Earliest Departure Time

[charlielinda]

We are departing the Eclipse on 9/30 in Boston which is 15-30 minutes to Logan.  Trying to decide what time to book our flight home.  Do you know what time they allow you to leave the ship.  Also, how long do they let you stay on board.  Thanks so much.  

[Northern Aurora]

At most ports the self-disembarkation will start around 7:00 to 7:15 AM.  And generally the last call for passengers to leave the ship will be around 9:15 to 9:30 AM.

[charlielinda]

What time can you pick up your luggage on the pier.  Thank you.  

[cruisetonowhere10]

Boston and Logan can be an absolute poop show so definitely build in extra time.

[cruisestitch]

18 minutes ago, charlielinda said:

What time can you pick up your luggage on the pier.  Thank you.  

Starting around 7:30

[Liao]

1 hour ago, charlielinda said:

We are departing the Eclipse on 9/30 in Boston which is 15-30 minutes to Logan.  Trying to decide what time to book our flight home.  Do you know what time they allow you to leave the ship.  Also, how long do they let you stay on board.  Thanks so much.  

I live in Boston so Logan is my home airport.  Do NOT book a flight before 12:00.  You’re welcome.

[cruisetonowhere10]

Just now, Liao said:

I live in Boston so Logan is my home airport.  Do NOT book a flight before 12:00.  You’re welcome.

That was put much more nicely than I did.

[charlielinda]

Thanks for help.  We will definitely book the later flight.  No reason to stress because we can get flight at 2:20 😊

[publicpersona]

55 minutes ago, charlielinda said:

What time can you pick up your luggage on the pier.

 

If you are trying to get off the ship as soon as possible, then asking about picking up luggage on the pier is somewhat contradictory. The fastest exit is self-assist roll off your own luggage.

 

Part of what goes into my analysis of taking a chance on an earlier flight is what Plan B is. If you can cancel the flight without penalty up to shortly before boarding, and there are plenty of alternates later in the day, you might be OK taking a little chance.

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, charlielinda said:

We are departing the Eclipse on 9/30 in Boston which is 15-30 minutes to Logan.  Trying to decide what time to book our flight home.  Do you know what time they allow you to leave the ship.  Also, how long do they let you stay on board.  Thanks so much.  

This question always worries me.

So many things can delay disembarkation, the worst we had was a half day delay due to a combination of bad weather and a medical evacuation. Book a later flight and relax. 

[keesar]

Boston's traffic can be quite challenging, especially on a weekday.  Don't try to cut it close.  

[3dog]

On 6/28/2024 at 2:44 PM, the penguins said:

This question always worries me.

So many things can delay disembarkation, the worst we had was a half day delay due to a combination of bad weather and a medical evacuation. Book a later flight and relax. 

While there are things that can delay disembarkation, these are typically rare or predictable events (the latter usually has a ripple effect).  After a cruise, I pretty much want to get home, and unless I have a lounge access, 8 or more hours waiting in an airport isn’t very relaxing…

 

On 6/28/2024 at 2:09 PM, publicpersona said:

Part of what goes into my analysis of taking a chance on an earlier flight is what Plan B is. If you can cancel the flight without penalty up to shortly before boarding, and there are plenty of alternates later in the day, you might be OK taking a little chance.

This is part of the things that should actually be considered; especially alternatives. If there are lots of nonstop flights to your destination, it is easier to take that “chance”.  If there are few flights or funky connections, it may make more sense to push later just to mitigate those possibilities which can occur independent of ship arrival time (I will note that later flights won’t necessarily prevent departure delays).  And if really funky time/connections or ports that have funky seasonal weather, consider an extra night in the port city.

 

And then there are specifics of the departure airport and city.  Some places move a little easier than others.  Do you have Clear or TSA precheck (and does that airport support the appropriate program)?  Are you Business/First, where there is quicker check in and lounge access?  Have you pre-paid car service?

 

To the question “can I make an earlier flight?”  Yes, you can, and probably will.  But what are your options should your departure be one of those rare events that messes with those plans?

[Jim_Iain]

On 6/28/2024 at 1:10 PM, charlielinda said:

What time can you pick up your luggage on the pier.  Thank you.  

Lot's depend on your Status and answers to the disembarkation questionnaire.  Walk off usually begin at 7:00 - 7:15 (you will have luggage with you).    Suites can disembark anytime and luggage is available at 7:15.      

 

I've never used the loyalty disembarkation but I believe luggage is available about 7:15-7:30 and you meet in a lounge and will be escorted off the ship.   After that it depends on the disembarkation number.   Luggage is offloaded in the order of tickets.

 

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, 3dog said:

While there are things that can delay disembarkation, these are typically rare or predictable events (the latter usually has a ripple effect).  After a cruise, I pretty much want to get home, and unless I have a lounge access, 8 or more hours waiting in an airport isn’t very relaxing…

 

This is part of the things that should actually be considered; especially alternatives. If there are lots of nonstop flights to your destination, it is easier to take that “chance”.  If there are few flights or funky connections, it may make more sense to push later just to mitigate those possibilities which can occur independent of ship arrival time (I will note that later flights won’t necessarily prevent departure delays).  And if really funky time/connections or ports that have funky seasonal weather, consider an extra night in the port city.

 

And then there are specifics of the departure airport and city.  Some places move a little easier than others.  Do you have Clear or TSA precheck (and does that airport support the appropriate program)?  Are you Business/First, where there is quicker check in and lounge access?  Have you pre-paid car service?

 

To the question “can I make an earlier flight?”  Yes, you can, and probably will.  But what are your options should your departure be one of those rare events that messes with those plans?

Rare, predictable?  Most of our delays have been due to: Bad weather/medical emergency, in Hawaii the police closing the roads due to a bomb scare and the gangway supplied by the port not fitting the ship, in Southampton train services subject to ongoing strikes now into the second year with no way of telling which dates will be affected next. All of which I would class as unpredictable.

However, whatever the reason, you only have one shot on the day and personally we go for a slightly later flight 

[3dog]

8 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Rare, predictable?  Most of our delays have been due to: Bad weather/medical emergency, in Hawaii the police closing the roads due to a bomb scare and the gangway supplied by the port not fitting the ship, in Southampton train services subject to ongoing strikes now into the second year with no way of telling which dates will be affected next. All of which I would class as unpredictable.

However, whatever the reason, you only have one shot on the day and personally we go for a slightly later flight 

 

While not necessarily too much in advance, weather is very predictable.  There is a decent chance that the Caribbean will have hurricanes this time of year; so much so, that itineraries are often adjusted before you get on a ship (AFAICT, all eastern Caribbean destinations were changed to western this past weekend; may change the other way next weekend).  Accounting for them then becomes fairly straight forward; including a consideration of not doing a cruise during hurricane season.  And while hurricanes do alter the return to a home port (a day earlier or later), these don't occur as frequently as you may be suggesting, and when they do, they have a horrible impact on flights as well (ripple effect).  The current issue that has affected PoC won't impact any ship returning to it's home port on time (or the flights that follow).  So not only predictable, but somewhat rare.
 

While medical emergencies do happen, and do offer delays, historically, they have also been quite rare; but who knows, maybe they are increasing (don't have complete data, but checking historical home port returns on a couple of Celebrity ships show very few docking delay times - would suggest rare - and a friend on a cruise right now had a medevac, which cost them a 30 minute delay into a PoC - hardly very impactful).

 

Local issues still don't seem to occur often enough to impact lots of ships (one bomb scare doesn't suggest it is a significantly regular event), so still fits into rare (though the gangway would be straight incompetence).

 

While UK train service might have irregular time issues, these don't impact the ship returning to port, and would best be added to the considerations when booking your flight time (you should consider how long it should take to get to the airport and/or through security, including, if you think it is a problem, getting car service and some sort of priority screening).

 

While you might have had a number of debarkation delays, I've had but one of about 45 minutes in the 3+ decades I've cruised.  Cruise lines, like airlines, don't like to have debarkation (or embarkation) delays (which this thread is all about), as it has a good deal of impact on the existing and next cruise; which also has a bite into revenue.  So they won't take home port delays lightly, and only occurs if absolutely necessary.

 

While anyone here is more than welcome to suggest that they wouldn't do it because of a perceived high risk, my suggestion is to identify a realistic timeframe given their set of circumstances and have a contingency plan in place should you be one of the unlucky on that cruise ('cause just having a 2p+ flight doesn't mean that you will make that flight).

[publicpersona]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

answers to the disembarkation questionnaire

 

I don't recall Celebrity or Royal doing disembarkation questionnaires since the COVID restart. As recently as May of this year, on Apex, they did not.

 

How do they assign the numbers then? Well, by status and loyalty, purchased transfers/excursions, etc. but I think the rest could be random. Disembark doesn't take as long as it used to and since anyone has the option of do self-assist, maybe they aren't trying to coordinate with flight times any more anyway.

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, publicpersona said:

 

I don't recall Celebrity or Royal doing disembarkation questionnaires since the COVID restart. As recently as May of this year, on Apex, they did not.

 

How do they assign the numbers then? Well, by status and loyalty, purchased transfers/excursions, etc. but I think the rest could be random. Disembark doesn't take as long as it used to and since anyone has the option of do self-assist, maybe they aren't trying to coordinate with flight times any more anyway.

 

When I was on Edge and Apex there was a QR link in the daily with selection of Transfers and I believe about early or late departure.

 

 

[the penguins]

10 hours ago, 3dog said:

 

While not necessarily too much in advance, weather is very predictable.  There is a decent chance that the Caribbean will have hurricanes this time of year; so much so, that itineraries are often adjusted before you get on a ship (AFAICT, all eastern Caribbean destinations were changed to western this past weekend; may change the other way next weekend).  Accounting for them then becomes fairly straight forward; including a consideration of not doing a cruise during hurricane season.  And while hurricanes do alter the return to a home port (a day earlier or later), these don't occur as frequently as you may be suggesting, and when they do, they have a horrible impact on flights as well (ripple effect).  The current issue that has affected PoC won't impact any ship returning to it's home port on time (or the flights that follow).  So not only predictable, but somewhat rare.
 

While medical emergencies do happen, and do offer delays, historically, they have also been quite rare; but who knows, maybe they are increasing (don't have complete data, but checking historical home port returns on a couple of Celebrity ships show very few docking delay times - would suggest rare - and a friend on a cruise right now had a medevac, which cost them a 30 minute delay into a PoC - hardly very impactful).

 

Local issues still don't seem to occur often enough to impact lots of ships (one bomb scare doesn't suggest it is a significantly regular event), so still fits into rare (though the gangway would be straight incompetence).

 

While UK train service might have irregular time issues, these don't impact the ship returning to port, and would best be added to the considerations when booking your flight time (you should consider how long it should take to get to the airport and/or through security, including, if you think it is a problem, getting car service and some sort of priority screening).

 

While you might have had a number of debarkation delays, I've had but one of about 45 minutes in the 3+ decades I've cruised.  Cruise lines, like airlines, don't like to have debarkation (or embarkation) delays (which this thread is all about), as it has a good deal of impact on the existing and next cruise; which also has a bite into revenue.  So they won't take home port delays lightly, and only occurs if absolutely necessary.

 

While anyone here is more than welcome to suggest that they wouldn't do it because of a perceived high risk, my suggestion is to identify a realistic timeframe given their set of circumstances and have a contingency plan in place should you be one of the unlucky on that cruise ('cause just having a 2p+ flight doesn't mean that you will make that flight).

Very detailed but nothing that helps anyone identify a delay on a specific cruise. 

I simply pointed out that our choice is not to book the earliest flight on disembarkation. 

For the same reasons we don't fly in on the morning of a cruise either.

Choice is good.

[LouChamp]

Aloha. As a rule of thumb having been blessed to travel the world for decades, I never schedule a flight before noon.  I would rather be bored at the airport than stressed and losing all the relaxed vibes from my cruise. Smooth sailing

[chemmo]

11 minutes ago, LouChamp said:

Aloha. As a rule of thumb having been blessed to travel the world for decades, I never schedule a flight before noon.  I would rather be bored at the airport than stressed and losing all the relaxed vibes from my cruise. Smooth sailing

Well put. We have been tempted once or twice by a direct early flight vs a connecting flight later in the day but as you say why get stressed out after a holiday focusing on R &R?

[publicpersona]

10 hours ago, chemmo said:

why get stressed out after a holiday focusing on R &R

 

As discussed earlier, you have to consider Plan B. If there are six direct flights on Southwest from Fort Lauderdale to my home, I'm certainly going to book no later than 10 AM. If I'm not at the airport by 9:15 AM, I just move it to the 11:30 AM flight, no stress involved.

 

I will stipulate that most of the time it isn't this easy to come up with a good Plan B.

[3dog]

There is no way to know conclusively in advance if a ship (or airplane, for that matter) will or will not arrive/depart on time.  It is all about probability, and gets more clear the closer to the actual event.  And what I found (after a 'don't depart till after noon', then watching two planes leave before; getting delayed; and watching another depart before me - left me very stressed after a nice cruise), is that cruise ships have a better on-time performance than airlines.

The overwhelming majority of ships arrive at their home port on-time (no more than 15 minutes after the scheduled time - some much earlier).  Of the delayed ships, the overwhelming majority arrive within 1 hour of their scheduled time.  Of the remaining, most are many hours overdue, sometimes days.  And if that delay is weather, that weather will have more impact on flights than a cruise ship; potentially mucking up a whole lot of flight schedules (you could well miss that after noon flight as well).

What I do now, is figure on a probable arrival and time to airport, and check flight information, and make a choice that is appropriate for port/travel/airline/route/time-of-year constraints I've previously mentioned (lots of direct flights, really not a big risk to go for the earlier).  As publicpersona suggests, should it look like it will be later, I can trivially change it before I get to the airport.  For my next cruise, there is an earlier flight is at that edge.  But if I were to arrive at the airport early enough, I will see about getting on it instead; if not, I will still likely be home and relaxing while a number are still at the airport awaiting their flights (I did this on a cruise out of FLL with a return to the west coast, and texting with friends still at FLL when I got home).  As I'm ready with a number of options, I can adjust at the last minute without stress or excessive waits in airports.

So as publicpersona states: "what is your plan B", because that after noon flight can also be of issue (why I also previously said "Yes, you can, and probably will.  But what are your options should your departure be one of those rare events that messes with those plans?")

[NutsAboutGolf]

23 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

When I was on Edge and Apex there was a QR link in the daily with selection of Transfers and I believe about early or late departure.

 

 

 

It's a disguised advertisement to sell you transfers.  When I answer self-carry, I still get luggage tags

[NutsAboutGolf]

When it comes to early flights, above all, you need to determine if you or anyone in your group gets easily stressed and if so, do them a favor by NOT booking an early flight.  I always get the sense that when someone needs to ask, they do get easily stressed and therefore are asking for reassurance.  People with my, let's go with adventure-seeking personality, we just book the flight and if we can't make it, we take the next one.  We have GE which gives us pre-check and clear which is helpful most of the time except in Miami for some reason where I've seen 100+ in the clear line.  We've still made a 9am Miami flight from the port of Miami from a 7am disembarkation in April

 

We just got back from Logan 3 weeks ago, a lot depends on the terminal but it's not that bad, maybe needed to walk an unexpected 5 extra minutes, TSA lines weren't bad but that's very YMMV; a lot of airports list their waiting times online and if you check the same day and time, can get a rough idea of what to expect.  Without clear and/or pre-check, it is a much greater gamble

[publicpersona]

I recently read or heard in a podcast ...

 

If you've never missed a flight, you've wasted too much of your life sitting at the gates.

 

I'm not advocating taking stupid chances (again, have easy alternatives), but that is food for thought.