Early boarding Carnival Imagination

[tucsoncop]

Is it worth purchasing early boarding out of Long Beach, 4 day, Catalina Island and Ensenada?

[JillySue]

We do.

 

The waiting area is outdoors, there's cover, but depending on time of year, it can be warm.

 

Catalina is a tender port, so that's a consideration, since FTTF comes with priority tendering.

 

Our other reasoning is that it's such a short cruise we want to get on and get going as soon as possible. Makes our cruise a bit longer :)

[CRocks]

We just got off that cruise a few weeks ago. We got to the port around 11 and were onboard by 11:30am. Our cabins were op[en and our luggage arrived about 1 pm. Tendering to Catalina can be a PITA if you wait till around 9am to debark. If you go down when the ship first anchors, there's no wait at all + you're not required to have a tender number. Self assist debark was also a breeze.