How Soon can you arrive at Port to board?

[bochest124]

Leaving on the Bliss out of Miami in February.  We are staying in Miami the night before and hoping to get on the ship as early as possible the next day.  Wanted to know if there was a time that we should shoot to arrive at port.  Thanks for any insight!

[Laszlo]

You can arrive at 5 am lol. However the doors don't usually open until about 9am. When you do your online checkin you'll be asked for a time you want to check in. Some people follow it some don't

[bochest124]

Thanks!  What time do they normally start boarding people onto the ship?

[RedwingHockeyFan]

Also, if you check in super early, expect to wait around for a while because you won't be able to get on the ship that early.  Passengers from the cruise before yours will still be getting off.

[casofilia]

In general the time you choose is not mandatory just advisory, at present that is!!  If you arrive at 10am there will be people already waiting, flyins arriving at sparrow f..., but that is when we leave our hotel normally in a taxi for any port.  Then you may well have to wait till 11am + to start the process of doing the paperwork and getting in the line for Security.  Actual boarding may start as early as 11.15 or it may not start till nearly noon.   

[RedwingHockeyFan]

Last year at Port Canaveral, we got there shortly before 9 am and the doors weren't open yet.  We waited behind 200 people or so standing on a platform that didn't hold that many.  The crowd had overflowed onto the escalator platform but it didn't stop people from using it.  So every time a few more people, ignoring the advice from people on the platform, tried coming up the escalator there would be a game of human bowling that I enjoyed watching from stairs :P.  Once the doors opened it took less than 20 minutes for us to get all checked in but we waited nearly two hours to get on the ship.  They gave you a card with a letter or number on it and started boarding the ship by those cards after they let the haven people on.  From what I remember from Miami was that it was very similar but the terminal was smaller, thus more crowded where you waited to board after checking in.

[BirdTravels]

17 hours ago, bochest124 said:

Leaving on the Bliss out of Miami in February.  We are staying in Miami the night before and hoping to get on the ship as early as possible the next day.  Wanted to know if there was a time that we should shoot to arrive at port.  Thanks for any insight!

We arrive around 10:15. Gives us time to get through security and checkin. Boarding of priority guests starts around 11:00. General boarding around 11:15-11:30. 

 

Buffett and The Local open for lunch at 11:30. 

 

Main Dining Room (where we eat) and Margaritavile (extra charge) open at noon.

 

When we board, we take care of entertainment bookings at the Boxofficw (Deck 7, Forward, Starboard entrance to theater). That includes go karts, laser tag, Escape Room, comedy shows, and Canvas by U painting (extra charge). Then go to Thw Social (Deck 6 Mis) to make any dining changes to dining. Then go to lunch. 

[roger001]

18 hours ago, bochest124 said:

Leaving on the Bliss out of Miami in February.  We are staying in Miami the night before and hoping to get on the ship as early as possible the next day.  Wanted to know if there was a time that we should shoot to arrive at port.  Thanks for any insight!

We also like to get the vacation started as early as possible.  At all the ports we've cruised from, we've usually shot for about a 10 - 10:30 port arrival time.  The terminal is usually open and accepting check in by then.  If you're not a suite, you'll be given a group boarding number, and those numbers are called and boarding begins around 11:15 to 11:30.   This all depends on how quick the ship can get the other guests off the ship and get it all cleaned and ready for turn around.  Rooms are then usually ready by about 1 or 1:30.   Have fun.  

[islesdave]

Security usually starts scanning people about 9:30; check in opens at 10.  Priority boarding starts around 11, then 11:20 or so the general boarding starts.  I usually try to arrive at PoM between 8:30-9.  Nobody can board until they get a 0 count from previous week's sailing.

[marktwothousand]

1 hour ago, islesdave said:

Security usually starts scanning people about 9:30; check in opens at 10.  Priority boarding starts around 11, then 11:20 or so the general boarding starts.  I usually try to arrive at PoM between 8:30-9.  Nobody can board until they get a 0 count from previous week's sailing.

Interesting! I always wondered what would happen if a passenger simply decided not to get off, maybe they had a friend who was coming on the next sailing, decided to stay with their friend, in their cabin under the radar, eating at the buffet all week...LOL! Would the ship really hold boarding because 1 person didn't get off?

 

I am sure that once the person did decide to get off, they would be in big doggie-doo, but still. Holding the entire boat just because they're not at 0? What if there were administrative or system problems that caused the total passenger count to be incorrect as debark, and in fact, everyone did get off, even if the system showed  they didn't.

[islesdave]

44 minutes ago, marktwothousand said:

Interesting! I always wondered what would happen if a passenger simply decided not to get off, maybe they had a friend who was coming on the next sailing, decided to stay with their friend, in their cabin under the radar, eating at the buffet all week...LOL! Would the ship really hold boarding because 1 person didn't get off?

 

I am sure that once the person did decide to get off, they would be in big doggie-doo, but still. Holding the entire boat just because they're not at 0? What if there were administrative or system problems that caused the total passenger count to be incorrect as debark, and in fact, everyone did get off, even if the system showed  they didn't.

There's a show called Mega Ships which details operations of large ocean liners, both cargo and cruise ships.  There was one on the Oasis a few years ago, and they detailed turnaround day, showing the passengers leaving, the crew and port handling loading of supplies and deliveries, to the check in area.    

 

All passengers must be accounted for, even people staying and doing a back to back, depending upon the port, are either told to disembark and follow a port employee to a room or meet in a restaurant and are accounted for that way.  You'd get ship security on a search, starting with your cabin.  Security probably has a list of people's names and their cabin numbers; and if they don't, they can get one very easily.  You'd get ousted by the cleaning crew if you decided to try to hang out in a bathroom or other public area.  I don't know what they would do if their computer system wasn't working or a card didn't scan properly.  That's why there's someone watching the gangway.