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Self-disembarkation Question?


Minnie29
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If we decide that we want to self disembark  on our next cruise can anyone tell me the process?

Are you given a specific time or do you just get up and go?

Is there any provision for breakfast for those disembarking early?

At the Mayflower terminal is it relatively easy to get your suitcases off/ are there lifts or escalators in the terminal building?

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1 hour ago, Minnie29 said:

If we decide that we want to self disembark  on our next cruise can anyone tell me the process?

Are you given a specific time or do you just get up and go?

Is there any provision for breakfast for those disembarking early?

At the Mayflower terminal is it relatively easy to get your suitcases off/ are there lifts or escalators in the terminal building?

Not a specific time, but you have to wait until the ship is ready. Breakfast starts early on the last day, so there is time for that beforehand. I think there are both lifts and escalators, but there may be a fairly lengthy walk oblong the airbridge to get to the terminal.

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They usually provide a 'continental' breakfast 5am to 6am in Kings Court or Lido then cooked options from 6am. The main restaurants are open 6.30am until 8am for waiter served breakfast.

 

Mayflower is easy to negotiate, you won't have to cope with stairs. Although one of the older terminals in terms of existence, it is very modern inside and is fully accessible. There are always shoreside staff on hand to guide you and they will direct you to the lifts if required so it should be straightforward.

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When I have been on shorties  in the past with friends, we self disembarked and could do so as soon as the ship was cleared.

I don't know if the process has changed, but we had to register with the Purser's office where we where given a self disembarkation card.

We had to be able to carry all our bags ourselves.

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We just did self disembarkation in October in NY, but I imagine the process is the same.  No more cards handed out but you do have to let the pursers desk know.  Wait for a few days into your voyage before letting them know.  For some reason they don’t start the list until a few days in.

 

Another change we noticed beyond the lack of cards was they finally conceded the fact people line up on deck 3 near the exit door.  In the past they wanted you to wait in the Queens room but only newbies did that.  They have signs now on 3 by the door and an area roped off.

 

We were walking off the ship at 6:30 am.

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We self disembarked at Capetown,  it was overnighting and as we live there  Didn't want to stay on board , even though we'd paid for it.  Had to clear customs, then return to ship and collect luggage.  The bid problem  was carrying cases down a narrow gangplank, with other people coming opposite way. 

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13 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

We self disembarked at Capetown,  it was overnighting and as we live there  Didn't want to stay on board , even though we'd paid for it.  Had to clear customs, then return to ship and collect luggage.  The bid problem  was carrying cases down a narrow gangplank, with other people coming opposite way. 

How can you clear customs before you’ve collected your luggage? Did you mean immigration?

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Fast track_0001.pdfFast track_0001.pdf

We were disembarking at Southampton on Sunday 12th June. This notice appeared in the daily programme on Thursday 9th June. Called Pursers Office and was told that times were 07:00 and 07:15, and that we were allocated 07:15.

Returning from breakfast in BC we saw a large queue for the 07:00 slot but by time we got our luggage and returned that had cleared and we walked straight off ship.

There were ramps from QM2 to ground level and other than overtaking a wheelchair user there was a clear run down. Depends on how much luggage you have but we were only away for 15 nights so had 2 x 20kg wheeled cases and 2 x 11kg backpacks that were really easy to manoeuvre.

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I think it varies by deck - even with the 'wait in cabin' method, they still stage disembarking passenger's luggage deck by deck. We were on deck 5, with a scheduled 'out of the room' time of 09:40.

There was a backup in the Brooklyn terminal so we had almost an hour's wait before disembarking.

 

For self disembarkation you need to bring everything in a single trip - so I don't think you need to wait for the schedule for staterooms on your deck to leave, but you should be out of your room promptly so it can be readied for the next sailing.

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  • 1 month later...
On 12/17/2022 at 7:37 AM, frankp01 said:

I have always self-disembarked, leaving the ship as soon as it's cleared. What's never been clear to me is, if we've vacated our cabin, can we walk off much later or do we have to disembark when first called?

I suspect you can -- the only caveat being, once they start calling batches for scheduled debarkation, you are likely to find a slow-moving line ahead of you when you do head for the gangway.

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7 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

the only caveat being, once they start calling batches for scheduled debarkation, you are likely to find a slow-moving line ahead of you

Thanks for confirming what I thought. Since we usually book a train around 3PM, we have a very luxurious morning, which is why I always wondered if we could just walk off later. And a slow-moving queue wouldn't bother us.

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On 12/17/2022 at 12:37 PM, frankp01 said:

I have always self-disembarked, leaving the ship as soon as it's cleared. What's never been clear to me is, if we've vacated our cabin, can we walk off much later or do we have to disembark when first called?

We were waiting in the queue for timed disembarking in Brooklyn - right at the front of the queue - and at 8am there was a trickle of people self disembarking.

 

So I see no problem with having breakfast if self disembarking, or leaving when you want. After all, what are they going to do if you hang around for a few hours - they don't know who you are!

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14 minutes ago, frankp01 said:

Oh, I don't know.... Maybe say we can't disembark? (Wink).  You have a point, what could the penalty be?

They could throw you off the ship... 

 

What I really meant is they don't know that you walking round the ship at 9am or whenever asked for self disembarkation. Next time we will opt for it, but have a proper breakfast etc. The only reason we went for timed is that we thought we'd have to get off at 7:15...

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3 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:


Because they don’t need to know.

 

They just want me off the ship asap.

Obviously if you have not registered at Pursers then they have delivered luggage labels and a specified time for disembarkation. You have ignored that time and disembarked at a time to suit you. This is not self disembarkation in the true sense as what it means that you self disembark with your own suitcases before timed disembarkation begin when the ship has been given clearance. If everyone had the same attitude and ignored timings if that is what you did there would be carnage if everyone did the same. The idea of timed disembarkation is to control queues.

 

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14 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

I always self-disembark and have never once complied with their request to register with the purser’s office. 

 

At Southampton last Wednesday I vacated my cabin on QV at around 8.25 after breakfast and walked straight off with no queue whatsoever.

Were you carrying your own suitcases.

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