Platinum & Disembarking

[RTR 21-0]

We disembarked the Valor this morning and I have a question.  We made platinum on this cruise & received priority boarding, free laundry, the nice little perks.  We thought we heard on previous cruises announcements for priority, platinum or diamond level guests  to disembark before other passengers.  The cruise director for this ship started calling passengers who had their luggage on decks 1 & 2, etc to begin & never mentioned priority passengers.  Is there such a thing for priority or am I imagining having heard this in the past? 

[Essiesmom]

I believe the paper you get with the debarkation instructions on it tells you where Platinum & diamonds are to meet to be escorted off.  EM

[wemjam]

Essiesmom is correct.  They will not make an announcement for Diamond/Platinum.  You should have received a letter with zone 1 tags and special instructions on where you should meet on the ship to disembark first (the usually leave it in your room when the clean the day before).  You have to be in that meeting area at the specified time (usually it is a dining room) and then they will come in and escort those passengers off first before they make any announcements to the whole ship.

[cruisemein]

If you are Platinum, to disembark early do you have to self assist or can you put your luggage out by your door the night before?

[leela8]

You can do either. They give you zone 1 or 2 luggage tags and you meet in the dinning room at around 7:30 when the ship clears they call self assist first then the people in the dinning room get told to walk off the ship. We were off by 08:00 and luggage was there waiting.

[PhillyFan33579]

Just an FYI, you don’t always get Zone 1 or 2 tags as a Platinum. My wife and I are both Platinum and we have received tags as high as Zone 3. This is directly related to the number of Diamonds on the cruise. 

[canes20]

Diamond/Platinum self assist usually do leave before the ones that put luggage out for pickup.

[RTR 21-0]

1 hour ago, wemjam said:

Essiesmom is correct.  They will not make an announcement for Diamond/Platinum.  You should have received a letter with zone 1 tags and special instructions on where you should meet on the ship to disembark first (the usually leave it in your room when the clean the day before).  You have to be in that meeting area at the specified time (usually it is a dining room) and then they will come in and escort those passengers off first before they make any announcements to the whole ship.

We didn't receive a letter with zone tags or special instructions.  We did have the usual paper that states where passengers go to pick up their luggage tags if they aren't carrying luggage off (which we were).  Husband and I don't recall reading any special instructions for platinum or diamond and of course I left it in the cabin when leaving.  No biggie, we were off the ship by 9.  It was more curiosity on our parts and to be in the know for our next scheduled cruise.  Thanks for all that replied and continue to reply.

[canes20]

4 minutes ago, RTR 21-0 said:

We didn't receive a letter with zone tags or special instructions.  We did have the usual paper that states where passengers go to pick up their luggage tags if they aren't carrying luggage off (which we were).  Husband and I don't recall reading any special instructions for platinum or diamond and of course I left it in the cabin when leaving.  No biggie, we were off the ship by 9.  It was more curiosity on our parts and to be in the know for our next scheduled cruise.  Thanks for all that replied and continue to reply.

I think it may have been a slip up by your room steward. Should have received the tags and the meeting place letter on last day. You could have used the tags or self assist like you did.

[wemjam]

Now that you have reached the Platinum level, watch for it in the future.  If you don't have it by the last evening (the letter with instructions), ask your room steward directly - or at the front desk.  The zone tags really aren't necessary because you can just flash your platinum sail and sign card and that works too to get into the waiting area (we never use the tags anymore - we just keep our card in our hand and show them that and they point us on our way) - but you still need to know where to meet and what time :-)

[2wheelin]

Slightly related question—didn’t want to start another thread unless necessary. If we have priority embarkation for a wedding, I am assuming that is the only perk. Am I correct that we do not have any other priorities such as tendering or disembarkation as FTTF does?

[PhillyFan33579]

2 hours ago, RTR 21-0 said:

We didn't receive a letter with zone tags or special instructions.  We did have the usual paper that states where passengers go to pick up their luggage tags if they aren't carrying luggage off (which we were).  Husband and I don't recall reading any special instructions for platinum or diamond and of course I left it in the cabin when leaving.  No biggie, we were off the ship by 9.  It was more curiosity on our parts and to be in the know for our next scheduled cruise.  Thanks for all that replied and continue to reply.

 

Most likely your cabin steward forgot to give you the priority paperwork. There is always a small possibility it got misplaced or mixed in with the countless papers/flyers they leave in your cabin every day. 

 

Did you get the the rest of the perks in your cabin for being Platinum (water, pins, gift, etc.)?

Edited September 9, 2019 by PhillyFan33579

[sc4125]

Maybe there was a mix up due to the fact that you turned Platinum during the cruise.  I know you receive all the Platinum perks for the cruise, but perhaps they forgot the special disembarking instructions.

[DallasGuy75219]

8 hours ago, wemjam said:

The zone tags really aren't necessary because you can just flash your platinum sail and sign card and that works too to get into the waiting area (we never use the tags anymore - we just keep our card in our hand and show them that and they point us on our way) - but you still need to know where to meet and what time 🙂

They do need priority zone tags if they are checking luggage.  If they use regular zone tags, their bags may not yet be available when they do priority debarkation.

[RTR 21-0]

8 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

Most likely your cabin steward forgot to give you the priority paperwork. There is always a small possibility it got misplaced or mixed in with the countless papers/flyers they leave in your cabin every day. 

 

Did you get the the rest of the perks in your cabin for being Platinum (water, pins, gift, etc.)?

Yes, we received the lanyards, water, drink coupon & priority embarkation.  As you said, he probably forgot to leave it.  They were cleaning the balconies and replacing balcony chairs that day so lots going on.  I sure do appreciate all the replies!  We have BTB Cruises Oct. 2020 & then we’ll know what to look for 😉

[vicky3vicky]

I am guessing that this question has been answered, but I can not find it. We will be platinum on our next cruise. It will be a journey cruise, so the majority of the people on the cruise will be platinum or diamond. The company that is going to transport us from the ship back to the airport in Orlando runs its' last shuttle at 10 am. 

 

Initially, our intention had been to be the last off of the ship, just enjoy every second on the ship we can get. Because we do not want to miss our ride,though, we decided that we would do self debarkation. So, I was wondering a couple of things that could determine how we plan this.

 

I know that there is early debarkation for those with "checked" luggage, but is there also early self-disembarkation. Also, for those who have taken a journey cruise, because of the higher percentage of priority passengers, and also of people who need assistance to leave the ship, and possibly more luggage than ussual because of it being a longer cruise, is disembarkation a total and lengthy zoo. In addition, probably what percentage of cruisers on a journey cruise choose self-disembarkation? Thank you.

[RWolver672]

14 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

Slightly related question—didn’t want to start another thread unless necessary. If we have priority embarkation for a wedding, I am assuming that is the only perk. Am I correct that we do not have any other priorities such as tendering or disembarkation as FTTF does?

 

You are correct.

[PhillyFan33579]

17 hours ago, wemjam said:

Now that you have reached the Platinum level, watch for it in the future.  If you don't have it by the last evening (the letter with instructions), ask your room steward directly - or at the front desk.  The zone tags really aren't necessary because you can just flash your platinum sail and sign card and that works too to get into the waiting area (we never use the tags anymore - we just keep our card in our hand and show them that and they point us on our way) - but you still need to know where to meet and what time 🙂

 

If you carry your own luggage off the ship your comment is accurate. However, if you leave your luggage out the night before debarkation, you need the luggage tags.