Do you show up ontime for your Arival time?

[WhaleTailFlCruiser]

Or are you one of those people that decides they need to be there the arrival times be dammed and clog the Port up? 

[Knights on the Beach]

We are cruising with newbies so we'll likely be showing up late so we can check in with our friends.  

[Essiesmom]

We would ignore our early arrival time (platinum) because I can’t get my sister up and about early.  It remains to be seen what is happening in January.  EM

[TNcruising02]

I realized they meant business with arrival times when I cruised on the Vista.  By the time I got to the line, I was five minutes late outside of my time window.  They sent me to the early/late line.  For some reason, I thought I would be ok as long as I didn't arrive early.  I was wrong and lesson learned.  I always tried to get FTTF so I wouldn't have to worry about it. I will reach platinum on my elusive next cruise.  Maybe by then they will have priority boarding again.

[hurricane0226]

3 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

I realized they meant business with arrival times when I cruised on the Vista.  By the time I got to the line, I was five minutes late outside of my time window.  They sent me to the early/late line.  For some reason, I thought I would be ok as long as I didn't arrive early.  I was wrong and lesson learned.  I always tried to get FTTF so I wouldn't have to worry about it. I will reach platinum on my elusive next cruise.  Maybe by then they will have priority boarding again.

naughty line, lol. have a good cruise 

[asalligo]

Ignore what anyone else says about show up right on time, because I promise if you do you will find you are boarding with the time slot after yours. Watch any of the recent youtubers sailing and they arrived exactly on time and the next group was already being called. I would be there 20 minute early personally. They also still had to wade through tons of people waiting to be called. 

[BoozinCroozin]

I chose early only because we have FTTF. I doubt it will be active when we cruise. If that is the case, then we will show up close to our arrival window. I figure the line to get to drop off luggage then park will cause a bit of a delay. I think things would be much better at ports if they denied entry into to port area until your arrival time. You have that Uber, it is 10:30AM, and your arrival time is 11:30AM, they do not allow you to even enter. The same for shuttle buses and other forms. 

[SCBarker]

I always thought the assigned times would be tough because I think of all the people that use the bus transfers from the airport. Basically you get there when you get there.

[1025cruise]

At this time, arrival times are being enforced, so unless you want to stand outside waiting.....

[Jasonsterling]

12 hours ago, WhaleTailFlCruiser said:

Or are you one of those people that decides they need to be there the arrival times be dammed and clog the Port up? 

I arrive when Carnival transfers get me there- lol. If that's clogging up the port then Carnival be damned-Ha! I mean really it's hard to exactly gauge arriving even when I'm driving. I don't think it's a big deal when people get there. In reality the port in Galveston is pretty antiquated for the load Carnival puts on it and it needs to be redesigned. That said I've never noticed a huge problem with clogs or getting on board once in the terminal building. Carnival seems to have adopted the Disney method of keeping you moving to make the experience feel faster and not like your just standing and waiting, plus pre-check in helps immensely. God twenty years god when I'd stand at the check in desk for like 20 minutes! Now it's usually 2 or something. Not a big deal. Even with the health screening back in March of last year it went fast. I don't see room for complaint with other people on the issue. 

[Jasonsterling]

12 hours ago, TNcruising02 said:

I realized they meant business with arrival times when I cruised on the Vista.  By the time I got to the line, I was five minutes late outside of my time window.  They sent me to the early/late line.  For some reason, I thought I would be ok as long as I didn't arrive early.  I was wrong and lesson learned.  I always tried to get FTTF so I wouldn't have to worry about it. I will reach platinum on my elusive next cruise.  Maybe by then they will have priority boarding again.

I'll be surprised if they bring Priority Boarding back. I think there's too much stress on that system and they'll just keep the allowing two days early check-in for your "appointment" method as a "perk". LOL, which it kinda is but not at all the same thing. Truth told I rarely get there early enough to take advantage of it anyway.  

[TNcruising02]

3 minutes ago, Jasonsterling said:

I'll be surprised if they bring Priority Boarding back. I think there's too much stress on that system and they'll just keep the allowing two days early check-in for your "appointment" method as a "perk". LOL, which it kinda is but not at all the same thing. Truth told I rarely get there early enough to take advantage of it anyway.  

I'm fine with allowing check in two days early instead of priority boarding.  It makes more sense.

[SNJCruisers]

25 minutes ago, SCBarker said:

I always thought the assigned times would be tough because I think of all the people that use the bus transfers from the airport. Basically you get there when you get there.

That's the reason you should not use Carnival's bus shuttle.  If it's an easy port like Miami or FLL, take an Uber or Lyft.  If it's further away like Port Canaveral,  take a private shuttle like Cortrans.  The only place I would use Carnival's shuttle is Galveston, since the two airports are well over an hour away from the cruiseport.

[SNJCruisers]

5 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

I'm fine with allowing check in two days early instead of priority boarding.  It makes more sense.

That takes away the perk from Diamonds & Platinums.  With priority,  you show up when you want and you're not locked into a schedule.   Under the hopefully temporary method,  I can get a 1030 slot, but if unforeseen circumstances make me late, I am now relegated to the general late line with the blues, reds and golds, thus taking away another perk.  

[TNcruising02]

1 minute ago, SNJCruisers said:

That takes away the perk from Diamonds & Platinums.  With priority,  you show up when you want and you're not locked into a schedule.   Under the hopefully temporary method,  I can get a 1030 slot, but if unforeseen circumstances make me late, I am now relegated to the general late line with the blues, reds and golds, thus taking away another perk.  

They could make an exception for platinums and diamonds and not send them to the early/late line.  I do hope they just bring back priority boarding because I would like to show up when I am ready.  It's a challenge to make it to the window time when I have to depend on shuttles that sometimes take longer than expected.

[BrianMD]

Being the type of person that plans to be slightly early in everyday life due to possible traffic delays etc. I'm usually a couple of minutes early but not much. I don't really care about being the first person onboard, I just want to get onboard before the ship sails. 

[asalligo]

20 minutes ago, BrianMD said:

Being the type of person that plans to be slightly early in everyday life due to possible traffic delays etc. I'm usually a couple of minutes early but not much. I don't really care about being the first person onboard, I just want to get onboard before the ship sails. 

Same here. If I arrive exactly on time, I feel like I am late. Always have. 

[TNcruising02]

9 minutes ago, asalligo said:

Same here. If I arrive exactly on time, I feel like I am late. Always have. 

That's how we are too.  I remember my son's baseball coach telling them that if they aren't 1/2 hour early, they are late.  Growing up with a dad who always arrived everywhere late, I knew that once I was in control I would never be late.  However, when I was late for my Vista appointment time, the shuttle driver realized he hadn't hooked up the back of the trailer properly and the bags could have fallen out.  So he had to deal with that and it threw off my timing.

Edited August 6, 2021 by TNcruising02

[ScottsSweetie]

Our kid's band director in high school had a famous quote - "On time is late".

[ScottsSweetie]

1 hour ago, asalligo said:

Same here. If I arrive exactly on time, I feel like I am late. Always have. 

 

1 hour ago, TNcruising02 said:

That's how we are too.  I remember my son's baseball coach telling them that if they aren't 1/2 hour early, they are late.  Growing up with a dad who always arrived everywhere late, I knew that once I was in control I would never be late.  However, when I was late for my Vista appointment time, the shuttle driver realized he hadn't hooked up the back of the trailer properly and the bags could have fallen out.  So he had to deal with that and it threw off my timing.

Our kid's band director's favorite quote - "On time is late".

[Eli_6]

9 hours ago, Jasonsterling said:

I'll be surprised if they bring Priority Boarding back. I think there's too much stress on that system and they'll just keep the allowing two days early check-in for your "appointment" method as a "perk". LOL, which it kinda is but not at all the same thing. Truth told I rarely get there early enough to take advantage of it anyway.  

They still have priority boarding for suites.  My thought is that on these early cruises there are too many platinum and diamonds. I think it will come back eventually. 

[Eli_6]

Honestly, if you are coming directly from the airport, it isn't so easy to arrive within the exact 30 minute time window you manage to get.  I just had to wait over an hour for my shuttle.  Thankfully it is the night before.  

[bdever]

No way in hell am I showing up early… I do not need to be in a crowded situation or add to a crowded situation with the Delta variant. Nope nope nope 👎- if I’m assigned a time I am assuming it is because Carnival is implementing social distancing at the terminal and I fully respect and honor that.