Celebration Boarding Time

[opensaysme]

I received an email for my end of April cruise saying boarding starts at 12:30. That is pretty late compared to what I remember pre-"C". I remember boarding as early as 10:30 - 11 o'clock. What has been people's experience with this? I have been hearing people getting arrival times at around 10am. That's a long time to wait to board. Are cabins still ready by 1:30pm?

[CarnivalShips480]

 

4 hours ago, opensaysme said:

I received an email for my end of April cruise saying boarding starts at 12:30. That is pretty late compared to what I remember pre-"C". I remember boarding as early as 10:30 - 11 o'clock. What has been people's experience with this? I have been hearing people getting arrival times at around 10am. That's a long time to wait to board. Are cabins still ready by 1:30pm?

For Celebration, we had an arrival of 10:30 to 11:00 but we were allowed into the terminal at 9:45. Boarding started at 10:45 and cabins were ready at 1:30. I don't know if that boarding time you got sent was wrong or if something is different from our cruise.

[asalligo]

I have an arrival time of 10am next week and this guy on YouTube claims he entered the Terminal at 9:10 a few weeks ago. Unfortunately that does not mean that your cruise will not be boarding late. 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by asalligo

[opensaysme]

7 minutes ago, asalligo said:

I have an arrival time of 10am next week and this guy on YouTube claims he entered the Terminal at 9:10 a few weeks ago. Unfortunately that does not mean that your cruise will not be boarding late. 

 

 

thank you for that info and for the video! I will check out the video just because I like to! I saw that the cruise before mine is sold out. Maybe it’s because of the amount of ppl on board the previous cruise 🤔. I’m perplexed. 

[opensaysme]

32 minutes ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

 

For Celebration, we had an arrival of 10:30 to 11:00 but we were allowed into the terminal at 9:45. Boarding started at 10:45 and cabins were ready at 1:30. I don't know if that boarding time you got sent was wrong or if something is different from our cruise.

I sure hope it’s wrong. 

[asalligo]

57 minutes ago, opensaysme said:

thank you for that info and for the video! I will check out the video just because I like to! I saw that the cruise before mine is sold out. Maybe it’s because of the amount of ppl on board the previous cruise 🤔. I’m perplexed. 

Yes, the 9th, 16th and 23rd cruises have been sold out for a while now, but so were several previous cruises. There has to be something else occurring if boarding starts that late. Maybe a coast guard inspection or tour for travel agents. I certainly hope I am on the ship for a while come 12:30. 

[csm5986142]

3 hours ago, CarnivalShips480 said:

For Celebration, we had an arrival of 10:30 to 11:00 but we were allowed into the terminal at 9:45. Boarding started at 10:45 and cabins were ready at 1:30. I don't know if that boarding time you got sent was wrong or if something is different from our cruise.

 

This is exactly what we experienced on Celebration in January (I thought it was a very quick and efficient boarding process, especially compared to Mardi Gras).

 

Someone else posted about this recently and I believe the consensus was that the late embarkation time is unusual and nobody knows why for sure, but there were some guesses (link below).

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2924495-new-boarding-time/#comment-65027416

 

[BoozinCroozin]

Watched the part where they got there at 9:10. Not  outrageous if you have a 9:30 Arrival Time. Based on where they were at in the Terminal and have the Priority Boarding card, they were either Suites, Diamond, or Platinum. 

[herdcruiser]

We went on Celebration in February and also had an e-mail advising our arrival time was at 12:30pm. We ended up getting to the terminal at 10:45am and they let us on through and we were on the ship by 11:00am. We were prepared for them to say please step aside and wait for your arrival time but we thought we would take a chance and sure enough they let us on through.

[opensaysme]

6 hours ago, csm5986142 said:

 

This is exactly what we experienced on Celebration in January (I thought it was a very quick and efficient boarding process, especially compared to Mardi Gras).

 

Someone else posted about this recently and I believe the consensus was that the late embarkation time is unusual and nobody knows why for sure, but there were some guesses (link below).

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2924495-new-boarding-time/#comment-65027416

 

I actually found this post after I posted. I should have dug deeper before I posted. I searched first but not properly. Thank you!

[opensaysme]

So I called Carnival to inquire. The answer I got was she was able to check boarding times for this ship starting the beginning of April and onward and she was able to confirm that the boarding time is actually 1:00pm, boarding stops at 3pm and the ship leaves at 4pm. Priority boarding guests are given a boarding time of 12:30pm which explains why only diamond and platinum guests are reporting to have received the email and no one else has yet. I have fttf. She also assured me that there would be no way we’d board earlier than that. Idk if that part is true or not but I’m wondering if as of April they have started a new thing.

[WhiteOptima]

We board this Sunday and our time is 9:30.  Doing a B2B and checked in for the 4/16 cruise and check in was 10:00 and I did it late on the second day

[opensaysme]

10 hours ago, WhiteOptima said:

We board this Sunday and our time is 9:30.  Doing a B2B and checked in for the 4/16 cruise and check in was 10:00 and I did it late on the second day

Please report back on when board the ship!

[WhiteOptima]

On 4/5/2023 at 5:50 AM, opensaysme said:

Please report back on when board the ship!

We were dropped off at Terminal F by our Uber driver at 9:15.  3 lines outside Priority early and on time.  We were in Priority and they checked boarding passes and moved people to where they should be. In bldg and sitting in Platinum area by 9:30.  The A03 on our boarding pass doesn’t mean much.  We were given a Priority K pass.

 

I will say as we were going through security people were still getting off the ship so we may not be getting on for a bit.

[opensaysme]

14 hours ago, WhiteOptima said:

We were dropped off at Terminal F by our Uber driver at 9:15.  3 lines outside Priority early and on time.  We were in Priority and they checked boarding passes and moved people to where they should be. In bldg and sitting in Platinum area by 9:30.  The A03 on our boarding pass doesn’t mean much.  We were given a Priority K pass.

 

I will say as we were going through security people were still getting off the ship so we may not be getting on for a bit.

Thank so much for your kind comment about your boarding experience! So, when did you end up boarding after all? I am at the edge of my seat 🤣😇! Also have a wonderful cruise and I hope you are enjoying yourself so far!!!!!!!

[asalligo]

22 hours ago, WhiteOptima said:

We were dropped off at Terminal F by our Uber driver at 9:15.  3 lines outside Priority early and on time.  We were in Priority and they checked boarding passes and moved people to where they should be. In bldg and sitting in Platinum area by 9:30.  The A03 on our boarding pass doesn’t mean much.  We were given a Priority K pass.

 

I will say as we were going through security people were still getting off the ship so we may not be getting on for a bit.

I have a 10am check in time with FTTF and I plan on arriving at 9am. I do not mind waiting a while once I am in the terminal. 

 

 

[Illbcruzn4life]

10 hours ago, opensaysme said:

Thank so much for your kind comment about your boarding experience! So, when did you end up boarding after all? I am at the edge of my seat 🤣😇! Also have a wonderful cruise and I hope you are enjoying yourself so far!!!!!!!

So are you on the April 30th cruise?

[WhiteOptima]

14 hours ago, opensaysme said:

Thank so much for your kind comment about your boarding experience! So, when did you end up boarding after all? I am at the edge of my seat 🤣😇! Also have a wonderful cruise and I hope you are enjoying yourself so far!!!!!!!

Boarding started at 10:30.  Group A, B then G which was strange.  We were K and on by 11:00am.  FFTF was not in our sitting area.

 

A lot of kids but we have a Fwd balcony and also sat on Serenity today.  Getting plenty of steps!

[opensaysme]

8 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

So are you on the April 30th cruise?

I am!

[opensaysme]

3 hours ago, WhiteOptima said:

Boarding started at 10:30.  Group A, B then G which was strange.  We were K and on by 11:00am.  FFTF was not in our sitting area.

 

A lot of kids but we have a Fwd balcony and also sat on Serenity today.  Getting plenty of steps!

Great! Weird that FTTF was not in the same sitting area. I have FTTF!

[Illbcruzn4life]

7 minutes ago, opensaysme said:

I am!

us too! Never got an email though. We booked through a Carnival PVP

[opensaysme]

13 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

us too! Never got an email though. We booked through a Carnival PVP

I've only heard a very few people got the email. It's so weird. But after my investigations I have determined that the 1pm boarding time, 12:30pm for priority, is, I believe, a standard boarding time but usually they board early. I have heard from some people that the cruise that went out this Sunday started boarding at 10:30am. I was also told that a lot of people were reporting that their rooms weren't ready by the time they were supposed to be because the crew was backed up for some reason.

[Illbcruzn4life]

1 hour ago, opensaysme said:

I've only heard a very few people got the email. It's so weird. But after my investigations I have determined that the 1pm boarding time, 12:30pm for priority, is, I believe, a standard boarding time but usually they board early. I have heard from some people that the cruise that went out this Sunday started boarding at 10:30am. I was also told that a lot of people were reporting that their rooms weren't ready by the time they were supposed to be because the crew was backed up for some reason.

I already have transport scheduled so if we board later we’ll be sitting around the terminal for a little while. Let’s hope we board at the regular time.

[opensaysme]

23 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

I already have transport scheduled so if we board later we’ll be sitting around the terminal for a little while. Let’s hope we board at the regular time.

I'm so hopeful! I'm also super excited! Are you getting pretty excited?!

[Illbcruzn4life]

On 4/10/2023 at 10:07 PM, opensaysme said:

I'm so hopeful! I'm also super excited! Are you getting pretty excited?!

I thought I already replied to this but I don't see it so...

 

Super excited. Doesn't matter how many cruises we take it's always exciting when it's cruise time. Looking forward to trying the new Big Chicken lol.

 

As to the boarding time my PVP got back to me this afternoon and said 1pm is the normal time to board the ship. Sent me a new confirmation with the boarding time of 1pm of the start of boarding and 3pm as to the latest time you can board.

 

So that means they expect to process the whole ship and have everybody on board in 2 hours.

 

Guess we will find out on the 30th.