What exactly is self disembark?

[tef43]

So, if I understand this correctly...if you can manage your luggage off the ship, you can leave first? If we are on the Riviera deck, doesn't that mean we just walk throught the halls with it and then off the ship?

You would have to get up to Empress Deck, where homeport boarding and debarkation takes place.

[MichelleP]

On the Fascination last week, self-assist debarkation went very smoothly. We were off the ship by 8:00 a.m.

 

They ask you not to use the elevators, so everyone was dragging their luggage down one flight of stairs (from the Palace lounge, where they told us to wait) to the Empress deck.

[Rowan555]

We just did this on the Sensation, and they never told us not to use the elevators. We were on Main deck, and what we did was stand right by the elevators as soon as the cruise director came on and said debarkation would begin in 5 minutes. She called Verandah and Empress first, and when she did that we got right on the elevator and went up two decks to Empress. By that time she called Upper and Main, so we got right off the ship.

 

What you want to do is head to the elevators at the FRONT of the ship. These will let you off right next to the atrium and exit area, so you have a very short walk off the ship. It took us less than 5 minutes from the time we got off the elevators to the time we walked into the cruise terminal. I imagine some people took a LOT longer if they used the aft elevators and had to wait in the line that went all the way down the hall on the Empress Deck. If you plan it right and have your exit strategy down, you'll be off the ship with VERY little walking/waiting.

[jeast]

we self-disembarked the sensation in October. We had three bags for two people, had a room on the empress deck, and were off in no time. There were no crowds in our way, hardly anyone getting off with us. We were off by 8:30 or so. i would definitely do it again.

 

Lower decks might be trickier but I wanted to get home and see my kids ASAP.

[mnsawyer]

Great comments and information. I assumed that self-debarkation would be on a lower deck but if it's on Empress, that's wonderful! We'll be on Upper. Did you just wait in your room or did you have to go to a lounge? Not sure since a poster mentioned going up/down a floor from the lounge.

[MichelleP]

Great comments and information. I assumed that self-debarkation would be on a lower deck but if it's on Empress, that's wonderful! We'll be on Upper. Did you just wait in your room or did you have to go to a lounge? Not sure since a poster mentioned going up/down a floor from the lounge.

 

We were told to meet in the main show lounge at 7:30.

[Flip2cruise]

Great comments and information. I assumed that self-debarkation would be on a lower deck but if it's on Empress, that's wonderful! We'll be on Upper. Did you just wait in your room or did you have to go to a lounge? Not sure since a poster mentioned going up/down a floor from the lounge.

 

One thing that should be mentioned. There is no universal method for doing self-debarkation. Each ship can do it a little differently.

[mnsawyer]

That's a great point. In this thread, you debarked on Empress but in older threads, its seemed to be on lower decks. We'll just have to wait and see but know we're probably going to be wheeling our suitcase off the ship as soon as possible. Using a forward elevator is another tip we'll use as well (if we can use the elevator??)