Arriving early at check in

[mek]

The hotel we are staying at in Ft Lauderdale provides a shuttle to the ship leaving at 10 am.  Hoping they will be picking up at other hotels but we will probably arrive before our 11:30 scheduled check-in.  So what happens when we arrive early.  On Allure.

[Wineaux007]

You will probably have to wait, but if the lines are cleared up, they will let you check in before your time.  I would rather get there early anyway to get on board as soon as possible.

[Engineroom Snipe]

1 minute ago, Wineaux007 said:

You will probably have to wait, but if the lines are cleared up, they will let you check in before your time.  I would rather get there early anyway to get on board as soon as possible.

In September this year at Bayonne, NJ, this was the case. They did not check arrival times because there were spaces available to queue for security. It is dependent on the ebb and flow of arriving passengers. Amazingly, it seems like they processed almost all of the 6,000+ passengers BEFORE 2pm! I say this because I checked the arriving vehicle drop-off line from the ship at 2pm and it was EMPTY.

 

Some would discuss the point that this later arrival time saved them from waiting in any line and allowed immediate processing on the ship. This is personal preference according to your cruising style. I am always excited to board the ship and get my vacation going so I arrive early.

 

Your choice.

[BecciBoo]

We will never veer from our current strategy which is to sign up for the first entry time slot: 10:30-11:00 and show up before that time.  Even sitting in line outside the terminal on benches for 20 minutes or so, we were able to board within 10 minutes of our assigned 10:30 all 3 times this year. Then we relax with a Mojito and view the safety app, check in at our boat station and the rest of the day enjoy life!  This was both in Port Canaveral and Galveston.

[Engineroom Snipe]

2 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

We will never veer from our current strategy which is to sign up for the first entry time slot: 10:30-11:00 and show up before that time.  Even sitting in line outside the terminal on benches for 20 minutes or so, we were able to board within 10 minutes of our assigned 10:30 all 3 times this year. Then we relax with a Mojito and view the safety app, check in at our boat station and the rest of the day enjoy life!  This was both in Port Canaveral and Galveston.

What a way to start the day! 😁

[BecciBoo]

23 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

Some would discuss the point that this later arrival time saved them from waiting in any line and allowed immediate processing on the ship

Our cruise buds always choose around 1:00 to arrive and board, it always takes them longer than us and we are already toasted and delightful by the time they get to Boleros or the Pub.😜  And often times she is complaining about the slowness and the crowds...I always urge them to come earlier but no go.  In Galveston last month, we were literally the first peeps at the check in desk getting all our papers checked (or I should say our phones since we use the app for everything), it was lovely!

Edited October 15, 2022 by BecciBoo

[mek]

Thanks for the responses - our first post Covid cruise.  Sounds like we will be ok.

[Engineroom Snipe]

10 minutes ago, mek said:

Thanks for the responses - our first post Covid cruise.  Sounds like we will be ok.

Welcome back. The whole situation has been stressful on everyone. The last thing you need is to be worried about is your arrival time onboard ship. I would treat your arrival time as a "recommendation" rather than "a Pirates Code". 🤣

 

You already handled the hard part of flying and arriving the day before departure. Your experience shows. Just enjoy some time with someone you care about.

 

Life is short but I hope yours is long.

[taglovestocruise]

8 hours ago, mek said:

Thanks for the responses - our first post Covid cruise.  Sounds like we will be ok.

Just got off a side to side with Ovation and Quantum, no one checked for times. A quick are you vaccinated and show me your negative test picture.  99% of crew maskless. Back to normal is here to stay. 

[djyellowsub]

In my opinion, it is better to get to the port too early than too late!

 

[jean87510]

21 hours ago, mek said:

The hotel we are staying at in Ft Lauderdale provides a shuttle to the ship leaving at 10 am.  Hoping they will be picking up at other hotels but we will probably arrive before our 11:30 scheduled check-in.  So what happens when we arrive early.  On Allure.

mek are you on the Allure next week? 

[AtSeaAlways]

It has been strange lately.  Years ago you all showed up at 1015 and sat in chairs and stood in lines for 45 minutes or an hour while they typed stuff in and dug in boxes for your card.  Now after all the cutbacks LOL you show up, they do a few tablet scans and you walk on. This week I took the 10:30 (vs 12)  hotel shuttle for an 11:30 appointment.  Got there at 11 - oops - walked on almost without stopping.  This was a small ship.  

[rudeney]

2 hours ago, AtSeaAlways said:

It has been strange lately.  Years ago you all showed up at 1015 and sat in chairs and stood in lines for 45 minutes or an hour while they typed stuff in and dug in boxes for your card.  Now after all the cutbacks LOL you show up, they do a few tablet scans and you walk on. This week I took the 10:30 (vs 12)  hotel shuttle for an 11:30 appointment.  Got there at 11 - oops - walked on almost without stopping.  This was a small ship.  

 

There are a few things that COVID precautions have made better.  This boarding process is definitely one of them.  I definitely do not miss the days of waiting in a queue at the check-in desk to then spend time answering questions and filling in forms.  Doing all of this in the app so that all we have to do is show ID and a SetSail pass is a tremendous improvement.  The idea of reserved check-in times helps pace the crowds, but honestly, even when they don't enforce these arrival times, crowds are not that bad and things move much more quickly than they did when we had to visit the counters.  Unless passengers get held in waiting before boarding, it's almost a continually moving queue right onto the ship. 

 

Of course the other big thing that is now much better is the discontinuation of the ship-wide muster drill.  Being able to watch a video and then check-in with the crew after boarding is so much less stressful.  I always thought they should have somehow penalized those passengers who showed up late to the drills because the rest of us had to stand there waiting on them.  This new process means no one has to wait on those selfish people.  

[livingonthebeach]

12 minutes ago, rudeney said:

 

There are a few things that COVID precautions have made better.  This boarding process is definitely one of them.  I definitely do not miss the days of waiting in a queue at the check-in desk to then spend time answering questions and filling in forms.  Doing all of this in the app so that all we have to do is show ID and a SetSail pass is a tremendous improvement.  The idea of reserved check-in times helps pace the crowds, but honestly, even when they don't enforce these arrival times, crowds are not that bad and things move much more quickly than they did when we had to visit the counters.  Unless passengers get held in waiting before boarding, it's almost a continually moving queue right onto the ship. 

 

Of course the other big thing that is now much better is the discontinuation of the ship-wide muster drill.  Being able to watch a video and then check-in with the crew after boarding is so much less stressful.  I always thought they should have somehow penalized those passengers who showed up late to the drills because the rest of us had to stand there waiting on them.  This new process means no one has to wait on those selfish people.  

 

I thoroughly agree that the boarding process and muster drills have improved due to Covid. The process is much faster and does away with that pesky pre-covid PITA muster drill. 

 

The only thing that irks me about the changes is you have to ask for a Cruise Compass - no more copies at Guest Services - you have to stand in line to ask for one and they look at you like you have ten heads and tell you to use the APP.  You can also ask your room steward to drop one off each evening - I don't mind asking but I liked the pre-covid method better. 

[rudeney]

Just now, livingonthebeach said:

The only thing that irks me about the changes is you have to ask for a Cruise Compass - no more copies at Guest Services - you have to stand in line to ask for one and they look at you like you have ten heads and tell you to use the APP.  You can also ask your room steward to drop one off each evening - I don't mind asking but I liked the pre-covid method better. 

 

It does sound like they are phasing out the printed Cruise Compass, but a week ago, Voyager had them.  We got one every day, and I asked some others on the ship to make sure it wasn't because of our age or being in a suite - everyone got them.  I am guessing it's ship-specific, though.  I think it's just cost-cutting, and hopefully they will still print them for those of us who do want them.  If not, then they need to really beef up the app so we can flag things we want to do and create reminders and daily plans.  

[Ozark_Kid]

On 10/15/2022 at 9:02 AM, mek said:

The hotel we are staying at in Ft Lauderdale provides a shuttle to the ship leaving at 10 am.  Hoping they will be picking up at other hotels but we will probably arrive before our 11:30 scheduled check-in.  So what happens when we arrive early.  On Allure.

We just board Allure yesterday.   Outside they were forming separate lines based on your arrival time.  The lines moved quickly.   We got there at 10:08 and were in the waiting section in 18 minutes.   Once inside at the waiting area it was probably another 20 minutes before we boarded.

[Ozark_Kid]

10 minutes ago, livingonthebeach said:

The only thing that irks me about the changes is you have to ask for a Cruise Compass

We are on Allure now.  We just mentioned to our cabin steward that we wanted the Cruise Compass each day.  No problem. 

[livingonthebeach]

8 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

We are on Allure now.  We just mentioned to our cabin steward that we wanted the Cruise Compass each day.  No problem. 

 

Yes, but you don't get one on in your cabin (like before) unless you ask and sometimes you miss the day 1 compass. I like using both the APP and the paper version.  Sometimes the paper version has more info and is more up-to-date. 

[rudeney]

7 minutes ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

Yes, but you don't get one on in your cabin (like before) unless you ask and sometimes you miss the day 1 compass. I like using both the APP and the paper version.  Sometimes the paper version has more info and is more up-to-date. 

 

And that's a real issue.  Why is the paper, that was printed the night before, more up-to-date than dynamic web/app content that can be changed with a few keystrokes?  If RCCL is trying to push everyone into the app, they need to make sure it's properly updated.  

[CruiseMomTX]

On 10/15/2022 at 8:47 AM, BecciBoo said:

Our cruise buds always choose around 1:00 to arrive and board, it always takes them longer than us and we are already toasted and delightful by the time they get to Boleros or the Pub.😜  And often times she is complaining about the slowness and the crowds...I always urge them to come earlier but no go.  In Galveston last month, we were literally the first peeps at the check in desk getting all our papers checked (or I should say our phones since we use the app for everything), it was lovely!

BecciBoo - Were on the Allure Nov 27th out of Galveston, first cruise since early 2020, yay!  How early do they start boarding?  We have 11:00 check in time and are diamond and plan to get there early but not sure how early to try for, lol.

[Mikamarii]

We had a noon boarding time last week for our TP out of Honolulu on ovation. Timed it poorly with the cab and got to port just after 11am.  We pretty much walked on. No one checked our times.  No lineup or waiting at any point. It was the most seamless cruise boarding weve ever expeirenced. We watched the safety video the night before and walked on and went straight to our muster station to check in then the bar!

[mcatmcat]

You will get early onboard 

[Ashland]

We haven't had any enforcement of checkin times this year at San Pedro, San Juan, Port Canaveral, Amsterdam or Vancouver BC.

[Merion_Mom]

On 10/16/2022 at 11:23 AM, Ozark_Kid said:

We are on Allure now.  We just mentioned to our cabin steward that we wanted the Cruise Compass each day.  No problem. 

 

On 10/16/2022 at 11:34 AM, livingonthebeach said:

 

Yes, but you don't get one on in your cabin (like before) unless you ask and sometimes you miss the day 1 compass. I like using both the APP and the paper version.  Sometimes the paper version has more info and is more up-to-date. 

 

A few weeks ago, on the Oasis, when my cabin steward introduced himself, one of the things I asked for was a paper Cruise Compass every day.  He said, "It's in your profile; Day 1 is on the bed." (I hadn't seen it).  When I mentioned it to a friend, I said that it was interesting that they kept a file of personal preferences.  My friend laughed and said, "They look at your age, see that you are old, and assume that you want the paper Compass."

 

[BirdTravels]

On 10/15/2022 at 9:02 AM, mek said:

The hotel we are staying at in Ft Lauderdale provides a shuttle to the ship leaving at 10 am.  Hoping they will be picking up at other hotels but we will probably arrive before our 11:30 scheduled check-in.  So what happens when we arrive early.  On Allure.

Just go right in and check-in. The last time we embarked in FLL (which was in March), they were not checking times.