Different boarding times for 2 cabins

[Ideb]

     We have 2 rooms booked. One for us (parents) and one for our kids. One is an adult child and the other is a minor. I checked for our cruise and the website kept crashing so I went straight to pick a boarding time. I checked the earliest time of 10:30-11:00 and the page wouldn't update. Thinking it might be my computer or a google chrome problem, I logged out and switched browsers but it wasn't any better. I was able to go through the process to check in by constantly refreshing the page. When I got to the page to choose a time it had saved the time for our room but not our children's room. The earliest time was no longer available but the next time (11:00-11:30) was so I chose it. We are in the "B" boarding group and our kids are in the "C" boarding group. 

     It won't be a big deal if we just board at 11:00 but I'm just wondering what the actual procedure is in this case. Are children allowed to board with their parents or do the gate agents go strictly by what the boarding pass says? It is the port of Galveston is it makes any difference.

 

[Roscoe13]

6 minutes ago, Ideb said:

     We have 2 rooms booked. One for us (parents) and one for our kids. One is an adult child and the other is a minor. I checked for our cruise and the website kept crashing so I went straight to pick a boarding time. I checked the earliest time of 10:30-11:00 and the page wouldn't update. Thinking it might be my computer or a google chrome problem, I logged out and switched browsers but it wasn't any better. I was able to go through the process to check in by constantly refreshing the page. When I got to the page to choose a time it had saved the time for our room but not our children's room. The earliest time was no longer available but the next time (11:00-11:30) was so I chose it. We are in the "B" boarding group and our kids are in the "C" boarding group. 

     It won't be a big deal if we just board at 11:00 but I'm just wondering what the actual procedure is in this case. Are children allowed to board with their parents or do the gate agents go strictly by what the boarding pass says? It is the port of Galveston is it makes any difference.

 

Minor children board with adults.  But if you want to have everyone on the same arrival time then go back in and edit your arrival time if the 11 am is still available and then you will all have the same assigned arrival time.

[groundloop]

Just show up at 11:00 and you'll be fine.

 

ALSO, you have to realize that this isn't your BOARDING time but rather your ARRIVAL APPOINTMET at the port.  You may or may not be able to get on the ship after you go through the check-in process depending on whether or not the ship is ready.  On our last couple of cruises we were able to get right on, but that's generally not the case and we've had to sit in the terminal and wait a while.

[teknoge3k]

Ever since my kids were about 12 we've put them in their own cabin. Minors can board with the adults even if in different cabins. Also as mentioned, you picked an arrival time, not a boarding time.

[Iamthesea]

"I checked for our cruise and the website kept crashing so I went straight to pick a boarding time."

 

Did you mean to say "checked-in" for your cruise?  If so, are you saying that you were able to go straight to "pick a boarding time" without filling out all of the check-in information, first?

 

My check-in is coming up next week.  Trying to be prepared as I will be sailing on another cruise (Oceania) at that time and Internet could be spotty.

[Roscoe13]

26 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

"I checked for our cruise and the website kept crashing so I went straight to pick a boarding time."

 

Did you mean to say "checked-in" for your cruise?  If so, are you saying that you were able to go straight to "pick a boarding time" without filling out all of the check-in information, first?

 

My check-in is coming up next week.  Trying to be prepared as I will be sailing on another cruise (Oceania) at that time and Internet could be spotty.

Yes, on Carnival's website when you are allowed to check in at midnight Miami time then just skip all the sections until you get to the section that asks you to select an arrival time.

 

I think it's like section 7 or so...you can go back at your leisure and complete the other sections.

[DallasGuy75219]

To be clear, Carnival's official policy is that additional cabins with a later check-in time or without priority can check in earlier with their parent(s) only if there are only minors in the huge additional cabins.  Because one of OP's kids is an adult, the minor child boards with the adult child, not earlier with the parents. 

 

As to whether the agents actually follow that policy, that's a different story.

[Iamthesea]

8 hours ago, Roscoe13 said:

Yes, on Carnival's website when you are allowed to check in at midnight Miami time then just skip all the sections until you get to the section that asks you to select an arrival time.

 

I think it's like section 7 or so...you can go back at your leisure and complete the other sections.

 

Thank you so much!  This takes a huge load off of me when I try to check-in at midnight somewhere in the Caribbean. 😁  I have been trying to gather all of the information that I needed to fill-in information for two different cabins.  One passenger (my roommate) has been cooperative, while the other ( a party of 3) has ignored my request to send me passports, birthdates, etc., so that I can take it with me next week.  

[klfrodo]

Any reason why the earlier check in time could just wait until the later check in time and then everyone could check in at the same time?

[Homosassa]

What is your definition of an "adult" child? If your definition is not the same as Carnival's it could cause problems in regards to the age of the "adult" traveling with a minor child.

 

There may also be a problem, depending on the distance between the two cabins, where the "adult" child would be considered by Carnival as the guardian of the minor and need the necessary paperwork to show the responsibility for the child has been granted to the "adult" by the parents.

[bg2310]

You can check-in together. Carnival is good about keeping parties together.

[Ideb]

20 hours ago, klfrodo said:

Any reason why the earlier check in time could just wait until the later check in time and then everyone could check in at the same time?

I said in my post that we planned to do just that, but I was asking if anyone knew what the official  policy is.

[Ideb]

6 hours ago, Homosassa said:

What is your definition of an "adult" child? If your definition is not the same as Carnival's it could cause problems in regards to the age of the "adult" traveling with a minor child.

 

There may also be a problem, depending on the distance between the two cabins, where the "adult" child would be considered by Carnival as the guardian of the minor and need the necessary paperwork to show the responsibility for the child has been granted to the "adult" by the parents.

 

No, we are following Carnival's policy on this. Not a concern.

Where minor guests can be booked in relation to relative or guardian:

Guests 12 and younger
If the relative or guardian insists on booking separate staterooms, minors must either be directly across the hall or next door. Guests 12 and under may not be assigned to a balcony stateroom without a relative or guardian (25 years of age or older) traveling in the balcony stateroom with them. 
Guests 13 - 17 years of age
Can be separated by up to 3 staterooms from a relative or guardian (25 years of age or older).
Guests 18 – 20 years of age
Do not have any restrictions and may book whatever location they prefer. 

 

 

5 hours ago, bg2310 said:

You can check-in together. Carnival is good about keeping parties together.

Thank you

[Ideb]

20 hours ago, klfrodo said:

Any reason why the earlier check in time could just wait until the later check in time and then everyone could check in at the same time?

I said in my post that we planned to do just that, but I was asking if anyone knew what the official  policy is.

[Ideb]

On 3/3/2024 at 7:28 AM, teknoge3k said:

Ever since my kids were about 12 we've put them in their own cabin. Minors can board with the adults even if in different cabins. Also as mentioned, you picked an arrival time, not a boarding time.

Thank you

[Ideb]

On 3/2/2024 at 12:51 PM, groundloop said:

Just show up at 11:00 and you'll be fine.

 

ALSO, you have to realize that this isn't your BOARDING time but rather your ARRIVAL APPOINTMET at the port.  You may or may not be able to get on the ship after you go through the check-in process depending on whether or not the ship is ready.  On our last couple of cruises we were able to get right on, but that's generally not the case and we've had to sit in the terminal and wait a while.

That's been my experience too.

[DallasGuy75219]

18 hours ago, bg2310 said:

You can check-in together. Carnival is good about keeping parties together.

That's not Carnival's official policy, particularly in regard to the adult child in OP.'s situation. As to whether it's enforced on any given day at any given port is a different question. 

[Elaine5715]

On 3/4/2024 at 11:53 AM, bg2310 said:

You can check-in together. Carnival is good about keeping parties together.

Only for the later time

[bg2310]

8 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

That's not Carnival's official policy, particularly in regard to the adult child in OP.'s situation. As to whether it's enforced on any given day at any given port is a different question. 

 

1 hour ago, Elaine5715 said:

Only for the later time

 

It might not be their official policy, but in practice it is in my experience so de facto it effectively is.

[DallasGuy75219]

3 minutes ago, bg2310 said:

 

 

It might not be their official policy, but in practice it is in my experience so de facto it effectively is.

I acknowledged it may not be enforced on any given day in any given port, but OP explicitly asked for Carnival's official policy and should be prepared in the event it's enforced for his/her cruise.

[Elaine5715]

7 minutes ago, bg2310 said:

 

Omg yall are being really extra and dramatic about this. It's not that serious, I promise.

 

Not just "my experience" I literally witnessed it, more than once, on more than one occasion, in more than one port, with more than one agent. And seen others with similar experiences, from threads I've read on here.

 

Most people, especially those workers handling thousands of people and customers and people every day, aren't out or looking for confrontation and are usually about the path of least resistance so long as people have what they need and aren't doing what they shouldn't.

 

Not to mention are simply not paid enough to care about throwing people to end of the line because they technically had a different appointment window than the rest of the party they are traveling with. You really think they're going to do all that and deal with the behavior of potentially unruly customers on their relatively low salary? Not likely.

 

Please be real. Those agents working the lines on repeated occasions have let people through when it wasn't even their correct or proper appointment window. It's a lot more fluid than yall are making it out to be.

 

Just because it might be "policy" doesn't mean that's how it actually works all or even most of the time. That doesn't mean there aren't agents that are more by the books, but people in general and Carnival agents in particular are pretty reasonable if you are behaving as you should. 

 

Last month, the terminal crew absolutely enforced boarding groups by placards in the Diamond area.  If they kept the B1 Diamonds out of the A1 group for Diamonds, they certainly aren't going to let line crashers in.