First to board? Family of the day?

[DukeBlueDevil]

We went on the Fantasy in October, and I was wondering how a family gets the privilege of being the very first to board the ship? I think they referred to them as the 'family of the day".

[moki'smommy]

What we were told....one of the check in clerks is randomly assigned each day to select the "family of the day." He or she can then use any criteria they wish to select the family.

 

Common similarities in choice include a medium sized family (4-6 people are common) with well behaved children (cooperating during check in). Wearing cute shirts, matching clothes, or whatever doesn't seem to hurt. There is absolutely no guarantee that any of these things will get you chosen. The first step is that you have to go to the check in station of the person who was assigned to make the choice that day. Since this changes with each cruise, it is totally unpredictable. Then you have to check in between the start of check in (about 10:30) and a few minutes before the start of boarding (about 11:15) as they need just a minute to brief you and escort you to the front.

 

Actually, the family of the day boards after the concierge guests....but there is no announcement for concierge. They are escorted from their waiting area thru a side door where most people don't notice that anything is happening. Then comes the "Welcome the Family of the Day" announcement. They get some other nice perks also (or used to).

[bluesub]

We got it on our first cruise on the magic. We were not dressed matching or anything like that (I actually wished I had dressed a little better than I was, having to stand in front of the whole terminal). Kids weren’t misbehaving but were excited. No perks except kids registration they took us straight to the front of the line in the terminal and first to board after b2b and concierge. But it was pretty cool.

 

 

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[moki'smommy]

If you got no other perks, they have cut back a little on the deal....

Choice--as above, totally up to the CM doing check ins who was assigned to choose that day. He or she can use any criteria desired to make the decision. It can even get down to "I'm running out of time and have to get this done" and just giving it to the next family in line.

 

We were delighted when a member of our roll call group got it once--they did have the matching t shirts and looked like a Disney family on a commercial. We've also seen it with no special clothes or anything special. What we've never seen is a family of adults only.

[hollyisu]

My brother, his wife and their daughter we selected as family of the day. My brother was torn because his 2 other kids were checking in with other staterooms. There were 9 of us ages 4-70 traveling together. He decided to accept and the 3 of them were at table on the side waiting to board. The rest of us were over visiting with them in our matching shirts. The cast member saw us in our matching shirts and moved the rest of us to the front. My parents had planned this trip for all of for 2 years and getting selected as family of the day was really neat.

 

 

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