Getting off the ship for excursions

[yahooyou81]

In alot of the reviews that I have read I have heard alot of people complain alot about getting off the ship at the ports saying the lines are too long. How early do some of you get in line and are you generally one of the first ones off the boat?

[navybaby1113]

We waited about an hour to get off and the line was pretty much gone.

[ShedQueen77]

I've only ever experienced a line getting off the ship when the port is a tender port vs. docked. The max I ever waited to get off at a docked port was maybe 3-5 minutes. When we were getting off the ship on Grand Cayman, it took about 30 minutes.

[TheVegasMan]

If we're going out on our own we get off the ship after getting up, (no alarm or wake up call). If we're meeting someone else we'll use a wake up call to make sure we meet them on the pier or a certain deck on time. If we're going on an excursions we make sure we're on the pier 10-15 minutes before the appointed time.

 

We go on vacation to relax, so as much as possible we are not sticking to a timetable other than to be back on the ship at least 30 minutes before sail away time.

[kujobie]

Yea! What Vegas Man said!

[Socref124]

If we're going out on our own we get off the ship after getting up, (no alarm or wake up call). If we're meeting someone else we'll use a wake up call to make sure we meet them on the pier or a certain deck on time. If we're going on an excursions we make sure we're on the pier 10-15 minutes before the appointed time.

 

We go on vacation to relax, so as much as possible we are not sticking to a timetable other than to be back on the ship at least 30 minutes before sail away time.

 

I hear ya Joe. Don't you just laugh at all the folks that get really upset standing in the lines to get off the ship. They get territorial and their blood pressure goes up. We saw a guy almost get into a fist fight when we were in Belize. He booked his own excursion and was getting very upset when Carnival started bringing people past him that had booked a Carnival excursion. We were behind him and I tried to talk to him to cool him off, but he was really irate and would not calm down. I sure don't need that when on vacation. DW got scared thinking he was going to take a swing at me. I mean we must have been in line an extra 15 minutes while Carnival got their early excursions to the tender first.

[pe4all]

We usually book our excursions thru Carnival. We always try to get the earliest time slot, which means that as soon as the ship docks, we have to be off. Sometimes we have a meeting place on the ship, and they take us off past the lines. Most times, we meet "at the end of the dock", and have to get off as soon as they allow passengers off. During those times, things can get heated. Everyone crowds down to get off, the stairs and hallways get filled. As soon as they start letting passengers off, the lines go very, very fast, as they usually have 2 scanning stations open, and it only takes a couple of seconds for them to stick your card in the machine. As for tendering islands, we have only tendered at HMC, and there was no problem - we were on the first tender - just walked down to it - no crowds. We were shocked! But we have also seen people get p.o.'d when getting off the ship - we just step away from them - no use getting in their "line of fire!"

[NCTribeFan]

Well, when you DO book an independent excursion, you need to meet your tour guide at a specific time. Part of the reason for booking these is that you often can get to the "sights" before the huge Carnival crowd, which makes the entire day much more pleasant.

 

All we did in Belize was tell the Carnival person in the theatre that we were cave-tubing. They put us on the early tender with everyone else. Didn't feel compelled to tell them we weren't on THEIR cave-tubing excursion! ;)

 

I'm a morning person. I like to get up and get out there. I cruise to see the various, beautiful ports. I'd rather get out there early, beat the crowds (and usually the heat of midday), and not have to worry about getting back to the ship in time. Then, I can come back, have a snack, a shower, and a nap in plenty of time before needing to get ready for dinner.

 

But, yes, sometimes it takes a while to get off the ship when you tender. Other than that, no problem (whether earlier or later).