Self-Disembarkation Question

[vicky3vicky]

We will be going on a Journey Cruise in early November. The last shuttle for the company we booked with leaves the port at 10 AM. My undertanding is that because of it being a Journey Cruise that about 80% of the passengers will be platinum or diamond. We were thinking about doing self-assist debarkation so that we do not take a chance of missing our ride. [ I think the name of the company is GoOrlando] I was wondering if self-disembarkation was also done by priority level or not. Also, if we do self-disembarkation is there time for breakfast? Thank you.

[Athankfulheart]

There is priority self disembarkation, early flights and then they dismiss the rest of the self assist by deck. I've always been off the ship much earlier than 10. You can certainly take your time, but you should be able to make your goal just fine. You definitely have time for breakfast. Even the dining room is opened early 😃

[vicky3vicky]

Thank you so much. Do you know what time self-disembarkation starts and if we are supposed to go to a certain area? In the past we always stayed on the ship until the near end.

[Lee Cruiser]

5 hours ago, vicky3vicky said:

Thank you so much. Do you know what time self-disembarkation starts and if we are supposed to go to a certain area? In the past we always stayed on the ship until the near end.

We just got back from our cruise on the Breeze.  We are platinum, and while we didn't do self- assist, those who were priority and did self-assist were off the ship around 7 am.  We did priority zone debarkation and we were off the ship and on our shuttle by 7:45 a.m.  They were scheduled to start calling others for self-assist about 7:45, but not sure if that was the case or not.  With it being a journey cruise, there is no telling how long priority debarkation will take, so it could be later.  Maybe someone who has been on one can give you a better idea.

 

There will be some designated waiting areas depending on the ship.  Go to the lowest deck they allow (often the promenade on deck 5) because getting an elevator is next to impossible.  You will have to wait a while, or do like we did and take the stairs.

[maryred]

23 hours ago, vicky3vicky said:

We will be going on a Journey Cruise in early November. The last shuttle for the company we booked with leaves the port at 10 AM. My undertanding is that because of it being a Journey Cruise that about 80% of the passengers will be platinum or diamond. We were thinking about doing self-assist debarkation so that we do not take a chance of missing our ride. [ I think the name of the company is GoOrlando] I was wondering if self-disembarkation was also done by priority level or not. Also, if we do self-disembarkation is there time for breakfast? Thank you.

Yes self debarkation is done by priority level. Diamond, Platinum, and suite guests will receive instructions to report to a specific lounge about 15-30 minutes prior to the expected docking time to await being left off first. These departures are not announced over the PA system so many may not realize until a finial priority self assist announcement is made shipwide. Next those with early air arrangements made by the cruise line and those on the cruise line sponsored shuttle and after cruise excursions wishing to do self debarkation are allowed to leave the lounge they were instructed to meet in. Sometimes if there is not a lot of passengers that with ship sponsored post cruise plans and doing self debarkation, Guest Services will allow passengers with private arrangement to "sign-up" for this special early departure (must be asked for more later than 2 days prior to returning to the home port). Again not really announced outside of the lounge area, which leds many to wonder why such a lag between between the priority announcement and the first deck is called for self-debarkation

Next they will allow those that report to the main theater for self-debarkation to leave. Usually done in order of arrival people will come down as close as they can get to the theater starting an hour to 90 minutes prior to docking. The exact timing of this does depend on how many still need to be let out of the priority and ship sponsored lounges. As the theater is emptying they will start to call  for those self debarking deck by deck, some starting top to bottom others going the opposite way. While this is going on usually those with priority zone debarkation are leaving as well (again not really announced outside of the lounges they meet in). We have noticed this to be the most congested time at the gangplank customs booths, with those using porter services having a faster line (but availability of porters vary terminal to terminal). Many times about halfway through the deck by deck self-assist is occuring, the lower number zones (5-15) of relaxed debarkation start being call in groups of 2-3 zones.

In September 2018 the Paradise in Tampa, they did not issue general disembarkation zone luggage tags through the stewards, you had to go to an area near Guest Services the day before to pick-up tags. Not sure if they were just testing this out on a small ship to see if it would work for them, as many other mass market cruise lines already handle debarkation tags this way now.

 

23 hours ago, vicky3vicky said:

Thank you so much. Do you know what time self-disembarkation starts and if we are supposed to go to a certain area? In the past we always stayed on the ship until the near end.

The overall ship's maximum passenger capacity does not change just because it's a Journey's cruise. The general timeline of disembarkation will occur very much along the same schedule as a regular cruise, just with the details of general debarkation passengers being slightly more towards the end those times listed. The ship still needs to be cleared within the same time frame as normal for the next set of passengers. On average what slows down relaxed debarkation is the increased number of bags needing inspection since people pack more for a longer cruise, so most of the delays that occur with relaxed debarkation are the zones waiting for Customs to clear their bags before being called. There may also be delays in the terminal from Customs doing the bag checks of those doing self- assist debarkation.

Your best bet here is to Google for scanned copies of your ship's FunTimes for the port you are leaving from. Many that do this will include a copy of the debaktion instructions. Exact timing will depend on Customs clearing the ship but if the docking time aligns with yours you can use that as a general template. Of course things will be a little skewed because of the increased number of Diamonds and Platinums (though I've never seen 80% D&P capacity on a Journeys cruise, it's more like 1/3rd to 2/5th) that take Journeys cruises but the overall timeline should not be far off.

[vicky3vicky]

Thank you. I feel much more at ease. 

[JaniceB]

Thanks for the detailed information provided.  

[stellarose]

we did self disembark. we had breakfast. 

[FloridaGram]

Vicky, I am a Vicki also, and I think I will be on the same cruise as you. The Breeze?  Maybe our paths will cross. This is my first Journeys cruise and I hope it will be extra fun. You will be off in plenty of time. There will be multiple way and if all else fails I have some number 1 tags I keep in my suitcase when they used to pass them out. We have been using self disembark but may not this cruise because the last one we took was a nightmare of platinum guests all trying to be first.

 

[pe4all]

23 hours ago, maryred said:

 

In September 2018 the Paradise in Tampa, they did not issue general disembarkation zone luggage tags through the stewards, you had to go to an area near Guest Services the day before to pick-up tags. Not sure if they were just testing this out on a small ship to see if it would work for them, as many other mass market cruise lines already handle debarkation tags this way now.

They just did this on Sensation. (2 days ago)  We received zone 1 (platinum) in our stateroom the night before debark.  We also saw luggage tags right next to the Guest Services desk that evening - starting with zone 5.  I guess 1-4 went to Diamond/Plat/etc.