Boarding Zones

[mdsgu]

Sailing from Mobile in a week.  I chose an arrival appt slot of 10:30-11:00 (first available was 10-10:30).  We have Boarding Zone B01.  Assuming we check in by 11am, what time can we expect to be on board?

[JT1962]

It will depend on how quickly the previous passengers get off the ship. I was in Group B1 on the Ecstasy in June, arrived at 10:00 for my 10:00-10:30 appointment, had to wait until about 10:40 to check in and was on the ship

about 11:40. 

[ninjacat123]

We were in AO1 for 10:00-10:30 check in.  We were in our Ecstasy cabin by 11:13 (timestamp on photo) so it was pretty efficient.  Have a great cruise!

[wemjam]

All 3 ships I have been on we started boarding around 11am this year.  Be advised though all sailings the rooms are not ready until 1:30pm.  This has been across the board for us.  While you can board, they are still cleaning rooms and don't want you to go to your room until 1:30pm.

 

Diamond and Platinum can go to their room and drop luggage and leave if they want, but they request you not to go to your room otherwise to stay until they make the announcement they are ready.  It just makes it harder for the Stewards to get their jobs done.

[groundloop]

Yep, it's all over the place as to how long it'll take you.  You're totally at the mercy of how long it takes the previous passengers to get off and clear customs, the crew to get the ship ready, etc. etc.

 

Interestingly I was recently on a Holland America cruise and you can walk right on the ship and go straight to your cabin after you finish the check-in process.  They assign your arrival time instead of letting you pick, I imagine that allows them to get cabins ready in 'blocks'.  We had about a 10 minute wait in line when we arrived at the terminal, about five minutes to get through three stations at check-in and then on the ship and into our cabins.

[Tradestock]

I agree the above posts are realistic times on a normal day.  Events can and do happen out of anyone's control that will push embarkation much later in the day.  Our last cruise out of Mobile we were group A1, suite priority, and we boarded at approximately 4:30 in the afternoon.  The ship had encountered mechanical problems at port the day before, and began the domino affect of late time for the next sailing.  Mobile can also have port closures for fog during certain times of the year, twice we have received an extra day at sea on the return and once delayed on embarkation for weather. Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Tradestock
grammar