San Diego Embarkation

[Pettifogger]

Very roughly, what time can one leave suitcases at the dock on embarkation day and have them supervised by HAL?

[DAllenTCY]

Generally 11-11:30am is when they start.

David

[rjm1cc]

Agree with 11:00. You will unload your car and the portor will take then to the loading area. You can then leave the port and come back latter.

[Krazy Kruizers]

San Diego is very secure.

If a ship isn't completely cleared of all passengers, they won't even let you in the gates at 11.

[lightcable]

My wife and I were on the Oosterdam February 14-21, 2009. We arrived at the dock by vehicle at 10:30 AM and the security guard would not let us drive on to the dock until 11:30 AM but did direct us to a longshoreman checking in luggage at the head of the dock.

 

We bypassed that opportunity, returned at 11:30, drove right on to the dock and had our luggage checked in less than 5 minutes.

 

Hope this helps.

[bigez]

If HAL picks up your luggage, say at the airport, then there's no problem. If you "drop it off" at the dock, you're subject to a number of other variables you can't always predict or control.

 

For one thing, the whole show depends on the number of cruise ships in port on your embarkation day. There can be up to three ships using the same dock. We got unlucky in December with our cruise and two Carnival Cruise Ships in port. The place was a madhouse, and we were dropped off about a block away from the entrance to the dock. No one was being allowed to be dropped off on the dock because of the number of people.

 

If there are that many ships in, then the typical process is unpredictable, and you could be asking for trouble if you're not careful how you deal with your luggage. Don't count on tags and friendly porters. Watching your bags go into the terminal and off to the HAL staging area is the safest way to go.

 

Check the Port of San Diego's cruise ship link and see what's going on that day. http://www.portofsandiego.org/cruise-ship-schedule.html

 

Unfortunately, there have been some Code Red (norovirus) cleanings on ships returning during the past few weeks, and that means no passenger boarding until around 3 o'clock or so. That tends to mess traffic up outside the terminal as well.

 

Finally, add any kind of precipitation, and that will immediately and negatively impact the loading and unloading festivities. That happened to us in December, too. It was a "Perfect Storm". Your mileage may vary...