What happens when you disembark at port?

[Kazzykins]

Hi, cruise first timer back again with hopefully not a silly question. When you arrive at a port and plan to get off what happens?

 

Are you given a time to be ready to get off and have to wait in a certain area?

 

How do you cope with 3500-4000 passengers wanting to get off at the same time?

 

Do you need to take your passport(s) with you and show it at each port/customs you arrive at?

 

Thanks Kaz

 

p.s. we are on the mediterranean treasures cruise (Gibraltar, Sardinia, Florence, Cannes, Barcelona, Malaga, Lisbon, Vigo)

[temple1]

The night before you leave the ship you will be given color coded tags for your luggage, customs forms, and which area/lounge you will depart from. You can also choose to disembark on your own (whole different topic.)

 

The night before and the morning of - all the channels on the television will be giving you information on when to go to the departure lounge and what information you will need to complete to get off the ship. You will need to complete the customs form (at least in the US) and have your Sea Pass handy.

 

Relax and enjoy your cruise. Everything you will need to know (including how they handle people who are kiicking and screaming as they are dragged off the ship (:o ) will be covered many times in writing and on the television.

 

Oops - didn't read correctly - I thought the OP meant when they arrived back to the home port. :o

[Aquahound]

They will announce over the intercom when the ship has been cleared by the local authorities. Getting off is no problem. The line moves right through. Besides, not everyone gets off at the same time. Passengers come and go all day.

 

You may experience a little more of a wait in ports that require a tender.

[madforcruising]

Hi, cruise first timer back again with hopefully not a silly question. When you arrive at a port and plan to get off what happens?

 

Are you given a time to be ready to get off and have to wait in a certain area?

 

How do you cope with 3500-4000 passengers wanting to get off at the same time?

 

Do you need to take your passport(s) with you and show it at each port/customs you arrive at?

 

Thanks Kaz

 

 

First of all it depends if you are docked or if the ship is at anchor and you need to tender ashore. If you are docked they will make an announcement and you are free to go ashore whenever you wish.

If you need to tender ashore they usually give out Tender tickets and once you are ready to go you get a tender ticket and wait for your number to be called. The exact procedure will be announced onboard.

 

You usually won´t have to show your passport at ports of call. If it is required it will be announced again, otherwise you are fine in most ports to have your seapass and a picture ID.

[KAWS]

One "must do" tip I can offer you is when you get off at the port (before you get your luggage) find one of the porters with a luggage rack. They are worth gold!!

 

They will help you find your luggage, drop it all on their rack and then you stick with them and you bypass all the lines straight out the door and to the taxi stand to get back to the airport.

 

We tip the porter depending on our bags - we had three and tossed our carry ons on there too and we gave the guy $10. BEST $10 we ever spent.

 

When we arrived back in Seattle this July, we got off the ship at 9:30 and by 9:45 had our bags, through the doors and were in our taxi. Can't beat that!

[Sue L]

If you are on a ship's tour then they will have you meet at a specified location and then all get off together for that tour. The meeting location will be right on the tour tickets that they will deliver to your cabin.

[chrislynnet]

We found that the secret to getting off in good time at a port is...

 

Get off early!!

 

Seriously, we left the ship on port mornings about 9am or so and there weren't any crowds at all. Not even lines. We got back later when we were done, and the line waiting to get off the ship was a madhouse!

 

(Note that I am NOT talking about disembarkation at the home port, but on regular port days.)

[holsagain]

We have recently done this cruise. We never had any problems in getting off the ship, surprisingly queues were never very long, however we did endeavor to get off as early as possible. It was possible to leave very quickly after it docked, as soon as they set up the barriers. The tender for Cannes was the only problem- for others-the loud speakers started at 7.00 suggesting people got off early, we went for breakfast as usual at 8.00 but were ready for 9.00, got straight on a tender and away. We came back about midday and again got onto a tender immediately and back to the ship. When we arrived it was chaos as people were trying to leave the ship. They had at least 2 tenders running which held 250 people at a time but the queues were getting quite fractious. Early bird gets the tender, gets the taxis and back on before it gets too hot to sightsee!!!

Seapass was all that required in all ports although Barcelona we were warned to take passports. I took ours incase we missed the ship and had to travel to next destination. Don't worry it was our first time and go with the flo. getting on and off was easy, you put your seapass into a machine which makes a gobbling noise so they know who is on or off the ship- yes we had turkey last night.

[sandravb79]

One "must do" tip I can offer you is when you get off at the port (before you get your luggage) find one of the porters with a luggage rack. They are worth gold!!

 

They will help you find your luggage, drop it all on their rack and then you stick with them and you bypass all the lines straight out the door and to the taxi stand to get back to the airport.

 

We tip the porter depending on our bags - we had three and tossed our carry ons on there too and we gave the guy $10. BEST $10 we ever spent.

 

When we arrived back in Seattle this July, we got off the ship at 9:30 and by 9:45 had our bags, through the doors and were in our taxi. Can't beat that!

 

This is so true.

As true Europeans, we are used to schlep ourselves with our bags everywhere, but we don't do that after the cruise. Those porters are great! It's indeed the best cruise-related money spent!

[akcruz]

Each day in the compass it will tell you when to expect to able to disembark and exactly what you will need to take with you. Depending on the port and time of arrival it can get busy but the lines do move quickly.

[threeofus]

Getting back on.....depending on the port you may have more than one security check. You will not be permitted to get close to the ship without your blue or gold seapass card - so have it ready as you approach the dock.

 

You may have to show ID as well - and you will go through a metal detector and have everything you are carrying scanned.

For some ports there will be a port security check point and then the ship's security check.

 

By the way, RCL will have ice cold water for you as you approach the ship and in some cases hand sanitizer :)

 

When we re-boarded in Alexandria they also gave us warm wet towels. It had been long day - for many a 13 hour excursion.

[marielco]

I was on a similar cruise in June. Getting on and off at ports is easy and you get all the information you need in your Compass (ships newpsper/timetable). You need to have your SeaPass ready in hand when getting off and on the ship.

 

If it is a port where you are not docked but need to take a tender ashore you will have a ticket for the tender if you are booked on an RCI excursion. If however you are not booked on an excursion and wish to get askore early you collect the tender ticket the evening before at the main desk. My tip would be to go to the desk about 30 minutes before the announced time! I found they started handing out these tickets long before the announced time.

 

After the first 20 or so tenders have left they go to "open tendering" and you don't need a ticket for this.

 

You do not need a tender ticket for the return trip to the ship and they leave very regularly.

[CruisingGoddess]

I was on a similar cruise in June. Getting on and off at ports is easy and you get all the information you need in your Compass (ships newpsper/timetable). You need to have your SeaPass ready in hand when getting off and on the ship.

 

If it is a port where you are not docked but need to take a tender ashore you will have a ticket for the tender if you are booked on an RCI excursion. If however you are not booked on an excursion and wish to get askore early you collect the tender ticket the evening before at the main desk. My tip would be to go to the desk about 30 minutes before the announced time! I found they started handing out these tickets long before the announced time.

 

After the first 20 or so tenders have left they go to "open tendering" and you don't need a ticket for this.

 

You do not need a tender ticket for the return trip to the ship and they leave very regularly.

 

Do you recall what time the evening before they began handing out tender tickets?

[English_in_Spain]

One piece of advice when going ashore in any port. Take with you details of contact information of the ship's Port Agent.

 

In case of emergency, or if you are having trouble getting back to the ship you will need to contact them.

 

You will usually find this on the port information sheet.

[livylotte]

I see from your signature you are sailing from Southampton on Indy.

 

Passports are not required for any of the ports she visits. Your Sea Pass is all you need to get on and off the ship.

 

And at the end of your cruise you can just walk off the ship and go. There is no immigration for UK passport holders in Southampton.

 

If you have chosen to have your luggage collected from outside your cabins on the last night, they will be waiting for you in the terminal. If not you can carry your luggage off the ship yourself in the morning.

 

I can't remember ever seeing porters though, UK folk tend to lug their own suitcases! There are plenty of trollys :p

 

Enjoy your cruise :)

[H8mundays]

.

 

If it is a port where you are not docked but need to take a tender ashore you will have a ticket for the tender if you are booked on an RCI excursion. If however you are not booked on an excursion and wish to get askore early you collect the tender ticket the evening before at the main desk. My tip would be to go to the desk about 30 minutes before the announced time! I found they started handing out these tickets long before the announced time.

 

After the first 20 or so tenders have left they go to "open tendering" and you don't need a ticket for this.

 

 

I have never been on a cruise that tendered but our up coming cruise stops in coco cay. Can we get tender tickets for this the night before? We ususally like to get off the sip early and enjoy the beach before it gets too hot.

[Happy ks]

We found we didn't need our passports to get back onboard, but there were a couple of times I wished we had taken them along. We're not big vacation shoppers, but did make a couple of large purchases in Italy. Since we didn't have our passport numbers it was a hassle to fill out the forms needed for VAT refunds.

 

Another thing to mention if you do have items with a VAT refund, take those items with you in your carry on, the agents may want to see them.

 

Have a wonderful cruise :)

[daschund.lover]

Hi, cruise first timer back again with hopefully not a silly question. When you arrive at a port and plan to get off what happens?

 

Are you given a time to be ready to get off and have to wait in a certain area?

 

How do you cope with 3500-4000 passengers wanting to get off at the same time?

 

Do you need to take your passport(s) with you and show it at each port/customs you arrive at?

 

Thanks Kaz

 

p.s. we are on the mediterranean treasures cruise (Gibraltar, Sardinia, Florence, Cannes, Barcelona, Malaga, Lisbon, Vigo)

 

Hi just reading your thread and noticed that you are on the same cruise as me. If you fancy it, there is a roll call and meet and mingle that you can sign up to. There are a lot of first timers on it too. Hopefully I'll speak to you over there.

 

Only 29 days to go now, see you soon

 

daschund.lover

[CruisingGoddess]

We found we didn't need our passports to get back onboard, but there were a couple of times I wished we had taken them along. We're not big vacation shoppers, but did make a couple of large purchases in Italy. Since we didn't have our passport numbers it was a hassle to fill out the forms needed for VAT refunds.

 

Another thing to mention if you do have items with a VAT refund, take those items with you in your carry on, the agents may want to see them.

 

Have a wonderful cruise :)

 

I plan to take a photocopy of my passport for this reason and keep the real thing locked in the cabin safe.

[JTJ]

We cruise out PC a lot and we live nearby. My GF never gets up early except debarc. day. Then we end up mad rushing to get off. We are in the line with the peolpe that have an early flight out of MCO. Then we find ourselves home by 8am (sometimes 7:30) and have had no breakfast and wishing we could have stayed on the ship longer. Happens everytime.

 

We end up cooking a breakfast at home that we could have had a better one on the ship.

 

We are going on the Freedom in 3 weeks and I'm strategizing on how we can be the last ones off. We always catch a cab home and they are cheaper the later it gets. So that plus eating and catching a buzz is going to be my new angle.

 

Oh I forgot, this all started when we became Plats. way back when and got invited to the 1st priority debarc. lounge

[CruisingGoddess]

We cruise out PC a lot and we live nearby. My GF never gets up early except debarc. day. Then we end up mad rushing to get off. we are in the line with the peolpe that have an early flight out of MCO. Then we find ourselves home by 8am (sometimes 7:30) and have had no breakfast and wishing we could have stayed on the ship longer. Happens everytime.

 

We end up cooking a breakfast at home that we could have had a better one on the ship.

 

We are going on the Freedom in 3 weeks and I'm strategizing on how we can be the last ones off. We always catch a cab home and they are cheaper the later it gets. So that plus eating and catching a buzz is going to be my new angle.

 

It's really nice to take your time to get off the ship. For our April cruise out of PC, we had a 4 pm flight out of MCO so we had plenty of time. We had the latest seating for breakfast in the dining room and took our time getting off. We used the cruise lines transportation though so we didn't have to worry about catching a taxi. We just strolled to the shuttle and didn't stress about how long it would take to fill. It was nice. :D

 

Unfortunately, for our cruise out of Barcelona this November, our flight is at 10 am so we got to be the first ones of the ship!

[Tquinn1]

One "must do" tip I can offer you is when you get off at the port (before you get your luggage) find one of the porters with a luggage rack. They are worth gold!!

 

They will help you find your luggage, drop it all on their rack and then you stick with them and you bypass all the lines straight out the door and to the taxi stand to get back to the airport.

 

We tip the porter depending on our bags - we had three and tossed our carry ons on there too and we gave the guy $10. BEST $10 we ever spent.

 

When we arrived back in Seattle this July, we got off the ship at 9:30 and by 9:45 had our bags, through the doors and were in our taxi. Can't beat that!

This will only be my second cruise...don't recall much while departing the first so forgive me for asking for clarification...as I recall we left our cabins and went to a "warehouse" type of area to retreive our own bags. Do not recall seeing any porters there? It will just be me and girlfriend this time so I'd appreciate being able to get my hands on a porter. What will be the best way to/where to find one? (port canaveral)

[KAWS]

This will only be my second cruise...don't recall much while departing the first so forgive me for asking for clarification...as I recall we left our cabins and went to a "warehouse" type of area to retreive our own bags. Do not recall seeing any porters there? It will just be me and girlfriend this time so I'd appreciate being able to get my hands on a porter. What will be the best way to/where to find one? (port canaveral)

 

That's where you'll find them. They will be hanging out around the luggage area and they will most likely have those large luggage rack (skids) with them. You probably just didn't notice them because you were focused on getting your bags.

 

Grab one of these guys and he'll help you find your luggage and then whisk you through the exit fast than you can imagine. It's truly the best $10 spent on the whole cruise.

[rickhurley]

Hi; I'm sure you bezellions of replies: one detail I will add is this: DON'T presume that your cruise line will get you to the airport on time for your connecting flight: many cruisers have purchased air from the cruise line, and when you do, you will be provided transport to the airport. But you still need to be alert to see that you get to that airport on time. Passengers will usually be let off in some kind of order, such as where you cabin is located; if you have been assigned a time to get off that you know will not get you to the airport, you need to speak up the night before dissembarcation. I have cruised many times but I almost missed my flight on my last cruise because I was assigned a later time to dissembark-fortunately I talked someone into letting off early, and I still almost missed my flight. rick

[TuxedoMan]

No worries...they have it so smooth that most of the time it isn't even a "mad rush" at any of the ports.