Were You on the Magic this past Sunday?

[AlaskaDay]

We did self disembarkation for the first time. This was our eight cruise, but first time on Carnival. Was there a special problem this past Sunday, 4/15, on the Magic or was this experience normal for self disembarkation? I my opinion it was total chaos. Would like to try again in the future, but not sure I will ever do it again unless something caused the pile up we experienced on Sunday.

 

Overall our first Carnival experience was very good except for getting off the ship!

[luv2trvlnow]

We did self disembarkation for the first time. This was our eight cruise, but first time on Carnival. Was there a special problem this past Sunday, 4/15, on the Magic or was this experience normal for self disembarkation? I my opinion it was total chaos. Would like to try again in the future, but not sure I will ever do it again unless something caused the pile up we experienced on Sunday.

 

Overall our first Carnival experience was very good except for getting off the ship!

I wasn't on the Magic this past Sunday but we did self debarkation the Magic on March 26. It was a mess. They called for self debarkation for everyone at once. Never had that on any other ship.

 

We also had a mess when we were on the Valor out of Miami and the Conquest out of Galveston. Those times they called a couple of floors for self debarkation but no one listened and everyone went early. Many were down waiting an hour before debarkation even started.

 

On the other cruises they made people leave the lobby before they called for self debarkation. I think it becomes a mess when people think they don't have to follow instrustions and the crew doesn't care to enforce the rules.

 

We had extremely easy debarkations on both Dream cruises out of Port Canaveral. It was also pretty easy on the Miracle out of Fort Lauderdale and the Triumph out of New Orleans.

 

Sharon

[packedandready]

Didn't do self-debarkation or sail Magic....BUT...was on Mariner and debarking was a MESS!!! Don't know what was going on. Thought it might be RCCL, but since both lines were affected maybe it was a port of Galveston problem.

[oklahomaeande]

I was right there beside you trying to get off of the Magic on the 15th. I didn't really understand why they decided to do it that way either. They had a schedule outlined in the documentation that was delivered the night before. something like floor 1 ad 7 at 8, floor 2 and 8 at 8:30 etc. Then they make a genius move and call everyone down at the same time.

 

I did find it funny listening to everyone whine and moan about all of the inconsiderate passengers that decided to come wait in line. Like they should be the first off the boat. I found that was one of the biggest complaints of the ship, getting off and on the ship.

[H82seaUgo]

wasn't this the ship they were testing silent debarkation on?

[LSUcajunmom]

We did self-disembarkation on the Magic on April 8th. I think the only reason we even got onto an elevator was because we were on deck 12 and were able to get on an empty elevator early. Our deck was one of the first decks called. We also traveled w passports and walked right by the extremely long line for people using birth certificates. All in all, we walked out of our cabin at 7:15am and we were pulling onto the ferry at 8:00am. My biggest worry w self-disembarkation is losing my 9 yr old DD in the very pushy crowd of suitcase pushing cruisers.

[Miller_KC]

Debarkation is the worst part of the cruise. I do my best to minimize stress when I travel so when possible I book an early afternoon flight so I can have a leisurely breakfast in the MDR. We then collect our luggage from the room as late as possible and find some place comfortable to sit and read. I let all the self debarkers fight the line and by the time the CD gets back to calling numbers it's pretty easy to get off the ship.

 

We had an 11:45 flight once so was given an early number. They lost one of our bags so we ended up being one of the last people out of customs. We still made our flight so since then I haven't been in any hurry to leave.

 

We get Platinum priority numbers now, but we still use whatever number the cabin steward originally brings.

[Lets Ride]

wasn't this the ship they were testing silent debarkation on?

 

The Grand Ambassadoer announced on his page that would go fleetwide in the future. I think it will call mass hysteria.

[LSUcajunmom]

I knew that word looked funny when I typed it, sorry, should be debarkation not disembarkation. That sounds like a bone fracture or something :p

[scchasgal]

wasn't this the ship they were testing silent debarkation on?

 

They have been doing it on the Fantasy for a while now and I don't hear the complaints there but everyone has to follow the directions for it to work.

[LSUcajunmom]

What is 'silent debarkation', because there was nothing silent about our debarkation that Sunday morning?

[RYPERO]

Butch made a pretty scalding announcement for people to stop trying to get off early since a rush of passengers had clogged up the lobby before they even started to disembark. We were in Zone 1 and it seemed that they got back on track pretty quickly since we got off just about on time. That said there were lots of people already getting baggage any where from Zone 3 to 12.

[scchasgal]

What is 'silent debarkation', because there was nothing silent about our debarkation that Sunday morning?

 

 

No announcements :D

[Frank12]

No announcements :D

Sounds like a bad idea to me?

[Fungusgnat]

We had extremely easy debarkations on both Dream cruises out of Port Canaveral. It was also pretty easy on the Miracle out of Fort Lauderdale and the Triumph out of New Orleans.

 

Sharon

 

I must echo this - the easy routine off the Dream.

[maritaysa]

The last time I was on the Paradise in November 2010, debark was a nightmare. We were waiting in the library for Platinum VIP. We were escorted down to the Empress deck and it was mass exodus. What a nightmare!!!

[okgirl]

I think one of the biggest problems with debarkation in any port (but it's worse in Galveston) is that the ship is almost always at the pier and ready to begin the process LONG before the scheduled AND PUBLISHED time.

 

I've sailed from Galveston 10+ times and almost always take advantage of priority self assist since I'm Platinum.....the instructions are usually to be in the midship dining room between 7 and 7:30, but debarkation usually starts around 6:45......

 

Now that I live further from Galveston and drive in, I've just resigned myself to getting up really early, and being in the VIP area no later than 6:30.........if I'm flying, I just go ahead and book a mid-afternoon flight and try to be among the last off the ship.......

 

I just hate the chaos in the terminal. Invariably, someone can't locate their customs forms, or identification or something.......

[musicgal]

I watched debarkation of the Magic Sunday before I went to church on the pier23 cam. People were leaving early. There was a steady stream of cars coming to pick people up around 8:30-9 before I had to go to church. Our modus operandi on almost anything is to chill and wait until the crowd disperses... can't always do that though because of connections and schedules. Note that all those people climbing all over each other to get off planes end up together down at the baggage area waiting for their luggage on the carousel. No sense to "hurry up and wait" anywhere.

[luv2trvlnow]

I think part of the problem in Galveston is the fact that alot of people have driven to the port. Flying can be a hassle getting to the port. Many drive from the neighboring states resulting in many people wanting to get started on their long drives.

 

We live in Oklahoma and have a 10 hour drive. On our cruise last month we saw many other cars from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas on the road with us all the way up to Dallas. At times we outnumbered those from Texas.

 

Sharon

[LSUcajunmom]

I know when I got off the Magic on the 8th it was because of the ferry. I wanted to be in the ferry line early and not sitting for an hr or so waiting in a long line to get on it. Friends of mine debated on whether to go on the ferry or not because they didn't want to sit and have to wait a long time to get on it. So, I can understand why people who drove and used the ferry were trying to be the first ones off. Like I said earlier, I was just lucky to be on deck 12.

[Texaslandshark]

From I've seen in the past, the choke-point is Customs.

[chasinraynbowz]

Sounds like a bad idea to me?

 

 

Princess has silent debarkation down to a science. I loved it! Each group was to show up at a different part of the ship at their scheduled time. When it was your turn, ships personnel guided you.

[H82seaUgo]

Sounds like a bad idea to me?

 

if memory serves, disney does that as well. when we were ready to leave, we just waked off.

 

there were no lines!

[drosphot]

We also traveled w passports and walked right by the extremely long line for people using birth certificates.

 

This is could be a good reason to travel with passports instead of BC. If getting stuck outside the US without a passport doesn't convince people then maybe the convenience of faster debarkation would be a higher priority reason... :confused:

 

We always do the assigned debark zone times and haven't had too bad a time. Self debark on the Conquest in 2006 was a zoo and that's the only time I did it. We wait our turn to debark then zip through the Customs line with our passports. Triumph earlier this month debark zone 9 off at 9:15, home to north of Austin by 1:30PM :cool:

[MsChif]

I watched debarkation of the Magic Sunday before I went to church on the pier23 cam. People were leaving early. There was a steady stream of cars coming to pick people up around 8:30-9 before I had to go to church. Our modus operandi on almost anything is to chill and wait until the crowd disperses... can't always do that though because of connections and schedules. Note that all those people climbing all over each other to get off planes end up together down at the baggage area waiting for their luggage on the carousel. No sense to "hurry up and wait" anywhere.

I have yet to set sail (first cruise is November) but this seems to make the most sense to me. My instinct at movies, concerts, sporting events etc is to let the crowd go and trickle out when it's less busy. Is this possible on debarkation? Or do you have to go when you're assigned? Or does it depend? For our cruise, we won't have a bunch of connections to make afterwards, so can take our time if possible.