Best arrival time for departure?

what is the best time to arrive to the ship for initial departure? Are the bars open, or do you just have to wait around while everyone boards and just stand around?

the boarding process takes HOURS ... know how long it takes to load an airplane? Multiply by 10 or more (varies by size of ship of course)

if you board 'early', lunch will typically be available and bars open BUT your room will NOT be ready. On average rooms are not ready until 1pm while it is common for boarding to open as early as 11 (kinda depends on the time the last person gets OFF from the previous trip)

BEST TIME

IMO there are two positions on this

1. AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE: this is the position of those who saved for this vacation for years and want to 'enjoy' every minute. However, they may be subjecting the beginning of their trip to standing in lines of like folks ... MANY like folks, who all want to be first. Here's where you find folks standing in line and getting unhappy. IMO

2. CHILL: Let the 'me first' crowd board and get their lunch. By noon they have settled around the pool and are pawing the ground waiting for the rooms to be available. Board noon or even 1pm. By then the crowd at check-in is gone and when you board your room is probably already ready so you can drop your bags and btw they are STILL serving lunch ... and the bars are STILL open. Worst case: you had the drink package and could have had one more ... but this is SELDOM an issue!!!

After my first few cruises I joined club #2

enjoy your first one

Bars will be open when the first passengers walk down the gangway

What cruise line/ship are you sailing?

Bars are always open when you embark.

Keith

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

When there are thousands of people on a cruise ship, there is no one "best" of anything for everyone. So don't worry about "best".

I suspect you will be very excited to get on board, so find out when boarding starts for the cruise line you are sailing, and plan on getting to the Terminal/pier 30 or so minutes prior to that scheduled start.

And your room will be ready on several cruise lines (for example, in our experience, Holland America and Princess) when you board, even if you are the first one aboard.

It also depends on the cruise line. Some have set check in times and they enforce it. However, if they don’t and you are anxious to get onboard, please don’t get to the port before 1030-1100. This will allow the disembarking passengers time to be cleared out of port area.

Also, cabins aren’t usually ready until 1-1:30, so you will have to drag your carryons around with you. And yes, some of the bars will be open. Grab a seat in the Atrium, grab a drink ( or 2) and people watch until your cabin is ready. If you don’t have much to drag around, take the opportunity to wonder the ship and take pics before it gets crowded.

What cruise line? It does make a difference....but, in general, if you arrive around 11:30am, you will go thru security, hit the check in line, and get onboard. If you arrive EARLIER than that, boarding will not have started, and anyone with "status" will bump ahead of you...and you will sit (or stand) and wait. Don't get there TOO early, but once boarding has started, it's like checking into a hotel.

What cruise line/ship are you sailing?

 

Bars are always open when you embark.

 

 

Keith

We are taking the Norwegian Star

Thanks everyone for your response! We are taking the Norwegian Star

It also depends on the cruise line. Some have set check in times and they enforce it. However, if they don’t and you are anxious to get onboard, please don’t get to the port before 1030-1100. This will allow the disembarking passengers time to be cleared out of port area.

 

Also, cabins aren’t usually ready until 1-1:30, so you will have to drag your carryons around with you. And yes, some of the bars will be open. Grab a seat in the Atrium, grab a drink ( or 2) and people watch until your cabin is ready. If you don’t have much to drag around, take the opportunity to wonder the ship and take pics before it gets crowded.

Cabin availability depends on the cruise line. We have always gone straight to our cabin on Princess. We are usually in it by 11:30am.

For me, I love spending time exploring our embarkation city like San Juan, Seward, AK or Boston, MA. So much to see/do and so I get there later - after 1pm so there are no lines and we walk right on the ship and drop our carryons in the room before getting lunch. Florida ports don't interest me as much since I've been on land vacations around there, but still I get to the port after 1pm just so I don't have to deal with lines.

Sailed with my former in-laws out of San Juan once and they just had to be at the port at 11am. Lines out the Wazoo and while we were able to go through the check-in process, we still had to wait to board. Line of taxis just getting to the port was ridiculous too.

Yes, the earlier you get on, the more you maximize enjoying what you paid for, but I just can't stand lines and do everything I can to avoid them. If you are in an interesting embarkation city, enjoy it before heading to port - just remember to get to the ship 90 minutes (or is it 2 hours) before departure time to ensure you aren't denied boarding and are on the ship in time for the muster drill.