Boarding time question

[coaster]

We stuck to our check in time back in May on Allure. It was a b2b for 14 nights so no rush to board. Going only for nights on 6 nights in August. Noticed in May they were not checking times in Ft Lauderdale like they did out of Tampa late last year. No way the crowd to board had times equal or before us at 11:30am.

 

Anyway, seen reports that suites down to Diamond's are called first to board. How does that work when you are assigned a boarding time now? We have 11:30 am boarding time again in August.  We are Diamond also.

Edited July 15, 2022 by coaster

[Sunshine3601]

Seems like each cruise port handles a little different.      If you are in a suite then you may arrive an hour early.    

I have not seen any early entry for Diamond members nor have a seen any separate check in line for D or D+.     I have only seen for pinnacles and suites.   

Best to just show up at your scheduled time. 

[HicksRA]

Check in time and boarding times/procedures are totally different. 

[Biker19]

43 minutes ago, coaster said:

We have 11:30 am boarding time again in August. 

You have a check in time of 11:30 - boarding probably well under way by then.

[poocher]

You have an 11:30 CHECK IN time.  That does not mean you BOARD at 11:30.  

[coaster]

15 minutes ago, poocher said:

You have an 11:30 CHECK IN time.  That does not mean you BOARD at 11:30.  

I understand that. It was Ft Lauderdale that was not verifying check in times. Should be the same standard no matter what port you sail from. Oasis class really makes it a tough as you need to book shows when you board. No frenzy in Tampa as show reservations are not required on the smaller ships from there, but I give them credit to verify check in times. 

 

Just do not like all the cheaters in Ft Lauderdale who disregard their check in time and board early. Comedy shows go quick.

 

Edited July 15, 2022 by coaster

[poocher]

I get your point but I’m not sure the port staff is thinking about show reservations.  The staggered arrival times are supposed to space out the crowds in the terminal as i’m sure you know.  Their actual goal, IMHO, is to just get everyone on the darn ship as fast as possible.  I don’t think they care about our desire to see shows.

[coaster]

5 minutes ago, poocher said:

I get your point but I’m not sure the port staff is thinking about show reservations.  The staggered arrival times are supposed to space out the crowds in the terminal as i’m sure you know.  Their actual goal, IMHO, is to just get everyone on the darn ship as fast as possible.  I don’t think they care about our desire to see shows.

They should still enforce check in times is my point. I am happy to play by the rules, but many don't. Check in times are there for a reason and need to be enforced. Why can Tampa enforce the rules and Ft Lauderdale can't?

Edited July 15, 2022 by coaster

[miyanc]

Me included, but maybe we just let those that have cruised out of fort lauderdale answer the question in the op.  I cant remmeber my experiences from the 2 different rcl cruises I took.  I have even been out of that terminal unless its changed since 2017.  I am going in oct so I am interested as well.  I usually try to be one of those who gets on asap.  mostly like most of us on this forum.  

[coaster]

2 minutes ago, miyanc said:

Me included, but maybe we just let those that have cruised out of fort lauderdale answer the question in the op.  I cant remmeber my experiences from the 2 different rcl cruises I took.  I have even been out of that terminal unless its changed since 2017.  I am going in oct so I am interested as well.  I usually try to be one of those who gets on asap.  mostly like most of us on this forum.  

Unfortunately things have changed. Used to be able to book shows weeks before sailing on Oasis class. Now, you can only book them in the pier area. Why I believe there is more of demand to board early to get the shows you want to go to. 

[taglovestocruise]

Boarded Navigator in March and no one checked anyone's boarding time.

[poocher]

Didn’t notice what was happening at PC.  Had an early arrival time, one of the first to board too.  But I didn’t even try to get show reservations.  Actually never crossed my mind that this would be a reason people wanted to board early.  I thought it was to start drinking!!  😁😁

Edited July 16, 2022 by poocher

[coaster]

2 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Boarded Navigator in March and no one checked anyone's boarding time.

Strange, get an email day before boarding and Royal says to adhere to your check in time.

Edited July 16, 2022 by coaster

[poocher]

And they say you’ll get an email when it’s your turn to check in too.  Don’t believe that either.

[coaster]

Many proudly admit here checking in early prior to their assigned time. That tells me the 'honor system' is not working. Enforce the times and keep it fair for those who check in 45 days prior. Too many think they are VIP's.

[taglovestocruise]

42 minutes ago, coaster said:

Many proudly admit here checking in early prior to their assigned time. That tells me the 'honor system' is not working. Enforce the times and keep it fair for those who check in 45 days prior. Too many think they are VIP's.

Some fly in and have nothing to do but head to the port.  Some try to time the drive and get there a hour or so early.  We were driving to Disneyland the morning of the cruise to have breakfast with our son, his wife and two kids.  20 minutes before arriving at Disney our son called to cancel because his 1 year old was sick. We said heck with Disney and drove straight to the port, got there almost two hours early.  No lines and they were letting everyone board around 11:30. Some don't cheat, it is just the way things work out.

[coaster]

1 hour ago, taglovestocruise said:

Some fly in and have nothing to do but head to the port.  Some try to time the drive and get there a hour or so early.  We were driving to Disneyland the morning of the cruise to have breakfast with our son, his wife and two kids.  20 minutes before arriving at Disney our son called to cancel because his 1 year old was sick. We said heck with Disney and drove straight to the port, got there almost two hours early.  No lines and they were letting everyone board around 11:30. Some don't cheat, it is just the way things work out.

VIP status for you! Disregarded your check in time. It is cheating. Seems to be common. 

Edited July 16, 2022 by coaster

[coaster]

Tired of the excuses for those who choose to check in earlier prior to their assigned time.  Always done it 45 days ahead of time to get an earlier time since last year. Many do it at the stoke at midnight also. I sleep in and do it in the early morning and get a 30 minute later time than the first check in time. It is the way the process is suppose to work since the changes to check in due to Covid.

[PhillyFan33579]

4 hours ago, coaster said:

We stuck to our check in time back in May on Allure. It was a b2b for 14 nights so no rush to board. Going only for nights on 6 nights in August. Noticed in May they were not checking times in Ft Lauderdale like they did out of Tampa late last year. No way the crowd to board had times equal or before us at 11:30am.

 

Anyway, seen reports that suites down to Diamond's are called first to board. How does that work when you are assigned a boarding time now? We have 11:30 am boarding time again in August.  We are Diamond also.

You don’t have an 11:30 AM boarding time, you have an 11:30 AM check-in time. Like you mentioned, I just board when they call for Diamonds to board. Prior to that you just wait in the terminal until they begin the boarding process, assuming you have already checked in. 

[coaster]

My issue is allowing people to check in prior to their assigned times.  It has moved on those who disregard their check in time. I was wrong to state boarding time and not 11:30 check in time on my OP.

Edited July 16, 2022 by coaster

[PhillyFan33579]

2 minutes ago, coaster said:

My issue is allowing people to check in prior to their assigned times. I was just asking about boarding in my original post. It has moved on those who disregard their check in time.

I have been on 13 cruises since last August. Last year I didn’t see any port enforcing check-in times, but I assume this was due to the low passenger counts. Over the last several months I have seen both Port Miami and Port Canaveral strictly enforcing check-in times for several cruises and not enforcing check-in times for other cruises. I have no ideas why, with my best guess being some port staff working on different days enforce rules more than other workers.  

[coaster]

Ship capacity was low for our cruises out of Tampa late last year , but they did a great job enforcing check in times. Again, should be enforced no matter what ship or port to be fair.

Edited July 16, 2022 by coaster

[luckybecky]

2 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Some fly in and have nothing to do but head to the port.  Some try to time the drive and get there a hour or so early.  We were driving to Disneyland the morning of the cruise to have breakfast with our son, his wife and two kids.  20 minutes before arriving at Disney our son called to cancel because his 1 year old was sick. We said heck with Disney and drove straight to the port, got there almost two hours early.  No lines and they were letting everyone board around 11:30. Some don't cheat, it is just the way things work out.

 

Thank you for this! To accuse people of "cheating" seems a bit harsh. We have only cruised on RC once, last month. We had to check out of our B&B by 10 am and had no place to leave our luggage. Our check in time was noon. We had no place else to wait so we took RC's 20 min shuttle from the city center (Ravenna) to the port, fully expecting that we would have to wait for at least an hour before being allowed to check in and board. 

 

This was not the case. The port staff greeted us warmly and seemingly had no concern about our boarding time, ushering us through the boarding process very quickly. We even said to someone, "we're early..."  It was not an issue. We had no intention of "cheating" or jumping the line. There was little to no line and they just let us on board. 

 

I understand the concern about show reservations. I have never been on a cruise that required reservations, including this one. Maybe that is a big deal on some ships. But to immediately paint people as somehow unethical because they arrive at the port early seems a bit of a stretch. Just saying. 

[coaster]

22 minutes ago, luckybecky said:

 

Thank you for this! To accuse people of "cheating" seems a bit harsh. We have only cruised on RC once, last month. We had to check out of our B&B by 10 am and had no place to leave our luggage. Our check in time was noon. We had no place else to wait so we took RC's 20 min shuttle from the city center (Ravenna) to the port, fully expecting that we would have to wait for at least an hour before being allowed to check in and board. 

 

This was not the case. The port staff greeted us warmly and seemingly had no concern about our boarding time, ushering us through the boarding process very quickly. We even said to someone, "we're early..."  It was not an issue. We had no intention of "cheating" or jumping the line. There was little to no line and they just let us on board. 

 

I understand the concern about show reservations. I have never been on a cruise that required reservations, including this one. Maybe that is a big deal on some ships. But to immediately paint people as somehow unethical because they arrive at the port early seems a bit of a stretch. Just saying. 

I get your situation and the cheater term might be harsh. Lines are longer for Oasis class ships and sounds like you were on a smaller ship without as many passengers and no need to book shows.  Line was huge at 11:30am check in on Allure in Ft Lauderdale. Oasis class only allows you to book the shows in the pier area also and not weeks ahead of time like in the past which leads many to ignore thier check in time. The need to board early as possible does not apply to you. Thank you for your thoughts.

Edited July 16, 2022 by coaster

[BirdTravels]

There is nothing that allows suites to check in earlier than the printed time on your set sail pass. That is pure urban legend.