Actual last time to board ship?

[petuniaflower]

Trying to find the actual time the Indy departs this Friday..on a certain cruise timetable site I use it says 1630, then on the app it says all guests aboard 1600 and ship sails at 1700.

 

Had a little snafu with our flights, (yes I understand thats the risk of flying in day of) what is the absolute latest time we could board..not sure which time to go by?

[topher4519]

I have always been told 90 minutes before Departure.

So I would make sure I was onboard by 2:30pm or 14:30

Edited April 12, 2022 by topher4519

[Biker19]

17 minutes ago, petuniaflower said:

Had a little snafu with our flights, (yes I understand thats the risk of flying in day of) what is the absolute latest time we could board..not sure which time to go by?

Check in is the issue, not boarding, and that may close 90 minutes out - use the departure time on RCI's web site or your invoice.

[Surfguyxxx]

I've always know it to be 2 hours before departure, so as Biker19 says, it's a check-in issue.  

[Kathscof]

It is curious for my Alaska cruise....leaving from Seward, a LOT of people do a same day tour from town, most of them are over at 5:30.....the latest check in time is 5-5:30.....we plan on going straight from the (fjords) cruise to the big cruise, no dawdling, but why would check in close 2.5 hours before departure? 

[rebeccac]

The people doing check in at the terminal generally work for the port and not the cruise line.  

[twangster]

Cruise lines must submit a sealed manifest to CBP before they'll be allowed to sail.  The cutoff is 90 minutes before posted departure time.  Actual sail away time varies depending on other traffic and the order that ships depart is influenced by the pilots but all guests must be on board as stated even when port pilots delay the actual sail away.

[rolloman]

Looking over my documents for Indy, sail time is 4pm. The website seems contradictory as the first part says arrive 60 minutes prior if you are checked in and arrive 2 hours prior if not. Then it says 90 minutes prior you must be checked in and onboard????  Per the Royal website:

 

Guests should arrive to the port no later than 60 minutes prior to the published sail time. Guests should adhere to the published check-in windows, where applicable, that can be found in their E-docs (electronic documents) or during general boarding which depends on the ship’s sail time.

Due to new government regulations requiring cruise lines to submit final departure manifests at least 60 minutes prior to sailing, guests are requested to complete Check-in no later than 3 days prior to their cruise. If you do not complete Check-in 3 days prior, you will be required to complete this process at the pier at least two hours prior to the published sailing time. Please note: All guests must be checked-in and onboard the ship no later than 90 minutes prior to the published sailing time or you will not be permitted to sail.

[Scotty G]

On 4/13/2022 at 7:07 AM, rebeccac said:

The people doing check in at the terminal generally work for the port and not the cruise line.  

Actually, they are contract employees under contract to the cruise line!

[Biker19]

35 minutes ago, rolloman said:

The website seems contradictory as the first part says arrive 60 minutes prior if you are checked in and arrive 2 hours prior if not. Then it says 90 minutes prior you must be checked in and onboard??

They don't make it obvious those times may apply to different scenarios. I assume the 60 min applies to a B2Ber and the other times for first time embarkations. Or, more likely, they just have posted bogus info.

[rolloman]

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

They don't make it obvious those times may apply to different scenarios. I assume the 60 min applies to a B2Ber and the other times for first time embarkations. Or, more likely, they just have posted bogus info.

Good point...I think you are right...somebody at Royal should make it less vague. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say this was placed on the website prior to the app check in which now exists. Regardless, it needs updated.