Fantasy questions

Cruising the Fantasy for the first time in June and have a few questions.

1. We're driving to Mobile the morning of the cruise and I like to leave early enough in case of any trouble along the way. With "faster to the fun", what is the earliest you can park at the terminal and what is the earliest you can board the ship?

2. I understand that WiFi is additional costs and is offered in tiers. What are the limits of the basic plan? Can my wife still get in to Facebook? I have some security cameras at home & like to keep an occasional check on things there.

Thanks in advance.

Wifi is a pain on most ships ,very slow but workable. Streaming , is not probable .

No one knows the earliest times?

No one knows the earliest times?

They have to clear the garage of the previous cruise before you can park. I hear that there is quite a line to get in, if you get there early. Like a 30-45 minute wait. You can pre-pay online and that should save you some time.

:) Congrats on your great upcoming cruise !

I left the Fantasy yesterday and there was total chaos at 10 a.m. as we were offloading. the official time to arrive is 11.

Things can go haywire so be patient. Sometimes weather delays the ship and sometimes a long train is blocking the cruise terminal.

As to the internet, if you want to watch cameras or videos you are required to have the premium plan, if you want to just use the internet without video, just get the value plan. Again, congrats. She is a great ship and has a great staff !:cool:

Sailed Fantasy For New Years. Be sure to prepay for port parking. Saves time when you park at the port. Had FTTF and 11AM port arrival. No one checked our boarding pass until we arrived at the check-in desk.

As far as the WiFi goes, the $5 plan is the social media plan and you will be able access Facebook with no problem. I don't think that plan allows for streaming of any kind. I've heard that streaming on the ship (even with the higher tiered plans) is hit and miss. You might be able to connect to WiFi in some of the ports and check your cameras from there.

Prepay for parking if you can. FTTF is 11am I believe. The last groups off the ship are around 10:30am usually there will be hotel and park and ride shuttles still picking up guests up until 11am so getting their earlier will just slow everyone down.

If you arrive at the terminal too early, the nice Mobile police officer at the entrance will tell you to leave. When we arrived at around 10:15am for our Fantasy cruise we noticed a line of cars on a small road to the right of the terminal and they kept on waving off offers by those of us in the line of cars on the access road to let them cut in line . I soon found out why. When I got to the entrance the cop told me to 'turn right onto that road (he pointed), exit the terminal area, and return at 11am'. This put me at the back of that line of cars I saw a few minutes earlier. We sat there for a good half hour before they started letting new passengers drive into the terminal, and then we spent another 30 minutes inching forward until we got to the luggage drop.

So, my advice is to not get there before 11am, and even then the line will be long and slow. Once you get inside the luggage drop off area it's fast, and you go up the ramp to park, take the elevator down, and you are in the check-in area. The trains going back and forth are a pain since they cross right at the entrance to the terminal and can sometimes be long trains. It's frustrating, but that's the way it is. It's a small inconvenience for having a cruise ship 5 hours away from me at the other end of I-65.

Most likely 11:45 will be the earliest anyone will board.

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I get wanting to get there as early as possible, but as others have said, getting there too early may backfire a bit. We arrived after 1pm and went right into the parking lot and checked in with minimal wait or lines.

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Thanks so much for the replies. Really appreciated. I did pre buy the terminal parking as suggested.

I'm somewhat overly aggressive about being early with a five hour drive with a mildly autistic grandson.

Thanks again.

We did the 3rd cruise out of Mobile in November. FTTF was basically ignored , no one checked our tags ( we even asked) no one there knew where any VIP's were supposed to sit. It was MASS CHAOS. Husband said if they don't have the kinks worked out this time we will be driving to Tampa or Port Canaveral. Once on the ship FTTF was excellent for us. Also we arrived right at 1045 am and waited in a line. We prepaid parking and it worked out fine for us. Several people were not happy that they didn't pay for parking ahead of time. The PORT itself needs to get it together and maybe some who've sailed recently can comment on if they've gotten the bugs worked out. I think you are on the right track prepaying parking , I would get there close to 11 and be prepared to wait.

I have cruised out of Mobile many times and from my experience, I would recommend showing up around 9:50 am. If you get there any earlier, they might make you leave and come back, but I think any time after that would be great.

Good luck!

Brad