Embarcation Routine - FLL

[TaylorMace]

We have been on 2 previous cruises and we feel like this is a place we could use some improvement. Typically we have gotten to the Port at like 9am and sat for a really long time in long lines. The good news is, we did get on pretty early both times and we do like that part. Then we would go to our room then explore the ship.

 

However, we are thinking there must be an ideal time to show up at the port and still be on the ship somewhat quickly. We are also thinking that since we are familiar with the ships general layout that we will try heading to the main dining room for lunch.

 

We are specifically in Fort Laurderdale cruising on the CB February 9th, but I"m interested in anyones embarcation day routine.

 

Sooo.....On to all of my questions. Of course I don't expect many folks to answer the all, but just wanted to give everyone an idea of the things I'm thinking about while planning our first day.

 

What is your embarcation routine?

What time do you leave the Hotel?

Do you Taxi or Shuttle?

What time do you try to arrive at the Port?

What time do they start the process of loading? (we are Gold members - not that I have seen any advantage to that).

What time do you typically set foot on the ship?

What do you do once on the ship?

Are there a number of things you try to do before the ship leaves the Port?

What time is the Muster drill?

What time does the ship pull out?

Where are you when the ship pulls out?

 

Looking forward to seeing how all of you experienced cruisers enjoy Embarcation day!

[chrysalis]

What time do you leave the Hotel? Depends on the hotel location

Do you Taxi or Shuttle? Taxi

What time do you try to arrive at the Port? 11am

What time do they start the process of loading? (we are Gold members - not that I have seen any advantage to that). Between 11:30 and noon

What time do you typically set foot on the ship? About noon

What do you do once on the ship? Go the our cabin

Are there a number of things you try to do before the ship leaves the Port? Grab something to eat

What time is the Muster drill? 3ish for a 4pm "departure"

What time does the ship pull out? Depends on number of ships in port and the order in which the Harbour Master schedules departure

Where are you when the ship pulls out? Usually near Outriggers on the stern but depends on the ship

Edited January 12, 2013 by chrysalis

[Trent212]

What time do you leave the Hotel? 10:30 or so

Do you Taxi or Shuttle? Taxi Usually

What time do you try to arrive at the Port? Around 11am

What time do they start the process of loading? Depends, but between 11:30 and noon

What time do you typically set foot on the ship? Noon-12:30ish

What do you do once on the ship?Head to the cabin, then to the dining room!

Are there a number of things you try to do before the ship leaves the Port?Usually put our name in for the first self-disembarkation, meet the cabin steward, and reserve our evening at the Crown Grill

What time is the Muster drill?3:15/3:30 so we can shove off at 4pm

What time does the ship pull out? 4ish, depending on a few factors (late passengers, harbour schedule)

Where are you when the ship pulls out? Typically the sailaway party, but with our upcoming CB cruise, maybe our balcony! (first one!)

[CruisinChris]

What is your embarcation routine?

What time do you leave the Hotel? We usually stay over by the beach. We leave about 10:15

Do you Taxi or Shuttle? Taxi, or if we're staying at the W, we use "Wheels" complimentary drop-off in an Acura MDX

What time do you try to arrive at the Port? Around 10:30. We are elite so we go to the "express" area

What time do they start the process of loading? (we are Gold members - not that I have seen any advantage to that). They start boarding around 11:30. There things that can delay the start but this is about when they start.

What time do you typically set foot on the ship? With this timing, we are usually among the first 20 or on board. I would say we're on board by about 11:45 and running directly to the Sanctuary. Last time one of us went to the room with the carry ons, the other to the Sanctuary

What do you do once on the ship? Sanctuary reservations for whole cruise, drop the carryons and change into swimsuits, lunch in the Horizon Court, back to the Sanctuary to begin vacation. Usually we have a welcome aboard cocktail with lunch. We also ask our steward to ice down the champagne we've broad onboard for sailaway

Are there a number of things you try to do before the ship leaves the Port? no. just being onboard is all that matters

What time is the Muster drill? muster is about an hour before sailaway. so 3

What time does the ship pull out? the shp is scheduled to depart at 4, but watching the port cam, she rarely leaves on time

Where are you when the ship pulls out? Comfortably ensconced on my minisuite balcony with a bottle of champagne, my camera, some cheese and crackers from the Horizon Court and listening to the bridge channel to see if the cruise director will play a sailaway song. they rarely do anymore. we have our own sailaway mix on the iphone. we have portable speakers for this purpose. we do leave them in the room so as not to disturb others who may only want to hear nature. or their neighbors yelling across decks to folks above or below them. (hate this)

Edited January 12, 2013 by Cruisin'Chris

[TaylorMace]

Thanks for the responses - anyone else?

[Cruise Raider]

We also arrive about 11 AM. Last month, we were on the ship within 5 minutes of being dropped off....love that Platinum / Elite line. We usually take a taxi from the pier but have friends that live in South Florida so are very fortunate they drop us off.

I like to have lunch in the formal dining room when I first board -- but they really try to dissuade you from doing this. It is like a big secret but just go on in - they won't stop you. Now they have the those amazing scallops back in the buffet again -- so that would be my option every time!!

[kayzmarie]

What time do you leave the Hotel? 900

Do you Taxi or Shuttle? shuttle

What time do try to arrive at the Port? by 930

What time do they start the process of loading? 1130-1145

What time do you typically set foot on the ship? always manage to be in the 1st group that gets called

What do you do once on the ship? drop my stuff off and head to the dining room

Are there a number of things you try to do before the ship leaves the Port? make reservations for that night's dinner in the Crowne Grill, unpack

What time is the Muster drill? 320

What time does the ship pull out? 400

Where are you when the ship pulls out? Crooners Bar having an Almond Dream then out on the Promenade Deck

Edited January 13, 2013 by kayzmarie

[klenklen]

What time do you leave the Hotel? 10:45/11am

Do you Taxi or Shuttle? Hotel shuttle unless it's crazy and then call a cab.

What time do you try to arrive at the Port? 11:15/11:30

What time do they start the process of loading? (we are Gold members - not that I have seen any advantage to that). The joy of platinum. 11:30 or so.

What time do you typically set foot on the ship? Noon

What do you do once on the ship? Smile, smile a bit more and then sit at the IC for a bite to eat.

Are there a number of things you try to do before the ship leaves the Port? Go to the cabin and see if the luggage has arrived and drop off our carry ons. Have a walk around and people watch.

What time is the Muster drill? 3 ish

What time does the ship pull out? 4:30 or so

Where are you when the ship pulls out? our aft balcony

[piper28]

Arriving before about 10:30 is pretty pointless IMHO, since up till possibly as late as 9:30 or so they may still be dealing with people getting off the ship. The odds of getting on the ship earlier than 11:00 or 11:30 are pretty slim, so why bother waiting in the less than comfortable terminal? Personally, we shoot for 11:00 or 11:30 or so (although sometimes that's when I drop my wife off, while I go deal with returning the rental car after that). The last cruise we did we knew that the embarkation was going to be delayed because of cleaning, so aimed later than that.

[HeidiHo]

We sailed on the Grand last Saturday. We arrived at the port at 10:30 and there were no lines at all. We did, however, have to wait about 45 minutes to board but arriving that early meant there were plenty of seats for waiting.

[pablo222]

My last couple cruises from Ft. Lauderdale, shore staff told me the

new rule was to start boarding at noon -- which they did.

[TaylorMace]

Does anyone know what dining room is open on CB when you first board? When you say they try to dissuade you, do they say you cant go in and you just have to walk right past anyway? Or are they a bit more suttle.

[FireFighter115]

I have a little different spin on embarkation. My parents live in Ft. Lauderdale and every year we give the the Bon Voyage Experience for Christmas. This lets them board the ship with us before everyone else. We enjoy lunch in the dinning room and especially like the fact that we get to make specialty dinning reservations before anyone else. Last year we wanted to do the Chief's Table and called immediately when we boarded the ship. We got the reservation. We later learned that they had over 100 requests and could only accomodate 24 people. We were the only first time Princess cruisers at the table. We would never had been able to do this had we not boarded first with my parents.

 

My parents drive us and park for the day at the port. We like to get there between 10 and 10:30. They live ten minutes from the port.

 

FF115

[Happy ks]

We're the opposite of the crowd. We usually aim to get to port around 1- 1:30 pm, check in takes about 5 minutes and we walk right through security, then onboard. Most ports we've done this at, we've been onboard within 15 minutes of getting dropped off at the curb.

 

I'm not good at waiting in terminals, nor do I have to be first onboard. Neither of us miss that first hour or so onboard. If we're staying at a nearby hotel, we just call the desk and ask for a late check out. We've even taken tour excursions of the port city with drop off at port, much better than waiting in a terminal. Or, a couple times when we've had Sunday departures, we go to Sunday Brunch first.

 

Only twice over the years have we had delayed boarding. Once boarding didn't begin until 1 pm (when we arrived) due to a mechanical problem, we waited an hour after check in, in line. Those at the front of the line had been waiting 2-3 hours. Another time, a computer glitch and we didn't board until 3 pm, some waited until almost 6 pm to board that day, there were so many people in the terminal lots of people were seated on the floor.

[JimnKaren]

We prefer to stay at the hotel until they toss us out! Too many crazies trying for the shuttle before 11:00. We get preferred boarding, so there is generally not a long line (can be if it is longer itinerary and lots of Platinum and Elite folks are there). However, we don't mind the lines too much as it gives us a chance to chat with other cruisers. We always seem to meet some of those folks on board!

 

If we get there quickly, I consider a short nap after a bite to eat (I have anxiety about that first day and a nap quells things a bit).

 

Jim

[CruiseVA]

We're the opposite of the crowd. We usually aim to get to port around 1- 1:30 pm

 

We're the same, we stay at the hotel as late as possible, grab a quick lunch and a microbrew or two (last ones for awhile - how sad that Princess continues to discriminate against beer drinkers with taste). We usually take a cab over, and then walk right on. Once there, a quick stop at the cabin to drop off the carryons, try to meet the steward, then we're off to a bar out on deck. I locate the nearest 'head' and then find my barstool for the week and commence drinking. ;)

 

DW drags me to the muster (drink in hand), then explore the various bars on the ship. LOL.

 

BTW - I like to drink beer, good beer, but, I don't discriminate against crappy beer. My Avatar's name is CaptBeermerica :)

[PurpleHays]

I generally like to wait until the hotel kicks us out too. As much as I like the ships, I'm in no hurry to stand in a crushing crowd. I'll save that for the dinner rush and shore excursions.:rolleyes:

[KruzPrincess]

I, also, stay at the hotel as long as possible. I usually check out around noon. I'll take a shuttle if it's convenient, but I'll take a cab if there's a swarm of people waiting for the shuttle. I have preferred boarding, so I'm usually on board by 1pm. I go to my cabin to drop off my stuff and put my valuables in the safe. I check my patter for muster info. I usually get a hole punched in my cruise card and walk a bit. Normally, I go to a Cruise Critic informal meet and greet somewhere on ship if there's a good roll call going.

[c4ddym4n]

We just returned from the Jan. 05, 2013 sailing of the CB. We left the hotel at 10 am, arrived at the port at 10:30 am. We were on board at noon and went directly to the Sanctuary and reserved two chairs for the week $210. We loved it. We went through 55 MPH winds and 7.5 ft to 12 ft waves for two of the sea days. a wild ride! Arrived at 4 pm at Curacao, almost all excursions were cancelled so we went to town to go shopping. They had 2500 people waiting to cross the bridge for over an hour. Finally crossed at 6:10pm and everthing was closed. But we did love Aruba!

[twocats]

We are renting a car but prefer not to wait for a shuttle, Does one call from the ship for a taxi or Uber? Is there a wait line? If so where? Long lines?

Advice please?

[ggprincess2004]

What is your embarcation routine? In FLL we are in a hotel, usually the Renaissance the night before, wake up, have a nice breakfast, finish packing the carry-ons and on down for a taxi.

What time do you leave the Hotel? We aim for the 10:15 to 10:30 time frame.

Do you Taxi or Shuttle? Used to shuttle, but it is such a hassle, we find a taxi to be simpler for us.

What time do you try to arrive at the Port? by 10:45

What time do they start the process of loading? (we are Gold members - not that I have seen any advantage to that). We are elite (just a fact, not a brag) and we have seen things get moving anytime from 11:40 to a very few minutes before noon for us.

What time do you typically set foot on the ship? Within a few minutes of the boarding process beginning.

What do you do once on the ship? First thing - to the stateroom, put the valuables in the safe, glance through waiting paperwork, check on amenities, freshen up if needed and head on to the dining room for lunch.

Are there a number of things you try to do before the ship leaves the Port?Have a drink with lunch, take few deep breaths, finish unpacking if luggage has arrived, call mom to say see you later....then but phones on airplane mode, and if we have a CC gathering remember where it will be held.

What time is the Muster drill? Usually 30 to 45 minutes before sailing time.

What time does the ship pull out? Sometimes on time, but if a number of flights were delayed or other things happen, departure might be delayed by up to several hours.

Where are you when the ship pulls out? Varies...if the weather is good we tend to be aft with drink in hand, on Lido, or on Promenade deck drink in hand. If weather isn't too great or departure is late, etc.. we might already be up in Skywalker's having a drink...sometimes we are putting away the last of the clothes, and then heading up on deck. When we have an aft balcony we are on that balcony.......

[Essiesmom]

We are renting a car but prefer not to wait for a shuttle, Does one call from the ship for a taxi or Uber? Is there a wait line? If so where? Long lines?

Advice please?

 

Don't know about Uber. There will be plenty of taxis waiting outside the terminal. EM

[cruisingpeople]

Not trying to sound obnoxious, but does everyone realize that this is a 3 year old thread??

[twocats]

Not try to be stupid, but after reading this through search , I wanted to start a new thread, guess I didn't get this post in the right spot, but ... someone kindly answered most of what I asked. I will remove.

[twocats]

Guess I can't!