Were You on the Magic this past Sunday?

[musicgal]

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 and drinto make afterwards, so can take our time if possible.

You don't have to go when assigned. You can wait and eat drink and take in the city view as long as possible. Everybody else will be pushing like lemmings to jump off the pier. Why... I don't know- exept for connections or travel plans.

[Cindy]

I've experienced a Galveston debarkation on three different cruise lines...Carnival, Princess, and Royal Caribbean. In my opinion, Princess is the only line that has a clue when it comes to managing the self-assist and having an orderly, stress-free end to the cruise. Princess is also the only one of the three lines that makes passengers sign-up in advance for self-assist, assigns numbers to that group also, and places a limit on the number of passengers who can do it. They also enforce the rules during disembarkation! In my opinion, Princess could give a seminar on how to manage debarkation, and Carnival & Royal Caribbean should be first in line to attend!

I will also add that the weeks before and after Easter traditionally have a large number of Mexicans who cruise from Texas during that time period. The high numbers of non-US citizens slows down the customs and immigration process substantially.