Debarkation - Zuiderdam

[DRich2]

Is there a specified order for debark? Does it go by levels? Highest to lowest, front to back?

Also, can we debark at anytime if we carry our own luggage?

Thanks.

[Candy]

Debarkation is according to flight times. Earlier flights are called first. Pax with their own transportation are called last. You may stay in your cabin until your assigned color is called.

Is there a specified order for debark? Does it go by levels? Highest to lowest, front to back?

Also, can we debark at anytime if we carry our own luggage?

Thanks.

[EbayCruiser]

I think you can disembark early if you take your own luggage off. We were the VERY FIRST to get off the Oosterdam last fall and had no trouble at all. We were off the ship and in a taxi in less than 5 min.

[Krazy Kruizers]

The day before you are to leave the ship you will be given a number and color coded luggage tags. At the beginning of the cruise you will fill out an information sheet as to your travel plans at the end of the cruise. The number you get depends on what information you have provided the front office.

[kruzkeen]

On the last cruise we were on they no longer gave out disembarkation numbers and multi colored tags. The Ryndam had gone to the RCI/Celebrity system and had a limited number of colored tags with numbers printed on them. They called off in that manner. For example Red1, Blue2 etc. I do not know if this is a fleet wide procedure.

[RuthC]

kruzkeen, will you please explain what the"RCI/Celebrity system" is?
I never heard of it and don't have a clue how it works.

Thanks.

[Candy]

I really hope it doesn't change to RCI's style of d/bark... it's absolutely awful. Once you get off the ship it's total chaos.

I was on the Zuidy in November and we used the same color system, and everyone was happily on their way by 9:00.

kruzkeen, will you please explain what the"RCI/Celebrity system" is? I never heard of it and don't have a clue how it works. Thanks.

[Himself]

The Biggest problem with disembarkation is with PAX who have to pay a bill and stall getting down to the office to take care of this and pax who have to report to customs and are slow to do so. If everyone co-operates, disembarkation will begin by 8:15 AM and runs smoothly once it begins. I usually go off last and I am always off before 10:00 AM.

HIMSELF

[RuthC]

I really hope it doesn't change to RCI's style of d/bark... it's absolutely awful. Once you get off the ship it's total chaos.
But could you explain what it is?

[Candy]

On the Majesty of the Seas, 11/04, we experienced what I've been told as a typical debarkation. Color coded luggage tags are distributed according to your flight times. When your color is called you line up in one of those serpentine lines like at the amusement park, but there is nothing amusing about it. There were at least two hundred people in this line ahead of me, going to rooms with an airline-type carousel system for luggage retrieval. There is not enough room in these little rooms for all those pax trying to retrieve bags for 6 people (I'm getting angrier as I type... I can hardly get the words out). Once you do find all your bags, you get in another such line behind the same people, moving your luggage yourself as you go, as there are no porters to assist you and no room for luggage carts. The whole process takes well over an hour, much of it in a crowded room with exasperated people carrying their own luggage. If I ever sail RCI again, I will make late flight reservations and stay on the ship comfortably and be the last one off.

HAL does it so much more efficiently.

But could you explain what it is?

[kruzkeen]

But could you explain what it is?
Hi Ruth
Candy has mentioned carousel, I think she disembarked in Miami. I got off one of RCI’s mega ships a couple of years ago and our color was not called until after 11:00. I loved the ship, but the ground services was not cool. Most of my experience with RCI has been on west coast ports and it has been efficient.

In the past HAL has given passengers a disembarkation number and colored luggage tags.
Many different colors, some solid color and some with stripes. There must be some correlation between the two or how the luggage is spread out as the numbers are not always called in sequence.

Recently on Statendam, we were given luggage tags with a detachable stub. On it was printed GROUP 2 PURPLE. There was no paper or plastic disembarkation number in the envelope. On the morning we disembarked I seem to remember they called several BLUE numbers before PURPLE 1, 2 and 3 were called.

Before you put the bags out at night you tear off the stub and show it to the person at the gangway. I thought it worked very well. I think that as always people who have early flights or who have bought airport transfers from HAL will get colors/numbers that are called first.

[Candy]

Sorry, guys... you're right! My experience was in Miami. Other port arrangements might be different. So solly!

Hi Ruth
Candy has mentioned carousel, I think she disembarked in Miami. I got off one of RCI’s mega ships a couple of years ago and our color was not called until after 11:00. I loved the ship, but the ground services was not cool. Most of my experience with RCI has been on west coast ports and it has been efficient.

[RuthC]

Thanks. I think I've got it.

[RonnieS]

Zuiderdam pulls into Ft. Lauderdale at 8:00 AM, think a 11:24 AM flight from FLL is too early? We have transfers from HAL.

[Candy]

That's the flight we usually take. We take a cab there, and have always made it on time.

Zuiderdam pulls into Ft. Lauderdale at 8:00 AM, think a 11:24 AM flight from FLL is too early? We have transfers from HAL.

[djludwig@prodigy.net]

I think the 11:24am flight should be OK. I just got off the Zuiderdam on the 23rd. We walked off the ship about 9:20am, found our luggage and were at the FLL airport by 10:00am and I didn't have and early ticket call because my flight was at 3:30pm.
The Airport was a zoo however trying to get luggage checked. But people with soon departing flights were being given priority.
An 11:24am flight should be fine !! Just make sure the ship knows you have an early flight.

[Candy]

It might help to print your boarding passes on the ship the night before. After a few busses arrive at the airport, it's a free-for-all.

I think the 11:24am flight should be OK. I just got off the Zuiderdam on the 23rd. We walked off the ship about 9:20am, found our luggage and were at the FLL airport by 10:00am and I didn't have and early ticket call because my flight was at 3:30pm.
The Airport was a zoo however trying to get luggage checked. But people with soon departing flights were being given priority.
An 11:24am flight should be fine !! Just make sure the ship knows you have an early flight.

[kruzkeen]

It might help to print your boarding passes on the ship the night before. After a few busses arrive at the airport, it's a free-for-all.

Hi Candy-
How do you print your boarding pass on the ship? Do you log onto your airline and do it on the ship's internet? If so, it sounds great.

At the FLL airport, I guess you still have to line up to check your bags. Right? It is not a favorite airport for me as I have always found it crowded and confusing.

Thanks Ken

[dakrewser]

Hi Candy-
How do you print your boarding pass on the ship? Do you log onto your airline and do it on the ship's internet? If so, it sounds great.

At the FLL airport, I guess you still have to line up to check your bags. Right? It is not a favorite airport for me as I have always found it crowded and confusing.

Thanks Ken

It all depends on your airline. Some allow you to pre-print the boarding pass 24 hours before you board, and some of those allow you to then quickly check bags but not all do. Some also have self-serve check-in kiosks at the airport, and some of those allow you to check bags too - but not all do, and it can vary from airline to airline, airport to airport. Check directly with your airline and ask about FLL to be sure.

[Candy]

We print the boarding pass online on the ship and check the bags curbside. In some airports you can wait until TSA checks your bags and then lock them.

Hi Candy- How do you print your boarding pass on the ship? Do you log onto your airline and do it on the ship's internet? If so, it sounds great.

At the FLL airport, I guess you still have to line up to check your bags. Right? It is not a favorite airport for me as I have always found it crowded and confusing.

Thanks Ken

[doone]

My friends actually had an 11:25 a.m. flight home out of Ft. Lauderdale when we sailed the Zuiderdam. We were one of the first called off the ship, were called off the ship at 8:15 a.m. As a matter of fact, I was off the ship and checked into my hotel room, actually sitting in the room with a coffee at 9:06 a.m. I called my friends cell phone and they were in the security lines at the airport, so I think an 11:25 a.m. flight is fine. I wouldn't go any earlier than that.

[Classynfun1]

Ok, now what happens if you are cruising on a back to back? Can you just get off the ship whenever you want? I'm doing this in Civitavechia and want to try and get off asap as Rome is a distance away and my time is already limited.

Will they force me to stay on the ship longer? Will I have to do anything special to re-check in? Thanks!