Sea Pass Card / Checkin Time question -- RCCL / Wonder of Seas / Port Canaveral

[camaro6016]

Hello,

 

Its been a few years since our last RCCL cruise out of Port Canaveral and noticed 2 things newer during the checkin process

 

1- we have been given a checkin time to arrive

• how strict are they with that time, we have been given 1pm arrival time but honestly will arrive to Port Canaveral much earlier
• if we arrive early, do they deny you or just let you in
• I am worried also arriving too late and having trouble finding parking at the Port Canaveral garage...

 

We are planning to arrive 1030/1100am by car

 

I read in another persons post that you can check for earlier checkin times, where and how do you do that without messing up the current time you are given?

 

 

2- during the checkin we received a bunch of tips about the arrival and being onboard, one of these did not really make sense to us

• the attached says our sea pass cards will be on our door by 2pm,   in the interim use the set sail pass for any onboard purchases

 

Isn't the sea pass cards given to us at checkin at the port?

is that safe leaving our sea pass cards on the door where anyone can walk by and take them / use them ??

 

what is the set sail pass ?  Isn't that the same as sea pass card?

 

 

Thanks for any tips/advice on these questions

 

 

Thank You

Edwin

[OCSC Mike]

1. Your check-in time may or may not be enforced. They assign you a time for a reason. If you choose to ignore it & have to sit there for 2 hours, don’t complain.

 

2. Everyone’s sea pass card is at their cabin door as stated.

 

3. Your set sail pass is what you find in the app and/or print to use for boarding. That’s what you use until you get your sea pass card when cabins are available around 2:00.

 

Hope that helps.

[firefly333]

Your set sail pass is your boarding pass. I print mine for when I arrive to board, so I can just have it out and handy. It has your muster station on it, which they want you to go to first or right after you eat lunch. 

 

It's not your card, its online.

[GTO-Girl]

1 hour ago, camaro6016 said:

Hello,

 

Its been a few years since our last RCCL cruise out of Port Canaveral and noticed 2 things newer during the checkin process

 

1- we have been given a checkin time to arrive

• how strict are they with that time, we have been given 1pm arrival time but honestly will arrive to Port Canaveral much earlier
• if we arrive early, do they deny you or just let you in
• I am worried also arriving too late and having trouble finding parking at the Port Canaveral garage...

 

We are planning to arrive 1030/1100am by car

 

I read in another persons post that you can check for earlier checkin times, where and how do you do that without messing up the current time you are given?

 

 

2- during the checkin we received a bunch of tips about the arrival and being onboard, one of these did not really make sense to us

• the attached says our sea pass cards will be on our door by 2pm,   in the interim use the set sail pass for any onboard purchases

 

Isn't the sea pass cards given to us at checkin at the port?

is that safe leaving our sea pass cards on the door where anyone can walk by and take them / use them ??

 

what is the set sail pass ?  Isn't that the same as sea pass card?

 

 

Thanks for any tips/advice on these questions

 

 

Thank You

Edwin

In Canaveral they seat you in the terminal according to your assigned check in time.  So they may or maybe let you in early but you will still be seated in the 1pm section to await actual boarding of the ship

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by GTO-Girl

[Biker19]

4 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

So they may or maybe let you in early but you will still be seated in the 1pm section to await actual boarding of the ship

Once boarding starts everyone gets to board, regardless of check in time.

[Cutigerlady]

We were on a cruise out of port Canaveral last week. They had chairs arranged in groups by boarding group times and led each group row by row in line onto the ship. The times began at 10:30, but they didn’t start boarding until about 11:15. I’m guessing the 1:00 group was able to get on about 12:30. They would not start boarding a group until everyone was sitting in a chair and several people that tried to join a different group were told to go to their group. We got to the port about 10:15 and were back about 10 rows in our 11:00 group. 

[OCSC Mike]

21 minutes ago, Cutigerlady said:

We were on a cruise out of port Canaveral last week. They had chairs arranged in groups by boarding group times and led each group row by row in line onto the ship. The times began at 10:30, but they didn’t start boarding until about 11:15. I’m guessing the 1:00 group was able to get on about 12:30. They would not start boarding a group until everyone was sitting in a chair and several people that tried to join a different group were told to go to their group. We got to the port about 10:15 and were back about 10 rows in our 11:00 group. 

 

Thanks for the details, this is very different than how boarding was in October.

[rolloman]

This past Sunday I went to Port Canaveral to pick up family who returned on the Wonder of the Seas. I was there around 9:00 A.M. and as to be expected it was pure chaos. There were tons of people arriving way too early to check in for the next voyage, people trying to find their way out of the port, RCCL employees trying to get to their work station to set up for the next voyage, delivery trucks bringing in supplies. So, you have to ask yourself...should I be in the way while this is taking place? The fact is, if you arrive before 10:30 AM you are in the way and creating a hazard. There is zero reason for you to be there. 

[OCSC Mike]

2 minutes ago, rolloman said:

The fact is, if you arrive before 10:30 AM you are in the way and creating a hazard. There is zero reason for you to be there.

 

I get your general point and 9am is too early. But there's a reason to be there earlier than 10:30 if you have a 10:30 check-in time. It takes time to drop off luggage (if you can't just park and wheel down minimal luggage) then go park in the garage and get back down to actually check-in.

 

We've always had a a 10:30 check-in time and tend to arrive around 10:00. It's been very smooth in the past but obviously things can and do change. Haven't sailed since October but will be there on Wonder this Sunday.

[orville99]

5 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Once boarding starts everyone gets to board, regardless of check in time.

That hasn't been true at PC lately (at least on the 4 occasions that we have sailed out of PC since the start of this year . They are herding passengers into boarding time sections of the terminal, and boarding them in chronological order.

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, orville99 said:

They are herding passengers into boarding time sections of the terminal, and boarding them in chronological order.

Right, but you don't to wait for your check in time (1PM for the poster I quoted) to board - you just wait till the queue moves which is likely just a few minutes. And once that is done, anyone checking in after that, simply walks on, regardless of what your check in time was.

[orville99]

25 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Thanks for the details, this is very different than how boarding was in October.

Apparently it changed around the first of the year. It was structured this way (segregated by boarding time) when we did our B2B in both January and April. BTW, on TAD on 4/23, the garage was filled and cars were being re-directed to surface lots by the time we got back to our stateroom around 10:15.

[orville99]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

Right, but you don't to wait for your check in time (1PM for the poster I quoted) to board - you just wait till the queue moves which is likely just a few minutes. And once that is done, anyone checking in after that, simply walks on, regardless of what your check in time was.

Unless you have sailed out of Terminal One in PC in the last few months, your statement is pure historical conjecture. The shoreside staff are in fact shepherding people into designated seating areas inside the terminal to wait until their boarding time has been called. While they may call a group before the time shown on their boarding passes, they are calling them in chronological group order.

[Cutigerlady]

I forgot to mention that outside they had lanes for each boarding group time, so I suspect on the bigger ships they can keep passengers outside if needed.  I've been through Port Canaveral many times prior to this and this was the first time I've seen in setup this way (first time in 2023).  I think the last group of seats inside was 12:30-1:00, so if you have a later group you probably can get on early, but not at 10:30.  

[Biker19]

10 minutes ago, orville99 said:

While they may call a group before the time shown on their boarding passes, they are calling them in chronological group order.

Unless you have been in the terminal for the 4-5 hours it takes to embark most of the customers you also don't know when that embarkation takes place in relation to boarding time shown.

[orville99]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

Unless you have been in the terminal for the 4-5 hours it takes to embark most of the customers you also don't know when that embarkation takes place in relation to boarding time shown.

No need. We have dear friends who work at that terminal that we talk with every time we sail out of there, and in addition to what we have seen with our own eyes, the announcements that we have heard with our own ears while waiting to re-board on TAD, and their conversations with us about how much it has changed and how they have to pace the flow of passengers onto the ship under their new management directives is convincing enough for me.

 

Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you sailed out of T1 on Royal Caribbean? Inquiring minds want to know...

Edited May 31, 2023 by orville99

[rolloman]

34 minutes ago, orville99 said:

No need. We have dear friends who work at that terminal that we talk with every time we sail out of there, and in addition to what we have seen with our own eyes, the announcements that we have heard with our own ears while waiting to re-board on TAD, and their conversations with us about how much it has changed and how they have to pace the flow of passengers onto the ship under their new management directives is convincing enough for me.

 

I can share with you a little crowd control trick they recently performed at PC T1 while boarding the Mariner. They shut down the TSA security check around 11:30 AM because they said upstairs was getting crowded and it is easier to keep everyone downstairs. This of course turned into a mini nightmare for those trying to get into the build and those stuck in the line. It was a good 30 minutes before they resumed. 

[Anton]

13 hours ago, camaro6016 said:

 

 

is that safe leaving our sea pass cards on the door where anyone can walk by and take them / use them ??

It's not a problem.  They have been doing it this way for quite a while since it speeds up check-in.  The sea pass cards are in a sealed envelope with a pull tab to open.  If it's been tampered with, you'll know it.  Plus, when a card is scanned for a purchase your photo appears on the point-of-sale screen so they'd know if it was you.

[GTO-Girl]

18 minutes ago, rolloman said:

I can share with you a little crowd control trick they recently performed at PC T1 while boarding the Mariner. They shut down the TSA security check around 11:30 AM because they said upstairs was getting crowded and it is easier to keep everyone downstairs. This of course turned into a mini nightmare for those trying to get into the build and those stuck in the line. It was a good 30 minutes before they resumed. 

Mariner sails out of Terminal 5……

[rolloman]

5 minutes ago, GTO-Girl said:

Mariner sails out of Terminal 5……

 Jeeesh...always someone looking to ruin one's credibility on this site. We sailed out of 1 and then returned to 5... (5/4/2023 sailing to be even more specific)

Edited May 31, 2023 by rolloman

[OCSC Mike]

12 minutes ago, GTO-Girl said:

Mariner sails out of Terminal 5……

 

Almost always, yes, but there are some exceptions.

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, orville99 said:

is convincing enough for me

And what is convincing enough for me is that I have yet to hear of a single report of someone who shows up at 1PM (when check in started around 10AM), checks in and is held in the waiting area for any appreciable time during a "normal" embarkation. It sounds like all your experiences are during the early part of embarkation (10-12) where what you describe can certainly happen.

[orville99]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Almost always, yes, but there are some exceptions.

Rare, but true. There have been occasions where they boarded from T5 and offloaded from T1.

Edited May 31, 2023 by orville99

[cruisegirl1]

1 hour ago, rolloman said:

 Jeeesh...always someone looking to ruin one's credibility on this site. We sailed out of 1 and then returned to 5... (5/4/2023 sailing to be even more specific)

This  is  correct. We were told to park in T5, they shuttled us to T1 for boarding. At the end of the cruise the ship docked at T5.  We were on as well.

m
 

 

[rolloman]

35 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

This  is  correct. We were told to park in T5, they shuttled us to T1 for boarding. At the end of the cruise the ship docked at T5.  We were on as well.

m
 

 

And what a strange cruise it was. I knew when it started out with the terminal change it was only going downhill from there. Missed port, medical evacs and not sure if you noticed, when we returned a firetruck and 3 ambulances showed up and... if that wasn't enough, one passenger earned the right to get off the ship first...albeit in handcuffs escorted by police.