Self-Disembarkation Independence of the Seas 12/14/15

[cruisevv]

For those in a hurry, its handy to have this information, so here's my experience trying to leave on time for a 9:00am flight (which I made!)

 

RCI Indy Self-Carry Program Information from ship:

1. Guests must carry their own luggage off the ship. The gangway will be located on deck 1 midship. Elevators will not be available during the departure process.

2. Due to safety reasons guests with wheelchairs will not be able to participate in this program.

3. Guests whose staterooms are in the aft of the ship will meet in Studio B, Deck 3 Aft and for guests whose staterooms are in the forward of the ship, will meet in Schooner Bar, Deck 4 Forward. The self carry program starts at approximately 7:30am.

 

My experience:

Taking advice from lovely CCers I got up EARLY to make sure I was 'in line' to get off the ship first. My carryon bags were packed the night before and I had no wheel-on luggage to speak of.

 

My room was on the 10th floor and I went down to the Schooner Bar, Deck 4 at 6:35am in order to be the first in line. I was able to take the elevator down and grab a seat with only one other person arriving before me. There was no line to speak of, just a waiting area. By the time 7:30 arrived there were 50-60 people with luggage at their side and good majority had very large wheel-on suitcases.

 

The attendant asked for sections to peel off and follow her partner while explaining 'everyone will get off at the same time' and so that's how the line was formed, a free-for-all. We were all then walked down a spiral staircase, important for you large luggage carriers - I heard a lot of complaints about this but I had no issues, and then onto DECK 3. We were then lined up BEHIND the 50+ people who had already gathered on Deck 3. From there we were led single-file past the elevators, were numerous people jumped the line as they came down the upper stairs and off the elevators, and down the stairs from Deck 3 to Deck 2 to Deck 1. So again, large luggage carriers - be ready.

 

Once on Deck 1 we were scanned off the ship and walked on the port dock parallel to the ship were a backdoor to the customs area was open to us.

 

Timeline to follow but all-in-all it wasn't bad. From the actual line-up at 7:30am to the time I got in a taxi at 7:59 am, it only took 29 minutes for me to get off the ship and through customs.

[Firefighterhoop]

Glad it worked well for you. Mondays can be tricky trying to do Self Debarkation because there are a lot of people from the FLL/Miami area that are trying to get off the ship and get to work on time so they don't have to take the day off.

 

This April when Liberty was doing the 4/5/5/ that Independence is doing now, there were hundreds (Line went from just outside the dining room all the way around the outside of the ship (Yes all the way around the aft of the ship, back into the ship into and out of the theater and upstairs to the promenade. It took over 2 hours to get out of the terminal! It was nuts (All self debark).

 

And this was getting in line at 7am! When I got in line on the promenade I thought it was going to just go down the stairs and out the doors and be off the ship. (That was one of the slowest I have seen). Glad yours was smoother! Even the crew on the Liberty said it had been a long time since they saw that many people for self debarkation.

[dpmfloyd]

if I can provide a different POV.

 

this time around was the first time my wife and I did not do self-disembark. we've always had a 10am or later flight, so I've wanted to get off the ship FAST.

 

we had a 12:30pm flight, we were given luggage tags #10 and were slated to be off the ship for 8:30am. they let c&a members wait in the pyramid lounge - otherwise we were supposed to be penned up someplace else. we got to the lounge just before 8am. where we waited maybe 10 mins before being ushered into the schooner bar where we waited until 8:30.

 

they led a small group of people to the other side of the ship where we walked down to deck 1 and off. we collected our bags and were through customs in less than 15 minutes. we spent more time in our taxi to the airport than we did customs.

 

we got to the airport a hair after 9am, and were through security by 9:30am.

 

Not too shabby!

 

a much nicer change of pace compared to our experiences with self-disembark.

[MermaidMary]

Is it just self-disembark that does not have elevators available? If they aren't available at all for disembarkation, is there an exception for those who are physically unable to walk down 10 flights of stairs?

 

Thanks,

Mary

[cruisevv]

I thought that there might be an exception but they require you to use the stairs with no wheelchair assistance available either. You could try just taking the elevator down to Deck 2 but even then I'm not sure how you could get to Deck 1 or if you could ride the elevator down that far.

 

But also a point of clarification though, you can use the elevators to ARRIVE at the disembarkation line-up points on Deck 3 and 4. But once you get to those queueing areas they lead you down the stairs to get off the ship.

Edited December 17, 2015 by cruisevv

[cruisevv]

It took over 2 hours to get out of the terminal! It was nuts (All self debark).

 

And this was getting in line at 7am!

 

That's insane Firefighterhoop! Just a quick question, I know Suite Guests get priority disembarkation...and I saw a special line off the ship for priority disembarkation. Do Pinnacle guests not get the same priority? This was BEFORE customs which I know is a different kettle of fish.