How firm is debarkation time

[blhlls]

We are on the Nieuw Amsterdam disembarking in Vancouver on Saturday.  We are walking off with our bags.  I am in a suite, and have 8:00.  The two other cabins have 8:15 and 8:30.  I will be talking to the concierge tomorrow to see if we can coordinate better, but I wondered if there is any chance they will start earlier than scheduled.  Any insight greatly appreciated.  The Royal Princess and a Seabourn ship are also in port, if that makes a difference.

[Jareds_mommytoo]

I think walking off with your own bags at any time after the ship clears?

 

[Jareds_mommytoo]

My mother in law is on the ship with you I think walking off with your own bags at any time after the ship clears?

 

[blhlls]

They gave us assigned times, that is what made me wonder.

[oceanmom]

They give "assigned times" but almost all of our cruises debarks have started early and called the colors earlier than the assigned times. I believe the issue is that colors are called as luggage is staged in the customs area. Go early and your luggage might not be there. Go later and it is really, really easy to find your lonely suitcases in their color area.

Edited September 13, 2019 by oceanmom

[kazu]

6 hours ago, blhlls said:

We are on the Nieuw Amsterdam disembarking in Vancouver on Saturday.  We are walking off with our bags.  I am in a suite, and have 8:00.  The two other cabins have 8:15 and 8:30.  I will be talking to the concierge tomorrow to see if we can coordinate better, but I wondered if there is any chance they will start earlier than scheduled.  Any insight greatly appreciated.  The Royal Princess and a Seabourn ship are also in port, if that makes a difference.

 

Talk to the concierge.  He/she should be able to tie your disembarkation times together and get your disembarkation times the same.  If you all want to self disembark, tell them that and it should be fixed.

 

Tip for the future (if you didn’t do it this time)  - if you are with others, include their cabin numbers on your form - there is a place to say you want to go together.  I’ve done that in the past and it has always been fine.

[Krazy Kruizers]

In Vancouver disembarkation never started early when we were there.

 

But definitely talk to the concierge to get your times together.

[catl331]

You could all go at 8:30.

 

Edited September 13, 2019 by catl331

[RuthC]

Did you and your friends all request self-disembark? Self-disembark gets the earliest disembarkation time, and all those using that method should have identical instructions. 
Something doesn't sound right here. 

Absolutely talk to the Front Desk, or concierge, to get coordinated. 

[richwmn]

The idea of colored tags is not just for luggage availability, it is also for crowd control. HAL knows how many people are in each group, and won't let the next group leave the ship until the luggage area has room for them and the immigration line is somewhat manageable.

Those who chose to take their luggage with them after the self-disembarkation time risk their luggage being in the way of those without any luggage.

[SilvertoGold]

We used Expedited last Sunday. "Expedited" (= "walk off with all bags") in Vancouver is usually 7:45 am.  Anytime after that is OK.  We were off at 7:40 so they start even earlier sometimes!

[3rdGenCunarder]

4 hours ago, richwmn said:

The idea of colored tags is not just for luggage availability, it is also for crowd control. HAL knows how many people are in each group, and won't let the next group leave the ship until the luggage area has room for them and the immigration line is somewhat manageable.

Those who chose to take their luggage with them after the self-disembarkation time risk their luggage being in the way of those without any luggage.

 

My last two arrivals in Port Everglades have been held up when they stopped letting people off the ship because the immigration lines were so long. Better to have people sitting on the ship than standing in line for an hour.

 

[SilvertoGold]

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

My last two arrivals in Port Everglades have been held up when they stopped letting people off the ship because the immigration lines were so long. Better to have people sitting on the ship than standing in line for an hour.

 

 

So true.  The beauty of Vancouver disembarkation is the 4 lines for Customs, about 30 seconds per couple for Canadians, possibly a bit more for others.  

[blhlls]

Thank you all for info and advice.  The Neptune Lounge concierge was able to reset all three cabins and we are good to go.

[3rdGenCunarder]

6 hours ago, SilvertoGold said:

 

So true.  The beauty of Vancouver disembarkation is the 4 lines for Customs, about 30 seconds per couple for Canadians, possibly a bit more for others.  

 

Even better on my last cruise. We were in Victoria before disembarking in Vancouver, so we had already done Canadian immigration. I didn't think about that when I got off the ship. I got a porter and as he walked me through the terminal, I asked about customs and he said "some cruises don't have to do it," which made no sense until I realized I'd already "entered" Canada in Victoria. 

 

But for people continuing on the southbound coastal, they had to get off for the "zero count" AND go through the US process again. This was on Queen Elizabeth, so more UK and Australian passengers than US, and they had to do the long process, so there was considerable grumbling. 

[sail7seas]

kEY to what time they  start disembarkation is  what time the officials announce the ship  cleared.  Until then, no one leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2019 by sail7seas