Debarkation procedures change?

[Gracie115]

Just read Project Gal's review of her Christmas Equinox cruise and was disturbed at her statements that X is now expecting luggage out in the halls BEFORE dinner the last night and also to vacate rooms by 7AM....has anyone else on any other ship experienced this? We were Equinox in November and this was not the procedure so I'm hoping it was a one time thing.....can anyone confirm or deny this change?

[Morgsmom]

Just read Project Gal's review of her Christmas Equinox cruise and was disturbed at her statements that X is now expecting luggage out in the halls BEFORE dinner the last night and also to vacate rooms by 7AM....has anyone else on any other ship experienced this? We were Equinox in November and this was not the procedure so I'm hoping it was a one time thing.....can anyone confirm or deny this change?

 

Just got off of Equinox this morning and since we were "walk offs" I cannot confirm the timing of putting out luggage but I CAN confirm the 7am room vacate notice.

[bethd]

We were on the December 11 sailing of the Eclipse and our luggage had be out by 10:00 PM. We were also told that we needed to be out of our cabins by 7:00 AM.

[Duanerice1]

We were on the December 11 sailing of the Eclipse and our luggage had be out by 10:00 PM. We were also told that we needed to be out of our cabins by 7:00 AM.

 

Ditto - sad way to end a vacation :) I thought it used to be 8 so I was a bit surprised.

[davekathy]

We put our luggage out when were done packing. Around midnight. Every Cruise we've been on we have always been out of our cabin between 7:15 and 7:30 AM. Only speaking for ourselves, no biggie.

Edited January 9, 2017 by davekathy

[Beanb41]

I find it absolutely incredible that vacating rooms by 7.00am instead of previous 8.00 am is such an issue. I cant help thinking about the number of early rises one does on a port intensive cruise in order to get ashore early to meet transport or make the most of ones day. I think its time someone got a grip of themselves. When we come on board we all want access to our cabins as soon as possible so lets give the stateroom crew some assistance. You have had your holiday and get off and let the new crowd start theirs.

[milesfromu]

When X changed its room steward assignments in the fall of 2016 one of the duties affected is luggage delivery and pickup. This used to be done by the assistant steward. Now everything is done by the steward. In October on the Infinity our steward pleased with us to have our luggage out by 6:00PM the evening before disembarkation so he could cover all his other responsibilities. Stewards are asking passengers to put the luggage out early, but I do not think the ship is officially.

[DiamondDiva]

Off Eclipse yesterday. All passengers had to be out of rooms by 7 am and luggage out by 10 pm the night before. We were told this was fleetwide.

[Beanb41]

Cabin stewards don't collect the bags on the last night. They have a team of people patrolling the corridors collecting bags and placing then in the respective bins according to time of disembarkation. If it was left to the cabin stewards they would be working until much later than normal. It is too much to expect bags out by 6.00pm when late dinner doesn't start until 8.30 and the late show doesn't end until 9.45.

[JFontaine]

I find it absolutely incredible that vacating rooms by 7.00am instead of previous 8.00 am is such an issue. I cant help thinking about the number of early rises one does on a port intensive cruise in order to get ashore early to meet transport or make the most of ones day. I think its time someone got a grip of themselves. When we come on board we all want access to our cabins as soon as possible so lets give the stateroom crew some assistance. You have had your holiday and get off and let the new crowd start theirs.

 

Speak for yourself please. I don't expect my suite to be available when I board; I am quite used to checking in at the finest hotels in the world where check in time is mid to late afternoon. And for that reason I don't board the ship until close to 2 pm; I stay out of the way of the people trying to prepare the ship. Maybe if some people "got a grip" and didn't rush on board demanding their cabin be ready this wouldn't be an issue.

 

The answer is to have a way to identify the cabins of the walk-offs and others who vacate their cabins early by their choice. Start on those cabins first.

Edited January 9, 2017 by JFontaine

[blueboro]

Interesting how HAL allows you to stay in your cabin until debarkation but then is able to turnaround and have cabins ready to go when boarding...sometimes as early as 11:30am.

[davekathy]

Speak for yourself please. I don't expect my suite to be available when I board; I am quite used to checking in at the finest hotels in the world where check in time is mid to late afternoon. And for that reason I don't board the ship until close to 2 pm; I stay out of the way of the people trying to prepare the ship. Maybe if some people "got a grip" and didn't rush on board demanding their cabin be ready this wouldn't be an issue.

 

The answer is to have a way to identify the cabins of the walk-offs and others who vacate their cabins early by their choice. Start on those cabins first.

 

It has been our experience that the cabin stewards are already posted in the hall ready to clean the cabins as they become vacant. That's usually when we say our goodbyes to our cabin steward. Gives us the opportunity to check out some of the suites on our floor. It is my opinion the get your luggage out early and vacate your cabin by 7:AM is a recommendation/suggestion and not mandatory.

Edited January 9, 2017 by davekathy

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We were in a Royal Site on Silhouette in December and had to put our luggage out by 10:00 and it was requested that we vacate the cabin by 7:00. I said something to our butler that we may not have it ready by 10:00 and he said he would alert his supervisor. We did have it out on time though. What was interesting was a butler from another area of the ship was dressed in casual cabin attendant clothes and was collecting luggage from our hall way.

 

We got out of the cabin shortly after 7:00 and the attendant was already working on another cabin.

[bEwAbG]

I find it absolutely incredible that vacating rooms by 7.00am instead of previous 8.00 am is such an issue. I cant help thinking about the number of early rises one does on a port intensive cruise in order to get ashore early to meet transport or make the most of ones day. I think its time someone got a grip of themselves. When we come on board we all want access to our cabins as soon as possible so lets give the stateroom crew some assistance. You have had your holiday and get off and let the new crowd start theirs.

 

And then you non-ironically complain about the request to have your bags out earlier to accommodate the turnaround?

 

It is too much to expect bags out by 6.00pm when late dinner doesn't start until 8.30 and the late show doesn't end until 9.45.

 

I do not expect my cabin ready as soon as boarding starts, and Celebrity still doesn't manage to give us access until after 1pm on most cruises anyway. And not all of us get up at the crack of dawn for excursions. I didn't even leave the ship on 2 of 3 ports on my last cruise, and I slept through breakfast every day. This is a change Celebrity is doing to make us fit their schedule rather than trying to determine if their schedule should be changed to accommodate their guests.

[CruisinNole]

Cabin stewards don't collect the bags on the last night. They have a team of people patrolling the corridors collecting bags and placing then in the respective bins according to time of disembarkation. If it was left to the cabin stewards they would be working until much later than normal. It is too much to expect bags out by 6.00pm when late dinner doesn't start until 8.30 and the late show doesn't end until 9.45.

We were on Reflection over Christmas and our cabin steward told us that he was responsible for collecting the bags.

[mom says]

I find it absolutely incredible that vacating rooms by 7.00am instead of previous 8.00 am is such an issue. I cant help thinking about the number of early rises one does on a port intensive cruise in order to get ashore early to meet transport or make the most of ones day. I think its time someone got a grip of themselves. When we come on board we all want access to our cabins as soon as possible so lets give the stateroom crew some assistance. You have had your holiday and get off and let the new crowd start theirs.

 

Get a grip? Seriously? Perhaps you are always an early riser. We rarely are. We don't take vacations that require us to be up and out if our room at the butt crack of dawn. Nor do I expect my cabin to be ready when I board, unless we board exceptionally late. Any more than I would expect my hotel room to be ready if I arrived early in the day. Nor does this early eviction result in earlier cabin access for arrivals.

 

This change can be laid squarely at the feet of the cost cutters. The cabin stewards now need more time to clean the cabins because they no longer have the help of the assistant stewards. The cutbacks in service personnel (Cabins and dining room) are one of the reasons that our cruise next month will likely be our last on X.

[LPCKG]

We've usually packed all hand luggage before we head for breakfast on the final morning then head back to the cabin to collect our small plug along bag before heading to a lounge area before disembarking.

 

Although 8am is only an hour different any earlier is unreasonable. This isn't what I consider reasonable when paying a few Thousand pounds each for our cruise. I remember being in cabins until 9am ish, waiting for our disembarkation time to be called. We didn't cruise this year but I really hope Celebrity views the material/guidance placed in cabin on the penultimate day.

 

On embarkation the cabin area is usually blocked off until 1pm. They really shouldn't allow new guests to board until 12noon to allow them to get on with cleaning/prep'ing the ship for the next cruise. We don't usually arrive at port until 1pm ish to enable us to board, eat and head straight to our cabin. Everyone does things differently and most people prefer there way of doing things on there holiday. This is merely what we like to do. We don't want to stop cruising so, for now, we'll carrying planning for cruise this summer.

[Fish Lover]

This was all heavily debated in the prior thread. Everyone can not vacate the ship at the same time nor wait in public areas starting at 7am and then have to wait for hours to disembark. It is also not right to expect people to get up at 6am in order to leave their cabin by 7am on the last day of their vacation. 8am is far more reasonable. Celebrity needs to understand that they have pushed the envelope too far.

[Iamthesea]

We don't mind vacating by 7:00 as long as the restaurants open earlier for breakfast. We like to leave our carry-on's in the stateroom while having breakfast, and then run back to the room for a few minutes after we eat to brush our teeth, etc..

 

And since we do not eat until late seating, having our bags out at 10:00 or even 11:00 is a bit inconvenient. That's why we prefer to take our luggage off ship on-our-own. ;)

[C-Dragons]

We were on Reflection over Christmas and our cabin steward told us that he was responsible for collecting the bags.

 

This was our experience last November on Reflection. Our cabin steward collected our luggage as soon as we placed it outside our suite.

[Gracie115]

Speak for yourself please. I don't expect my suite to be available when I board; I am quite used to checking in at the finest hotels in the world where check in time is mid to late afternoon. And for that reason I don't board the ship until close to 2 pm; I stay out of the way of the people trying to prepare the ship. Maybe if some people "got a grip" and didn't rush on board demanding their cabin be ready this wouldn't be an issue.

 

The answer is to have a way to identify the cabins of the walk-offs and others who vacate their cabins early by their choice. Start on those cabins first.

 

I agree completely...we've never arrived before noon...and usually between 1 and 2PM......

 

I have no problem with getting our luggage out by 10PM, before dinner is another story....and while 7AM generally is not a problem for us I'm sure someone with a flight after noon does not want to be tossed out of their room that early...I think it's unreasonable ....

[Happy2cruise]

We were on Reflection over Christmas and our cabin steward told us that he was responsible for collecting the bags.

IMHO, that is crazy:(

[chamima]

This was our experience last November on Reflection. Our cabin steward collected our luggage as soon as we placed it outside our suite.

 

It's possible the cabin stewards were just responsible for putting the luggage in the service elevator areas to get it out of the hallway.

On the last evening of our last cruise we happened to walk past that area while the door was opened and there was a ton of luggage stored in there.

 

 

And I agree that 7am is unreasonably early to be out of your cabin.

Edited January 9, 2017 by chamima

[DrivesLikeMario]

I think the 7am vacate time is ridiculous. 8am was early enough. Frankly, I'll get out when I'm ready. I'm not leaving the cabin after 8am, but I'm not gonna kill myself to get out at 7am only to wait around somewhere else for hours.

[Straughn]

Here is a wild and crazy thought--

 

Could this be the set up for a new revenue stream? If you want to stay in your cabin later than 7AM, pay an extra amount and you can do thought. I think there is a least one other cruise line who allows you a later departure for a fee.