Carnival Glory: what time to go to port?

I have never been on a Carnival cruise before. I'm going to be cruising on the Carnival Glory on Sept. 2nd. It is leaving from New York. My boarding pass says to arrive between 1 and 3.

Last night, I received two official-looking e-mails from Carnival, moments apart. One of them said that due to a routine inspection by U.S. Immigration boarding procedures would be delayed, and it told me under no circumstances to show up at the port before 1 p.m., "due to limited seating at the port."

That was fine, but then the *second* e-mail advised me to "beat the rush" by showing up "between 2 and 3:30" if my travel plans allowed.

I was thoroughly confused, especially since I had gathered from online sources that cruisers were required to be on board an hour before sailing, and the Glory was to sail at 4, which would make 3:30 too late.

I phoned Carnival and spoke to a clerk who didn't seem to have heard of either e-mail. She looked at my booking, confirmed that it said 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., and that the ship would be sailing at 4, and told me to show up no later than 1:30 p.m..

All three sources of information came from Carnival; all three sounded official. The main thing I want to do (besides, of course, boarding the ship!) is to minimize the time I spend standing up in line. I don't care what time I get on board as long as the ship doesn't leave without me (or my luggage, I suppose), and I don't mind waiting as long as I have a place to sit down to wait.

So what time should I be at the port?

Being that you got the email stating there is an inspection, I would show up between 1 and 2 as noted.

Odd that you got two emails stating two different things, but it happens.

You could show up earlier and it's possible that the inspection will be quick. There are a lot of seating areas in the terminal.

I'll be on that cruise too. Check out our roll call thread ! :)

11:00am :)