disembark procedure

Going on Royal Princess and have an early 11:45 flight back home. All other cruises we did a "walk off" with our luggage. But this time since this will be B2B for 20 days we over packed, four suitcases plus a carry on. The wife wanted to go "formal" this trip, so not just a jacket and tie for me but the tux and white dinner jacket. What's the procedure to get our bags to the dock? How do I get off the ship as early as possible?

OK, so it's the wife who insists on over-packing.

How strong is she? :D

Don't know your port or airport, but you should be able to get assigned/re-assigned to the first slot for regular disembarkation if that's early enough.

JB :)

What port are we referring to? That would be helpful to determine if 11:45 is even doable. If we are talking Ft Lauderdale, it is doable if you are in the first couple of groups.

The procedure would be you carry your bags off to get the earliest possible departure from the ship.

Princess has a deal where, while you are on board, you tell them your departure plans. If it is FLL, you can buy a princess transfer or not.

Once you pick your preferred departure time, and fill in the form, go back to having fun.

On the night before the last day of the cruise you will receive an information packet about disembarkation. In it will be color tags for your luggage. The pamphlet will have a schedule on the back that goes by the color of age. E.g., red 6, purple 2. Each color is assigned a time based on the departure plans.

Anyway, on the last night, you pack up your stuff (we do it before dinner) and put on the colored name tags. Then you leave the 4 bags outside your cabin door where the crew picks them up.

Save the carry on for the last items you will have.

Next morning, go to breakfast and vacate the cabin as usual.

GO to your assigned meeting place at the proper time and wait. They will call your color. Get off the ship and go down into the customs area. You will see a wall with bags divided by color group. Look for your color and you should find the 4 bags in that specific area. Pick them up and go through customs.

If you are on your own grab a cab or other shuttle. If you have a princess transfer head to the buses as directed.

I hope that helps.

OK, so it's the wife who insists on over-packing.

How strong is she? :D

 

Don't know your port or airport, but you should be able to get assigned/re-assigned to the first slot for regular disembarkation if that's early enough.

 

JB :)

My thoughts as well.

You put all your bags out the night before, keeping one to pack the last nights clothes, and toiletries....keeping clothes for that morning....

Leave the ship, pick up your bags....and go! How are you getting your bags TO the ship? Just do it that way!

What port are we referring to? That would be helpful to determine if 11:45 is even doable. If we are talking Ft Lauderdale, it is doable if you are in the first couple of groups.

 

The procedure would be you carry your bags off to get the earliest possible departure from the ship.

EEEEKkkkk - I am doing an 11:45 FLL flight from a Miami cruise in April :)

We were literally the last group off our last Princess cruise. If 5 people followed us off that would be A LOT. We were off before 10.

While 10 doesn't help you, I share that to show that I thought they were very efficient getting people off. Get the earliest color you can. I think if you got even a 9:00 a.m. disembarkation color you'd be OK.

Take the time to talk with passenger service desk early in the cruise to impress on them the importance of getting off with the first group. If you do not feel that they are paying attention, you may want to start working out to get in shape to be able to get all the bags off with you as you self-disembark.