miami

 

But yes we have an 11:15 flight out of FLL with a cruise in Miami.

Stupid me was not paying attention

 

 

My last cruise out of MIA my flight time was changed to 11:30 out of FLL.

 

As a Platinum cruiser you may actually have the choice. My previous 2 cruises I did self-debark and Platinum gets to go in the first group (or basically anytime that you want). On this last cruise I set my luggage out the night before and I actually made it off the ship more quickly because I was able to take stairs instead of having to wait around for an elevator. They allowed Platinum guests to go to a different line regardless of whether you were doing self-assist or not. I walked off and my luggage was on the carousel with the #1 tags I was given and off I went. I had pre-arranged with SAS my ride to the airport. The van pulled up as I came out of the terminal and off I went. Made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare without rushing or lugging my bags around for breakfast.