Check-in opens 23 Sept. It's 01:30 and I still can't select an arrival time

[rae8836]

Check-in was available to enter travel info for my wife and myself (which I did successfully) but the 'Arrival Time' item on the check-in page comes back with a 'Not quite ready for you' box.  Two most recent cruises (Nov 2022 and Apr 2023) let me select an 'Arrival Time' 15 or 20 mins after midnight.  Any one aware of any issues?

[Coralc]

Try the app or computer, depending on what you are using. Or just try in the morning. In most cases it won't matter. ☺️

[mets123]

1 hour ago, rae8836 said:

Check-in was available to enter travel info for my wife and myself (which I did successfully) but the 'Arrival Time' item on the check-in page comes back with a 'Not quite ready for you' box.  Two most recent cruises (Nov 2022 and Apr 2023) let me select an 'Arrival Time' 15 or 20 mins after midnight.  Any one aware of any issues?

What time zone are you in? It's 12 est.

[rae8836]

06:30 EST and still can't access an Arrival Time.

[dhuefner]

I had to use the Royal Caribbean app and not their website

 

[Saab4444]

For this you stay up all night and write messages?

[barbeyg]

1 hour ago, Saab4444 said:

For this you stay up all night and write messages?

I sleep six hours most nights myself. 🙂 I figure the OP would have had some distressful posts in between if an all-nighter. 😁

 

Glad to see you are excited about your cruise, @rae8836 !  Hope you have a great time.  I must confess, a few years back, I stayed up for an iPhone launch. 😁 These days I just get up early if I want one release day.  

[OCSC Mike]

1 hour ago, Saab4444 said:

For this you stay up all night and write messages?

 

And you take the time to judge someone for this?

[ChinaShrek]

I'm not going to judge the OP. I got stuck with a 2:30pm check-in time once because I forgot all about checking in. Never again!

[OCSC Mike]

2 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

I'm not going to judge the OP. I got stuck with a 2:30pm check-in time once because I forgot all about checking in. Never again!

 

No reason to judge them anyway but totally understandable. We always have the earliest time at PC (10:30) and even boarded earlier than that last cruise. I really like boarding as early as possible. Others don't care as much and that's fine too.

 

We have a last minute cruise on hold for next month while my wife figures out if she can go. If we do, we'll wind up with a later time. I've made peace with it and will just be thankful if I get to go on an "extra" cruise since we normally only sail during summers and spring break do to her teaching schedule.

 

 

[ChinaShrek]

1 minute ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

 

We have a last minute cruise on hold for next month while my wife figures out if she can go. If we do, we'll wind up with a later time. I've made peace with it and will just be thankful if I get to go on an "extra" cruise since we normally only sail during summers and spring break do to her teaching schedule.

 

 

I never thought about booking last minute cruises. People say they can be a good deal but the late boarding time would be annoying for me .

[OCSC Mike]

3 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

I never thought about booking last minute cruises. People say they can be a good deal but the late boarding time would be annoying for me .

 

Living an hour from PC, I used to do it somewhat frequently (most not super last minute though one was 20 days out). That was before there were assigned arrival times though and there were more deals to be found back then.

 

The late boarding time is a downside (although you could always show up earlier if you want to risk  having to wait) and with current pricing being a bit nuts, I started booking much farther out... this one just happened to be a good price on a weird schedule that allows my wife to not have to miss much work. It's a 5-nighter, WED-MON, and there's no school that Friday. She can go back to school straight from the port when we disembark that Monday (doesn't sound fun to me but she did it once last year). Sometimes ya do what ya gotta do for the love of cruising (although she has so many vacation days saved up she doesn't have to, she just prefers to).

[ChinaShrek]

Just now, OCSC Mike said:

 

Living an hour from PC, I used to do it somewhat frequently (most not super last minute though one was 20 days out). That was before there were assigned arrival times though and there were more deals to be found back then.

 

The late boarding time is a downside (although you could always show up earlier if you want to risk  having to wait) and with current pricing being a bit nuts, I started booking much farther out... this one just happened to be a good price on a weird schedule that allows my wife to not have to miss much work. It's a 5-nighter, WED-MON, and there's no school that Friday. She can go back to school straight from the port when we disembark that Monday (doesn't sound fun to me but she did it once last year). Sometimes ya do what ya gotta do for the love of cruising (although she has so many vacation days saved up she doesn't have to, she just prefers to).

I am a high school history teacher as well. I completely get it. I love traveling but hate missing my classes.

[TravelBluebird]

2 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

I'm not going to judge the OP. I got stuck with a 2:30pm check-in time once because I forgot all about checking in. Never again!

 

This is totally me for my Wonder cruise next week. I’m used to Carnival where check in is 14 or 16 days before the cruise, so 30 days before, I go to see when check in is. HA. When check in WAS. I got a 1:30 check in time, the absolute latest I’ve ever boarded a ship.  Good thing I’m staying at a Marriott where I can get a late check-out. 

 

I have now lived and learned and won’t make that mistake again.

[cruiseboy89130]

49 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

I got a 1:30 check in time, the absolute latest I’ve ever boarded a ship.

I'm totally surprised people actually pay attention to the boarding time - since Royal really doesn't care at all.... specialy anything after 11 am...

[TravelBluebird]

1 hour ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

I'm totally surprised people actually pay attention to the boarding time - since Royal really doesn't care at all.... specialy anything after 11 am...

 Wait, really?  Doesn’t that create a huge bottleneck at the port? 

[taglovestocruise]

On 9/23/2023 at 10:43 AM, TravelBluebird said:

 Wait, really?  Doesn’t that create a huge bottleneck at the port? 

We have had four cruises in the last 18 months. Never once was any checkin time actually checked. Most reports have been almost no checking anywhere.  Checkin times and Covid requirements are dead. 

[NoShoes2]

On 9/23/2023 at 8:02 AM, OCSC Mike said:

 

No reason to judge them anyway but totally understandable. We always have the earliest time at PC (10:30) and even boarded earlier than that last cruise. I really like boarding as early as possible. Others don't care as much and that's fine too.

 

We have a last minute cruise on hold for next month while my wife figures out if she can go. If we do, we'll wind up with a later time. I've made peace with it and will just be thankful if I get to go on an "extra" cruise since we normally only sail during summers and spring break do to her teaching schedule.

We like to get on as early as possible too! Our last cruise was our first experience with the online check-in process and choosing a boarding time. I was up at midnight… 

 

 

[murfturf]

We haven't cruised in 4 years... we did not check in when the email came, because in the past Diamond members could check in whenever. Is this still the case? We found we have 2:00-2:30 pm checkin time now, and I had no idea it would do that. Anyone try to get in earlier than their time have such? 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, murfturf said:

Is this still the case?

Sure, you can check in any time inside 45 days but as you found out you may not get the check in time you wanted. An earlier slot may open sometime inside those 45 days, but unlikely. The chosen check in time may not matter much - it is rarely enforced.

[Engineroom Snipe]

On 9/23/2023 at 11:48 AM, cruiseboy89130 said:

I'm totally surprised people actually pay attention to the boarding time - since Royal really doesn't care at all.... specialy anything after 11 am...

I have found it the same. If the lines are short for screening, they want to move as many passengers as possible to the check-in counters. The only consideration after that is if you need to use the elevators versus taking a longer walking route through escalators.

 

The walking route is about eight minutes versus the elevators which can handle about ten to fifteen people depending upon carry on luggage taking space in the elevator. The elevator waiting times upon my best guess from watching the flow is about 20 minutes.

 

Almost seems to be pre-pandemic and makes purchasing The Key a waste of money if you want priority boarding. Maybe a 30 minute difference at best.