Carnival Spirit check in and shore tour bookings

[LuckiePuris]

Hi Guys,

 

Cruising on Carnival Spirit in about a week or two and just had a couple of questions regarding the check in process and booking of shore excursions.

 

Check in - we are registered for the 4pm check in time however will be in Sydney quite early on the day. Is it possible to swap over the check in time when you arrive in Sydney / get on an earlier check in?

 

Alternatively are you able to check in your luggage early, spend the afternoon in Sydney, and then come back at your designated check in time?

 

Shore Excursions - as we are unable to prebook excursions online or over the phone, we will need to do this once onboard.

What time does the shore excursion desk open? Is it open as soon as you board or does it open once everyone is onboard? A bit worried about boarding late in the day and possibly missing the shore excursions we're wanting to book.

 

Thank you for your help!

[pwkmpjm]

Hi Guys,

 

Cruising on Carnival Spirit in about a week or two and just had a couple of questions regarding the check in process and booking of shore excursions.

 

Check in - we are registered for the 4pm check in time however will be in Sydney quite early on the day. Is it possible to swap over the check in time when you arrive in Sydney / get on an earlier check in?

 

Alternatively are you able to check in your luggage early, spend the afternoon in Sydney, and then come back at your designated check in time?

 

Shore Excursions - as we are unable to prebook excursions online or over the phone, we will need to do this once onboard.

What time does the shore excursion desk open? Is it open as soon as you board or does it open once everyone is onboard? A bit worried about boarding late in the day and possibly missing the shore excursions we're wanting to book.

 

Thank you for your help!

 

It's not possible to change you 'check in' time at the Terminal. You can drop your 'check in' bags from 8 am then return later in the day to 'check in' & board the ship.

The shore excursions desk will be open when you board & shore excursions can also be booked at any time on the interactive TV in your stateroom

[rkmw]

Hi Guys,

 

Cruising on Carnival Spirit in about a week or two and just had a couple of questions regarding the check in process and booking of shore excursions.

 

Check in - we are registered for the 4pm check in time however will be in Sydney quite early on the day. Is it possible to swap over the check in time when you arrive in Sydney / get on an earlier check in?

 

Alternatively are you able to check in your luggage early, spend the afternoon in Sydney, and then come back at your designated check in time?

 

Shore Excursions - as we are unable to prebook excursions online or over the phone, we will need to do this once onboard.

What time does the shore excursion desk open? Is it open as soon as you board or does it open once everyone is onboard? A bit worried about boarding late in the day and possibly missing the shore excursions we're wanting to book.

 

Thank you for your help!

 

i was reading an earlier thread and they were strict on their boarding times, someone arrived an hour early and was told to come back at the right time.....you should be able to drop your luggage off early, maybe after 8.30 -9am

[LuckiePuris]

It's not possible to change you 'check in' time at the Terminal. You can drop your 'check in' bags from 8 am then return later in the day to 'check in' & board the ship.

The shore excursions desk will be open when you board & shore excursions can also be booked at any time on the interactive TV in your stateroom

 

Thank you for your response. I'm a bit concerned that the shore tours I'm after will be booked out by the time I get onboard.

 

Is there any way to avoid this?

 

Thanks again, kind regards,

 

Valerie

[Debsta]

Thank you for your response. I'm a bit concerned that the shore tours I'm after will be booked out by the time I get onboard.

 

Is there any way to avoid this?

 

Thanks again, kind regards,

 

Valerie

 

Unfortunately not Valerie. We are all in the same boat (pun intended :p) if you want to book ship shore tours.

[LuckiePuris]

Unfortunately not Valerie. We are all in the same boat (pun intended :p) if you want to book ship shore tours.

 

Thanks Debsta for your response. That's ok fingers crossed for the best when we get there to book our tours.

 

As we have some spare time now in Sydney before check in, we're going to climb the bridge. Should be an experience!

 

Do you have any photos of your Spirit cruise? I remember you mentioning you loved the waterside! Any tips for Spirit / secret decks etc?

 

Thanks again :)

[holidaze2012]

We had 2.30pm check-in but could have boarded early when we dropped our bags, it depends on how many people are waiting to board when you arrive. I had to wait for hubby to take our car to arranged parking but was asked a few times as I waited if I was ready to board yet. We were onboard about 1.30pm, the shore your desk line was huge and then we forgot to try booking until about 4pm on our TV. As a result we did miss out on the tour we wanted but ended up not going to that island anyway due to cyclone threat. However we did thoroughly enjoy the tours we did go on, though not our first choice.

[LuckiePuris]

We had 2.30pm check-in but could have boarded early when we dropped our bags, it depends on how many people are waiting to board when you arrive. I had to wait for hubby to take our car to arranged parking but was asked a few times as I waited if I was ready to board yet. We were onboard about 1.30pm, the shore your desk line was huge and then we forgot to try booking until about 4pm on our TV. As a result we did miss out on the tour we wanted but ended up not going to that island anyway due to cyclone threat. However we did thoroughly enjoy the tours we did go on, though not our first choice.

 

Thank you for the feedback on check in and booking the shore excursions. We already have the bridge climb booked for the morning so what I think we may do is do the climb and then try to check in if we're able to at 2.30pmish. If we can't check in, we'll just leave the bags and go have lunch somewhere.

 

Were the cabins ready for you as soon as you were onboard or did you have to wait for them? Is booking of shore excursions on the tv available straight away once in your cabin or does that open at a later time in the day?

 

I'm hoping that because the two excursions I'm interested in doing are full day ones and the higher priced ones, that they are not as popular.

 

Do you have any other advice for Carnival Spirit? I'd love to see some photos if you have any online!

 

Thank you again for your time, much appreciated :)

[holidaze2012]

Yes our cabin was ready when we boarded, went straight there and dumped our carryon before heading up to bistro for lunch. They let you know when you are boarding if your cabin is ready or not but I did not speak to anyone that had to wait. The cabin stewards are very efficient and as we were debarking (we were in the last batch) I noticed that some of the cabins were all ready for their new occupants!

 

As I said we forgot to book our excursions when we first went ot our cabin, we were too excited and had hungry kids at 1.30pm! They were available about 4pm when we tried. Good luck getting the excursions you are after, as it turned out due to the threat of a cyclone forming in Northern Vanuatu we did not even end up going to the same islands that we expected so you just have to go with the flow! We also had to double back to Noumea 5 hours out due to a passenger emergency and were held up at Lifou due to a sick crew member they were thinking of offloading for medical attention - it really was a magical mystery tour!

 

I am sure you will love the bridgeclimb and what a great way to start your holiday.

 

I have been flat out since getting home and have not downloaded any photos yet but did see this video

that was posted by someone on the same cruise which is quite good. It even has my daughter in it!

 

My advice would be to just enjoy and let it happen as we did. The dining room is definately worth the effort every evening, the showband is fantastic and I could have taken a permanent booth in the Piano Bar! My favourite island was Isle of Pines, we went snorkelling at the Natural Aquarium - highly recommended. I just can't understand the people that have to complain about everything.

 

Bon Voyage!