The new normal or rare occurrence?

I just got back from a short Bahama cruise on the Carnival Liberty and I am extremely disappointed with disembarkation. Two things bothered me and I am wanting to know is this normal or a rare occurrence. Hoping some members can share their experiences. First, We did self-assist, it started at 7:30 and we were ready to get off at that time but the decks were being called super slow. We were kicked out of our cabin at 8:30am by our room steward. They called a few decks for self-assist, and then actually called a few decks with passengers with checked luggage before they even did self-assist for our deck so we literally waited about 2 1/2 hours to get off the ship. Every ship I've ever been on has done ALL self-assist passengers before passengers who checked luggage. I have NEVER had to sit and wait over 2 hours when i was doing self-assist. I thought that was strange. I am usually off the ship before 8am. I understand that they have to get the rooms cleaned, but it felt awkward being kicked out and being made to wait that long just hanging around deck with nothing to do. Again, I have never had this happen, is this the new normal? I have a first cruise with my kids booked for this summer but the thought of having to entertain them with all our luggage for over 2 hours makes me want to change ships! LOL

Following because I’m going to be on the Liberty on Sunday [emoji30]

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This pretty much describes my one and only disembarkation experience with Carnival to date. This was on the Dream in Nov 2015. Didn't get off the ship until around 10am

If I have an early flight, I just get off when they start letting people off. No one will stop you from leaving.

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I've always known it as all self assist went at one time. They are off first or nearly first.

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Don't wait to be called by deck for self-assist. Just go when the initial call comes saying the ship has been cleared by U.S. Customs.

They called a few decks for self-assist, and then actually called a few decks with passengers with checked luggage before they even did self-assist for our deck so we literally waited about 2 1/2 hours to get off the ship. Every ship I've ever been on has done ALL self-assist passengers before passengers who checked luggage.

...This was obviously a rare occurrence. Though we leisurely leave the ship in the morning, self-assist always gets off the ship at the same time. There are many times later in the morning, where the decks are called very slowly. This is almost always due to a backup trying to get through Customs.

Don't wait to be called by deck for self-assist. Just go when the initial call comes saying the ship has been cleared by U.S. Customs.

Exactly... If you still have your Funtimes from last day..... Debarkation should show Self-Assist going off first, Then Diamond/Platinum, then the times will be listed for luggage by color/number. If you do self assist you can leave the ship at anytime until the CD makes last call. However most people, with that choice, want to be the 1st off

Possibly "self assist" isn't a good choice for you????

We like Assisted so all we have are our small carry-on bags. Easy to go and do what we please until we're called. :)

Hi

The getting out of the cabin at 08:30 is pretty normal. As far as the self assist, as soon as they call for them they all go. Typically they are already lined up waiting to get off, sometimes causing a traffic jam. If they started calling for the luggage tag numbers, they would have felt that most of the self assist people had already gotten off. I can only think that there was a misunderstanding. Once they call self assist, everybody goes.

Yep, as others said, we just walk off when they start calling. We never wait for our specific deck to be called.

I just got back from a short Bahama cruise on the Carnival Liberty and I am extremely disappointed with disembarkation. Two things bothered me and I am wanting to know is this normal or a rare occurrence. Hoping some members can share their experiences. First, We did self-assist, it started at 7:30 and we were ready to get off at that time but the decks were being called super slow. We were kicked out of our cabin at 8:30am by our room steward. They called a few decks for self-assist, and then actually called a few decks with passengers with checked luggage before they even did self-assist for our deck so we literally waited about 2 1/2 hours to get off the ship. Every ship I've ever been on has done ALL self-assist passengers before passengers who checked luggage. I have NEVER had to sit and wait over 2 hours when i was doing self-assist. I thought that was strange. I am usually off the ship before 8am. I understand that they have to get the rooms cleaned, but it felt awkward being kicked out and being made to wait that long just hanging around deck with nothing to do. Again, I have never had this happen, is this the new normal? I have a first cruise with my kids booked for this summer but the thought of having to entertain them with all our luggage for over 2 hours makes me want to change ships! LOL

Hi, I always go up to the purser deck a few days into the sailing and give them a story as to why I must get off in the first wave. They always want to be helpful. But walking off as soon as they start calling anyone works also. Just leave like you own the place. They are glad to see you go and will not stop you.

I had a problem like that on my last cruise. Waited and waited. They forgot about platinum/diamond folks and left us in a hallway. Others were being let off and we couldn't get in the line.

ThIs is all very strange? Plat/Diamond/suites.FTTF who do self assist get off before regular self assist. They meet in a special area and are escorted off first. IF that doesn't happen there is something wrong!!

We have sailed the Liberty three times and always do self assist. We just go down when we are ready and march right orr.We have never had an issue and usually are from our cabin to our car in less than 20 minutes

i guess now we know why debarking can be a mess....people want to do what people want to do....SMH

We were on the Liberty about a month ago. We usually self assist but had our 5 year old daughter so we let them do the heavy lifting this time.

We went down for breakfast and just wanted on deck 5 until we were called. It did seem like things were moving slow HOWEVER, they were loading for a heavy metal cruise right after us so crews were boarding at the same time.

I will say Port Canaveral has been one of the smoother ports weve sailed from and look forward to going back for Sunshine in November.

PS Kuh Kuh Kuh Cookie was great.

Our disembarking has always been fine.

On the few occasions where I did an excursion post-cruise I thought that made for the best way to disembark.

I had a problem like that on my last cruise. Waited and waited. They forgot about platinum/diamond folks and left us in a hallway. Others were being let off and we couldn't get in the line.

Very often they forget about platinum/diamonds.

We are Diamond and will watch for when people start getting off and make our way off the ship. They really do not care much about the old passengers want to focus on the new.

It's never been more than 15 mins from start of debark to getting off the ship for us all of the times we've used self-debark... very fast.

ThIs is all very strange? Plat/Diamond/suites.FTTF who do self assist get off before regular self assist. They meet in a special area and are escorted off first. IF that doesn't happen there is something wrong!!

 

Very often they put us in different area than the rest of the passengers and than forget to call us.

We did self-assist on the Pride and found it difficult and annoying as they ran the line through the casino which was full of smoke. Disembarkation was the worst part of the cruise.

The next year on the Freedom, we let them handle most of the luggage and we went up to the Lido deck where we had a leisurely breakfast and then played mini-golf until our group was called (we were near the end) and we got off with out much trouble.

So this time, we will probably let them take the luggage off for us and be patient.

We did self-assist debarkation off Liberty in Dec (2017). IIRC, they called platinum/diamond/maybe gold, then self-assist for decks 1-6, then zones for tagged luggage for about three "zones", then finally (I say with a chuckle) our deck, 7, for self-assist. I chuckle because we were in no hurry to get off the ship. Next time we will leave baggage out the night before for pick-up, minimize our carry-off, and try to be in or almost in the last group off the ship - we are in no hurry, we have no flight to catch, just a 45 min drive home.

Which brings up my reverse question, if you will: how long can you linger on board before they want you off? I don't want to over stay my welcome, but if others are in a hurry to leave, I am only too happy to let them go ahead of me.

We were ready to go at 7:30 when self-assist began and every time they made an announcement they stressed to ONLY come down IF your specific deck was called. So we sat and waited until 10 am when they finally called our deck. I was anxious to get on the road because I had a 7 hour drive to get home. I hate to even complain, I've been on 9 cruises and honestly have never really had a complaint. I've never had this happen, so again just was curious how often this happens and if it is the new norm. My oldest has special needs and having to sit and wait could cause some issues, so I guess that's what sparked my concern. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences :)

May be becoming the new norm as it was also this way on the Conquest in Dec. Called a couple decks of self assist and then a couple decks of checked luggage. Then a couple more self assist. We waited about 1.5 hr with self assist. (We followed the orders and did not barge ahead before being called). I can see this making sense as it spreads out those with luggage to pick up, leaving time for crew to replace with more for the next group.

Lines moved very quickly this way after being called.