Platinum Boarding Question

[rstunger]

We are new to Platinum, and will be sailing out of Galveston 3/31 on Vista.  We were assigned a check in time of 1:00-1:30.  I thought one of the perks as platinum, was much earlier boarding.  Will they turn us away if we arrive earlier....like11:30?  

[Cruisegirl6]

Yes just ignore it and arrive when you want.

[joepeka]

As the previous poster mentions, you can arrive at the port and begin check in whenever you want. Unless Carnival has changed their Diamond/Platinum/Suite/FTTF perks very recently.

[BoDidly]

8 minutes ago, joepeka said:

As the previous poster mentions, you can arrive at the port and begin check in whenever you want. Unless Carnival has changed their Diamond/Platinum/Suite/FTTF perks very recently.

And they just may do that .Especially with the newest additions to the fleet.  I'm not holding  my breath.

 

[Bookbug53]

29 minutes ago, rstunger said:

We are new to Platinum, and will be sailing out of Galveston 3/31 on Vista.  We were assigned a check in time of 1:00-1:30.  I thought one of the perks as platinum, was much earlier boarding.  Will they turn us away if we arrive earlier....like11:30?  

Sounds like you did not select your check in time and it was randomly assigned.

Since you are Platinum arrive when you like and enter the terminal. You will then board when it is time for Platinum to board. Check in time has nothing to do with boarding time. 

[PhillyFan33579]

16 minutes ago, BoDidly said:

And they just may do that .Especially with the newest additions to the fleet.  I'm not holding  my breath.

 

 

Not that I disagree with the possibility of changes, but what does the newest additions to the fleet have to do with it?

[rstunger]

10 minutes ago, Bookbug53 said:

Sounds like you did not select your check in time and it was randomly assigned.

Since you are Platinum arrive when you like and enter the terminal. You will then board when it is time for Platinum to board. Check in time has nothing to do with boarding time. 

 

I think you’re right.  I was in a hurry when I booked the cruise, and neglected to pick my time for dining, bed choices, and check in time.  I was able to go in and edit my bed choice and dining, but can’t seem to change the check in time. 😞

[BoDidly]

18 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

Not that I disagree with the possibility of changes, but what does the newest additions to the fleet have to do with it?

The larger the ship the more Diamond and Platinum cruisers.  We are simply becoming to large to accomodate.

 

Edited January 27, 2019 by BoDidly

[FloridaGram]

They have not changed the benefit and they would not without announcing it. We just cruised  weeks ago and you go straight in when you arrive. We were at Pt Canaveral and I was shocked how quickly it went. They have new hand held devices that take your picture and platinum is checked in quickly.  I had an arrival time of 11:30 and felt guilty. In the future I think I will choose a later arrival time to save the earlier ones for non platinum guests.

[coevan]

1 hour ago, BoDidly said:

The larger the ship the more Diamond and Platinum cruisers.  We are simply becoming to large to accomodate.

 

 

They are not going to eliminate priority boarding. There will just be more people. 

[CruiseMomTX]

We will also turn Platinum on our 3/3 Vista sailing, are rooms being ready when you board a Platinum Perk?

Does anyone know what the current Plat gift is?

Thanks!!

[coevan]

Platinum cabins will be ready earlier, not necessarily at 11:30, but usually before 1:30. We did drop off our stuff and introduced ourselves to the cabin steward. He told he's be done in a 1/2 hour, this was around noon.

[BoDidly]

39 minutes ago, coevan said:

 

They are not going to eliminate priority boarding. There will just be more people. 

Eliminate ? No , perhaps place a time for boarding. Diamond still being at your leisure 👍.  Platinum may become timed boarding . Just my observation on a message board . Good evening 

[BoDidly]

46 minutes ago, CruiseMomTX said:

We will also turn Platinum on our 3/3 Vista sailing, are rooms being ready when you board a Platinum Perk?

Does anyone know what the current Plat gift is?

Thanks!!

We received some type of shoulder bag thingy last month.

[rstunger]

Thank you for all the input and comments. 😊

[Elaine5715]

2 hours ago, rstunger said:

 

I think you’re right.  I was in a hurry when I booked the cruise, and neglected to pick my time for dining, bed choices, and check in time.  I was able to go in and edit my bed choice and dining, but can’t seem to change the check in time. 😞

It can't be changed.

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, FloridaGram said:

They have not changed the benefit and they would not without announcing it. We just cruised  weeks ago and you go straight in when you arrive. We were at Pt Canaveral and I was shocked how quickly it went. They have new hand held devices that take your picture and platinum is checked in quickly.  I had an arrival time of 11:30 and felt guilty. In the future I think I will choose a later arrival time to save the earlier ones for non platinum guests.

 

Just be aware there have been several instances, including ones posted on this board, where embarkation was delayed for various reasons and check-in time was done by appointment time only (with a 3 hour delay for example) with no priority given to any guests. So if you pick a later check- in time, you will not be able to board earlier in these unique situations. 

[Essiesmom]

2 hours ago, FloridaGram said:

They have not changed the benefit and they would not without announcing it. We just cruised  weeks ago and you go straight in when you arrive. We were at Pt Canaveral and I was shocked how quickly it went. They have new hand held devices that take your picture and platinum is checked in quickly.  I had an arrival time of 11:30 and felt guilty. In the future I think I will choose a later arrival time to save the earlier ones for non platinum guests.

 

DO NOT CHANGE YOUR ARRIVAL TIME.  The purpose of assigning the times is to spread out the arrival of guests so there is not the mob scene at the terminal door at 11am.  In fact, if you are platinum/diamond and plan to arrive early, choose that early time.  Just think what would happen if all the P/D guests thought to leave the early slots for others, but still showed up early.  Some cruises half the guests are P/D, and if they all showed up early, and those they graciously allowed to book the early times also showed up early, more than half the ship would be crowding the doors at 11am.  EM

[IPlayWithString]

From what I've seen...no matter what the boarding time, people show up and mob the place anyway in Galveston. IDK why...you're not even allowed in the terminal and you'd have to stand out in the heat and that's not fun.

[rstunger]

Arriving early and getting priority boarding, along with laundry benefits, are the two main things we are excited about as new platinum members.  It took us awhile to get there, because we had to meet the 75 days at sea, not the original 10 cruises (regardless of days). They changed the criteria when we were 2 cruises short of platinum under the old requirement.  It’ll be a bummer, after finally making it, to board later than we’ve done in the past, as gold.  I hope that makes sense. 🙂

[N7786W Flyer]

We will also turn Platinum on our 3/3 Vista sailing, are rooms being ready when you board a Platinum Perk?

Does anyone know what the current Plat gift is?

 

I'm on the Freedom now (just left Cartagena today and are now headed for the Panama Canal) and the gift this cruise was the new Carnival blankets.  I do have to say that the blankets, while a nice gesture, have a nasty habit of producing loose blue, fiber balls that seem to take over our room.

 

As far as room access for Platinum/Diamond passengers goes, our rooms weren't ready until 1:30 (just like everyone else's) due to the high amount of priority passengers on this cruise (almost 1,000 Diamond/Plat passengers).  However, we were able to go to our rooms to drop off luggage when we boarded around 11:30am....we just weren't able to return to our rooms until 1:30 or so.

 

Garnett

[PhillyFan33579]

11 hours ago, rstunger said:

Arriving early and getting priority boarding, along with laundry benefits, are the two main things we are excited about as new platinum members.  It took us awhile to get there, because we had to meet the 75 days at sea, not the original 10 cruises (regardless of days). They changed the criteria when we were 2 cruises short of platinum under the old requirement.  It’ll be a bummer, after finally making it, to board later than we’ve done in the past, as gold.  I hope that makes sense. 🙂

 

Guest laundry is washed together in hot water, so be careful what you send for washing. My wife and I are both platinum and never use the free laundry perk. 

[coevan]

not as bad as you might think, we use the laundry service all the time. We did a 14 day B2B and I packed everything in one backpack. No, we don't wash delicates or dress clothing. We launder our T's, undies, bathing suites, socks (who wears socks), and such. 

[xDisconnections]

19 hours ago, coevan said:

 

They are not going to eliminate priority boarding. There will just be more people. 

Historical data reminds us that Carnival has no problem eliminating or devaluing benefits while disregarding written promises from those acting on behalf of the Company.

[coevan]

Stop being so negative, it's one of the most precious benefits, it's not going anywhere.