Check In Time

[gsalbato]

I heard people are able to check in on the app just after midnight on the day their cruise opens up for check in. So, does that mean people on the east coast have a 3 hour advantage on choosing their check in time over people on the west coast for the same cruise? 3 hours probably doesn't make that big of a difference, but I was just curious.

[Mr. Green]

Check in time will start after midnight depending on what port the cruise ship is leaving from I believe. So if the ship is on the East Coast. Check in time is 12am EST.

 

[gsalbato]

57 minutes ago, Mr. Green said:

Check in time will start after midnight depending on what port the cruise ship is leaving from I believe. So if the ship is on the East Coast. Check in time is 12am EST.

 

Thank you.

[Seannie]

What difference does it make if you check in online before someone else in the early morning hours?  Does it affect your boarding time?

[luckybecky]

8 minutes ago, Seannie said:

What difference does it make if you check in online before someone else in the early morning hours?  Does it affect your boarding time?

 

Yes, exactly. It can affect your boarding time. The cruise lines allocate some number of boarding slots usually in half hour increments. Say 11:30-12:00, or 12:00-12:30, and so on. You are supposed to show up during your assigned time. Arriving outside of that time could delay your boarding. They are doing this in an effort at crowd control, especially because of Covid. They want to control how many people are arriving at a time.

 

When you do online check-in, you will select your arrival time from the available slots. If you check in as soon as it opens, you will have the most options of arrival time. Many people like to board as early as possible, so those time slots will be filled fairly quickly. That means that fewer slots will be available to you if you don't check in as soon as you can, ie, as soon as check in opens.  If you wait until the last minute to check in, then only later boarding times may be available to you. This is why many people like to know when check in will open and then they watch that date and check in asap.

 

 

[PhillyFan33579]

19 minutes ago, Seannie said:

What difference does it make if you check in online before someone else in the early morning hours?  Does it affect your boarding time?

Yes. 

[Seannie]

We haven’t cruised in a while and are new to online check in.  How long does the process take?  What type of info. do you need to input?  passport #s/Covid vaccinations?

[CoatRackOfDoom]

1 hour ago, Seannie said:

We haven’t cruised in a while and are new to online check in.  How long does the process take?  What type of info. do you need to input?  passport #s/Covid vaccinations?

Hi Seannie

Using the app, you'll see several 'check-in' tasks. One task is for identification. It will ask you to photograph your passport and take a pic of yourself, and ask for your address and such. Takes about 3 minutes if you have everything together. The next task will ask you about vaccination (brand, date) and take a photo of your Vacc. record. Takes about 2 minutes. 

The next task is to choose an arrival time on departure day.

 

I'm pretty sure the other steps can't be completed until you take your pre-cruise test.

 

Ed

[Reina del Mar]

Could you not set an alarm and check in as soon as check in opens if you are concerned  you won’t get the time you want ??

 

⏰

[cruisegirl1]

6 hours ago, luckybecky said:

 

Yes, exactly. It can affect your boarding time. The cruise lines allocate some number of boarding slots usually in half hour increments. Say 11:30-12:00, or 12:00-12:30, and so on. You are supposed to show up during your assigned time. Arriving outside of that time could delay your boarding. They are doing this in an effort at crowd control, especially because of Covid. They want to control how many people are arriving at a time.

 

When you do online check-in, you will select your arrival time from the available slots. If you check in as soon as it opens, you will have the most options of arrival time. Many people like to board as early as possible, so those time slots will be filled fairly quickly. That means that fewer slots will be available to you if you don't check in as soon as you can, ie, as soon as check in opens.  If you wait until the last minute to check in, then only later boarding times may be available to you. This is why many people like to know when check in will open and then they watch that date and check in asap.

 

 

 

Check in time is not the same thing as boarding time.  Check in time gets you into the building to check in, not specifically to board the ship.  If you have an early check in time, you may likely get into the terminal early. Then you will need to wait in a designated area for boarding to open.  However, when the ship is finally opened for passengers to board, they board by a hierarchy system without regard to check in time or when you entered  the building.  
 

When boarding starts, it is an order something like

suites/pinnacles,

diamond plus

key (or sometimes key then diamond plus)

diamond

then down the crown and anchor program.
 

If you are a first time cruise  or gold member even if  you have the earliest check-in you will not be boarding until all the other groups have boarded.

 

Once the initial rush has boarded, (takes about 30 minutes),  you will likely be boarding once you go through the check-in process. 
 

m

[Joseph2017China]

I never felt the need to stay up to midnight just to check in........just FYI and I always get a good time still

 

[luckybecky]

10 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

 

Check in time is not the same thing as boarding time.  Check in time gets you into the building to check in, not specifically to board the ship.  If you have an early check in time, you may likely get into the terminal early. Then you will need to wait in a designated area for boarding to open.  However, when the ship is finally opened for passengers to board, they board by a hierarchy system without regard to check in time or when you entered  the building.  
 

...

 

True, I should have been more clear that just because you have a specific check in time, doesn't mean you will actually get on board during that time frame. And I haven't been on Royal before so their procedures may be different. (I'm going to find out soon! 🙂 )

 

However, I've never had a very long wait once check in is completed on any cruise I've ever been on. A little while maybe, especially when I've had very early check in times. However it's never been long, and I'm not elite on any line, nor had a suite or anything else special. Especially since Covid, the cruise lines don't want large numbers of people congregating in a crowded terminal so they've been doing a good job of getting us on board very quickly. 

 

My point was that your check in time does in that sense affect your boarding time. An earlier check in time is likely to get you on board early. If your check in time is noon, you aren't still going to be sitting in the terminal at 3pm waiting to board.

[CruisingHogFan]

Unfortunately people are just showing whenever they want and ignoring their time slot.  People just seem to think the rules apply. 

 

Royal doesn’t seem to care and is letting people get in line so might as well do away with the check in times all together or make people sit outside in the sun until their time slot and people might not show up once word gets out.

 

 

 

[tlund]

Just curious, pre-covid the check in date was 90 days prior to sailing.  We sailed in December and we couldn't check in until 45 days prior to sailing.  Is it the current policy now for check in available 45 days prior to sailing instead of 90 days or was that sailing some sort of fluke?

 

[karena1]

11 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

 

  However, when the ship is finally opened for passengers to board, they board by a hierarchy system without regard to check in time or when you entered  the building.  
 

When boarding starts, it is an order something like

suites/pinnacles,

diamond plus

key (or sometimes key then diamond plus)

diamond

then down the crown and anchor program.
 

 

We have been on 9 cruises since August and other than Suites/Pinnacles, they are not doing this.  You all board in a group, regardless of your status.  Some ports - like San Juan, you wait in a line outside until the open the doors.  Others - like Miami, you can walk right in, go upstairs and they sit you in the lounge as to when you got there (nothing to do with your assigned time).  When boarding opens, they instruct each row to get in line to board, but it is super fast.  

[gsalbato]

1 hour ago, tlund said:

Just curious, pre-covid the check in date was 90 days prior to sailing.  We sailed in December and we couldn't check in until 45 days prior to sailing.  Is it the current policy now for check in available 45 days prior to sailing instead of 90 days or was that sailing some sort of fluke?

 

45 days for our June 25th cruise.

[OCSC Mike]

45 days is standard now.

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

1 hour ago, karena1 said:

We have been on 9 cruises since August and other than Suites/Pinnacles, they are not doing this.  You all board in a group, regardless of your status.  

I believe it depends on the port, and possibly other factors. On our last cruise (2/22), there was a separate boarding for D/D+ following suite & Pinnacle. Not sure what happened after that. 🙂 

[time4u2go]

22 hours ago, Mr. Green said:

Check in time will start after midnight depending on what port the cruise ship is leaving from I believe. So if the ship is on the East Coast. Check in time is 12am EST.

 

Or EDT, depending on what time of year.

[MLAW]

I just checked in for my cruise, which sails from London.  Check-in opened at midnight London time so a nice respectable 6 PM for me in the midwest.  I am starting to think after two years of lift and shifts, that this cruise, which has been planned since late 2018, might actually happen!  😂😂

[drjohn4]

If you arrive after your assigned check in time, can you go right in?

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, drjohn4 said:

If you arrive after your assigned check in time, can you go right in?

Yes. 

[Billy Baltic]

There are 4 people on our reservation. Is it possible to check in one person, to be assigned a boarding window, and complete the other three later?

[CruiseMelissa]

On 5/9/2022 at 1:27 AM, CoatRackOfDoom said:

Hi Seannie

Using the app, you'll see several 'check-in' tasks. One task is for identification. It will ask you to photograph your passport and take a pic of yourself, and ask for your address and such. Takes about 3 minutes if you have everything together. The next task will ask you about vaccination (brand, date) and take a photo of your Vacc. record. Takes about 2 minutes. 

The next task is to choose an arrival time on departure day.

 

I'm pretty sure the other steps can't be completed until you take your pre-cruise test.

 

Ed

Back in December when we checked into Brilliance, we could just do the check-in time and did the passport/vax info at a later date.  Is that not the case anymore?

[smplybcause]

On 5/9/2022 at 6:23 AM, cruisegirl1 said:

 

Check in time is not the same thing as boarding time.  Check in time gets you into the building to check in, not specifically to board the ship.  If you have an early check in time, you may likely get into the terminal early. Then you will need to wait in a designated area for boarding to open.  However, when the ship is finally opened for passengers to board, they board by a hierarchy system without regard to check in time or when you entered  the building.  
 

When boarding starts, it is an order something like

suites/pinnacles,

diamond plus

key (or sometimes key then diamond plus)

diamond

then down the crown and anchor program.
 

If you are a first time cruise  or gold member even if  you have the earliest check-in you will not be boarding until all the other groups have boarded.

 

Once the initial rush has boarded, (takes about 30 minutes),  you will likely be boarding once you go through the check-in process. 
 

m

 

Not always true. Was in odyssey last month and they directed you to specific seats to sit in and when boarding started they went row by row staring with the first people they sat down. So at least for that sailing it was first come first board except for star class (and maybe regular suites, couldn't tell).