Does everyone stick to the arrival time Celebrity assigns you?

[RossHaven]

First time cruising post pandemic. Surprised that we were assigned a specific time to arrive at the ship. Any thoughts on this?

[tomcruiser1234]

Good question. We have been assigned a 1:30 arrival time at FLL for a January 28th cruise. We have to c heck out at 10:30 from our hotel and certainly not want to wait around 2 hours to board. 

 

Haven’t sailed from terminal 25 in over a year.

 

thanks 

[mrgabriel]

We always arrive on time and once waited 45 minutes for checkin because so many people decided to show up whenever they wanted. 
 

If you arrive early and there’s a line you may be asked to wait. 

[cruisestitch]

They often enforce the arrival times but sometimes the process is going so efficiently that they don’t need to.  You just never know.  If you show up ahead of your arrival time prepare to be told to wait and be happily surprised if you are admitted.

[cbfb]

We have found if you show up around 11:30 or after we get onboard in 15 minutes. Any earlier than that seems to be a long wait. 

[miched]

I have seen people in front of me trying to beat the system and being directed to a holding area.   I showed up at my assigned 11:30 and there were a lot of people standing around in that holding area.  

I have also read on this board about people that showed up early and then  complaining about not being able to board and having to stand outside in the elements.  
 

It is up to you.   Stand here waiting or somewhere else.  Take your chances.  
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Georgia_Peaches]

We usually arrive within 30 minutes of our scheduled time. We always expect to wait but have never had to. Haven’t seen a backed up line for Celebrity in years but most of our experience is with Florida departures. Last year we arrived for our San Pedro embarkation several hours late. We were quite literally the last ones on the ship. There was no line that day either 😳. 

[CruiserinCarlsbad]

We are in no rush to get onboard for our February cruise.  We are scheduled for 1:30 pm, which is fine with us, because we check out of the hotel around 10 a.m. and go to brunch, have a reasonably priced drink or two, and then go to the terminal.  The day seems much more relaxed this way for us.  And our cabin is almost already cleaned by the time we get there.

[MR_T]

For the Jan 8th equinox sailing that departed from terminal 19 we had 11.30am allotted time but arrived at the terminal at 10am as we had nowhere else to go and we were told to go straight through to security and then check in and once that was completed we were seated in a big area, there was already around 50 people sitting there and we were there until actual boarding started at 11.45am for non suite guests, I’m guessing by the time our boarding started at least half the ship pax was waiting and not once was our allotted time mentioned or considered, it was a free for all once the boarding started so that was a bit annoying 🤷🏼‍♂️

[hcat]

1 hour ago, tomcruiser1234 said:

Good question. We have been assigned a 1:30 arrival time at FLL for a January 28th cruise. We have to c heck out at 10:30 from our hotel and certainly not want to wait around 2 hours to board. 

 

Haven’t sailed from terminal 25 in over a year.

 

thanks 

You can request late check out or wait at the hotel.they will store bags til you are ready to go..

 

The crowded port functions better if everyone respects the staggered times..Exception: those with early flt arrivals and no place to go

[mahasamatman]

Everyone? Far from it. Most? Yes.

[paulh84]

Generally people do not pay attention to the time. If there is a backup you may be asked to wait. Or you may not. No rhyme or reason to how they do it at times. The validity to complain about waiting if you show up at 10:30am with a 1pm time slot is however removed. 

[Gaynors]

3 hours ago, RossHaven said:

First time cruising post pandemic. Surprised that we were assigned a specific time to arrive at the ship. Any thoughts on this?

You say you were assigned a specific time?   We've always (at least post COVID) been able to choose our arrival time when online check in opens.

 

I guess if you wait long enough to do online check in they assign you a time?

[jelayne]

3 hours ago, MR_T said:

For the Jan 8th equinox sailing that departed from terminal 19 we had 11.30am allotted time but arrived at the terminal at 10am as we had nowhere else to go and we were told to go straight through to security and then check in and once that was completed we were seated in a big area, there was already around 50 people sitting there and we were there until actual boarding started at 11.45am for non suite guests, I’m guessing by the time our boarding started at least half the ship pax was waiting and not once was our allotted time mentioned or considered, it was a free for all once the boarding started so that was a bit annoying 🤷🏼‍♂️

The assigned arrival times fixed the problem of the boarding day chaos, unfortunately more and more folks don’t think the assigned times apply to them.  We have had 2 sailing where our experience was like yours ending in a free for all once the ship was ready. 

[lv2cruisgrl]

5 hours ago, RossHaven said:

First time cruising post pandemic. Surprised that we were assigned a specific time to arrive at the ship. Any thoughts on this?

The process works great if most abide by their arrival time.  We always show up near our time and have no issue.

[TheHawk1]

5 hours ago, cbfb said:

We have found if you show up around 11:30 or after we get onboard in 15 minutes. Any earlier than that seems to be a long wait. 

For my upcoming March cruise on Apex,  I completed the online check in 5 minutes after midnight on the day it opened and still the first available boarding time was 11:30am.  I will be none too happy if everyone else who checked in long after I did and gets assigned a later afternoon time, still shows up early, thinking they should be allowed to board whenever it suits them.

 

[cbfb]

38 minutes ago, TheHawk1 said:

For my upcoming March cruise on Apex,  I completed the online check in 5 minutes after midnight on the day it opened and still the first available boarding time was 11:30am.  I will be none too happy if everyone else who checked in long after I did and gets assigned a later afternoon time, still shows up early, thinking they should be allowed to board whenever it suits them.

 

We have always gotten 11:30 or earlier for check in. The only time we had a line was the earlier check in times because we had to wait for the ship to clear. All FL ports. I am sure it is different in other ports. Once they start boarding the ship it goes fast. There are so many people checking everyone in. 

[tarheel87]

Does Celebrity send an email about when you can check in?  This will be my first Celebrity cruise and my first cruise since Covid so I'm not familiar with the procedures.

[soflobb]

Prior to COVID we always arrived as early as possible and never had to wait. Post COVID- when checking in through the Retreat/suite we had no waits. When checking in for non-Retreat/non-suite we did wait and that was with us arriving at our assigned time. Last week's cruise we arrived at our scheduled time and had no problem. Will see what happens tomorrow when we board the Apex. 

[d9704011]

10 minutes ago, tarheel87 said:

Does Celebrity send an email about when you can check in?  This will be my first Celebrity cruise and my first cruise since Covid so I'm not familiar with the procedures.

I would not rely on Celebrity sending you an email reminding you that Check In is open.  Take a look at your cruise on the Celebrity website, it will indicate the earliest date check in is available (about five weeks prior to departure day).  Make a note of that and go online to check in early so you can select the boarding window you want.

[tarheel87]

9 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

I would not rely on Celebrity sending you an email reminding you that Check In is open.  Take a look at your cruise on the Celebrity website, it will indicate the earliest date check in is available (about five weeks prior to departure day).  Make a note of that and go online to check in early so you can select the boarding window you want.

Thank you!  Can you tell me what I will need for check in?  At midnight I am not at my best 😀

[cbfb]

8 minutes ago, tarheel87 said:

Thank you!  Can you tell me what I will need for check in?  At midnight I am not at my best 😀

You don’t need anything to start the process by choosing an arrival time. You can go back and enter your passport info etc to complete it. 

[TheHawk1]

1 hour ago, tarheel87 said:

Thank you!  Can you tell me what I will need for check in?  At midnight I am not at my best 😀

I’m compulsively organized, so I like to be ahead of the curve.  I’m sure there are lots of good boarding times available at a more decent time later on that day. I was thinking more about the group that waits until the day before their cruise to check in, but then still wants to be first on the ship 😀

[Jim_Iain]

11 hours ago, RossHaven said:

First time cruising post pandemic. Surprised that we were assigned a specific time to arrive at the ship. Any thoughts on this?

 

You are not assigned an arrival time.   When CheckIn begins you CHOOSE a time.   The reason for the staggered arrival time is to avoid over crowding at terminal.  

 

I always travel in Suites and Suites can arrive at any time and are processed in a different area.   If not in a Suite or Zenith you may or may not be denied immediate entrance if there is over crowding.  If you wish an early arrival time log in on first day and select the earliest slot.  

[Baynanno1]

We always arrive close to our allocated time.

As others have said, times are staggered for a very good reason - to avoid the absolute chaos we endured when arriving at our allocated time of 11.30 and found a crowd of hundreds already waiting.