2 Splendor questions!

[joshac912]

My girlfriend and I will be sailing on the Splendor this October and it’ll be our first cruise. I have a question about embarkation and another about debarkation, here it goes…

Embarkation

I know a lot of people prefer to get on the ship ASAP so they get to the pier very early. However, I’d rather wait till closer to departure time to check in so that we can just walk right on. The Splendor is scheduled to leave at 5, do you think arriving at the pier at 3 be suitable to avoid lines yet not cut it too close? Or maybe later or earlier? What have your experiences been by arriving closer to departure time?

And now my debarkation question.

Luckily I have a late flight to catch, however I’d still like to get off the ship early to have lunch before my flight with a college buddy who lives in LA. I’d need to meet him near LAX by 11am. Would you recommend self assist or normal debarkation to be off the ship by 10 (or the earliest possible). The Splendor is scheduled to debark at 9, so if its on time what time would you guess self assist begins? In order to betowards the front of the self assist line, should we wait in the lobby w/our luggage a half hour or so before we expect self assist to begin?

Any insight into these dilemmas would be much appreciated. CC is such a great resource.

[firefly333]

It took everyone at least 2 hours to debark, full inspection... no one probably knows which week carnival does this, but all ships go thru full inspection periodically. Expecting to arrive at 9 am and be to the airport by 11 am sounds like you are cutting it very close. Remember most of the ship will also be doing self assist debarkation.

 

You have to check in, Carnival says, 90 minutes before the ship leaves, so the final manifest can be turned in. If you hit a snag and got to the ship 59 minutes before the ship leaves, you probably would be turned away. The ship has to cut it off, or leave late.

 

I personally am not about to take chances with late arrival, but that's me. I also arrive to appointments too early.

[cubfan63]

Since I stayed the night before by the airport and took the Carnival bus, I embarked about 1 pm on May 16, and the lines weren't too bad then. I think a lot of people embarked early, based on what I could see when I got on the ship. I would think 3 pm wouldn't be bad, assuming that there aren't a lot of late flights Carnival are meeting or there's lots of traffic.

 

If you want to be assured of being by LAX around 11 am, you would need to do self-assist. The ship this past Sunday (May 23) was late by about 90 minutes from docking due to the need to slow down due to winds/waves.

 

I was in group 10 for debarkation and on the Carnival bus at 10:30 am. There we still a lot of people on when I left. Self-assist left a good hour earlier. If you have the capability to do self-assist and want extra time, this probably would be the best option for you.

[deborahjo]

My girlfriend and I will be sailing on the Splendor this October and it’ll be our first cruise. I have a question about embarkation and another about debarkation, here it goes…

Embarkation

I know a lot of people prefer to get on the ship ASAP so they get to the pier very early. However, I’d rather wait till closer to departure time to check in so that we can just walk right on. The Splendor is scheduled to leave at 5, do you think arriving at the pier at 3 be suitable to avoid lines yet not cut it too close? Or maybe later or earlier? What have your experiences been by arriving closer to departure time?

And now my debarkation question.

Luckily I have a late flight to catch, however I’d still like to get off the ship early to have lunch before my flight with a college buddy who lives in LA. I’d need to meet him near LAX by 11am. Would you recommend self assist or normal debarkation to be off the ship by 10 (or the earliest possible). The Splendor is scheduled to debark at 9, so if its on time what time would you guess self assist begins? In order to betowards the front of the self assist line, should we wait in the lobby w/our luggage a half hour or so before we expect self assist to begin?

Any insight into these dilemmas would be much appreciated. CC is such a great resource.

 

Was off the Splendor by 8:30 am. Did not do self assist but walked off with them, picked up our luggage and was at LAX by 10:15 am. (was lucky our luggage was already processed.)

[HawaiianGoose]

My family took the Splendor last August and are again going in October. They actually booked us in the exact same cabins as before.

 

You shouldn't have any problems getting on board, but 3pm might be a little too close to the cutoff time. We show up at around 11 and are usually eating on the aft deck by 1pm. We enjoy the time in port to get our rooms set up. A great tip is to bring a shoe organizer. We put everything from our sail and sign cards to flashlights, cameras, money, and whatever else will fit in the pockets so that they are always in a spot where we can find them and the room stays organized.

 

Getting off is usually very fast. We prefer to let them take the luggage so we are free to use the stairs to move about as the elevators are packed.

 

Have a great trip.

[AQW]

We parked our car at the port at 3:05pm for our Splendor cruise and we had DODs in hand 15 minutes later. I'm more of a get-to-port early type, but I must say it was incredibly easy arriving at that time.

[LucyR.]

I have cruised 5 times on the Splendor and I think 2p.m. would be a better arrival time for you because your cabin will have been cleaned by then.

 

I prefer to arrive at 12noon so I have time to eat lunch at the buffet and then go to my cabin to change my clothes and unpack. I think the Muster drill is approx. 4p.m. or 4:30P.M.

 

The Freeway going towards the ship is totally unpredictable and you could end up in a traffic jam. You could end up missing da fun boat. I am not kidding. I have seen it jamed up. I worry about a traffic jam happening as I am driving towards the ship.

I live in Los Angeles and sometimes we have terrible freeway accidents.

I don't want to scare you too much so I will not tell you more than that.

 

I prefer to enjoy the ship as soon as possible. One day I was the first one on the Splendor and all the crew workers were cheering me on. It was a great feeling.

 

Disembarkation is totally unpredictable. My advise is to take your luggage with you off the ship. Go stand near the front door and when you notice people getting off you go join them quietly.

 

I am a VIP and I get to get off the ship first. I once got off the ship and had to wait for my luggage to be taken off the ship and taken to the storage area. For some reason it took a long time. I just sat there in the waiting area and waited for it. I watched people getting off the ship with their luggage in their hands.

 

I like to get off the ship right away and be on land because it feels so good to be on land again. I am handicapped so I can't carry my luggage. I have to wait for a porter to take my luggage to the parking lot.

[jsjjkelly]

Just got off the Splendor on June 6th. They started calling self assist around 8:00 or so. We were in the early group supposed to be around 8:30, but didn't call us until almost 9.

 

That being said, we were at LAX by 10:15. If you're relying on your friends transportation, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

As far as embarkation goes, we got there 12:40 ish and it went quick once they opened the domes. If you can get there earlier, I wouldn't want to jeapordize my cruise by being late. Just my 2 cents

 

Shawn in AK