Did I give myself enough time?

[psadvocate]

Freedom of the Seas pulls into St Maarten at 8am - I have an excursion at 8:40am and need to be at the A.C. Watham cruise terminal. Did I give myself enough time? Not sure if the boat ever pulls in early, or how early do I need to be ready to be one of the first off the boat?

[xxoocruiser]

Freedom of the Seas pulls into St Maarten at 8am - I have an excursion at 8:40am and need to be at the A.C. Watham cruise terminal. Did I give myself enough time? Not sure if the boat ever pulls in early, or how early do I need to be ready to be one of the first off the boat?

 

 

The time shown on the intinerary as to when the ships docks and the time that Customs actually clears the ship for passengers to disembark into port can vary. If the excursion was booked through the cruise line the time will be adjusted accordingly. If this is a tour you booked on your own than you may need to reconsider your timing .

[Mark_K]

Hopefully, your cruise is during a time the US is on DST. Otherwise, 8:00am ship's time is likely to be 9:00am local St Maarten time.

[mn_isla_girl]

Freedom of the Seas pulls into St Maarten at 8am - I have an excursion at 8:40am and need to be at the A.C. Watham cruise terminal. Did I give myself enough time? Not sure if the boat ever pulls in early, or how early do I need to be ready to be one of the first off the boat?

 

In general 40 minutes is more than enough time to get there. On most of my sailings they are not just pulling into a port at that time, they are actually docked and ready for passengers to debark. Now I suppose things happen here and there, but I've found that tour operators know the ships schedules and also if the ship is having problems and/or docking late they will wait. They want you to have a great experience, their livelyhood depends on it.

[BillOh]

The time shown on the intinerary as to when the ships docks and the time that Customs actually clears the ship for passengers to disembark into port can vary. If the excursion was booked through the cruise line the time will be adjusted accordingly. If this is a tour you booked on your own than you may need to reconsider your timing .

 

Good post, but I will add, if you did book this privately, contact the operator. Most good private excursion operators know that day how many people they have and from what ship they are coming in on. Most likely they will know before you if the ship is running late. We were an hour late coming into Costa Maya last May and the private tour operator was there waiting for us on the pier. We were the first of two ships there that day.

 

If you can, email the tour operator and ask the question, that will be the best answer of all and I will add these people depend on repeat business, good word, out mouth and internet referrals.

[Budget Queen]

I agree, verify this time DIRECTLY with the vendor. Did they recommend this time frame when you booked. IF they had no clue, and you never mentioned this, then do contact them and verify this time fits their recommendations. If it doesn't then go with their time recommendations and get it changed.

[north29]

Maybe a little apprehensive, but the tour operators understand the issues with the cruise ship docking, and will modify the time table to accommodate you.