When do you like to arrive at port?

[tomsuelaw]

Sailing out of Port Canaveral in January. Trying to decide when would be the best time to arrive at port. ON our very 1st cruise out of Miami, we knew nothing about cruising and being the procrastinators we were, we decided to get on at the last minute. We pretty much walked right on the ship.

 

Since then, I have spent a lot of time on this board and have decided that vacation starts when I get onboard the ship, thus causing more of a rush for me to get on. The past couple times we got to POM around 11ish and waited in ridiculous long lines.

 

So what time do you prefer to arrive at port? What are your experiences with wait times in Port Canaveral?

 

Thanks!

[susie8862]

10:30. Usually on board by 11:30. Have a great cruise.:)

[klmorg]

10:30. Usually on board by 11:30. Have a great cruise.:)

 

Same here. We usually arrive between 10:30 & 11. LOVE to get on board early & get the party started! It's like another cruise day.:D

[lastinga]

Arrive at 10:30 and on board around 11:15-11:30. A little extra fun time!

[Tapi]

Not me. We arrive around 1-2:00pm. We like to arrive when the lines have died down, and we like to get onboard and be able to go straight to our cabin to drop our carry-ons and then head to the Lido buffet without having to stand in long lines.

 

With that said, we boarded the Carnival Dream early last October (around 10:30am) because my PVP along with a group of other PVP's from Miami were meeting us on the ship for lunch and a ship tour.

 

What a cluster!! The line of people trying to check in at that time was loooooong. It went out the front door, and along the sidewalk. Inside the building, the line twisted and turned as far as our eyes could see. (thankfully, we bypassed it since we had VIP :D)

 

Once onboard, we headed to the Gathering (lido buffet) for lunch. Another cluster!!The line was impossibly long with people clogging hallways with their carry-ons. We finally found a table (we crammed 10 people at a table designed for 4 because we had no choice). We sat there surrounded by our bags and other people's bags just waiting for the cabins to become available so that we could drop our stuff off.

 

By the time our PVP debarked shortly before sail away, we were exhausted. We actually had to take a nap that afternoon.

 

We'll go back to our "old ways" for our next cruise....

[nbsjcruiser]

Sailing out of Port Canaveral in January. Trying to decide when would be the best time to arrive at port. ON our very 1st cruise out of Miami, we knew nothing about cruising and being the procrastinators we were, we decided to get on at the last minute. We pretty much walked right on the ship.

 

Since then, I have spent a lot of time on this board and have decided that vacation starts when I get onboard the ship, thus causing more of a rush for me to get on. The past couple times we got to POM around 11ish and waited in ridiculous long lines.

 

So what time do you prefer to arrive at port? What are your experiences with wait times in Port Canaveral?

 

Thanks!

 

Typically we cruise out of Miami or FLL. We usually stay close by at a local hotel and we generally leave the hotel for the port at about 10am. We are usually arriving at the pier by 10:15 or so and we walk right through security, up stairs, fill out our forms, set up our sail and sign and we're sitting down around 10:45 waiting for the doors to open. We are usually among the first on the ship and the first to hit the buffet and strap on the feed bag! :). Then we sit and have a drink and watch all those suckers line up outside the terminal.

 

Day 1 is the first day of your cruise. Get there early and enjoy!

 

As an aside - a funny story. We were cruising on the Liberty a couple years ago and we arrived at the pier first. We entered the building and snaked our way through the roped off "cattle" line. As we were approaching the representative who would take our passport and verify our paperwork I happen to notice this older lady enter the building. She literally ran in, ducked under the ropes and jumped in front of us just as we were getting ready to hand our paperwork to the representative. Apparently she wanted to be the first to check in. I'm not one who is known to be lost for words but I was there. She handed the rep her paperwork and the rep responded with "I will be glad to check you in as soon as I check these people in. They were here before you afterall". DW and I were really left shaking our heads. Good end to the story was that we met those people several times on the ship and struck up conversations with them. They seemed like nice people and so I'm glad we didn't let their early discretion set us off.

[cjkumbaya]

We like to arrive between 10:00 and 10:30. Once we are at the terminal it doesn't matter to us when we get on board...we know that we are on vacation.

[golfadj]

10:30. Usually on board by 11:30. Have a great cruise.:)

 

Exactly what we do.

[m*u*g*]

Schedule your shuttle or taxi to pick you up at 10am. You'll arrive between 10:15-10:30. You will breeze through check-in and boarding and be eating before noon.

 

The traffic really picks up after 11am (morning flight arrivals, slow movers, etc). When we got there, there were less than a couple hundred people already checked in. By the time we boarded just after 11:30am, it seemed like a couple thousand.

[tomsuelaw]

 

As an aside - a funny story. We were cruising on the Liberty a couple years ago and we arrived at the pier first. We entered the building and snaked our way through the roped off "cattle" line. As we were approaching the representative who would take our passport and verify our paperwork I happen to notice this older lady enter the building. She literally ran in, ducked under the ropes and jumped in front of us just as we were getting ready to hand our paperwork to the representative. Apparently she wanted to be the first to check in. I'm not one who is known to be lost for words but I was there. She handed the rep her paperwork and the rep responded with "I will be glad to check you in as soon as I check these people in. They were here before you afterall". DW and I were really left shaking our heads. Good end to the story was that we met those people several times on the ship and struck up conversations with them. They seemed like nice people and so I'm glad we didn't let their early discretion set us off.

 

Loved your story. Thanks for sharing. Cool that you hit it off with them later that week. Did they know they did that to you?

[nbsjcruiser]

Loved your story. Thanks for sharing. Cool that you hit it off with them later that week. Did they know they did that to you?

 

Oh yeah she knew. Her husband was talking to us (I don't think he knew who we were) and she showed up a few minutes into the conversation. You could tell by the look on her face she knew. Didn't bother us and in the end, didn't bother them.

[tomsuelaw]

Not me. We arrive around 1-2:00pm. We like to arrive when the lines have died down, and we like to get onboard and be able to go straight to our cabin to drop our carry-ons and then head to the Lido buffet without having to stand in long lines.

 

With that said, we boarded the Carnival Dream early last October (around 10:30am) because my PVP along with a group of other PVP's from Miami were meeting us on the ship for lunch and a ship tour.

 

What a cluster!! The line of people trying to check in at that time was loooooong. It went out the front door, and along the sidewalk. Inside the building, the line twisted and turned as far as our eyes could see. (thankfully, we bypassed it since we had VIP :D)

 

Once onboard, we headed to the Gathering (lido buffet) for lunch. Another cluster!!The line was impossibly long with people clogging hallways with their carry-ons. We finally found a table (we crammed 10 people at a table designed for 4 because we had no choice). We sat there surrounded by our bags and other people's bags just waiting for the cabins to become available so that we could drop our stuff off.

 

By the time our PVP debarked shortly before sail away, we were exhausted. We actually had to take a nap that afternoon.

 

We'll go back to our "old ways" for our next cruise....

 

I can understand this. There is certainly an appeal to this approach. This is how my parents roll too, they show up at 2pm. However, on our last cruise out of POM, the lines were so long and there was a hold up for over an hour. Even at 3pm the line was still out the door and wrapped around the terminal. They had to push back muster drill and sail-away because they were still checking people in. We had arrived at 11am and did not get on the ship until 2pm. I suppose any check-in will seem like a breeze after that one.

[K.T.B.]

10:30. Usually on board by 11:30. Have a great cruise.:)

 

Ditto.

 

And this was the case for me when I was on Spririt recently. I think was actually on board a little before 11:30...

[mrpayroll]

Usually arrive around 10:30.

[Ramrac]

We like to arrive between 10:00 and 10:30. Once we are at the terminal it doesn't matter to us when we get on board...we know that we are on vacation.

 

This is what we also do. Love being one of the first on the ship!

[marshhawk]

I think on our next Cruise we will take the Tapi approach, and take the later shuttle to the ship. On our last cruise the hotel made us aware that there were problems with the tides affecting the ship (Fascination ) getting under the bridge, then their computer system went down. Carnival asked the hotels to hold all shuttles incoming until they got every one off. We didn't leave the hotel until 5, got on board at 7:45, and we probably would have been out there until 9 but our friend had had surgery and complained to security that she could no longer stand, they rushed us through....that was RUSH. Their system was so screwed up, that we had our pictures for our sail and sign taken at the door of the ship. The ship left the dock at 10 something, and we didn't have a muster drill until the next morning around 9:30. After the Costa disaster, I don't think the cruise lines will do that again.

But I hate getting up on the lido and everyone has all their toting bags with them and they put them on seats and take up sitting for others. The lines are atrocious to get food, you have all this stuff with you, that you have to tote for at least 2 hours before you get in your cabin and unload it. And that is when you get on board after 11:20. Maybe since I will be cruising in warmer weather this time, people will be in the pools rather than huddling in the lido restaurant.:o

[Jenny in TX]

We usually arrive between 10-10:30 and we have always been on the ship within 30 minutes. I am usually up and ready to walk out the door by about 8, but DH holds me back and we usually leave for port around 9:15-9:30.

[mibarron]

My cruise on CCL Glory is next week, leaving from NY. So, I'm actually driving from PA to NY and going to have the fun joy of driving through traffic, paying the $35 a day for parking (total $210) and then driving back home through traffic when it's over. My goal is to get there between 10 & 11 am. We'll see.

[stargate fan]

Sailing out of Port Canaveral in January. Trying to decide when would be the best time to arrive at port. ON our very 1st cruise out of Miami, we knew nothing about cruising and being the procrastinators we were, we decided to get on at the last minute. We pretty much walked right on the ship.

 

Since then, I have spent a lot of time on this board and have decided that vacation starts when I get onboard the ship, thus causing more of a rush for me to get on. The past couple times we got to POM around 11ish and waited in ridiculous long lines.

 

So what time do you prefer to arrive at port? What are your experiences with wait times in Port Canaveral?

 

Thanks!

 

We arrive much earlier than everyone else here has posted-between 8:30 and 9:00 am. We go into the building, make friends with the Carnival people, and people watch. I'd much rather sit in the port building and check in with no line than sit in our hotel room.

[beshears]

I have never cruised from your area when flying in.

 

I know a lot of people like to fly in the day before and stay all night, so they will have plenty of time to get to the ship. If I take off a day before the cruise, than that is additional day to be taking off for vacation, where I might want to use it some other time.

 

We normally fly in about 3 hours before, and it seems to be a perfect time. By the time we arrive at the ship (we have already put all our info in Carnivals computer, so they are READY for us), we only have about an hour before we are ready to check everything out.:)

[nlktx49]

We usually arrive between 10 and 10:30 to get on early. Our last cruise, in February on the Magic, we didn't get to the port until a little after 11. What a difference that 30 minutes made! The line was so long, although it moved quickly, but it was after noon before we got on board. At least I knew from reading CC to head to the the Cucina del Capitano for lunch to avoid all the lines in the buffet!

[CaliCash]

Newbie here. :) My wife and I will be hopping on a plane from @ 12:40am (California time, leaving from California obviously haha), stopping in Houston and arriving in Orlando by 10:30am local time. I hear it takes about 45 mins from Orlando Int'l airport to reach the seaport. So, I'm guessing after picking up our luggage and getting on the shuttle, we'll be at the seaport around noon. This is prob right in the middle of the rush, isn't?

 

So for us our vacation starts at about 9pm on August 24th (Cali time). The sooner the better if ya ask me!

[gobucks_43228]

We usually arrive in the 10:30-11:00window. However last week we arrived at 12:30ish and walked right on the ship. No lines.no wait.

[deborahjo]

I am one of those people who wants to be at the port as early as possible. I do not mind sitting in the terminal if I get on the ship sooner. By 8:30 for me.

[BenjiRodney]

11:30