Requesting info on staggered check in

[sprite]

Just got email from Carnival explaining that terminal doors open at 12:30 and boarding begins at 2.

 

We have the 12:30 check in window.

 

How does the staggered check in work? Will we be in a long line at the terminal doors waiting to get in but stuck behind passengers with a later check in? At what point in the process do they confirm your check in window time? Are you finding that passengers abide by the process and/or Carnival enforces it?

 

Thank you all, this process is new so I'm very curious and a serious planner. Need to be able to allay concerns of impatient DH and children (I can only use the "quit complaining, you're going a cruise" response so many times)!

[riffatsea]

What port?? They do not all handle these times the same way.

Generally folks with your check in time would be the ones getting in then and folks with later check in times would wait until their assigned times to get into the building.

[riclop]

They will not let you in until the time you picked.

[sprite]

Wondering about the Baltimore port. Thanks

 

Sent from my P01M using Forums mobile app

[glorialagos]

They will not let you in until the time you picked.

 

This was not the case on our recent trip out of the port of Miami.

 

Our friends had an 11:30 - 12 check-in time. We had 11 - 11:30. We dropped them off around 10 to return the rental and catch the shuttle back to the port. They went in immediately and waited inside. We arrived at our check-in time of 11 but had to wait outside because "inside was too crowded". They boarded before we did. (and we waited beyond our time of 11:30 outside)

 

So, we had an 11:00 check-in, got there on time and waited standing outside. They had an 11:30 check-in, got there early, waited inside, air-conditioned, seated and boarded before we did.

 

Staggered check-in may work if it's actually enforced but seemed to be no different out of Miami.

[sprite]

That's frustrating. Guess we'll just deal with whatever!

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Forums mobile app

[pusywillow]

Wondering about the Baltimore port. Thanks

 

Sent from my P01M using Forums mobile app

 

You won't have any problems in Baltimore. One of the easiest ports for check in and boarding.

[Nathanyell]

Baltimore boarding has changed. We arrived at 12:40 to a mad house. They will not let people even drop off or park before 12. It seemed like every priority person showed up at 12:30. They were boarding right away but the number of priority people was insane. If your boarding time is 12:30 which is the first group it'll be crowded.

 

We were on board around 1:30 with priority.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[HectorAchilleus]

Baltimore boarding has changed. We arrived at 12:40 to a mad house. They will not let people even drop off or park before 12. It seemed like every priority person showed up at 12:30. They were boarding right away but the number of priority people was insane. If your boarding time is 12:30 which is the first group it'll be crowded.

 

We were on board around 1:30 with priority.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

A similar thing happened to us on a cruise out of Miami last November. On a cruise just after Thanksgiving, there was a partyt for diamonds for all 78 of us. the Hotel Manager said that there were over 700 Plats, suites, "High Rollers?" and 300 FTTF. Almost everyone was priority on some level.

 

We waited for seven tender boats before we got one to Belize. Embarking was delayed until 12:30 because some young teens were hiding, so there were a lot of disgruntled Priority people. We did not get to our room until 1:00.

[First and Ten]

Baltimore boarding has changed. We arrived at 12:40 to a mad house. They will not let people even drop off or park before 12. It seemed like every priority person showed up at 12:30. They were boarding right away but the number of priority people was insane. If your boarding time is 12:30 which is the first group it'll be crowded.

 

We were on board around 1:30 with priority.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Were you priority?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[sprite]

Wow. Talk about ups and downs of experiences.

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Forums mobile app

[Nathanyell]

Were you priority?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

 

Yes. But that number of priority made the wait for security really long as well.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[First and Ten]

Yes. But that number of priority made the wait for security really long as well.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Nathan, there is really no way around that....the Diamonds and Plats reach their status and exercise their earlier boarding perk....not much you can do about that....In theory, you could limit FTTF sales, but that is literally pure profit for Carnival.

Another reason, if you limit FTTF sales, the "firstie" cult would literally lose their minds. They may storm the Carnival corporate HQ's....You got people crazy about FTTF to the point some people claim they wont cruise without it :rolleyes:

 

My suggestion has always been, to avoid crowds, show up 2 hrs prior to sail time. Barring any delays from the previous cruise getting back in or a problem with disembarking, you will be on the ship in about 10 mins

[Nathanyell]

I'm not complaining any day on a ship is better than working. Just was stating the facts of what boarding is like in Baltimore these days. Its also because they moved terminal open time to late (12:30).

 

Back when they let people on at 10 and started boarding around 11:30-12 it was much less hassle.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[elainmir]

We had FTTF back in November but chose the earliest embarkation time because we did not know what the port would be like due to it being one of the first couple of cruises out of Mobile again. Needless to say the employees were CLUELESS. Not being mean but there was no dedicated priority ANYTHING...for diamonds, plats, FTTF..it was just chaos. No embarkation times were being enforced. When people showed up they just crowded in there. CHAOS. Hubby swore he'd rather drive 5 hrs to Jax, 5 to Tampa or 6 to Port Canaveral than deal with that again. We are going to try it one more time in June of this year. If it is not way better then we may exclude Mobile from any future cruises for us.

[First and Ten]

We had FTTF back in November but chose the earliest embarkation time because we did not know what the port would be like due to it being one of the first couple of cruises out of Mobile again. Needless to say the employees were CLUELESS. Not being mean but there was no dedicated priority ANYTHING...for diamonds, plats, FTTF..it was just chaos. No embarkation times were being enforced. When people showed up they just crowded in there. CHAOS. Hubby swore he'd rather drive 5 hrs to Jax, 5 to Tampa or 6 to Port Canaveral than deal with that again. We are going to try it one more time in June of this year. If it is not way better then we may exclude Mobile from any future cruises for us.

 

 

Or, just show up at 2 or 2:30 and it will be a lot less stressful [emoji106]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[nwo4life]

We had FTTF back in November but chose the earliest embarkation time because we did not know what the port would be like due to it being one of the first couple of cruises out of Mobile again. Needless to say the employees were CLUELESS. Not being mean but there was no dedicated priority ANYTHING...for diamonds, plats, FTTF..it was just chaos. No embarkation times were being enforced. When people showed up they just crowded in there. CHAOS. Hubby swore he'd rather drive 5 hrs to Jax, 5 to Tampa or 6 to Port Canaveral than deal with that again. We are going to try it one more time in June of this year. If it is not way better then we may exclude Mobile from any future cruises for us.

 

 

We cruised from Mobile in December with no issues at all. We are Platinum and our experience was exactly the same as our trips from NOLA.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Elaine5715]

This was not the case on our recent trip out of the port of Miami.

 

Our friends had an 11:30 - 12 check-in time. We had 11 - 11:30. We dropped them off around 10 to return the rental and catch the shuttle back to the port. They went in immediately and waited inside. We arrived at our check-in time of 11 but had to wait outside because "inside was too crowded". They boarded before we did. (and we waited beyond our time of 11:30 outside)

 

So, we had an 11:00 check-in, got there on time and waited standing outside. They had an 11:30 check-in, got there early, waited inside, air-conditioned, seated and boarded before we did.

 

Staggered check-in may work if it's actually enforced but seemed to be no different out of Miami.

Not my experience at all in Miami. Terminal personnel were taking great pleasure in checking and denying entrance to early arrivals. They carefully looked at my paperwork for Priority notation.

[lennythenose]

We have done the staggered check in at Galveston, NOLA, and Mobile and all 3 were checking times before allowing in the building.

[pusywillow]

Baltimore boarding has changed. We arrived at 12:40 to a mad house. They will not let people even drop off or park before 12. It seemed like every priority person showed up at 12:30. They were boarding right away but the number of priority people was insane. If your boarding time is 12:30 which is the first group it'll be crowded.

 

We were on board around 1:30 with priority.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Wow! We sailed out of Baltimore in Sept and it wasn't like that. Good luck!

[sprite]

We're on board! Arrived at port at 12:45, parked car at 1:15, waited in security line for a bit, on board at 2!

 

Thank you to whoever shared the tip to pay cash, shorter line than credit. However, we were going to tip the porter with our change from parking but they took bags before then. So he ended up getting $10 instead of $5.

 

Sent from my P01M using Forums mobile app

[First and Ten]

We're on board! Arrived at port at 12:45, parked car at 1:15, waited in security line for a bit, on board at 2!

 

Thank you to whoever shared the tip to pay cash, shorter line than credit. However, we were going to tip the porter with our change from parking but they took bags before then. So he ended up getting $10 instead of $5.

 

Sent from my P01M using Forums mobile app

 

 

Showing up later, the process is so much easier and less stressful. Especially for those who proclaim they "Hate waiting in lines" (somehow these people think they are the only ones who don't like waiting [emoji849])

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[fair-winds39]

Just got email from Carnival explaining that terminal doors open at 12:30 and boarding begins at 2.

 

We have the 12:30 check in window.

 

How does the staggered check in work? Will we be in a long line at the terminal doors waiting to get in but stuck behind passengers with a later check in? At what point in the process do they confirm your check in window time? Are you finding that passengers abide by the process and/or Carnival enforces it?

 

Thank you all, this process is new so I'm very curious and a serious planner. Need to be able to allay concerns of impatient DH and children (I can only use the "quit complaining, you're going a cruise" response so many times)!

 

We just came off the Carnival Pride on April 2. We chose 12:30 check-in time. Our shuttle from the hotel dropped us off at the port about 12:15-12:20, and there was a line outside of the terminal. We waited for about 10 minutes in line, and a worker from the terminal came along and said if you have 12:30 check-in, to move forward. We did, and we showed our boarding pass that had our check-in time visible. We moved right into the terminal. The scanning line moved very quickly. DH placed our carry-on's, etc. on the conveyor belt and walked through the scanner. I didn't go through the scanner (hip replacement), I was wanded separately. The time frame from arriving at the port until we were seated in the boarding area with our Sail and sign cards was about 20 minutes. Very quick after entry into terminal.