Ports of call - disembarking & embarking

Being new to cruising, what are the actual boarding times on the port days.

We are taking 5 day Century to Roatan & Cozumel - according to the itinerary one port is written that the itinerary is from 9-5 and the other 10-6. I presume that it'll take time to disembark - how long does this take appromixately. I presume that passengers are advised latest time for boarding - what is the approximate time before sailing that we are obliged to embark?

As we are concierge class, do we have priority disembarking?

Being new to cruising, what are the actual boarding times on the port days.

 

We are taking 5 day Century to Roatan & Cozumel - according to the itinerary one port is written that the itinerary is from 9-5 and the other 10-6. I presume that it'll take time to disembark - how long does this take appromixately. I presume that passengers are advised latest time for boarding - what is the approximate time before sailing that we are obliged to embark?

 

As we are concierge class, do we have priority disembarking?

Example, "9 - 5": 9 o'clock or a bit later is when you'll be able to start getting off the ship. It will have arrived earlier and gone through all the clearance stuff with the port authorities, and then passengers will be able to get off. Usually those on early ship-sponsored tours go first, then everyone else -- but I don't know about concierge class...

As for getting back on -- no later than 30 minutes before the ship is to set sail, so you have to pay attention to the time on board, make sure you have a watch that matches, and make sure you note the time as you're having fun on shore! This is particularly important with tender ports, as the last tender lines can be very long. A lot of folks plan to get back an hour early, just so that they have a bit of time to account for any traffic delays, or other things that might hold them up.

...and just to be clear, while the ship is in port, you can get on and off as often as you please, during the day. Some folks get off in the morning, come back for lunch, then go off again....or stay on board altogether not getting off at all, and enjoy the quiet ship, or any combination you want..

just so that you're totally back on by 30 minutes before the ship leaves! :)

You will hear an announcement that the ship has been cleared by local authorities and then you take your seapass card to the gangway and they swipe it so they know who is off the ship, and you can head ashore.

If it is a tender port, the procedure is a bit different. You go to the theater, or another designated area, and get a ticket for a tender boat. Those with ship-sponsored excursions go first, then the other passengers. At some point, when the rush dies down, you stop needing tender tickets and they will just send you to the disembarkation area.

Every cruise ship handles the time situation differently. On some ships, the time on shore and the time on the ship are the same, i.e. you will have changed your clocks the night before to match the port's time as you cross a time zone. On other ships, the ship does not change its time, so be very careful if you ask someone on shore what time it is, as people have been known to miss their ships when they forgot that the two times don't match.

Celebrity almost always changes the ship's clocks to match local time, but cruisers have reported a few cases where they did not. So just be aware.

Thirty minutes before sailing time is the standard for being back on board. They will swipe your seapass card on arrival, to know you are back on board.

The ship will not wait for you if you are late, unless you are on one of the ship-sponsored tours and the whole tour is arriving late, so be sure to be on time. There are some very funny (or not-so-funny) videos on YouTube showing people running madly to catch ships which are already pulling away from the pier.

Being new to cruising, what are the actual boarding times on the port days.

 

We are taking 5 day Century to Roatan & Cozumel - according to the itinerary one port is written that the itinerary is from 9-5 and the other 10-6. I presume that it'll take time to disembark - how long does this take appromixately. I presume that passengers are advised latest time for boarding - what is the approximate time before sailing that we are obliged to embark?

 

As we are concierge class, do we have priority disembarking?

The time it takes depends on when you are trying to get off - if you are in line waiting the moment the ship is cleared it will take a bit. If you leave an hour after the ship is cleared it could take 30 seconds. I have been in line to get off once right at the moment of clearance it took about 10 minutes to get off.

Concierge Class doesn't get priority disembarking at any of the ports - Suites get priority tender I don't know if concierge gets that same perk.

To clarify, if the ships itinerary states a 5am arrival, then that is usually the start of disembarkment? I'm thing to decide if a 930am flight will work in Amsterdam with a 5am arrival..

Ahhh, disembarking at the end of the cruise is a different matter altogether. In this case, while the ship may arrive at the port at 5 a.m., that is not necessarily what time the passengers could start leaving the ship. There are all sorts of arrival formalities which need to take place before the passengers may leave, and they often take quite a bit of time. Once the ship is cleared by the authorities, passengers must still move through customs and immigration at the terminal.

If you call X they will be able to tell you the first time that they would recommend for a flight, which varies from port to port.

Would your flight be one to another European country or to the U.S.? There are also time constraints for each kind of flight, but often you are told to be at the airport two hours before a flight. I don't know how far the airport is from the cruise terminal, but it seems unlikely to me that you would be able to be at the airport by 7:30 for your 9:30 flight. I wouldn't book a flight that early, myself.

To clarify, if the ships itinerary states a 5am arrival, then that is usually the start of disembarkment? I'm thing to decide if a 930am flight will work in Amsterdam with a 5am arrival..

Oh .. disembark at the end of the cruise. That's quite different. Usually you'll be told by the cruise line to not schedule a flight before noon at the earliest. You're flying in Europe and some European airline regulations are different, but when we were in Norway last year and flying to/from Norway and Amsterdam, the rules were the same: had to be at the airport at least 90 minutes before the flight was to take off -- meaning you'd have to be there by 8 a.m.

So indeed, as cruisestitch outlined...a flight that early would be risky at best.