Norwegian Caribbean Diembarkation question

[mavants73]

Port of call disembarkation question. How long after docking does the gangway open to go ashore?

 

Ship docks at 8amish. I can be off the ship ___________?

 

Newbie question...

[Flatbush Flyer]

4 minutes ago, mavants73 said:

Port of call disembarkation question. How long after docking does the gangway open to go ashore?

 

Ship docks at 8amish. I can be off the ship ___________?

 

Newbie question...

Well, that depends….

 

[d9704011]

9 minutes ago, mavants73 said:

Port of call disembarkation question. How long after docking does the gangway open to go ashore?

 

Ship docks at 8amish. I can be off the ship ___________?

 

Newbie question...

Normally, when you're provided with an arrival time at a port of call that means the approximmate time that you'll be able to disembark.  The ship is likely to arrive well before the 'arrival time' in order to tie up, get the gangway(s) in place and complete the necessary clearances.  So, an 8 am-ish arrival time will mean an 8 am-ish time for going ashore.

[Flatbush Flyer]

20 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

So, an 8 am-ish arrival time will mean an 8 am-ish time for going ashore.

A blanket statement like that is incorrect.

 

There are numerous factors (including differing requirements of the local port authority) involved in the transition from arrival at a port to your stepping foot on land (not to mention that some cruise lines scheduled “arrival” time is the ship’s actual arrival time at the port).

 

[Honolulu Blue]

7 hours ago, mavants73 said:

Port of call disembarkation question. How long after docking does the gangway open to go ashore?

 

Ship docks at 8amish. I can be off the ship ___________?

 

Newbie question...

As the Flyer has mentioned, it DOES depend on several factors that are mostly out of your control. The ship will make an announcement in each port when the gangway is open.  Do your fellow passengers a favor and steer clear of the gangway before then.

 

All of that said, for an 8 AM arrival in most Caribbean ports, you should be able to get off the ship by 8:30.  YMMV.

[d9704011]

10 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

A blanket statement like that is incorrect.

 

There are numerous factors (including differing requirements of the local port authority) involved in the transition from arrival at a port to your stepping foot on land (not to mention that some cruise lines scheduled “arrival” time is the ship’s actual arrival time at the port).

 

For the OP.... don't pay too much attention to what the Flyer says.  Cruise lines provide arrival times at ports to passengers so that they can make some reasonable arrangements regarding their schedules.  The cruise line/captain is not going to burden you with all the operational and bureaucratic detail about pilots, line-handlers, immigration and customs clearances, etc... and leave you wondering what time you should 'actually' be planning to be able to go ashore.

 

Of course, you'll have to wait until you're given direction(s) on getting off the ship;  you can't just head towards the gangway until everything is ready.  Don't worry about that though, crew members will politely tell you to get lost and wait elsewhere until the all clear is announced.

[wcook]

Just some random data points, but on my last cruise we made 4/6 scheduled disembarkment times, were 15-20 minutes late on one, and a bit over an hour late on one.  

[Corby114]

On a Saturday or Sunday morning during the busy winter season at Port Everglades up to eight ships can be disembarking passengers. Normally they start arriving around 6:00AM and the last ship docks by 8:00AM. If your ship arrives at 7:00AM the first passengers to leave the ship starts around 7:30AM. The first group is usually passengers carrying off their own luggage followed by passengers who are leaving In staggered groups.The returning ships also arrive back at there individual terminals in a specific order regarding placement. Terminal  1 and 2 used by Princess are usually the first to arrive followed by Royal Caribbean that uses Terminal 18. The rest of the ships then arrive and dock in order.

[mom says]

41 minutes ago, Corby114 said:

On a Saturday or Sunday morning during the busy winter season at Port Everglades up to eight ships can be disembarking passengers.

The OP made it clear they were asking about getting off the ship at POCs, not final disembarkation. 

 

OP, I don't sail on NCL, but my experience with other lines is that the port times listed on the itinerary are for arrival and departure times. Typically (but not always) the gangway will open around 30 minutes after arrival. An announcement will be made at that time. The all aboard time for pax is typically 30 minutes before departure. But it's prudent to be on board well before that.

Edited January 19, 2023 by mom says

[Flatbush Flyer]

On 1/14/2023 at 3:37 AM, d9704011 said:

For the OP.... don't pay too much attention to what the Flyer says.  Cruise lines provide arrival times at ports to passengers so that they can make some reasonable arrangements regarding their schedules.  The cruise line/captain is not going to burden you with all the operational and bureaucratic detail about pilots, line-handlers, immigration and customs clearances, etc... and leave you wondering what time you should 'actually' be planning to be able to go ashore.

 

Of course, you'll have to wait until you're given direction(s) on getting off the ship;  you can't just head towards the gangway until everything is ready.  Don't worry about that though, crew members will politely tell you to get lost and wait elsewhere until the all clear is announced.

OP: Always be wary of “one size fits all” answers like the one you got from d9704011 (particularly when they contradict themselves: “Of course, you'll have to wait until you're given direction(s) on getting off the ship;  you can't just head towards the gangway until everything is ready.”.

Even common sense says an “arrival” time generally refers to the ship’s arrival at a port rather than YOUR arrival on land (e.g., on the dock at a time you may have arranged for a private tour or other activity). This is particularly true if it is a tender port and the “arrival” time is the scheduled time to drop anchor. In the latter case, it could be well over 90 minutes before you step foot on land - particularly if priority is given to folks using ship’s tours.

 

Perhaps d9704011 hasn’t had extensive time at sea, which would have had him/her occasionally subjected to not uncommon customs/other regulatory and/or logistical  delays between scheduled arrival and moving of passengers.
 

OP: For your upcoming cruise(s), do this little exercise: Look at the cruise line’s own published itinerary “arrival” times and compare them to the local port authority’s arrival/departure times for ships in their harbor (which is based on traffic control for ALL ships [cargo, cruise …..]). For many cruise lines, including our preferred line, the times will match (because they have zero to do with when you’ll be allowed to get off). You can also compare the ship’s published arrival times and compare it to the earliest start times of the ship’s own tours. Seldom will you see those times coincide or be any less than 30-60 minutes later than the published ship “arrival” time.

 

This is somewhat not unlike the concept of “ship’s time.” There are some discount lines that, in order to not “confuse” their many first time passengers, never change their onboard clocks despite having crossed time zones. And then there are other lines that expect all passengers to follow the ship’s instructions to adhere to local time zones (even over multiple sea days on an ocean cruise).

 

But, whatever the case with cruise line requirements/policies/practices, it’s never “one size fits all.” Check with your cruise line  (e.g., “do I need a passport?”).

[Aquahound]

On 1/13/2023 at 4:29 PM, mavants73 said:

Port of call disembarkation question. How long after docking does the gangway open to go ashore?

 

Ship docks at 8amish. I can be off the ship ___________?

 

Newbie question...

 

Allow me to answer with what is typical and without all the blah blah blah above.  Typically, the ship will arrive a little earlier than the scheduled time.  At Caribbean ports, the gangway is in place and ship cleared for passengers to go ashore within a half hour of the lines being secured.  On the optimistic side, I've seen it happen in as fast as 15 minutes.  

 

But can numerous other factors come into play?  Of course, they can.  

[Essiesmom]

2 hours ago, Corby114 said:

On a Saturday or Sunday morning during the busy winter season at Port Everglades up to eight ships can be disembarking passengers. Normally they start arriving around 6:00AM and the last ship docks by 8:00AM. If your ship arrives at 7:00AM the first passengers to leave the ship starts around 7:30AM. The first group is usually passengers carrying off their own luggage followed by passengers who are leaving In staggered groups.The returning ships also arrive back at there individual terminals in a specific order regarding placement. Terminal  1 and 2 used by Princess are usually the first to arrive followed by Royal Caribbean that uses Terminal 18. The rest of the ships then arrive and dock in order.

And to compound the error, the OP is on NCL, which was once called Norwegian Caribbean Cruise Line, whic on,y sails from Miami.  EM

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

And to compound the error, the OP is on NCL, which was once called Norwegian Caribbean Cruise Line, whic on,y sails from Miami.  EM

That's also not true because in Florida  NCL also sails from Port Canaveral and Tampa, not just from Miami.

[mammajamma2013]

21 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

And to compound the error, the OP is on NCL, which was once called Norwegian Caribbean Cruise Line, whic on,y sails from Miami.  EM

We've sailed out of New Orleans and Fort Lauderdale on NCL and are sailing out of Buenos Aires in February. Maybe the old NCCL only sailed out of Miami?