approx disembark time (end of cruise) Sydney RCCL?

[daniel1974]

hi, our Explorer of the Seas cruise finishes at 6:30am in Sydney in January.

 

Given the size of the ship, what is a safe estimation of when I will be off the ship (so I can book flights back to Brisbane)

 

Thanks.

[rkmw]

hi, our Explorer of the Seas cruise finishes at 6:30am in Sydney in January.

 

Given the size of the ship, what is a safe estimation of when I will be off the ship (so I can book flights back to Brisbane)

 

Thanks.

 

welcome to CC and to be on the safe side the cruise line likes people to book flights 4 hours after arriving at the dock so i'd book the flight after 11am

[GUT2407]

welcome to CC and to be on the safe side the cruise line likes people to book flights 4 hours after arriving at the dock so i'd book the flight after 11am

 

While that's good advice I'd rather not book till after noon.

 

I guess it depends on how much of a gambler you are.

[goodycruising]

I agree with Gut. While sometimes you can have a fast run getting off the ship, with the uncertainty of getting to the airport thrown in, I have seen many threads on here and the general consensus seems to agree on after 12. Remember you need to check in for your flight a certain amount of time before boarding.

 

It also depends on which January Explorer cruise you are doing. One finishes on a Sunday, and the other two during the week. Sunday I would say is generally much quieter, but because it is quieter they sometimes like to throw in some works around the city, both road and rail.

 

I am of the belief that making the last day of the cruise stressful is not a good way to end it.

[robynwally]

Our first cruise I booked a 1pm flight and never heard the end of it from the family when we had a 7am disembark and had to sit at the airport for hours waiting for the flight.

I learnt from that experience and have since always booked an 11am flight and waited to leave the ship until 9am. Have always been at the airport with a good hour to spare, but if you are worried ask for an ealier timeslot for getting off the ship and then if you feel happy enough to stay onbaord to the last call you can, go to the dining room or windjammer and enjoy a leisurely breakfast before heading to the airport.

[Beanb41]

The ship is a 10 minute walk to the Circular Quay Train station and the train takes 20 minutes from there to Domestic airport and a further 5 minutes to the International. If you take your bags off with you at say 7.00pm you can be at the airport around 7.45 or 8.00 am. with plenty of time to catch a domestic flight (check in 30 minutes) or a Trans Tasman flight( 90 minutes) leaving at 8.30 and 9.30 respectively. Flights which require a 2 hour plus check in I would leave until later. We come off the Solstice after a Pacific Island Cruise in April 16 and have booked a 9.30 flight back to NZ. If the ship is late and we miss our connection we have Travel Insurance as protection

[rkmw]

The ship is a 10 minute walk to the Circular Quay Train station and the train takes 20 minutes from there to Domestic airport and a further 5 minutes to the International. If you take your bags off with you at say 7.00pm you can be at the airport around 7.45 or 8.00 am. with plenty of time to catch a domestic flight (check in 30 minutes) or a Trans Tasman flight( 90 minutes) leaving at 8.30 and 9.30 respectively. Flights which require a 2 hour plus check in I would leave until later. We come off the Solstice after a Pacific Island Cruise in April 16 and have booked a 9.30 flight back to NZ. If the ship is late and we miss our connection we have Travel Insurance as protection

 

a 9.30am flight to NZ is cutting it too fine, if that was me i'd be booking a later flight

[Beanb41]

a 9.30am flight to NZ is cutting it too fine, if that was me i'd be booking a later flight

 

Too late now. Next flight is 6.45 in the evening

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Too late now. Next flight is 6.45 in the evening

 

They are leaving all day. We usually opt for for an early afternoon flight .

[aussiedisneyfan]

We have been on a cruise that didn't arrive til something like 10am (due at standard 6-7). By the time we got off the ship and managed to get a taxi (after pushinng in). We got to Central and our 1pm bus as they were closing the door. It is an ususual occurance though, one out of 25. Oh, was also at Barangaroo, hence the taxi to Central.

Edited September 25, 2015 by aussiedisneyfan

[The_Big_M]

Our first cruise I booked a 1pm flight and never heard the end of it from the family when we had a 7am disembark and had to sit at the airport for hours waiting for the flight.

I learnt from that experience and have since always booked an 11am flight and waited to leave the ship until 9am. Have always been at the airport with a good hour to spare, but if you are worried ask for an ealier timeslot for getting off the ship and then if you feel happy enough to stay onbaord to the last call you can, go to the dining room or windjammer and enjoy a leisurely breakfast before heading to the airport.

 

Agree with you.

 

That said, if I was booking a longer international flight, it'd be different. But for shorthaul domestic, better to save the time most of the time, and I'll wear the risk for those rare occasions if something goes wrong.

[Aussie FF]

Our first cruise I booked a 1pm flight and never heard the end of it from the family when we had a 7am disembark and had to sit at the airport for hours waiting for the flight.

I learnt from that experience and have since always booked an 11am flight and waited to leave the ship until 9am. Have always been at the airport with a good hour to spare, but if you are worried ask for an ealier timeslot for getting off the ship and then if you feel happy enough to stay onbaord to the last call you can, go to the dining room or windjammer and enjoy a leisurely breakfast before heading to the airport.

 

I agree with you.

Never had a problem.

If you are concerned, you can always do express check out.:D

We always do 11.am, and are the last to leave the ship. :)

Edited September 25, 2015 by Aussie FF

[GUT2407]

I agree with Gut. While sometimes you can have a fast run getting off the ship, with the uncertainty of getting to the airport thrown in, I have seen many threads on here and the general consensus seems to agree on after 12. Remember you need to check in for your flight a certain amount of time before boarding.

 

It also depends on which January Explorer cruise you are doing. One finishes on a Sunday, and the other two during the week. Sunday I would say is generally much quieter, but because it is quieter they sometimes like to throw in some works around the city, both road and rail.

 

I am of the belief that making the last day of the cruise stressful is not a good way to end it.

 

 

I don't get why people take a nice relaxing cruise then make the last day as stressful as they can.:confused:

[Ned49]

If you take your own luggage of the ship, can you depart at any time?

Thanks for any help. Our flight isn't until 1 45, and have always been of by 8am.

Would rather stay on the ship a bit longer than sit around the airport for hours.

[rkmw]

If you take your own luggage of the ship, can you depart at any time?

Thanks for any help. Our flight isn't until 1 45, and have always been of by 8am.

Would rather stay on the ship a bit longer than sit around the airport for hours.

 

nothing really to stop you taking off your own luggage but you cant ask the staff for any help and you would have to be careful going down the gang plank....is it really worth the effort when you can leave your bag out the last night....different thing if you wanted to be first off the ship

[cruisine21]

nothing really to stop you taking off your own luggage but you cant ask the staff for any help and you would have to be careful going down the gang plank....is it really worth the effort when you can leave your bag out the last night....different thing if you wanted to be first off the ship

 

On our last 2 cruises I noticed that more people were doing 'self assist'. Some people prefer not to leave their luggage out the night before.

[aussiedisneyfan]

I thought they "kicked off" the self assist passengers first rather than them disembarking whenever they wanted.

[OzKiwiJJ]

If you take your own luggage of the ship, can you depart at any time?

Thanks for any help. Our flight isn't until 1 45, and have always been of by 8am.

Would rather stay on the ship a bit longer than sit around the airport for hours.

 

From what I saw on my RCL cruise, the times provided just gave you an estimate of when your colour-coded bags would be ready waiting for you, and hence when you could disembark. Although it was still 5-10 minutes before the time we had been allocated when we finished breakfast we noticed that they were disembarking 2-3 groups after our group. We went back to our cabin, got our carry-ons and disembarked leisurely with no problems. I imagine you could stay onboard until the last groups were disembarking but you should remove everything from your cabin so the stewards can get it ready for the incoming passengers.

 

However I think they have to clear everyone off the ship by a certain time, even B2Bers have to disembark for a while, so you would have to leave with the last group at whatever time that may be.

[cruisine21]

I thought they "kicked off" the self assist passengers first rather than them disembarking whenever they wanted.

 

That's supposed to be the way it works but we had some people we met on the ship who were self assist but they were behind us on the line at 9:30 am on the Solstice so I don't think the cruise lines monitor it. Everyone had to vacate the cabins by 8 am.

Edited September 26, 2015 by cruisine21

[Ned49]

From what I saw on my RCL cruise, the times provided just gave you an estimate of when your colour-coded bags would be ready waiting for you, and hence when you could disembark. Although it was still 5-10 minutes before the time we had been allocated when we finished breakfast we noticed that they were disembarking 2-3 groups after our group. We went back to our cabin, got our carry-ons and disembarked leisurely with no problems. I imagine you could stay onboard until the last groups were disembarking but you should remove everything from your cabin so the stewards can get it ready for the incoming passengers.

 

However I think they have to clear everyone off the ship by a certain time, even B2Bers have to disembark for a while, so you would have to leave with the last group at whatever time that may be.

 

Thanks for that, I just thought that you had to get of when your allotted time was. We will do that.

[Beanb41]

From what I saw on my RCL cruise, the times provided just gave you an estimate of when your colour-coded bags would be ready waiting for you, and hence when you could disembark. Although it was still 5-10 minutes before the time we had been allocated when we finished breakfast we noticed that they were disembarking 2-3 groups after our group. We went back to our cabin, got our carry-ons and disembarked leisurely with no problems. I imagine you could stay onboard until the last groups were disembarking but you should remove everything from your cabin so the stewards can get it ready for the incoming passengers.

 

However I think they have to clear everyone off the ship by a certain time, even B2Bers have to disembark for a while, so you would have to leave with the last group at whatever time that may be.

 

On our recentB2B on the Solstice all those who were doing a B2B and didn't want to go ashore had to muster in the theatre get checked off and then had to wait there until the ship was cleared. Once the ship was cleared they could go about their business on board.Those doing a B2B were issued with new seapass cards the day before.

[OzKiwiJJ]

On our recentB2B on the Solstice all those who were doing a B2B and didn't want to go ashore had to muster in the theatre get checked off and then had to wait there until the ship was cleared. Once the ship was cleared they could go about their business on board.Those doing a B2B were issued with new seapass cards the day before.

 

That's a much better system than forcing people to get off. Not so bad if you're somewhere like the OPT in Sydney, Portside in Brisbane, or Auckland where there are interesting shops and cafes close by, but sitting around a cruise terminal isn't much fun.