Why do people want to get on ship early?

[cheermomof2girls]

I have a question if you have FTTF and your room is in an area where they still have the doors closed either for luggage loading how do you access the room? Or is that not a problem? I was wondering because I was thinking about purchasing.

 

You can still go to your room. The sign says something about only being accessible to diamond, platinum, FTTF, something like that. :)

[crazy4themouse]

Because every minute onboard is one less minute on dry land, and that makes us unspeakably happy. :-)

[cruzinlisa]

We usually try to fly into port early the day before the cruise. Spend the rest of that day/evening in the embarkation port. But hotels generally want you out by 11, maybe giving you a bagel on the way out. So pretty much as soon as we are up we are ready to head to the port. Ships usually start boarding around 11 and once we step onboard our cruise has started. Get lunch, get a drink, check out the ship... and usually after all that the room is ready.

 

I wouldn't want to drag my luggage around until 1 or have to make multiple trips to/from the hotel or port to store my luggage. And frankly, my room not being ready doesn't detract from my first day. Don't plan on spending in that in my room anyway. Just carry a backpack with my essentials.

 

 

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Yeah, this. If I lived in the departure port city or within an hour or 2, I would probably get there a bit later. But when you spend the night and have to check out of your hotel with your luggage, you don't have as many options.

[dacsmom]

I get on as early as possible to explore the ship.

 

 

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[Cruisegirl6]

Let me ask, why would anybody want to get to the ship late!!

[RWolver672]

You paid for half that day, like you only paid for half the day when you arrive back in port.

 

Not quite. You don't pay for the day you arrive back in port. Cruises are based on Nights on the ship. So, if you show up at 3 PM on the first "night" of the cruise, you've wasted half of that day.

[HerbertandB]

My take on this is a little different, at least at this point, in 220+ days I may have changed my mind.

 

We specifically picked to sail on the Dream out of New Orleans because we wanted to spend time in there. We're planning on arriving on Friday for a Sunday sailing. So when Sunday rolls around my choice is to get on the ship and wait in line for a buffet or burgers OR have a nice brunch/lunch in one of NOLA's fine restaurants. Either we get a late checkout or we just have the hotel hold our bags so there's no issue there.

[StolidCruiser]

Not quite. You don't pay for the day you arrive back in port. Cruises are based on Nights on the ship. So, if you show up at 3 PM on the first "night" of the cruise, you've wasted half of that day.

 

Not quite. Check your math and try again (unless there aren’t 24 hours in a day when cruising).

 

Those who choose to board later are wasting nothing, opting to spend their time differently than those that prefer to board earlier.

 

That’s the wonderful thing about personal choice.

[rmf11699]

I must be doing something wrong when it comes to accessing my cabin. Me and the DW are still relatively new to cruising. Our 4th cruise will be next May so we're averaging 1 every 2 years. On the 3 previous cruises we've boarded as early as possible and taken our carry on straight to the cabin and leave the items there. No, the cabin has never been ready but the staff has always been gracious and let us deposit our belongings. We drop it off and immediately leave so they can continue their job.

[firemanbobswife]

I must be doing something wrong when it comes to accessing my cabin. Me and the DW are still relatively new to cruising. Our 4th cruise will be next May so we're averaging 1 every 2 years. On the 3 previous cruises we've boarded as early as possible and taken our carry on straight to the cabin and leave the items there. No, the cabin has never been ready but the staff has always been gracious and let us deposit our belongings. We drop it off and immediately leave so they can continue their job.

 

To be blunt, yes you are doing something wrong. The signs on the door say specifically to enter only if you are Platinum/Diamond/FTTF.

 

Of course the crew is going to be nice, they don’t want to upset the guest and risk you not paying them gratuities. People in the hall slows them down when they have to keep stepping out of the way, moving vacuums, saying “hi”, etc and causes delays in getting the rooms turned over. This is one of the main reasons why they went to the new system of having the S&S cards in the mailboxes. It prevents people from doing just that. Your cards will be available when your room is ready around 1-1:30 and you will no longer be able to do that.

[bUU]

Not quite. Check your math and try again (unless there aren’t 24 hours in a day when cruising). Those who choose to board later are wasting nothing, opting to spend their time differently than those that prefer to board earlier. That’s the wonderful thing about personal choice.

While I'm all for personal choice, and acknowledge the value in boarding later that you tout, you are playing with words a bit. Objectively speaking passengers are "entitled" to enjoy the offerings of the ship from the earliest time that they are permitted to board until the latest time that they are permitted to stay on board before being forced to disembark. Therefore, any decision to embark later or disembark earlier is "wasting" what has been paid for.

 

We'll be "wasting" the time between 8:00 am and 9:30 am on disembarkation morning on our next cruise, because doing so will get us home before it gets dark, something that's become really important to us as we've gotten older. Of course, the ships tend to offer so little between 8:00 am and 9:30 am on disembarkation morning that it's a pretty trivial example.

 

On the flip-side, talking about embarkation day, with the 11:30 am arrival appointment we have, our doing what you're talking about would "waste" about three hours during which the ship is offering services. During those three hours what would we do? Tour the spa and perhaps snag a limited discount? Have lunch? Meet up with some folks we've met online for drinks? A bit more than what we're "wasting" by disembarking early. We each need to evaluate for ourselves the comparison between the value of capitalizing on these ship offerings early on embarkation day versus the value of the ability to practically walk on the ship without any queuing. Unless we're going to sit in our cabin staring at a wall from noon to three, we are "wasting" something by embarking late.

 

You've determined that the value of the waste is less than the value of what you'll be able to do in the embarkation port before embarkation and the value of being able to walk-on. Nothing wrong with that. We almost made the same decision on a later cruise, when we're going to find ourselves in embarking in Vancouver. We're still going to board early, but that almost didn't work out that way. We were originally going to go directly from disembarkation to the airport, and so our only opportunity to see Vancouver itself was embarkation morning. If it weren't for the full day we have to spend in Vancouver after the cruise, I'd make that choice you're touting in a minute in that case, seeing Vancouver in the morning and early afternoon of embarkation day and then boarding the ship right before the deadline.

[sweets2323]

Explore the ship listen to music. Many times you will miss areas of he ship once it's crowded, this gives you time to explore as much as you can, quietly. As soon as I'm on the ship, I feel a load off me. My vacation begins as I'm walking up the ramp. I'm so happy to be on the cruise I could care less about rolling my luggage [emoji23]. I don't pack a lot so I would just have one roll on luggage.

 

 

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[Jdfireman]

TO Eat that is why Carnival Created Faster To the Food

[Badfinger]

My checking in time is 12:30-1:00 and that seems fine to me. But I would like to know why anyone would want to check in early. If your room will not be ready until 1 or later. Why get on early.[/quot

 

Just look at the lido buffet. You will find the answer. They get on early so they don't miss the first feeding.

 

Me? Since we have a 4 hour drive to the port, we get there about 1pm. Why? Primary reason is because I consider myself to be on vacation and no way am I getting up at 0-dark thirty on vacation. I could get there a couple hours later, but I want to allow myself a bit of time should there be road construction, flat tire, etc.

[Dearabby_84]

We prefer to choose the later times, usually choose 1-1:30. Our first cruise, we selected the earliest time available and the line ups were huge, it took a while to get through. So for the last several we've gone with the later check in and we breezed through, because the lineups are less congested!

Granted, we're not getting to benefit the perks earlier like some folks, eating aboard, swimming, touring the ship, we much prefer this way though!

[evandbob]

Oh goodness, the majority rushes to the buffet or Guy's burgers, and on the day of embarkation lines are usually the longest than for the rest of the sailing. Madhouse, actually.

As a Platinum and now Diamond cruiser, I like to get unpacked, sometimes shower and change clothes, then head to the least packed food venue, usually the BBQ. Breakfast was a long time ago, way back at the airport early morning.

[summersigh]

We usually try to fly into port early the day before the cruise. Spend the rest of that day/evening in the embarkation port. But hotels generally want you out by 11, maybe giving you a bagel on the way out. So pretty much as soon as we are up we are ready to head to the port. Ships usually start boarding around 11 and once we step onboard our cruise has started. Get lunch, get a drink, check out the ship... and usually after all that the room is ready.

 

I wouldn't want to drag my luggage around until 1 or have to make multiple trips to/from the hotel or port to store my luggage. And frankly, my room not being ready doesn't detract from my first day. Don't plan on spending in that in my room anyway. Just carry a backpack with my essentials.

(y)(y) Our thinking exactly !!

[KellyJean]

I want to get on as soon as possible because I'm paying for it. Am I willing to pay for FTTF? Not when it only makes 30 minutes difference as to when I get on board. If it made several hours difference, then maybe.

[Whimsy88]

We get on board as early as we can. We usually drive to the port, so we make sure to leave enough time for any traffic issues, etc. There's vacation (which starts as soon as we leave the house) and then there's VACATION (when we board the ship)! Just the very act of stepping on board relaxes me like nothing else, so the earlier I can do that, the better! The food, the music, the pools, etc., are all nice perks, but it's just the psychological aspect of finally being on vacation that gets us to board early!

[300dtc]

For us it's probably all of the above. We usually take a few extra days to vacation before our cruise and after fighting the beach traffic and paying the Fort Lauderdale prices (or whatever port we are leaving from) it's a wonderful relief to be on board where we don't have to drive and we already paid for everything months ago and can just relax...ahhhh...

 

 

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[leen50]

Really it's been covered but for me - it's vacation time! We get FTTF so first we try to get the free drink from the Red Frog (never had yet...) then we head straight to the room, check out the balcony and start the fun, making sure to get our drink package started. It's always good to just watch people around that time as well, so many are on their first cruise and they are in awe of everything around them. I bet I was like that my first cruise as well!

Do they still have the Red Frog contest? John Heald used to post the winners photos on his page. Have not seen them in a long time.

[bingomamma19]

My checking in time is 12:30-1:00 and that seems fine to me. But I would like to know why anyone would want to check in early. If your room will not be ready until 1 or later. Why get on early.

 

 

I don't. I come after 1:30pm. No lines and I can get right to my room to drop off my stuff.

 

Stress free start to my vacation.

 

We do stay the night before at a hotel by port and just get a late check out time.

[K.T.B.]

For me it's quite simple: I want to be able to have lunch at a reasonable time. Both my wife and I are diabetic, so I'd prefer to not have either of us get in a position where our sugar starts to dip. It's incredibly rare that happens, BUT I'd rather not take a chance.

[ricew001]

To start your vacation as soon as you can.....

We get there and grab a drink on the deck and sit in the glorious sun, basking in each other's company and being excited about the upcoming sail away time!

 

Right now I'm sitting in an office, drinking tea. The boat wins by far.......

[h_blond2]

I feel like as soon as I am on that ship, my vacation has started. Sitting on a ship that is not moving is still better than sitting in the terminal.