Carnival Sunshine - Silent Debarkation??

[MistyRo76]

I’ve read in someone’s previous Sunshine review, that the Port of Charleston doesn’t allow announcements while the ship is in port and thus thru do a “silent debarkation”. 
 

it’s been a while since I read this review and I can’t recall whose review it was to go back and refresh my memory! Can anyone elaborate on how this process works? I believe, if I recall correctly, that Carnival runs runs the announcements on your in-cabin TV screen. Is that accurate? 
 

we are driving to Charleston instead of flying so we won’t be in any hurry to debark. I was thinking it may be nice to just have a relaxing morning on the ship rather than rushing to get off. If we were hanging out on Lido enjoying breakfast, would they be posting the debark messages on the big screen? How would we know when it’s last call? 
 

Thanks! 

[shof515]

on the cabin tv and the big screen by the pool will be the muster/zone they are calling and they will put in a message that says last call. in the various lounges like the theater they will make announcement there . they will be no ship wide announcement

[ninjacat123]

Don't use your electronic car lock to make your car honk so you can find it.  Take a pic of your parking area on Embarkation for reference.  Come 2024, Charleston will not have us hooligans to contend with🤣

[mz-s]

It's all time based and they put up the zones on the TVs around the ship. It's not hard.

 

People act like it's hard and so they crowd the stairways etc, but the crew on Sunshine are good about keeping people out until it's their zone.

 

You've got a good plan to camp out on Lido until last call. Then it will be easy to find your car in the lot etc.

[mz-s]

I will also mention that if you leave your luggage outside your room on the last night and plan to stay on until last call, be nice and pick a later zone number for your bags. The terminal is small and cannot accommodate everyone's luggage so they have to shuffle it around a lot, especially for the longer voyages.

[pirate4me2]

As others have said, it sounds more intimidating/difficult than it really is. We have done it 3 times and found it easy. Just watch the TV until it's your zone to go! 

[MistyRo76]

5 hours ago, shof515 said:

on the cabin tv and the big screen by the pool will be the muster/zone they are calling and they will put in a message that says last call. in the various lounges like the theater they will make announcement there . they will be no ship wide announcement

Thank you! That's good to know! First time driving to our port city and I like the idea of not having to rush off the ship for once! 

[MistyRo76]

2 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Don't use your electronic car lock to make your car honk so you can find it.  Take a pic of your parking area on Embarkation for reference.  Come 2024, Charleston will not have us hooligans to contend with🤣

We actually have a Cruise & Park option at the hotel we are staying at pre-cruise. So we will likely just Uber or Lyft back to the hotel. Last thing I want to do is to do have to schlep around the parking lot looking for our car! LOL

[MistyRo76]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

I will also mention that if you leave your luggage outside your room on the last night and plan to stay on until last call, be nice and pick a later zone number for your bags. The terminal is small and cannot accommodate everyone's luggage so they have to shuffle it around a lot, especially for the longer voyages.

Good tip on the luggage! I may have not thought about that. But we will definitely do that if we decide to camp out on the ship until last call. We have an 8-9 hour drive home - so even getting off at 10, hopefully being on the road by 11, will still put us home before it gets too late. Hopefully the kiddo will be so worn out from all the fun she had on the cruise, that she'll sleep most of the way! lol 

[MistyRo76]

32 minutes ago, pirate4me2 said:

As others have said, it sounds more intimidating/difficult than it really is. We have done it 3 times and found it easy. Just watch the TV until it's your zone to go! 

I figured it wouldn't be too hard. I just wanted to make sure that we didn't need to be IN our cabin to see the zones being called. If we are going to lounge on the ship until last call, I don't want to be cooped up in the cabin. But sounds like that won't be an issue at all! And I love the idea of not having ship-wide announcements not going off every 5 minutes! 

[mz-s]

14 minutes ago, MistyRo76 said:

We actually have a Cruise & Park option at the hotel we are staying at pre-cruise. So we will likely just Uber or Lyft back to the hotel. Last thing I want to do is to do have to schlep around the parking lot looking for our car! LOL

 

I am not sure if things have changed recently but in the past, taxi/uber guests were expected to carry their luggage to the end of the pier to Concord St. to get picked up near the customs house.

[shof515]

9 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

I am not sure if things have changed recently but in the past, taxi/uber guests were expected to carry their luggage to the end of the pier to Concord St. to get picked up near the customs house.

it did not change, still the same

[MistyRo76]

18 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

I am not sure if things have changed recently but in the past, taxi/uber guests were expected to carry their luggage to the end of the pier to Concord St. to get picked up near the customs house.

How long of a walk is that? 

[mz-s]

7 minutes ago, MistyRo76 said:

How long of a walk is that? 

 

Not far, like walking from the front of the ship to the back probably. 

[MistyRo76]

8 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Not far, like walking from the front of the ship to the back probably. 

that's not bad! 

[mantle]

How the it work for those who want to carry off their luggage

[mz-s]

54 minutes ago, mantle said:

How the it work for those who want to carry off their luggage

 

You are given instructions on the final day of the cruise. Basically they tell you, based upon your cabin location, when to head to the lobby for disembarkation. If you are platinum/diamond/FTTF then you get separate instructions if you wish to take advantage of priority disembarkation.

 

Once you get through customs, they have shuttles that carry you to the parking lot. You can walk if you wish, but given the fences in the way it's a longer walk than it appears. And there are plenty of shuttles so generally it's not a bad wait. The shuttles have trailers to handle luggage.

[hapytobehr]

3 hours ago, MistyRo76 said:

I figured it wouldn't be too hard. I just wanted to make sure that we didn't need to be IN our cabin to see the zones being called. If we are going to lounge on the ship until last call, I don't want to be cooped up in the cabin. But sounds like that won't be an issue at all! And I love the idea of not having ship-wide announcements not going off every 5 minutes! 

You have to be out of your cabin by 8:30 AM at the latest.

[Guest BasicSailor]

1 hour ago, mantle said:

How the it work for those who want to carry off their luggage

More or less, it becomes a free for all.

[ninjacat123]

DH and I carried off our luggage and @mz-s is correct, it's a bit of a hike.  Especially the railroad tracks and lumpy, bumpy sidewalks and roads.  Need to be careful so you don't damage your luggage wheels.  I was pretty sweaty by the time we reached our car in the parking lot.

[mz-s]

29 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

More or less, it becomes a free for all.

 

They do their best to keep people out of the atrium unless it's time for their floor but yes it kind of does. I do enjoy platinum priority debarkation at Charleston, my wife and I are usually on I-26 on the way home by 7AM.

[Guest BasicSailor]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

They do their best to keep people out of the atrium unless it's time for their floor but yes it kind of does. I do enjoy platinum priority debarkation at Charleston, my wife and I are usually on I-26 on the way home by 7AM.

. I usually get up early enough to be the first ones in the P& D area, that's never happen. P&D's never sleep on the last night 🙃

[mz-s]

2 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

. I usually get up early enough to be the first ones in the P& D area, that's never happen. P&D's never sleep on the last night 🙃

last cruise I was staying deck 1 far aft, so the thrusters shook me awake as the ship came alongside in Charleston!

[Guest BasicSailor]

21 minutes ago, mz-s said:

last cruise I was staying deck 1 far aft, so the thrusters shook me awake as the ship came alongside in Charleston!

So much for a Silent Debarkation 🤣

[cacruisin]

So just out of curiosity, why is this?  Is it some Charleston rule?  Are those southern ears just too sensitive for loud speakers lol

Edited March 15, 2023 by cacruisin