How Early Can you show up on Embarkaion day to get on the ship?

[cruisingbajan]

Hi Guys,

 

at the time of my next cruise it will be over 5 years since my last cruise.

 

I know Carnival has changed its Embarkation Procedure and you now have assigned times to board the ship.

 

Is this the same for NCL or can we embark when we want to?

 

Regards,

[BirdTravels]

Some cruises will have "time to arrive at port". That time is NOT enforced currently. 

 

Most NCL cruises will start priority boarding (suites, frequent cruisers) shortly before 11:00 am. General boarding before 11:30. We normally show up at the port around 10:15 so we can get through security and check-in and take a breath before boarding. 

[don't-use-real-name]

Well first things first - Your ship has to come in - and then be disembarked of all of its guests

and any government activity.

Generally about 4-5 hours after the arrival of your ship you will be given an opportunity to

join any ques or lines forming to board.

In a suite - past guest - your line and waiting time will be minimal.

You maybe able to board well before your cabin is ready for occupancy and have a bite to eat

at one of the restaurants or buffet.

NCL does send out a suggested boarding time - you don't have to mind that so much as noted

it is a suggested time - in any event you want to be on board at least the two hour period

before sailing for any life boat drills and signing up for dining and shore excursions.

 

Thus plan to arrive about 3 hours after your ship has arrived - check any luggage that needs to

go aboard - pass security - register and get your key card(s) and await the boarding call.

 

Wait should not be long unless your ship was late getting in or some other action has occurred.

Depending on the ship and port there maybe more than one boarding point note the instructions.

 

[rmurray847]

40 minutes ago, Bajan Keith said:

Hi Guys,

 

at the time of my next cruise it will be over 5 years since my last cruise.

 

I know Carnival has changed its Embarkation Procedure and you now have assigned times to board the ship.

 

Is this the same for NCL or can we embark when we want to?

 

Regards,

Everything is a trade off.  (As others have said, you can ignore your "assigned" time.)  If you arrive 10:15 to 10:30ish, you'll arrive at what is often the craziest time.  The debarkation is just wrapping up and people are still waiting on their rides and such to leave.  LOTS of people arrive early so it can have a bit more of a "madhouse" feeling.  But you'll ultimately get on the ship in the early group.  Come a little later, and you MIGHT have less chaos to deal with, but you'll miss time on the ship.  In our early days of cruising, we came later so we could spend more time in our embarkation city (Rome & Barcelona, so that was understandable)...but now we enjoy our time on the ship enough that we skew earlier.  But even that is subject to change for us.  

 

But to answer you original question, I think 10:15 is the earliest reasonable time.  You CAN arrive sooner, but you really will be twiddling your thumbs.  I would hate to get there so early that I couldn't immediately hand-off my luggage to a porter.

[cruisingbajan]

1 hour ago, rmurray847 said:

Everything is a trade off.  (As others have said, you can ignore your "assigned" time.)  If you arrive 10:15 to 10:30ish, you'll arrive at what is often the craziest time.  The debarkation is just wrapping up and people are still waiting on their rides and such to leave.  LOTS of people arrive early so it can have a bit more of a "madhouse" feeling.  But you'll ultimately get on the ship in the early group.  Come a little later, and you MIGHT have less chaos to deal with, but you'll miss time on the ship.  In our early days of cruising, we came later so we could spend more time in our embarkation city (Rome & Barcelona, so that was understandable)...but now we enjoy our time on the ship enough that we skew earlier.  But even that is subject to change for us.  

 

But to answer you original question, I think 10:15 is the earliest reasonable time.  You CAN arrive sooner, but you really will be twiddling your thumbs.  I would hate to get there so early that I couldn't immediately hand-off my luggage to a porter.

 

Thanks for the info. 

 

On our previous cruises we would normally leave our hotel around 9:30/10 to get to port, so based on your info we can pretty much "carry on" (no pun intended) with our tradition.

[Birdie And Sue]

You can show up any time you want, days ahead of time in fact.  However you will not be allowed in the terminal until they start admitting people which is usually an hour or two after the ship docks and is cleared for debarkation.  After that you sit around and wait until your assigned boarding is called.  Normally passengers are gouped into boarding group numbers, with Haven, VIP,  ADA, and platinum/platinum plus passengers all being boarded before group #1 is called.  But you can show up any time you want!

[Birdie And Sue]

18 minutes ago, Bajan Keith said:

 

Thanks for the info. 

 

On our previous cruises we would normally leave our hotel around 9:30/10 to get to port, so based on your info we can pretty much "carry on" (no pun intended) with our tradition.

 

 

What pun?

[cruisingbajan]

Just now, Birdie And Sue said:

 

 

What pun?

 

Just now, Birdie And Sue said:

 

 

What pun?

 

I guess an internal one😄. We usually have eveything packed in our carry ons. a WEAK pun i know. LOL😀

[Birdie And Sue]

2 hours ago, don't-use-real-name said:

Well first things first - Your ship has to come in - and then be disembarked of all of its guests

and any government activity.

Generally about 4-5 hours after the arrival of your ship you will be given an opportunity to

join any ques or lines forming to board.

In a suite - past guest - your line and waiting time will be minimal.

You maybe able to board well before your cabin is ready for occupancy and have a bite to eat

at one of the restaurants or buffet.

NCL does send out a suggested boarding time - you don't have to mind that so much as noted

it is a suggested time - in any event you want to be on board at least the two hour period

before sailing for any life boat drills and signing up for dining and shore excursions.

 

Thus plan to arrive about 3 hours after your ship has arrived - check any luggage that needs to

go aboard - pass security - register and get your key card(s) and await the boarding call.

 

Wait should not be long unless your ship was late getting in or some other action has occurred.

Depending on the ship and port there maybe more than one boarding point note the instructions.

 

 

 

You CANNOT simply join any QUEUES or lines that form.  You are assigned a boarding number and you board when that number is called.

NCL sends out suggest CHECK IN times not boarding times.

[Birdie And Sue]

1 minute ago, Bajan Keith said:

 

 

I guess an internal one😄. We usually have eveything packed in our carry ons. a WEAK pun i know. LOL😀

 

 

Well below weak.  The saying goes, if you have to point out a pun, it really does not exist!

[TMLAalum]

@Bajan Keith

I thought your pun was fine. BTW our DD & family lived in Barbados from '05-'09 and we loved our visits to your beautiful island.

[Greenpea2]

1 hour ago, Bajan Keith said:

 

 

I guess an internal one😄. We usually have eveything packed in our carry ons. a WEAK pun i know. LOL😀

I got the joke. 😊 

[cruisingbajan]

I guess the pun flew over the Birdie's head![emoji16][emoji6]

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[cruisingbajan]

[mention=120870]Bajan Keith[/mention]
I thought your pun was fine. BTW our DD & family lived in Barbados from '05-'09 and we loved our visits to your beautiful island.

Thanks. Have you visited since they left?

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[cruisingbajan]

 
 
Well below weak.  The saying goes, if you have to point out a pun, it really does not exist!

Thanks for the input!

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[TMLAalum]

13 hours ago, Bajan Keith said:

Thanks. Have you visited since they left?

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We've not returned but the family visited a few years ago. My DSiL might have the opportunity to work there again, but DD wants to wait until their youngest is out of high school!

[bonvoyagie]

On most of our cruises we have arrived around 11 or 12 am and have been boarded shortly after going through the queues. However our last two cruises have been in suites so the wait in the lounge area was not so bad - in fact both times we barely had time to eat a cookie.

We will be testing things however on our next cruise as we are flying in the same day - non stop flight same time zone. If all goes to plan we will be arriving at the airport at 7:30 AM and have pre arranged NCL transportation from the port to the pier. I am sure that we will have to wait somewhere - probably at the airport for the first shuttle to arrive from the ship. BTW the reason we arrive so early is because of the history of SFO being fogged in that time of year causing delays. We chose the earliest of three flights that arrive prior to our boarding cutoff to give us some margin.

[cruisingbajan]

 
We've not returned but the family visited a few years ago. My DSiL might have the opportunity to work there again, but DD wants to wait until their youngest is out of high school!

Maybe your next cruise will have Barbados as one of the stops. Hopefully SIL will take up the opportunity. How soon until youngest finishes HS?

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[js]

I do the same as most others have stated.  We always plan to be walking out our hotel room with our luggage at 10:00 am.  This gets us to the port, depending on where we are staying between 10:15 am - 10:30 am.  I feel this is a good time to get there, wait a little bit and be the first group on the ship.

 

Enjoy!

 

[rmurray847]

18 hours ago, Birdie And Sue said:

 

 

What pun?

The double meaning of "carry on."  Carry on bags / carry on as in "continue as you were".  Seemed straightforward.  Pretty important for you to criticize a joke you didn't get though, I guess.  Certainly will help all of us plan better cruises in the future.

[Birdie And Sue]

3 hours ago, rmurray847 said:

The double meaning of "carry on."  Carry on bags / carry on as in "continue as you were".  Seemed straightforward.  Pretty important for you to criticize a joke you didn't get though, I guess.  Certainly will help all of us plan better cruises in the future.

 

 

LOL thanks for the totally unnecessary explanation.   I guess my post went over your head.

[Birdie And Sue]

19 hours ago, Bajan Keith said:

I guess the pun flew over the Birdie's head!

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Now THAT was funny!

[Hockeydad1972]

It really depends on if your a rush to be in the ship as early as possible.. We have arrived as early as 8 am when we wanted to get Vibe passes and have always been successful and in boarding group 1. (We don’t qualify in any way for pre boarding) . They usually will open the check in around 10. After that you go to a lounge type area where you will wait and receive a boarding group #. After pre boarding guests they start with group 1 and work their way up. Usually around 11:30 they will start barring any issues with the prior cruise. 

 

I do feel thou if you arrive at lets say 11 you would not be much behind everyone and won’t wait as long and will basically walk in after check in. Really depends if you have a need to be in early for any reason like I said. 

 

We are in the Escape on 6/16 out of NYC so I’m not sure if it is different than Miami where we cruised prior..

 

Hope this helps..

[cruisingbajan]

It really depends on if your a rush to be in the ship as early as possible.. We have arrived as early as 8 am when we wanted to get Vibe passes and have always been successful and in boarding group 1. (We don’t qualify in any way for pre boarding) . They usually will open the check in around 10. After that you go to a lounge type area where you will wait and receive a boarding group #. After pre boarding guests they start with group 1 and work their way up. Usually around 11:30 they will start barring any issues with the prior cruise. 
 
I do feel thou if you arrive at lets say 11 you would not be much behind everyone and won’t wait as long and will basically walk in after check in. Really depends if you have a need to be in early for any reason like I said. 
 
We are in the Escape on 6/16 out of NYC so I’m not sure if it is different than Miami where we cruised prior..
 
Hope this helps..

Yes it does. The general consensus seems to be that anytime after 10 is pretty good.

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