"Self-Assist" Debarkation, your thoughts?

[SeaPA1]

Just back from a 4 night cruise on the Inspiration, my first since Carnival started the "self-assist debarkation" where you have the option of just carrying your own luggage off the ship at the end of the cruise.

 

I cannot fathom why someone would want to do this, other than if you have an early flight out. It was, put simply, insanity. I'd estimate that 2/3 of the passengers chose this option. They stood in line, waiting for elevators or bouncing their luggage down numerous flights of stairs, starting at around 7am & lasting until about 9:30. When they were finally finished with the nonsense, the announcement came that everyone else could debark. We went to the stairs, waited for MAYBE 5 minutes (probably more like 3), and were off the ship. You exit into the luggage area, and it took me almost 45 seconds to grab our bags & get in the customs line.

 

Next time I cruise, if they are still using this method, I will sleep in, go to breakfast at 9, and by the time I eat I'd imagine I'll be the last passenger on the ship.

 

What are your thoughts/experiences with the "carry your own" method? Do other cruiselines use this now?

[kelz66]

I'm with you...we did this last time and will never do it again. We were concerned about being at the airport early enough.

 

But after consolidating bags so they were easy to carry off, we had to unpack and re pack at the airport due to wieght issues...LOL

 

So the time wasted at the curb at the airport could have been spent at breakfast.

 

Well Live and learn...I am making sure to book later flights for now on.!

[Mikel1733]

We've done self disembarkation the last two times and both times it was a breeze. Each time from the time of announcement to the time we were standing outside the pier was 15 minutes. I'll keep doing it this way as long as it works.

[petro772]

I cannot fathom why someone would want to do this, other than if you have an early flight out.

Next time I cruise, if they are still using this method, I will sleep in, go to breakfast at 9, and by the time I eat I'd imagine I'll be the last passenger on the ship.

Ditto. ;)

[sjcruiser]

I did the self disembarkation on my recent cruise and it went very smoothly. Less than a 1/4 of the ship chose this option. I would do it again. I had two large suitcase and it was easy to manuever the lines and customs without any problem. We were off the ship and on the pier in less than 15 minutes.

[coevan]

We like to enjoy our last morning on the ship, as sad as it is. We have breakfast in the main DR. Back to the cabin, gather our carry on and go up to the Lido Deck and sun, wait for 3/4 of the passangers to disembark. After the mad rush of the early departures, we wait for the final disembarktion call, and find our brightly bowed baggage. Very relaxed no stress.

[kelz66]

We've done self disembarkation the last two times and both times it was a breeze. Each time from the time of announcement to the time we were standing outside the pier was 15 minutes. I'll keep doing it this way as long as it works.

 

WOW!!! good for you...If my experience was like that I would do it every time. It took an hour just to get an elevator , then another 45 minutes to get through the port building to the customs area. It seemed like a large percentage of the ship was doing this so that could have been part of the problem. :D

[voyagerfl]

I'm with you......Besides we always have to much luggage....LoL

 

I'm in no hurry to get back to Reality.....:)

[Vmalcolm]

It seems like the self debarkation is much more popular on the short cruises as folks do not have as much luggage. Worst self debarkation we've done was on the Celebration on a 4-night trip.

 

Valerie

[mississauga]

What are your thoughts/experiences with the "carry your own" method? Do other cruiselines use this now?

 

We have done the self-assist the last 2 times we cruised. We just got off the Elation on Nov.30 and there were a lot of people doing self asist but it only took us 30 minutes from when they announced the start to when we were off the ship and waiting for our rental car shuttle. It may depend on the people doing the self assist too as I just read a review from someone getting off on the same ship on the next cruise who said debarkation was a nightmare.

It may depend on what your plans are post cruise which method you choose and how it works for you. In September we were on the NCCL Star and did self assist ( only 1 suitcase each ) but since we were staying in LA for an extra day we were in no hurry to leave the ship. We waited until everyone had cleared the ship ( after all the colors had been called ) and got off the ship....no line-ups and just walked right off the ship, through customs etc. When we passed by the luggage area, every suitcase had been claimed. That's the best way to do it if you're not in a hurry.

IMHO, if only those who had flights to catch did the self assist and especially those who live near the port and only had a short distance to drive did not do self assist, it would help the debarkation process.

I agree with those of you who say " What's the hurry to get off and return to reality?"....unless you have a flight to catch.

[AnnieB925]

We did the self-assist last month when leaving the Miracle in Tampa. It was so EASY and fast!

 

We had pre-arranged a van to take us to the airport. When we got to the airport and checked in at the kiosk we had a chance to take an 11 am flight home, instead of waiting until noon. We were thrilled!

[Longin2cruise]

I've done self-assist several times with total satisfaction. However, this past April while debarking Conquest, I swore "NEVER AGAIN". Passengers went totally beserk, no one listened to instructions & it was totally mob rule. It took over 3 hours to debark. I think a lot of how satisfactory the self-assist is, depends on the attitude & consideration of your fellow passengers. Unfortunately, you don't know this until it's too late.

[denb]

We only did it once, back when they first offered it. It was a 6 night cruise on Victory, out of Norfolk. Because their terminal was not originally built for passenger cruise departures, the setup was not good. So, we decided to try the self-assist. When they announced it, with one bag each we walked non-stop off the ship and down the street to the Marriott, where we caught a cab to the airport. It was a breeze! It worked for this specific instance, but we wouldn't do it from a regular cruise port where there is a 'normal' cruise terminal.... for the reasons everyone else has listed.

[mississauga]

I think a lot of how satisfactory the self-assist is, depends on the attitude & consideration of your fellow passengers. Unfortunately, you don't know this until it's too late. __________________

 

 

So true!

[Guest kookylabooka]

I used it at Port Canaveral,FL after a 3 day trip and it went well. I was out in the parking lot in about 20 minutes.

[bcb241]

Just returned from the Liberty this past Sunday. This was an eight day cruise so there did not "appear" to be as many self assist folks which was probably due to the larger amount of luggage we carry for the longer duration cruise. I did the Sensation earlier this year on a three day trip and I think EVERYONE on the ship wanted off FIRST. I think you'll find that it's the "norm" to see more folks doing a self assist on the shorter cruises. If you're in no hurry, go grab a bite to eat and enjoy your last day on the ship.:)

[jbags58]

lol...I've done the self assist many times and it's always a breeze. I think only one time did we do the regular debarkation and lord...it took hours!! Of course my roomate and I were off the ship and at the car by 8:45, the two passengers with us (which we failed to realize when they booked it that they were on another deck), did NOT get off until 12:30..we had a 6-7 hour drive home and I was not happy..we could have been half way home! Learned something there! lol..

 

But generally it is a breeze to do the self assist. Sorry you had a bad experience but I agree..on a shorter cruise, less luggage therefore more ppl want to just get goin!

 

I really like the idea of taking your time (if I had it) since we usually cruise out of florida and that is halfway accross the world from California!

 

Have fun everyone!!

[angelkisses]

We were on the Elation Thanksgiviing week. We had too much luggage and just waited on the Lido deck for our color to be called. We enjoyed a late breakfast and the kids enjoyed playing volleyball while we waited. When we got to the baggage area their were about 5 very long and slow moving lines. We got our luggage, grabbed us a porter and he took us thru a special line for porters which speeded everything up tremendously. Within 5 minutes after we got a porter we were outside at the shuttle van. We will try this again on our next trip. Well worth the tip we gave the porter and we had a very relaxing morning.

[MIZZ_K]

I was thinking of doing the self assist on my cruise (facination 2/12/07 ) because my flight leaves at 12:05 the last cruise i took my friend and i chose to leave our luggage outside of our cabin we got off the ship fairly quick but then we did not have to worry about missing our flight which was at 5pm but i am cruising solo this time and am hoping to disembark within 1 hour so i will have enough time to get to the airport and checkin without having to rush, i believe the ship gets in at 8am

[CruiseCentric]

I have used it twice and it went very smoothly. The key is not using the elevators, that can slow the process down. I use the stairs and have found it very easy to be off the ship within 15 mins.

[DqALEX]

When I drive to the port its nice to get off that early and start the drive home.

[Traveler353]

On my first cruise it took over 4 hours to get off of the ship using the checked bagage plan. This past week on the Fantasy I self-assisted and was off and on the road by 8:45. I will use self-assist in the future.

[VegasF1]

I'm wondering if the deck you're on has any impact... for instance, we'll be on the empress deck on the Paradise later this month... since we wouldn't need the elevator... maybe self assist would be the way to go??? or would the lines filtering in from the other decks make for a disembarkation nightmare?

Just thinking of what might cause the delays some seem to experience.

[cathyz]

I'm wondering if the deck you're on has any impact... for instance, we'll be on the empress deck on the Paradise later this month... since we wouldn't need the elevator... maybe self assist would be the way to go??? or would the lines filtering in from the other decks make for a disembarkation nightmare?

Just thinking of what might cause the delays some seem to experience.

We used self-assist disembark in October on Paradise and stood in line for a long time. We were very near the atrium, but had to go aft past 2 elevator areas to find the end of the line. And I noticed as we passed through the dome, all the luggage was waiting there for the regular disembarkation folks. I guess it saved us some time, but I'm not sure it was much.

[AngelSugar]

Howdy!

We have not used the self-assist but I did notice that when we were standing in the regular lines there were a LOT of pax with their luggage and this luggage was not the carry-on type. The lines were very long and I had never seen so much luggage being carried off the ship as I did on on this cruise. Did they not understand that the self-assist was earlier in the morning??

 

Our debarkation was terrible. And what was worse, I would call a nightmare, was the Port of Fort Lauderdale. The parking lot and driving areas had no organization whatsoever. It was an awful ending to a pleasant cruise.