New Debarkation Process????

[2wheelin]

6 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

 

What ship were you on that didn't give a debarkation letter? Only a small percentage of passengers attend the debarkation talk or bother to watch it on the cabin TV. Without the letter I would think there would be a lot of confused people. We were on the Inspiration last week and received a debarkation letter. 😎

Horizon. Those at the talk also knew that self assist could meet at a certain place and be escorted off by 7:00.Everything went very smoothly. We decided to get off around 8:30 since we had a later flight. Half hour from stairs to curb.

[RWolver672]

14 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

. Last year, we were supposed to wait in the MDR for our zone to be called. While walking through the lobby, one of the Fun Squad members directing traffic pointed us to the line off the ship. We TRIED to follow the rules. I told her it wasn't our turn and we were headed to the MDR where we were assigned. She told us to just get in the line leaving the ship.

 

 

 

That exact same thing happened to us in February on the Horizon.  And it was about fifteen minutes before we were even suppose to meet in the MDR.

[shof515]

other cruise lines like norweigan already have the  luggage talk pickup system in place and it works pretty good. nice to see carnival is using a similar process.

 

when i use to travel with family, it was somewhat annoying having different luggage tag numbers and then going to guest services to get the same number.

[haply]

I did not care what tag number that I got.  What annoyed me on my recent Glory cruise is that if you did not pick up your luggage tags by 5:30 PM, you had to carry off your luggage.  Not like this on Norwegian or Royal.  Did not want to go to the luggage "talk" at 11 AM on my last cruise day.  Letter was not in my room until after 5:30 PM that night....

 

[SeaWitch3]

12 hours ago, bingomamma19 said:

There isn't a mandatory meeting

Got off the Magic yesterday, and it was announced that it was mandatory for one person from each cabin to attend the debarkation meeting. Perhaps that what the OP was referencing?

[ShakyBeef]

2 minutes ago, SeaWitch3 said:

Got off the Magic yesterday, and it was announced that it was mandatory for one person from each cabin to attend the debarkation meeting. Perhaps that what the OP was referencing?

 

I sure hope this isn't true for all cabins on all ships. If they make me go to this, I'll be more than a little annoyed.  I don't need to go to a meeting to receive instructions and know how to follow them.  If there has been a change to the process of which I should be made aware, do it through a printed notice delivered to my cabin, as always.  I'm also perfectly willing to play the debarkation talk on my cabin TV while I pack (which I usually do, anyway, even though I've heard it all before).  I will not be forced into going to a debarkation talk quietly.  That is my vacation time, for which I paid.  Not classroom time.  With the obvious exception of the Muster Drill, it is not mandatory for me to attend any meeting while on my cruise.

[JaniceB]

Hopefully someone from the cruises with the mandatory meeting will let us know what it was about.

[Bookbug53]

1 hour ago, SeaWitch3 said:

Got off the Magic yesterday, and it was announced that it was mandatory for one person from each cabin to attend the debarkation meeting. Perhaps that what the OP was referencing?

I have heard them 'recommend' one person from each cabin attend. This has been going on since I started cruising 20 years ago. 

[bingomamma19]

1 hour ago, SeaWitch3 said:

Got off the Magic yesterday, and it was announced that it was mandatory for one person from each cabin to attend the debarkation meeting. Perhaps that what the OP was referencing?

They may say that (although ours did not), but unless they are going to handle it like the Muster drill (shut down all food/drink service, make you swipe your card and wait for all to be accounted), it will never actually be mandatory.   Its not very hard/nor a coast guard requirement to know how to debark

[TNcruising02]

2 hours ago, ShakyBeef said:

 

I sure hope this isn't true for all cabins on all ships. If they make me go to this, I'll be more than a little annoyed.  I don't need to go to a meeting to receive instructions and know how to follow them.  If there has been a change to the process of which I should be made aware, do it through a printed notice delivered to my cabin, as always.  I'm also perfectly willing to play the debarkation talk on my cabin TV while I pack (which I usually do, anyway, even though I've heard it all before).  I will not be forced into going to a debarkation talk quietly.  That is my vacation time, for which I paid.  Not classroom time.  With the obvious exception of the Muster Drill, it is not mandatory for me to attend any meeting while on my cruise.

I agree.  I am perfectly capable of following written instructions and was able to do so on my last few cruises when the new process was used.

[Retired_to_Cruise]

23 hours ago, Shaded Lady said:

I have yet to experience this new luggage tag process, but I find it extremely difficult to imagine how Carnival could benefit monetarily from this. Perhaps it's just a quality initiative, or a way to please some of the guests, by allowing THEM to choose when they debark, as opposed to the luck of the draw based on what their cabin steward leaves for them.

Just witnessed this new process yesterday morning on the Conquest. I do not think there is any monetary angle for CCL in this new process. I think it is meant to improve the debarkation process which had become a cluster "f" because "guests" refused to follow the process and decided they had a better idea which included ignoring anything that Carnival was trying to do. Yes, if you are not priority, you have to go where the computers are on the ship and get your own debark tags. They will also send you away from the debark area if you attempt to get out before you are called. The priority rules and the self debark rules still apply, only they are now enforced. No more, "turn a blind eye to the "scoff-laws". The process worked yesterday and the ship was cleared and on its way to Miami for its relocation changeover by 10:30 am as planned. Do not read anything else into why it is being done. It is done to make the rules enforceable and no more "mister nice guy" turning away from people who cannot follow the rules. AND THERE IS NO MANDATORY MEETING THAT EVERYONE HAS TO GO TO. It is clearly explained in the letter that is sent to all the cabins. Be a grown up, read the letter, get your bag tags , and follow the rules. Or else you will be running the steps on you fitbits to weekly totals in just an hour or two. Good Luck!

Edited May 6, 2019 by Retired_to_Cruise

[ShakyBeef]

27 minutes ago, Retired_to_Cruise said:

Just witnessed this new process yesterday morning on the Conquest. I do not think there is any monetary angle for CCL in this new process. I think it is meant to improve the debarkation process which had become a cluster "f" because "guests" refused to follow the process and decided they had a better idea which included ignoring anything that Carnival was trying to do. Yes, if you are not priority, you have to go where the computers are on the ship and get your own debark tags. They will also send you away from the debark area if you attempt to get out before you are called. The priority rules and the self debark rules still apply, only they are now enforced. No more, "turn a blind eye to the "scoff-laws". The process worked yesterday and the ship was cleared and on its way to Miami for its relocation changeover by 10:30 am as planned. Do not read anything else into why it is being done. It is done to make the rules enforceable and no more "mister nice guy" turning away from people who cannot follow the rules. AND THERE IS NO MANDATORY MEETING THAT EVERYONE HAS TO GO TO. It is clearly explained in the letter that is sent to all the cabins. Be a grown up, read the letter, get your bag tags , and follow the rules. Or else you will be running the steps on you fitbits to weekly totals in just an hour or two. Good Luck!

 

Thank you.  This is good to hear and makes sense.  I'm glad they seem to be cracking down and enforcing their rules.  Also glad the Priority process is unaffected.  No bad news here, as far as I'm concerned. 

[1025cruise]

I disagree. On my one NCL cruise, I felt disembarkation was a mess. When I went at my assigned time based on luggage tag, the line wrapped around the ship.

 

I much prefer disembarkation where you are told to report to a certain area and then escorted off.

[PhillyFan33579]

On 5/5/2019 at 12:38 PM, Aplmac said:

.

I'm trying to figure out

where the ($$$?) saving is in this new procedure.

Changes like this are usually profit-oriented (am I wrong?).

Is/was there a big hassle in luggage tag distribution system? that we never knew about?

 

Carnival must benefit from this somehow, or they wouldn't be doing it.

Do you have to pay for lower numbered tags? Tags over 20 are free?
What's up? I'm missing something.

 

The change isn’t that significant. They have used this process for at least the 6 cruises I have been on, if not more. The only change is instead of having luggage tags delivered to your cabin with the zone number correlating to where your cabin is located, guests can now pick their own zone number for their luggage if they are not carrying it off themselves. Priority guests still get luggage zone tags delivered to their cabin.

 

It is just another attempt by Carnival to improve the debarkation process. I think Carnival has the embarkation process down with changes like check-in appointment windows, S&S cards at the cabin, etc.  I don’t know if this change makes a significant difference in the debarkation process, but at least Carnival is trying to improve the debarkation process, which is often a cluster you know what. 

[SeaWitch3]

1 hour ago, Retired_to_Cruise said:

Just witnessed this new process yesterday morning on the Conquest. I do not think there is any monetary angle for CCL in this new process. I think it is meant to improve the debarkation process which had become a cluster "f" because "guests" refused to follow the process and decided they had a better idea which included ignoring anything that Carnival was trying to do. Yes, if you are not priority, you have to go where the computers are on the ship and get your own debark tags. They will also send you away from the debark area if you attempt to get out before you are called. The priority rules and the self debark rules still apply, only they are now enforced. No more, "turn a blind eye to the "scoff-laws". The process worked yesterday and the ship was cleared and on its way to Miami for its relocation changeover by 10:30 am as planned. Do not read anything else into why it is being done. It is done to make the rules enforceable and no more "mister nice guy" turning away from people who cannot follow the rules. AND THERE IS NO MANDATORY MEETING THAT EVERYONE HAS TO GO TO. It is clearly explained in the letter that is sent to all the cabins. Be a grown up, read the letter, get your bag tags , and follow the rules. Or else you will be running the steps on you fitbits to weekly totals in just an hour or two. Good Luck!

So, thanks for the shouty capital letters, I’m just relaying what the announcement said, and on the ship that I was on, the announcement said that one person from each cabin was required to attend.

 

I agree that the debarkation letter was self-explanatory, and that people should be grownups and read it, and be fine. I think we all know that everyone isn’t going to do that, and that many folks don’t believe the rules apply to them.

[fair-winds39]

We were on the Carnival Pride in March and we picked up our luggage tags at the designated location. We didn't have any time constraints for getting off of the ship early, but If you need to get off early, get your luggage tags ASAP because the early times go very fast. It was our easiest debarkation ever in the Baltimore port.

[Organized Chaos]

On 5/6/2019 at 11:18 AM, Retired_to_Cruise said:

Just witnessed this new process yesterday morning on the Conquest. I do not think there is any monetary angle for CCL in this new process. I think it is meant to improve the debarkation process which had become a cluster "f" because "guests" refused to follow the process and decided they had a better idea which included ignoring anything that Carnival was trying to do. Yes, if you are not priority, you have to go where the computers are on the ship and get your own debark tags. They will also send you away from the debark area if you attempt to get out before you are called. The priority rules and the self debark rules still apply, only they are now enforced. No more, "turn a blind eye to the "scoff-laws". The process worked yesterday and the ship was cleared and on its way to Miami for its relocation changeover by 10:30 am as planned.

 

It looks like one of the biggest advantages of having passengers go get their own tags is that groups are more likely to get the same debark zones. But, in my opinion, making them get their own tags isn't going to speed up the actual debark process all that much. We've already seen someone in this thread say that by the time they got their tags, they didn't like the high numbers they got, so they used some old zone 1 tags they found in their luggage. Some people will always think the rules don't apply to them when they're not happy with certain rules and they'll find a way to break them. So the only way to make debark faster and more efficient is by enforcing their debarkation procedures. We've experienced a "cluster f" of a debark and it was because far too many people were breaking the rules and none of the crew would take control and enforce them. They were too afraid to be assertive. I hope the rule enforcement you experienced becomes the norm across the entire fleet for every single cruise.

 

This isn't directed at this thread, but I've seen it said plenty of times. To those who say they don't leave until Carnival chases them off the ship, I say, GET OFF THE SHIP! Your vacation is over and there are a few thousand people waiting for you to go so they can start theirs.

Edited May 7, 2019 by Organized Chaos

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, Organized Chaos said:

This isn't directed at this thread, but I've seen it said plenty of times. To those who say they don't leave until Carnival chases them off the ship, I say, GET OFF THE SHIP! Your vacation is over and there are a few thousand people waiting for you to go so they can start theirs.

 

If more people did this I think it would help the debarkation process. The debarkation process usually becomes a disaster when too many people try to leave before their zone or deck, for self debarkation, is called. That is what leads to long lines getting off the ship and going thru customers in the terminal.  People who hang out as long as possible are not impacting the debarkation process for their cruise or impacting the embarkation cruise for the next cruise. While waiting in the priority lounge the reps are really good about giving updates about what is going on and when boarding will begin. I have never heard a rep say they are waiting for people to leave the ship, except for the B2Bs who have to leave the ship momentarily, which is when you know boarding will begin in a few minutes when you hear/see that. 

[Organized Chaos]

4 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

If more people did this I think it would help the debarkation process. The debarkation process usually becomes a disaster when too many people try to leave before their zone or deck, for self debarkation, is called. That is what leads to long lines getting off the ship and going thru customers in the terminal.  People who hang out as long as possible are not impacting the debarkation process for their cruise or impacting the embarkation cruise for the next cruise. While waiting in the priority lounge the reps are really good about giving updates about what is going on and when boarding will begin. I have never heard a rep say they are waiting for people to leave the ship, except for the B2Bs who have to leave the ship momentarily, which is when you know boarding will begin in a few minutes when you hear/see that. 

 

If more people waited until the last possible minute to leave the ship, that too would cause a traffic jam. They can't begin boarding the next cruise until it's cleared. Having to chase down passengers who are trying to squeeze an extra 30 minutes out of their cruise keeps the crew from clearing it efficiently. If you have an assigned area you're supposed to be in, then be there. That system is put in place for a reason.

Edited May 8, 2019 by Organized Chaos

[PhillyFan33579]

14 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

If more people waited until the last possible minute to leave the ship, that too would cause a traffic jam. They can't begin boarding the next cruise until it's cleared. Having to chase down passengers who are trying to squeeze an extra 30 minutes out of their cruise keeps the crew from clearing it efficiently. If you have an assigned area you're supposed to be in, then be there. That system is put in place for a reason.

 

I enjoy reading most of your posts, even the ones I don’t agree with. But you don’t understand the turnover process if you think a few guests are keeping crews from cleaning the ship and delaying embarkation for the next cruise. The crews responsible for cleaning the ship, preparing cabins, and the countless other things that need to be done on turnover day (the logistics alone is incredible) have nothing to do with the debarkation and embarkation process. And crew staff are not chasing down guests to.kick them off the ship. When the CD makes an announcement that all guests must now leave the ship, the few remaining passengers head to the atrium, except for Spirit class ships, and leave the ship 

[mredandchis]

Disembarkation is a turkey shoot at best.  And i believe Carnival is trying to get the passengers a way to select their time.   Carnival would like to get everyone off quickly so they can reload.  This new procedure allows people the chance of getting what they want.  I am sure there is some rush for low numbers but a lot of time i take it easy for an hour and then just walk off ship.    I recently did a back to back and we had to go to a dining room to go thru the back to back process.  There was a huge line trying to get off the ship.  We found out there was a terminal snafu or actually customs were short staffed unexpectedly.  Of course they called for more staff to come in but it took time and people were upset with Carnival.  It was after 1030 before the line dwindled.  We departed the next week and it was very quick and efficient.

[RWolver672]

On 5/7/2019 at 7:05 PM, PhillyFan33579 said:

. While waiting in the priority lounge the reps are really good about giving updates about what is going on and when boarding will begin. I have never heard a rep say they are waiting for people to leave the ship, except for the B2Bs who have to leave the ship momentarily, which is when you know boarding will begin in a few minutes when you hear/see that. 

 

 Not in those exact words but quite often they will say "We will start boarding as soon as the ship has been cleared for boarding".  That means when everybody has left the ship from the previous cruise.

[PhillyFan33579]

9 minutes ago, RWolver672 said:

 

 Not in those exact words but quite often they will say "We will start boarding as soon as the ship has been cleared for boarding".  That means when everybody has left the ship from the previous cruise.

 

Cruise ships can’t simply begin boarding once everyone from the previous cruise has departed. They have to wait until they receive clearance from port authorities before they can begin allowing passengers on the ship. That is why they use the term “cleared for boarding”. 

[Joebucks]

On 5/5/2019 at 12:38 PM, Aplmac said:

.

I'm trying to figure out

where the ($$$?) saving is in this new procedure.

Changes like this are usually profit-oriented (am I wrong?).

Is/was there a big hassle in luggage tag distribution system? that we never knew about?

 

Carnival must benefit from this somehow, or they wouldn't be doing it.

Do you have to pay for lower numbered tags? Tags over 20 are free?
What's up? I'm missing something.

 

Not everything is about money. Sure companies are always examining ways to cut costs. Sometimes changes are due to laws, sometimes for customer satisfaction. Maybe it's a test for a better process.

 

I debarked off a Carnival ship last week. There was no mandatory safety briefing for me.

[Organized Chaos]

2 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

Cruise ships can’t simply begin boarding once everyone from the previous cruise has departed. They have to wait until they receive clearance from port authorities before they can begin allowing passengers on the ship. That is why they use the term “cleared for boarding”. 

 

In response to your previous reply, I didn't say anything about delaying the cleaning process, especially cabins. Passengers are required to be out of their cabins by a certain time. If you'll notice, I directed my comment specifically to those people who say they don't leave until a crew member tells them to leave. So before you tell someone they don't understand, it helps to fully comprehend what they said first.

 

Yes, the Coast Guard must give clearance, but even that can't be given if the crew are forced to chase down people who refuse to leave until they're told. That does, in fact, delay the embarkation process for the next cruise. And by "chase down," I don't mean they're literally chasing someone. I'm referring to those who don't go to their assigned waiting area or the lobby to voluntarily leave. They say they sit out on deck, for example, and "enjoy" their cruise as long as they can. Even though I've seen a lot of people say they do it, I'm sure it's actually a very small number on any given cruise, but just one of them on a cruise is too many. They are holding up the process.