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Disney disembarkation


jmhlaw

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Last year we sailed on Disney for the first time. We loved their disembarkation procedure where they schedule you for breakfast at a certain time and then right after breakfast you disembark. After just returning from an Alaska cruise on another line which uses the same old "leave your cabin by 8:00 am and sit somewhere until your color is called" procedure, we were wondering if there is any other cruise line using Disney's procedure and if not why? We've cruised most of the major lines and disembarkation is always a painful experience especially with kids... except for Disney.

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Have sailed on Princess, Carnival, Royal and Norweign.

Each we had to vacate the cabin and wait.

 

We leave the stuff in the cabin and head to breakfast in the dining room- After that we grab our stuff then wait. Its always within the hour that we are allowed to get off.

 

Most ships are empty by 10:30 at the latest so they can turn it over for the new people.

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The reason is that Disney only has to deal with a couple of ports for their disembarkation. Most of the other cruise line may have their ships homeported out of several ports during the course of a year. Disney can establish a special relationship with their port since only a couple are involved.

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The reason is that Disney only has to deal with a couple of ports for their disembarkation. Most of the other cruise line may have their ships homeported out of several ports during the course of a year. Disney can establish a special relationship with their port since only a couple are involved.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by this, it has nothing to do with their relationship to the port. The ship cleared customs about the same time our other cruises have cleared.

 

It's simply the way they handle getting people off the ship in a timely manner. You are given a very early breakfast time (I think ours was like 6:15am :eek:), and you go in, have your breakfast which is served by the wonderful waiters you had all week, then grab your carry-ons and walk off the ship.......:D

 

As we left the dining room I kept looking for the lines that I was sure we would need to stand in....there were NONE!!! No lines, no cattle call, no waiting for decks to be called, no crowds AT ALL....it was pure heaven!!!!

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I'm not sure what you mean by this, it has nothing to do with their relationship to the port. The ship cleared customs about the same time our other cruises have cleared.

 

It's simply the way they handle getting people off the ship in a timely manner. You are given a very early breakfast time (I think ours was like 6:15am :eek:), and you go in, have your breakfast which is served by the wonderful waiters you had all week, then grab your carry-ons and walk off the ship.......:D

 

As we left the dining room I kept looking for the lines that I was sure we would need to stand in....there were NONE!!! No lines, no cattle call, no waiting for decks to be called, no crowds AT ALL....it was pure heaven!!!!

 

He probably hasn't even sailed Disney and clearly doesn't know what he's talking about.

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He probably hasn't even sailed Disney and clearly doesn't know what he's talking about.

 

I do know what I'm talking about and stand behind my original post. If you can't contribute to the conversation then I would suggest you stay out of it. It is always telling when someone can't comment about the subject at hand and attacks someone personally.

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....Norweign.

Each we had to vacate the cabin and wait.

 

We leave the stuff in the cabin and head to breakfast in the dining room- After that we grab our stuff then wait. Its always within the hour that we are allowed to get off.

 

Most ships are empty by 10:30 at the latest so they can turn it over for the new people.

 

when did you last do Nowegian? they have freestyle disembark....wait in cabin until you get off for the last 8 years.....

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We've done Disney three times (and two dozen cruises on other lines). Nobody does disembarkation as well as Disney!

 

Actually, I thought DCL's disembarkation was awful, and I did 9 cruises with them. HAL is the one who does it right. You remain wherever you'd like, including inside your cabin, until your window of time opens to leave the ship. Prior to the last day you get to select your time, based on your plans after the ship. Last cruise we chose to wander around the promenade deck, but the time before I sat in my cabin & had a full room service breakfast while waiting for my departure time. The Disney experiences were nightmares with a huge mob in the lobby area (blocking access to the restaurant there) until the doors were open. Then that mob descended on the luggage area...very frustrating. With HAL there's no mob getting off the ship with you, so there are no waits.

 

Sue/WDW1972

Eurodam 11/07/09

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Last year we sailed on Disney for the first time. We loved their disembarkation procedure where they schedule you for breakfast at a certain time and then right after breakfast you disembark. After just returning from an Alaska cruise on another line which uses the same old "leave your cabin by 8:00 am and sit somewhere until your color is called" procedure, we were wondering if there is any other cruise line using Disney's procedure and if not why? We've cruised most of the major lines and disembarkation is always a painful experience especially with kids... except for Disney.

 

Royal Caribbean has a similar procedure to follow. We were able to stay in the room for a long time before we went down to eat and leave the ship. A lot has to do with your flight times and if you are using Disney transportation. :)

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Actually, I thought DCL's disembarkation was awful, and I did 9 cruises with them. HAL is the one who does it right. You remain wherever you'd like, including inside your cabin, until your window of time opens to leave the ship. Prior to the last day you get to select your time, based on your plans after the ship. Last cruise we chose to wander around the promenade deck, but the time before I sat in my cabin & had a full room service breakfast while waiting for my departure time. The Disney experiences were nightmares with a huge mob in the lobby area (blocking access to the restaurant there) until the doors were open. Then that mob descended on the luggage area...very frustrating. With HAL there's no mob getting off the ship with you, so there are no waits.

 

Sue/WDW1972

Eurodam 11/07/09

This is what we encountered on our recent cruise on the Magic. I wouldn't describe it as "awful", but it wasn't quite as smooth and painless as others have described.

 

After eating as instructed in our assigned dining room starting at 6:30 (painful on the last day or any day for us!), we proceeded to the atrium, around 7:10. We stood there and waited and waited. A long line formed, wrapping around toward the promenade lounge (not sure how long the line was because we couldn't see around the corner). There was also another line snaking around toward the elevators...not sure how long that one was either. There were NO announcements, and there was no crew members around trying to organize the lines or direct people. We stood there for 30 minutes, just waiting for the doors to open.

 

Now don't get me wrong...I know there can be delays with any ship and the debarkation process. And in the whole scheme of things, this wasn't a huge problem for us. But what was frustrating to us was that nobody gave us any indication as to what was going on or how long it would be. And after having read here how nice DCL's debarkation was, we were definitely not expecting what we encountered.

 

Perhaps if we had been in one of the later breakfast seatings, we would have reached the atrium after the line had dispersed, and would not have encountered what we did. But with us following the instructions, it definitely was not a smooth experience for us.

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2 disney cruises and no problems at all......

 

Ate breakfast and walk right off the ship....... No lines no waiting no problems..... Last cruise june 2009.....

 

^^^^^DITTO^^^^^

 

Most recently in Feb 09. I don't recall what our "assigned" breakfast time was, but it didn't matter to us; we ate at Topside when we were good and ready - about 7am. After that, we collected our carry-ons (carry-offs?) from the suite, headed down to deck 3 and walked off the ship. No fuss, no muss, no bother.

 

It's been that way for us on all 3 DCL cruises we've been on.

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^^^^^DITTO^^^^^

 

Most recently in Feb 09. I don't recall what our "assigned" breakfast time was, but it didn't matter to us; we ate at Topside when we were good and ready - about 7am. After that, we collected our carry-ons (carry-offs?) from the suite, headed down to deck 3 and walked off the ship. No fuss, no muss, no bother.

 

It's been that way for us on all 3 DCL cruises we've been on.

I think what you said about going to Topsider at 7 was the key. If we had started eating at 7, we probably would have avoided the long line as well.

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If you are taking the disney transportation back to the airport how early do they asign you breakfast. Our flight out is at 1:45pm.

 

With your flight time, you will probably be at the airport for a few hours. The good news is they have so many stores there now, it's like a mall. Hang out in the main terminal before riding the tram to your departure terminal! There isn't much to do over there. :D

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  • 2 weeks later...
If you are taking the disney transportation back to the airport how early do they asign you breakfast. Our flight out is at 1:45pm.

 

On our Wonder this July, we were assigned either 8am or 8:15am (can't remember) breakfast with a 2:30pm flight on disney transportation. I think the latest you need to check in for your disney transportation is 9:15am.

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Your breakfast time is assigned based on what dining you had. Main dining people eat first (at some stupidly early time) and late dining people eat later. Topsiders/BBB is open as an alternative so you can dine whenever you like. I had always had late seating, and the only time I actually had to wait was when the ship got held up at Castaway Cay and arrived in Port Canaveral late. That was a bit of a circus, but to DCL's credit they had impromptu trivia games and such to occupy people while they waited, and those of us with the later breakfast got to linger in the dining room. Of course, we were also the last off the ship (people with early flights first, then early dining, then late dining), but it seemed fair the way they did it.

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Your breakfast time is assigned based on what dining you had. Main dining people eat first (at some stupidly early time) and late dining people eat later. ...

 

The dining times aren't enforced. We got up when we wanted, ate when we wanted and strolled off the ship when they finally kicked us off (I hated to leave). Take your time and miss the folks lining up to leave the ship.

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