8am...must disembark?

[paul929207]

The question of carrying your own luggage off the ship is one that I was going to ask! We have just booked our first Princess cruise, and had been wondering if this was allowed! Other cruises I have been on, luggage had to be put out the night before, and collected on the dock somewhere. Our problem is that we will have quite an early flight, and it is the ONLY flight of the day to where we are going! We were hoping we could ask for "earliest" disembarkation....now our cruise is in Australia...anyone have any experience with this? We probably wouldnt bother about breakfast that day....just need to get to the airport quick!!

Yes, Princes allows you to carry off all your luggage. It is called self-debarkation.

[rcacace]

The question of carrying your own luggage off the ship is one that I was going to ask! We have just booked our first Princess cruise, and had been wondering if this was allowed! Other cruises I have been on, luggage had to be put out the night before, and collected on the dock somewhere. Our problem is that we will have quite an early flight, and it is the ONLY flight of the day to where we are going! We were hoping we could ask for "earliest" disembarkation....now our cruise is in Australia...anyone have any experience with this? We probably wouldnt bother about breakfast that day....just need to get to the airport quick!!

 

It's usually only convenient when carrying smaller bags (25" or so) If you've go 2 large suitcases each it makes it almost next to impossible since you have to handle all of you luggage yourself. The self disembarkation people do get off early- usually before 7:30 AM in the US,

[FLACRUISER99]

Your taking your life in your own hands trying to haul your luggage through the buffet at that time on disembarkation morning. The buffet is usually so crowded, you would be lucky just to find a seat for yourself, let alone a place to put your luggage. Now, the diningroom is a different story.

Thats why I said go to the HC at 6AM. You will be finished and back in your room by 6:30 AM. Plenty of time to clean out the safe, brush your teeth, And do last minute packing and be ready to leave the ship long before 8AM. This is what I do and it works for me.

[Pam in CA]

Sorry about the slight sidetrack to the original post but can you have breakfast in the dining room every day or just on disembarkation day?

Yes. You'd be surprised at how many passengers eat breakfast and lunch in the dining room every day. :)

 

As for the luggage, I've never had a problem leaving it outside the night before. At most, it'll save you maybe five minutes (or less) to schelp your own luggage off but then you have to schlep all of your luggage off without any assistance from anyone.

 

I've seen people really struggling to carry their own luggage off, particularly down a gangway with steps or bumps, and then they get mad that someone from the ship isn't there to help them (forgetting or ignoring the fact that they're not allowed to since you opted for handling it yourself.) Also, keep in mind that quite a few terminals have you go down an escalator to reach the ground floor and you must have one hand free to hold on or otherwise, you won't be allowed on the escalator.

 

Give me "regular" luggage handling any day.

[paul929207]

If you opt for self-debarkation, be sure you will be able to carry all your luggage off without assistance.

[FLACRUISER99]

I've seen people really struggling to carry their own luggage off, particularly down a gangway with steps or bumps, and then they get mad that someone from the ship isn't there to help them (forgetting or ignoring the fact that they're not allowed to since you opted for handling it yourself.) Also, keep in mind that quite a few terminals have you go down an escalator to reach the ground floor and you must have one hand free to hold on or otherwise, you won't be allowed on the escalator.

 

Give me "regular" luggage handling any day.

On a 7 day I travel light, you would be surprised how long your suitcases last when you carry them yourself. You can take the elevator when you are not allowed on the escalator so this is not a problem. However I agree with you many passengers try to carry off way too much.

[blindrid]

I have not all of the prior posts so if this is duplication, I apologize.

 

Leave everything in your room and hit breakfast at about 7:00. I hate humping luggage around.

[caribill]

Our problem is that we will have quite an early flight, and it is the ONLY flight of the day to where we are going! We were hoping we could ask for "earliest" disembarkation....now our cruise is in Australia...anyone have any experience with this? We probably wouldnt bother about breakfast that day....just need to get to the airport quick!!

 

Not sure how early is your "early" flight or what time your ship docks.

 

If it is docked by 6 AM, then the disembarkation with your own luggage should start by 7:30 AM.

[sultan_sfo]

I find this term offensive -- my opinion.

 

Tip your cabin boy(s)

a bit more too...

 

[cruiserus]

hmmmm rethinking the situation. So how does everyone else do it?? Do you feel comfortable leaving your luggage out in the hall all night? We take our own luggage off because we do not want to lose anything.

 

Not sure how welcome we will be dragging our luggage into the dining room either :rolleyes:

 

You usually have to be out of your cabin by 8am, so we go eat breakfast in HC around 7. We leave our carry-ons in our cabin, and pick them up just before 8.

 

We have always placed our luggage out the night before, after dinner, and have never lost anything. We do use TSA approved locks on each piece to secure them.

 

By the way, Horizon Courts offers the complete breakfast buffet on disembarkation days now. Some ships even have the omlette station open that morning.

[Pam in CA]

On a 7 day I travel light, you would be surprised how long your suitcases last when you carry them yourself. You can take the elevator when you are not allowed on the escalator so this is not a problem. However I agree with you many passengers try to carry off way too much.

Also, you'd be surprised at how long your suitcases last when you buy good ones. :) As for taking the elevator, I've been in situations with someone in a wheelchair and we had to wait well over 20 minutes for an elevator due to all the people with luggage pushing ahead of the wheelchair passengers in their rush to get off the ship. IMHO, extremely rude and obviously, it can be a problem for those with no other option of getting to the ground floor.

[rcacace]

Also, you'd be surprised at how long your suitcases last when you buy good ones. :)

 

You would be surprised how long even the cheap suitcases last if you don't turn them over to the airport handlers & ship crews to load on & off. We bought the cheapest ones around & have had them for years.

[tulips*n*truffles]

I just got off Sapphire from Alaska on Saturday. They asked for us to put our bags in the hallway between 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. that night, or before we went to dinner. Ours went out about 7:00 p.m. and by the time we got back from the show that night, the entire hallway was clear of luggage. So they don't (at least on our cruise) sit out "all night" at all. Neither of us had locks on our luggage and nothing was missing when we got home - I know people are skeptical - but we had no trouble and wouldn't ever hesitate to do it again.

 

The HC buffet was open at 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning and I believe served breakfast until 9:00 a.m. (not positive on the closing time - need to pull out my patters). They did have a full hot breakfast that morning just like normal. We are NOT morning people, so we opted to run up the night before when snacks were out, grab a couple bowls of fruit and rolls, and had breakfast in our room Saturday morning. It was just too too early to fight the crowd. The dining room was open for breakfast for two hours Saturday morning - I believe 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. If we'd have been thinking about it, Friday morning we'd have grabbed a couple of yogurts, boxes of cereal, cartons of milk, and a couple of bananas for Saturday morning. The fridge in your room leaves room to plan ahead - we failed. Live and learn. :-)

 

Most of our departing groups had to meet somewhere around 6:30 a.m. I was really surprised at how many had to meet so early. Ours met at 6:50 a.m. - and we had a 5:30 p.m. flight! Another couple in our group had a 7:30 p.m. flight!! So we were on a bus by 7:20 a.m. and at the airport by 9:15 a.m. I could answer about any question you have about the Anchorage airport! :-) That to say - they asked that everyone be out of their rooms by 8:00 a.m., so it wasn't a big deal to get out of there early. I've never seen a more organized operation...from getting our departure information to meeting in the morning to leaving Whittier. Smooth smooth smooth.

 

Hope that helps!

[MaryPoppinz]

Also, you'd be surprised at how long your suitcases last when you buy good ones. :) As for taking the elevator, I've been in situations with someone in a wheelchair and we had to wait well over 20 minutes for an elevator due to all the people with luggage pushing ahead of the wheelchair passengers in their rush to get off the ship. IMHO, extremely rude and obviously, it can be a problem for those with no other option of getting to the ground floor.

 

Yes, it's rude for people to push themselves past others as was done to you, but why were you disembarking during Express if you were assisting someone in a wheelchair? And why did the Princess attendant who handles loading the elevator car allow these people to push past you for 20 minutes?

[caribill]

why did the Princess attendant who handles loading the elevator car allow these people to push past you for 20 minutes?

 

There is no such attendant.

[MaryPoppinz]

There is no such attendant.

 

Then, I wonder who those people wearing Princess nametags on their navy jackets are that direct passengers to either the escalator or elevators and stop passengers from overfilling the cars.

[donna5]

Then, I wonder who those people wearing Princess nametags on their navy jackets are that direct passengers to either the escalator or elevators and stop passengers from overfilling the cars.

 

We've only seen those people in the mid elevator area on embarkation day-not on debarkation day.

[MaryPoppinz]

We've only seen those people in the mid elevator area on embarkation day-not on debarkation day.

 

With the reference to the gangway and escalators, I assumed we were talking about the pier (ie: shoreside employees), and so that's what I'm referring to.

[Colo Cruiser]

We've only seen those people in the mid elevator area on embarkation day-not on debarkation day.

 

In LA during Debarkation they are stopping people from taking bags on the escalator and directing them to the elevators.

 

They were also doing this at Seattles Pier 91.

[MaryPoppinz]

In LA during Debarkation they are stopping people from taking bags on the escalator and directing them to the elevators.

 

They were also doing this at Seattles Pier 91.

 

That's what I thought, too, but apparently, there is no such attendant. :)

[Pam in CA]

Yes, it's rude for people to push themselves past others as was done to you, but why were you disembarking during Express if you were assisting someone in a wheelchair? And why did the Princess attendant who handles loading the elevator car allow these people to push past you for 20 minutes?

We weren't disembarking during Express; it was about 8:15am. There was a big backlog of passengers doing Express who didn't want to or couldn't use the escalators. Since we had wheelchair assistance (along with several others), we disembarked at our scheduled time, i.e., when our color was called. As I remember, we didn't have an early Red color as we had a 12:30pm flight. And there was no Princess attendant anywhere in sight. Off the ship, the wheelchair attendants were dock employees, not Princess so they couldn't/wouldn't do anything. This has happened to us twice; both times in San Pedro.

[MaryPoppinz]

That's really bizarre to have people who require assistance and people who are carrying off their bags leaving the ship at the same time!

[Pam in CA]

That's really bizarre to have people who require assistance and people who are carrying off their bags leaving the ship at the same time!

I've seen it quite a few times so I guess it's not bizarre to me. :) I'm looking at the disembarkation schedule for my April Sapphire cruise and Express Walk-Off was scheduled between 7:45am and 8:10am. I disembarked at 8:20am and there was still a crowd of people at the elevator with their luggage. I've seen this overlap quite a few times, particularly if people doing Express leave even 5 minutes later than scheduled and/or tag colors are called 5 minutes early. I don't think it's at all unusual since an overlap is almost guaranteed, particularly since those carrying their luggage are usually a lot slower than those disembarking without luggage. Plus, you'd be surprised at the number of people doing Express who think they can leave when they want.

[MaryPoppinz]

It should be quite easy, with the new disembarkation routine, to say "Okay, everyone using a wheelchair or needing assistance is off the ship and into the terminal...NOW let's start leading the passengers using Express to the gangway."

[Pam in CA]

It should be quite easy, with the new disembarkation routine, to say "Okay, everyone using a wheelchair or needing assistance is off the ship and into the terminal...NOW let's start leading the passengers using Express to the gangway."

I'm not sure I understand you. Are you saying that those needing wheelchair assistance should be disembarked before Express no matter what time their flight is or the time they're being picked up? "Hey, Al! Get 'em off the ship; they're going to actually use the elevators that we want for those using Express so we'll just rush them off the ship." If I have an afternoon flight, I shouldn't have to leave the ship before 7:30am. Besides, as soon as they call the Express people, they'll rush past and hog the elevators. Remember, those in wheelchairs have to sit on the other side of the gangway until they have porters from the terminal to push them.