Port Canaveral Cruise terminal questions

[ce_cruise]

We are sailing on the Carnival Dream on 8/24/13. Just wondering what the embarkation process is like at Port Canaveral? Is it advisable to arrive early? Do you wait inside a building or are you outside waiting?

Thanks in advance.:)

[Corby114]

The terminal at Port Canaveral is relatively large. Checking in usually starts around 11:00AM and the first passengers usually board the ship around 11:30AM. The lines aren't that long and once you are onboard you will have access to your cabin around 1:30PM. Have lunch in the buffet and have a walk around the ship until the staterooms become available.

[Capt_BJ]

Driving????? :: IF DREAM is the only Carn' ship loading that day it isn't bad if there are two Carn' ships loading the traffic can be a problem as the entrance/parking layout is an engineering nightmare 'tween the two Carn' terminals... I dropped someone off for a Carn' cruise just a few weeks ago and got lost trying to get IN and OUT and I previously worked IN the port!

 

also to be forewarned .... it is not unusual for the line to get thru security to enter the TERMINAL to extend out the door ... once you get past the entry point all is well and the terminal large but the way the metal detectors are set up near the entrance often leave part of the queue outside. I dropped folks off about noon and the line was outside the door .... only about 30 folks so I suspect it was only 5 minutes or so but this WAS July in central Florida . . .