How long (generally) is last boarding before ship leaves port?

[Eli_6]

I am trying to figure out how late I can embark my ship before the ship leaves for figuring out travel.  No posted times yet for boarding and this is not a usual sailing (Norwegian Fjords from Dover, UK).

 

The ship gets into port from a Transatlantic cruise at 5 a.m. and departs 5 p.m.  So would it board until 3:30 pm? 4?

 

I noticed the Dream (my next cruise) has a final boarding time of 2:30 and departs Galveston at 3:30.

 

The Carnival Fly2Fun website says you can arrive at Heathrow as late as 1 pm but that seems like it would cut it really close because Dover is about 100 miles from Heathrow airport. In fact, another transportation company (not Carnival) leaves London at 8:30 a.m. and drops off at noon at Dover essentially allowing 3.5 hours for the commute.  Having had a car before in London and the UK (husband drove),  the 3 to 3.5 hour allocation to go 100 miles seems about right.  But if it allows you to get to Heathrow as late as 1, that would put boarding as late as 4 or 4:30. And ship leaves at 5. 😳. 

[VentureMan_2000]

They ask that you board no later than 1 hour before the scheduled departure.  

[bahacca]

If you book through Fly2Fun, do they guarantee you will make the ship like how they guarantee the ship won't leave without you if you book an excursion through Carnival? That is the only way I would cut it that close.

[VentureMan_2000]

I'm pretty sure they will leave at the scheduled time.  Flights are delayed and cancelled all the time, which is why folks prefer to arrive a day before the cruise -- gives you a buffer.

[Eli_6]

1 hour ago, bahacca said:

If you book through Fly2Fun, do they guarantee you will make the ship like how they guarantee the ship won't leave without you if you book an excursion through Carnival? That is the only way I would cut it that close.

Yes. If you miss the boat due to flight delay and you booked through F2Fun they will fly you to the next port at no cost.  That's why I am befuddled they would cut it so close.  They even have the air transfer from Heathrow airport to Dover.

 

I did find out that boarding time per Carnival ends at 4 pm on this departure.  Still...1 pm to 4 pm is cutting it really close to debark an international flight, get luggage in a huge airport, board the transfer and go 100 miles including through London.  That would be way to close for my comfort.  

 

As of right now, we are flying in the day before, but I can change flight up to 60 days before due to the type of fare that I booked.

 

Still, I was thinking of getting a car if we fly in the day before rather than doing the Carnival transfer and spending a night at the B and B at Leeds Castle.  

 

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by Eli_6

[Eli_6]

21 minutes ago, VentureMan_2000 said:

I'm pretty sure they will leave at the scheduled time.  Flights are delayed and cancelled all the time, which is why folks prefer to arrive a day before the cruise -- gives you a buffer.

As of right now we are flying in the day before, but I could still change it due to the type of fare I got.  There is a flight that arrives at 11:40 am on the day of the cruise that conceivably I could change it to.  the advantage is it's one more day for my husband to work and it's one less day of childcare I have to worry about.  The disadvantage is the stress of trying to get port quickly.  

 

If I keep the day before flight, my plan was to rent a car and stay overnight at a bed-and-breakfast at Leeds Castle. Check out is usually at 10 am so that's enough time to even take in another attraction like Dover Castle before the ship starts embarkation.

 

Per Carnival email, they are saying embarkation will be 2 pm to 4 pm.

[Moviela]

I wish there was an easy way to get from LHR to the Dover Cruise Terminal on public transport, but there is not. 

A car service is the best bet for peace of mind with your luggage and all. They are usually more than $200, and they expect a tip.

I have made the trip by train and taxi, but you must take three trains, then a taxi from Dover Rail Station to the cruise dock. There is a lot of schlepping of bags through Paddington and St. Pancras stations. Then a few more yards in Dover. Time is the same as driving the ring road with clear traffic. 

 

I would be nervous to arrive at LHR the same day as the cruise. Any delay, and you'll miss the boat. Figure on an hour getting through formalities and picking up luggage at LHR. From IAH to arrive the day of the cruise I would only take a nonstop and have wheels on the ground before 8 AM. United 880 would be a good choice. 

 

I would arrive the day prior if I was on that cruise.

[jrmende63]

3 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

As of right now we are flying in the day before, but I could still change it due to the type of fare I got.  There is a flight that arrives at 11:40 am on the day of the cruise that conceivably I could change it to.  the advantage is it's one more day for my husband to work and it's one less day of childcare I have to worry about.  The disadvantage is the stress of trying to get port quickly.  

 

If I keep the day before flight, my plan was to rent a car and stay overnight at a bed-and-breakfast at Leeds Castle. Check out is usually at 10 am so that's enough time to even take in another attraction like Dover Castle before the ship starts embarkation.

 

Per Carnival email, they are saying embarkation will be 2 pm to 4 pm.

We are on this sailing. I have not gotten an email from Carnival regarding the times, but my PVP did say we would not board until afternoon on this sailing. We will be arriving at LHR on 6/17. 

[nissach]

We did a Norwegian Fjord cruise in 2017.  We spent 5 days prior in London and took the train to Southamptom, I know different terminal, but we left at around 9 am the day of the cruise to get there in plenty of time to board.  It was about a 2 hour train ride.  Then hopped in a taxi to the terminal.

You will love this cruise!!  One of the best we have been on.

[sanger727]

17 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

As of right now we are flying in the day before, but I could still change it due to the type of fare I got.  There is a flight that arrives at 11:40 am on the day of the cruise that conceivably I could change it to.  the advantage is it's one more day for my husband to work and it's one less day of childcare I have to worry about.  The disadvantage is the stress of trying to get port quickly.  

 

 

 

The other advantage to arriving a day early is to give you time to adjust to the time change. I personally have a had time sleeping on flights so my first day ends up being a short one due to exhaustion. Adding the stress of potential flight delays and transportation delays to the stress of little sleep and a long flight would be enough for me to keep the flight a day early.

[Eli_6]

22 hours ago, Moviela said:

I wish there was an easy way to get from LHR to the Dover Cruise Terminal on public transport, but there is not. 

A car service is the best bet for peace of mind with your luggage and all. They are usually more than $200, and they expect a tip.

I have made the trip by train and taxi, but you must take three trains, then a taxi from Dover Rail Station to the cruise dock. There is a lot of schlepping of bags through Paddington and St. Pancras stations. Then a few more yards in Dover. Time is the same as driving the ring road with clear traffic. 

 

I would be nervous to arrive at LHR the same day as the cruise. Any delay, and you'll miss the boat. Figure on an hour getting through formalities and picking up luggage at LHR. From IAH to arrive the day of the cruise I would only take a nonstop and have wheels on the ground before 8 AM. United 880 would be a good choice. 

 

I would arrive the day prior if I was on that cruise.

Thanks so much for this info.

 

As of right now, we are arriving the day before and going to rent a car. Pick up at Heathrow, drop off in Dover. It is 48 pounds more to do the different pick up/drop off locations, but still cheaper than anything else and will enable us to be able to see some sights.  My husband and I literally made a big circle from London, through the North and east of England and back to London two years ago so I feel ok about him driving.  

 

Now I just have to figure out plans for getting back to the airport. 

[ummgood]

3 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

Thanks so much for this info.

 

As of right now, we are arriving the day before and going to rent a car. Pick up at Heathrow, drop off in Dover. It is 48 pounds more to do the different pick up/drop off locations, but still cheaper than anything else and will enable us to be able to see some sights.  My husband and I literally made a big circle from London, through the North and east of England and back to London two years ago so I feel ok about him driving.  

 

Now I just have to figure out plans for getting back to the airport. 

I am in London for work all the time and have a car most of the time.  I have also driven from the LHR area to Dover and that is nuts for them to pick you up at that time.  The M25 can back up so bad at random times.  If you are arriving the day before I highly recommend staying in Windsor.  It is so nice and you can walk around and site see.  I love that town.  I usually stay in the Castle Hotel by MGallery which usually has decent prices compared to staying in the city.

[Eli_6]

6 hours ago, sanger727 said:

 

The other advantage to arriving a day early is to give you time to adjust to the time change. I personally have a had time sleeping on flights so my first day ends up being a short one due to exhaustion. Adding the stress of potential flight delays and transportation delays to the stress of little sleep and a long flight would be enough for me to keep the flight a day early.

Yeah, I thought of that, too. Last time we went to London on the overnight, we flew business and I STILL didn't sleep even with being able to lay flat.  We landed in the a.m., rented a car and drove to Leicester and saw the R3 museum.  Then we drove over to Bosworth Field where the Battle of Bosworth took place and saw that museum. Then we drove to Lincoln, where I had reserved a hotel. We finally crashed that night after basically being up for 2 days straight. Then we ended up sleeping through check out time the following day.   Clearly, I did not account for not sleeping when I "planned" our trip and I remember commenting to my husband that next time I was giving us a day to recover. 

 

 

[Eli_6]

6 minutes ago, ummgood said:

I am in London for work all the time and have a car most of the time.  I have also driven from the LHR area to Dover and that is nuts for them to pick you up at that time.  The M25 can back up so bad at random times.  If you are arriving the day before I highly recommend staying in Windsor.  It is so nice and you can walk around and site see.  I love that town.  I usually stay in the Castle Hotel by MGallery which usually has decent prices compared to staying in the city.

I wanted to get a bit down the road before crashing for the night.   I booked at Hever Castle, which is just a little south of the M25, as it appears to be more-or-less about halfway. (I wanted to book at Leeds Castle, but they are booked up already.)  I wanted to see it anyway.  Check in time is at 3 p.m. so with an 11:40 a.m. arrival, that will probably be about right. If we are early, we can take in the castle and gardens. I figured we could eat an early dinner, get a good night's rest and head out the next morning for Dover.

[Eli_6]

19 hours ago, jrmende63 said:

We are on this sailing. I have not gotten an email from Carnival regarding the times, but my PVP did say we would not board until afternoon on this sailing. We will be arriving at LHR on 6/17. 

Nice to meet you!  Looking forward to sailing with you.  Good to hear another person confirming that boarding won't be until the afternoon. 

As of right now, we are flying out on the evening of the 17th from IAH and arriving at Heathrow on the 18th late morning. That gives us over 24 hours to make it 100 miles...hopefully, we can manage that.  

[ummgood]

14 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

I wanted to get a bit down the road before crashing for the night.   I booked at Hever Castle, which is just a little south of the M25, as it appears to be more-or-less about halfway. (I wanted to book at Leeds Castle, but they are booked up already.)  I wanted to see it anyway.  Check in time is at 3 p.m. so with an 11:40 a.m. arrival, that will probably be about right. If we are early, we can take in the castle and gardens. I figured we could eat an early dinner, get a good night's rest and head out the next morning for Dover.

 

Sounds good!  I hope you have a great trip!  You should be fine with that time.  LHR has been much better lately for immigration lines.

Here is a couple photos I took.  You can see the cruise ship in the background.  The pebble beach is neat.

Edited January 21, 2020 by ummgood