How many boarding zones are there ?

[capecruzer]

Thank you everyone.  It seems with an A04 boarding maybe we should sit tight at the hotel.  Do people ever arrive in "pool clothes/coverups"? for the short 3-day cruises.  I'm just thinking we'll hang at the hotel pool, grab an Uber and board whenever.  But it would certainly be more convenient to be "pool-ready" than to have to change out of bathing suits only to have to find a change room and change back into them lol once we arrive.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

15 hours ago, capecruzer said:

Thank you everyone.  It seems with an A04 boarding maybe we should sit tight at the hotel.  Do people ever arrive in "pool clothes/coverups"? for the short 3-day cruises.  I'm just thinking we'll hang at the hotel pool, grab an Uber and board whenever.  But it would certainly be more convenient to be "pool-ready" than to have to change out of bathing suits only to have to find a change room and change back into them lol once we arrive.

 

They call a number every couple of minutes.  So, the difference between A1 and A4 is probably about 10 minutes. I wouldn't make different plans based on getting A4 instead of A1.  

 

Yes, people do arrive in pool clothes/coverups.  Even on longer cruises.  They want to get right into that pool!

[capecruzer]

Thank you for your response.  I think we'll just show up early and see what happens.  We'll also be ready to get into the adults-only hot tub with an umbrella drink upon boarding 🙂

[Roscoe13]

27 minutes ago, capecruzer said:

Thank you for your response.  I think we'll just show up early and see what happens.  We'll also be ready to get into the adults-only hot tub with an umbrella drink upon boarding 🙂

No more umbrellas in drinks:

See also straws!

 

[geneparmesan]

I am "C07" on my upcoming cruise from Port Everglades. Does that mean the 7th boarding zone? Or does the "C" indicate anything?

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

22 minutes ago, geneparmesan said:

I am "C07" on my upcoming cruise from Port Everglades. Does that mean the 7th boarding zone? Or does the "C" indicate anything?

I do not think it stands for anything. The earlier you arrive the more people will be there and the room will not be ready for you. The rooms are usually all ready after 1:00 PM or so. WE do carry on so if we arrive before we always go to the room and put the suit cases next to the room door and leave to the buffet.

[TNcruising02]

43 minutes ago, geneparmesan said:

I am "C07" on my upcoming cruise from Port Everglades. Does that mean the 7th boarding zone? Or does the "C" indicate anything?

Yes it does stand for something. I can’t remember how many numbers per letter, but boarding goes like this:

wedding parties, diamonds, platinums, suites,  FTTF, A01, A02, A03, A04, A05, A06, A07, A08, A09, A10, A11, A12, B01, B02, B03, B04, etc

so when it gets to around B12 or so, they will start with C01, C02, etc

Edited February 3, 2020 by TNcruising02

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

5 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

Yes it does stand for something. I can’t remember how many numbers per letter, but boarding goes like this:

wedding parties, diamonds, platinums, suites,  FTTF, A01, A02, A03, A04, A05, A06, A07, A08, A09, A10, A11, A12, B01, B02, B03, B04, etc

so when it gets to around B12 or so, they will start with C01, C02, etc

Ok But that only applies if you are ther real early when they start to board. Correct? Otherwise it basically means nothing when you arrive in the afternoon.

[TNcruising02]

1 minute ago, twodaywonder said:

Ok But that only applies if you are ther real early when they start to board. Correct? Otherwise it basically means nothing when you arrive in the afternoon.

Right! That’s why I always get there early because odds are they will start boarding between 10:30 and 11:00. Once they start boarding, it’s very fast. 
if someone waits until later to arrive, odds are their boarding zone will have already been called and they will be able to basically walk in the ship.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

Well here is the up to date info.

New Procedure for Carnival Cruise Lines - Staggered Check- In Times at Embarkation

To expedite the embarkation process, Carnival has recently instituted staggered check-in times for all their ships at 8 embarkation ports and will add three more ports in Oct-Nov. Passengers sailing on ships leaving from these ports will need to pre-select online check-in times for their arrival at the terminals. They will have a one-hour window to arrive at the terminal. Passengers will not be permitted to enter terminal ahead of this window. Certain categories of passengers are exempt from the one-hour window but still must choose an online time of arrival at the terminal. These include Priority Program guests, those with ship-sponsored airport transfers & those utilizing Faster To The Fun. Do you think that this is a good or bad thing? Here's a link to answers you may have about the new procedure.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3180/~/staggered-check-in

 

[TNcruising02]

I’m priority on my next cruise, so that won’t apply to me. I was on the Panorama in December and they had an early/late line. It will be interesting to hear from people on cruises now to see if they have taken away the early/late line.

Edited February 3, 2020 by TNcruising02

[TNcruising02]

I just looked at my boarding pass for my cruise in April on the Magic and it only has a half hour window, which is 12:00 to 12:30.  My boarding zone is priority because I am reaching platinum. I wonder when they will change to the one hour windows and close the early/late lines.

Edited February 3, 2020 by TNcruising02

[Organized Chaos]

That excerpt looks like it might've been written quite a while ago because it says "recently instituted staggered check-in," but they started it a few years ago. I don't know why it says an hour window, though. Maybe that was the original plan.

 

Twodaywonder's link says staggered check-in on the end of it, but when I click it, it takes me to a page about online check-in and arrival appointments, so I think what they copy/pasted is old info. I can't find that on the current FAQ's.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

It was updated May 2019 See Frequently Asked questions.

Before You Board

• Embarkation Day Check-In

[VentureMan_2000]

20 minutes ago, twodaywonder said:

It was updated May 2019 See Frequently Asked questions.

Before You Board

• Embarkation Day Check-In

That link is for carnival's Australia site.

 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

USA

Arrival Appointment

Guests must select their Arrival Appointment no later than midnight (eastern time) prior to their sailing date, when completing their Online Check-in. Carnival will assign an Arrival Appointment to guests who fail to select an arrival time. This information will be emailed to the guest on the morning of departure. Arrival Appointments do not apply to guests starting their cruise in Barbados.
YOU set your boarding time even if if you are Diamond, Platinum Suits FTTF etc. 

[Organized Chaos]

28 minutes ago, twodaywonder said:

YOU set your boarding time even if if you are Diamond, Platinum Suits FTTF etc. 

 

Slight correction...check-in time, not boarding time. Right, but priority passengers don't get a normal zone number. For example, FTTF get Boarding Zone FTTF. I'm guessing the same goes for Platinum, Diamond, & Suites, with their respective levels. Also, those with priority boarding can arrive at the terminal outside of their assigned Arrival Appointment and still get inside. They don't get put into the early/late line.

[Lottacruises]

On 2/1/2020 at 5:29 PM, PhillyFan33579 said:

From talking to my neighbor who works at the Port of Tampa, he has said the only time the early/late line gets busy is early when a lot of people show up early.  After the early rush, which doesn’t happen often,    he said there is rarely a line in the early/late line since most passengers show up during their check-in window. 
 

Tampa can only support Fantasy and Spirit class ships due to the height limit of the Skyway Bridge, so it’s possible the early/late line is more crowded at ports that can support Carnival’s larger ships. 

 

 

Correct.

 

 

 By the way, others are talking about the early/late lines and boarding times. These are independent of each other and two separate processes. One is getting you checked in. The other is getting you on the ship. IF they have started boarding and IF they have cleared the waiting area, you could have zone zz9million and you will walk right on the ship after check in. They stop calling zone numbers when they reach open boarding. Open boarding is reached when they call numbers and hardly anyone is coming up to go in.

 

For example, they may call c1, if hardly anyone goes up they may call c1-5 together. If still there aren't that many people they will call open boarding.

 

This is the what people experience when they say " I walked right on, no waiting" etc... 

 

 

[Lottacruises]

On 2/2/2020 at 8:09 PM, capecruzer said:

Thank you everyone.  It seems with an A04 boarding maybe we should sit tight at the hotel.  Do people ever arrive in "pool clothes/coverups"? for the short 3-day cruises.  I'm just thinking we'll hang at the hotel pool, grab an Uber and board whenever.  But it would certainly be more convenient to be "pool-ready" than to have to change out of bathing suits only to have to find a change room and change back into them lol once we arrive.

 

 

 

With an a04  you'll be boarding within 30 minutes of boarding beginning, on a normal non-journey cruise 

[Lottacruises]

On 2/1/2020 at 5:29 PM, PhillyFan33579 said:

From talking to my neighbor who works at the Port of Tampa, he has said the only time the early/late line gets busy is early when a lot of people show up early.  After the early rush, which doesn’t happen often,    he said there is rarely a line in the early/late line since most passengers show up during their check-in window. 
 

Tampa can only support Fantasy and Spirit class ships due to the height limit of the Skyway Bridge, so it’s possible the early/late line is more crowded at ports that can support Carnival’s larger ships. 

 

Actually I find the opposite. Just for curiosity can you confirm that statement with your neighbor? I usually see the earylate line as the busiest by far, with the ontime as usually emptier than the priority line. It does have little spikes though on the half hour but still.....

 

On another note, when they handed out cards before they started printed out the zones on the pass around last january, there were 25 cabins approximately per zone. I'd guess it's about the same now but who knows.

 

[geneparmesan]

On 2/3/2020 at 3:01 PM, TNcruising02 said:

Yes it does stand for something. I can’t remember how many numbers per letter, but boarding goes like this:

wedding parties, diamonds, platinums, suites,  FTTF, A01, A02, A03, A04, A05, A06, A07, A08, A09, A10, A11, A12, B01, B02, B03, B04, etc

so when it gets to around B12 or so, they will start with C01, C02, etc

Thank you! I've been checking each day, and today I was able to move my Arrival Appointment to be 30 minutes earlier! Now I'm group B02. I feel much better. 

[TNcruising02]

Just now, geneparmesan said:

Thank you! I've been checking each day, and today I was able to move my Arrival Appointment to be 30 minutes earlier! Now I'm group B02. I feel much better. 

I was able to change my appointment time once too by continuously checking.  Sometimes easier appointment times open up.