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Last day - newbie question


tobymonster

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I've never cruised before, so please forgive the newbie question. How does the last day work? Do you get any time on the ship that day, or is it pretty much wake up and get off the boat? Or wake up, eat breakfast, get off the boat? What time do you have to be off by?

 

Thanks!

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I've never cruised before, so please forgive the newbie question. How does the last day work? Do you get any time on the ship that day, or is it pretty much wake up and get off the boat? Or wake up, eat breakfast, get off the boat? What time do you have to be off by?

 

Thanks!

 

Pretty much it's wake up, eat breakfast, have a good cry because you have to get off the ship, get off the ship (kicking and screaming). The buffet will be open, not much else, IIRC. Departure is staged by when your flight home (if any) leaves, with those with earlier flights departing first. You'll be given color coded tags for your luggage and asked to put them outside your cabin the night before so the staff can collect them and stage them by departure times. You're not obligated to leave when your color group is called, but they do want you off the ship ASAP so they can begin the turnaround process for the next group. You can also choose to self-disembark-- you haul your own luggage off and can leave whenever you want. I'd say 11am would probably be the latest, though others may say differently. An advantage to being one of the last to leave is that it's easier to find your luggage in the terminal. Note that departure has to be cleared by customs and (in some cases) the CDC, so delays can occur.

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You will find that once you go to bed the last night, you can consider the cruise over. In the morning, they want you OFF the ship ASAP--they have a whole new batch of vacationers to get ready for.....breakfast is fast and early and you have to vacate your cabin....it's nowhere near the fun time you've had all week, and it's almost a relief to get off the ship. The service you've come to love and expect is conspicuously missing that last morning!

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My cruise pretty much ends the afternoon I pull my suitcase out from under the bed! :eek::(:mad: I have begun to not pack until after dinner the last night. Just to avoid it as long as I can.

 

Our last cruise, there was a grown man, fifty-ish, crying, sobbing, wailing "I don't wanna get off! No! No! It's not fair! I wanna go again! Please, pretty please! I don't wanna go home!"

 

I tell you, DW was never more embarassed in her life.:o:eek::D

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Thanks for the responses. Sounds like a real mood-killer, but I guess it is a good "back to reality" kick.

This is an excellent reason to book back to back cruises...on that last morning (for the others), as they grumpily eat breakfast and head for the gangway, you sit back and smirk and anticipate the coming week.

But that last day, they are calling all passengers to leave by 9:30, hoping all will be off by 10am. EM

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During the cruise, you will get a form to fill out indicating your post cruise plans -- are you parked at the pier, catching a flight, staying at the port city, etc. Based on how you answer, you will be given a departure time. You will be issued color-coded luggage tags and assigned a place to go to await your designated time the morning of the debarkation. By eleven or so on the last night of the cruise you put your packed suitcase in the hall with the luggage tags attached. Keep an overnight bag, and don't forget to keep clothes for the next morning. On departure day, the buffet will be open for breakfast, and usually the dining room too. After you eat, you gather in your designated place to wait for your color to be called, then you go to the terminal to claim your bags. They want the ship cleared as early as possible so that the new passengers can begin to board.

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If you have anything in your refrig the last night it comes out and it is locked. Best bet in the morning is get everything ready to go and go to the dining room for a sit down breakfast.Last time to get served and the buffet is a zoo.Remember DO NOT pack what you are planning to wear the next morning. Caught my DH just in time once as my slacks were going in the suitcase, your bags must be packed and in the hall by 12:00 or 1:00 usually.Maybe anti-depressants would help,LOL.

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It would be hard to stow away. EVERYONE on the ship is focused on the next batch of passengers, has no time for you, and you are in their way. My least favorite part of cruising...you can feel a bit like they're scraping you off the bottom of their shoe after a week or more of the lush life; but they have quotas, deadlines, targets, etc. to meet for turnaround. This year for the first time, we are going to spend a night in FLL at the end of the cruise - just disembark in our shorts (yay!) and taxi to the hotel for another 24 hours of lying around the pool and being catered to - and being able to actually sleep in on our last day of vacation! :eek:

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This year for the first time, we are going to spend a night in FLL at the end of the cruise - just disembark in our shorts (yay!) and taxi to the hotel for another 24 hours of lying around the pool and being catered to - and being able to actually sleep in on our last day of vacation! :eek:

 

We did that on our last cruise, mostly because the cost of a hotel plus airfare back on a Monday was less than the cost of airfare back on a Sunday:cool::). It was nice to have that extra day, even though we were up early for our flight home.

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our last cruise, there was a grown man, fifty-ish, crying, sobbing, wailing "i don't wanna get off! No! No! It's not fair! I wanna go again! Please, pretty please! I don't wanna go home!"

 

i tell you, dw was never more embarassed in her life.:o:eek::d

 

 

LOL This made my day! Thanks!!!

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Jerry and Shelley,

 

At some point the "seapass" card ceases to be a charge card and if you want an adult beverage you must pay in cash. I don't remember for sure what the cutoff time for that is -- maybe 7 a.m.? Now, as to the beverage package, I cant say. That's so new, I haven't seen any reports of whether it works on the last morning or not.

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Pretty much it's wake up, eat breakfast, have a good cry because you have to get off the ship, get off the ship (kicking and screaming). The buffet will be open, not much else, IIRC. Departure is staged by when your flight home (if any) leaves, with those with earlier flights departing first. You'll be given color coded tags for your luggage and asked to put them outside your cabin the night before so the staff can collect them and stage them by departure times. You're not obligated to leave when your color group is called, but they do want you off the ship ASAP so they can begin the turnaround process for the next group. You can also choose to self-disembark-- you haul your own luggage off and can leave whenever you want. I'd say 11am would probably be the latest, though others may say differently. An advantage to being one of the last to leave is that it's easier to find your luggage in the terminal. Note that departure has to be cleared by customs and (in some cases) the CDC, so delays can occur.

 

Hi Steve:)......11am? I have tried that...it never works.;) They would

love everyone off before 10...and 9:30 is usually when the last group

is called.

 

I had one cruise where there was a delay in disembarking...that was

a few years ago and it was due to one of those selfish pax

and not going through the end process correctly.:( You talk about

some unhappy people:mad:...THAT cruise EVERYONE was delayed.

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The "last morning" IS horrible but I don't remember the staff giving off any "get off the ship" vibes! On the Med Cruise we elected to take an excursion to Monserrat and then be dropped off at City Center - eased us back into the "real" world!

 

This past July we docked in Amsterdam about 4:30am but, unless you had a very early flight, we all had bk before leaving. And then they gathered Conceirge passengers in one area, elite in another, etc. and all had coffee and danish available.

 

In my opinion they tend to try and get small batches of people off the ship to help in crowd control.

 

Now, in case you're fogged in (February in Galveston on RCCL) then its a different story! We were due to dock about 7:30am and actually pulled in about 2pm! We had bk and a quickly put-together lunch (hamburgers/hot dogs) before disembarking! But I thought the staff was fabulous, especially the room stewards who were trying to accomodate guests lounging in their room and still get ready for new arrivals! Hope you never share this experience!!

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Hi Steve:)......11am? I have tried that...it never works.;) They would

love everyone off before 10...and 9:30 is usually when the last group

is called.

 

Yeah, that was off the top of my head. I seemed to recall someone somewhere posting about how they waited til the last possible minute, and were able to waltz off without delay. Thought they said it was around 11am.

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