Cruise Documents Mailed?

[Petrel]

It's been over 10 years since our first and only cruise.  We're looking at a Carnival cruise in July.  We are going to be moving about 38 days prior to our cruise, but don't yet know where our new address will be.  Do they mail any documents I will need for the cruise one month or shorter ahead of time?  We don't have our new address yet and based on a prior move, I don't have a lot of faith in our mail accurately getting forwarded to our new location.  Do you think it would be better to use our in-laws address in order to receive any important documents we'll need from Carnival prior to our cruise?  Or, is that not necessary as nothing really is mailed to cruise goers now?

 

Thanks for your help!

[navybankerteacher]

Documents are generally made available for you on line - for you to print - sometime between final payment date and sailing date. It has been years, and several cruises, since I have gotten anything related to a booked cruise by mail.

[janice2348]

I believe you are charged if they mail the documents.  I’m not sure if that is even still an option.  Printing them out is really easy. 

[Capt_BJ]

agree ... have not had physical documents for many years on 'typical cruises'

 

higher end lines tend to send a book with itinerary details and such but this is not a 'cruise document' .... once you give them your passport info on line, they just verify this at the terminal and you are good to go IME over the last 10 years or more . . .

 

you may need to print something at home which is really just a pass to get into the terminal .... if you don't want to waste paper do a preview of what they ask you to print.  On RCCL what you NEED is one page of the 15 or so that will print (documents ... aka the cruise contract) .....

Edited March 24, 2019 by Capt_BJ

[Nic6318]

Hi Pertel

 

With Carnival you will need to complete a pre boarding check in on line. You will need to do this to get your check in time. You are required to get an assigned time for check in...that is a time to arrive at the cruise terminal. They have been doing this for a number of years now. If you arrive early or without a check in time, you may not be allowed into the terminal building at all (right away), dependent on the on the flow of people. This was done to relieve the congestion from so many people wanting to arrive early so they could be first on the ship. I believe the check in times are available 90 days prior to  the cruise (I could be wrong). I know from the Carnival threads people will try to be up at midnight on that day to get one of the earlier times. Unless there is some reason to board early I always suggest arriving around 12:30-1 p.m., at that time the line ups have dwindled and by the time you get on the ship the cabins will be ready for you to go right to them. (this would be for the 4 p.m. departures)

 

Ounce you have done this online, you will be able to print out your boarding pass. 

 

If you have other questions specific to Carnival, you are better off asking on the threads dedicated to them. If you go to the main forums page and look down you will see a listing of each cruise line, click in the link and you will be on that page.

 

hope this helps

have a great cruise

[wheezedr]

Basically you should be able to get everything online.  They will email some documents and/or you can download from your personal site at the cruise line.  You can then print anything you might need or bring documentation on your personal device.

[Underwatr]

15 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

It has been years, and several cruises, since I have gotten anything related to a booked cruise by mail.

Cunard still sends put a pre-cruise book (by airmail to the US from Southampton) unless you opt out and/or choose to print it at home. 

In its current version it basically promotes shore excursion sales, and there are about three personalized luggage tags bound inside the back cover ( I generally just print the online tags). You still need to print your cruise ticket from the online account. 

[navybankerteacher]

56 minutes ago, Underwatr said:

Cunard still sends put a pre-cruise book (by airmail to the US from Southampton) unless you opt out and/or choose to print it at home. 

In its current version it basically promotes shore excursion sales, and there are about three personalized luggage tags bound inside the back cover ( I generally just print the online tags). You still need to print your cruise ticket from the online account. 

We’ve only sailed Cunard TA Southampton to New York - most recently in 2015 - and don’t recall such mailing perhaps they do it for cruises with port calls.  Of course we get their glossy promotional mailings several times a year:  I hate to think what they must spend on those.

 

[Underwatr]

I have some TAs coming up in June but we're continuing through Southampton in both directions so it may not be a good test of that. In 2011 we did NY-Southampton. I just went through and purged a lot of old cruise stuff so I can't tell you whether we got it then.

[rmurray847]

On 3/24/2019 at 1:12 PM, Petrel said:

It's been over 10 years since our first and only cruise.  We're looking at a Carnival cruise in July.  We are going to be moving about 38 days prior to our cruise, but don't yet know where our new address will be.  Do they mail any documents I will need for the cruise one month or shorter ahead of time?  We don't have our new address yet and based on a prior move, I don't have a lot of faith in our mail accurately getting forwarded to our new location.  Do you think it would be better to use our in-laws address in order to receive any important documents we'll need from Carnival prior to our cruise?  Or, is that not necessary as nothing really is mailed to cruise goers now?

 

Thanks for your help!

In simple terms...everything will be done online.  You'll print any documents you need yourself and present at check in.  You can safely take this off your list of concerns.  (However, all the marketing catalogs may not get to you!!!)

[Bizmark'sMom]

It has been years since anything has actually been mailed to me from any cruise line.  It's all online now.

[OCruisers]

On 3/24/2019 at 10:19 PM, wheezedr said:

Basically you should be able to get everything online.  They will email some documents and/or you can download from your personal site at the cruise line.  You can then print anything you might need or bring documentation on your personal device.

 

Exactly!  It's easy to print your documents yourself.