Boarding process - Rooms/Bags

[jb456]

Sorry for the newbie question lol

 

Can someone kindly give a brief rundown of how the process works.

 

Let's say we board the ship at 2 do we walk to our room?

 

How do we find out if it's ready or not?

 

Checked bags are they delivered inside the room or do we have to keep going to check if there sitting by the door in the hallway?

 

Thanks

Edited August 14, 2014 by jb456

[tncap]

Rooms will be available before 2pm. They have doors that close the hallways off from the elevator lobbies and all rooms are ready when those are opened.

 

Bags will be delivered outside your room in the hallway.

Edited August 14, 2014 by tncap

[tigereye]

If you board at 2 you should be able to go directly to your cabin, although there are exceptions to every rule. Your baggage will arrive outside your cabin door and you will need to check back to know when it is there.

[sailor_jimc]

Process-

 

You arrive at the cruise terminal- Drop your bags off with a porter (tip them)

keep your carry on WITH YOUR DOCUMENTATION with you.

 

You go in and check in where you get your room key/sign & sail card.

 

The cabins are NOT normally ready until 1:30 to 2PM, at check in they will tell you what time they will be. At that time you can go to your cabin and drop your carry on items off.

 

For "faster to the fun" pass buyers this is different, your cabins are supposed to be ready as soon as you board.

 

About 4pm baggage will start being delivered. This seems to be fairly random in when your bags will get there. Even bags turned in to the same porter on the same luggage cart can show up an hour apart. Don't panic if all your bags don't arrive at once. They will place your bags outside of your cabin door. We just pull them inside as they arrive. But you can also just stay up on lido deck and enjoy the drinks and music and come down to your cabin later if you wish.

 

About 4PM they will have the Muster Drill (liveboat safety drill) which you have to attend. We normally head down to the cabin and do a baggage check after that and then back up to Lido for the sail a way party.

 

Again for FTTF (and VIPs) the luggage should get an orange sticker on it when you give it to the porter. These bags get delivered first. We were amazed on a recent cruise on the Freedom as we were held up boarding and did not get on the ship until 12:30. Our bags beat us to our cabin.

[jb456]

Process-

 

You arrive at the cruise terminal- Drop your bags off with a porter (tip them)

keep your carry on WITH YOUR DOCUMENTATION with you.

 

You go in and check in where you get your room key/sign & sail card.

 

The cabins are NOT normally ready until 1:30 to 2PM, at check in they will tell you what time they will be. At that time you can go to your cabin and drop your carry on items off.

 

For "faster to the fun" pass buyers this is different, your cabins are supposed to be ready as soon as you board.

 

About 4pm baggage will start being delivered. This seems to be fairly random in when your bags will get there. Even bags turned in to the same porter on the same luggage cart can show up an hour apart. Don't panic if all your bags don't arrive at once. They will place your bags outside of your cabin door. We just pull them inside as they arrive. But you can also just stay up on lido deck and enjoy the drinks and music and come down to your cabin later if you wish.

 

About 4PM they will have the Muster Drill (liveboat safety drill) which you have to attend. We normally head down to the cabin and do a baggage check after that and then back up to Lido for the sail a way party.

 

Again for FTTF (and VIPs) the luggage should get an orange sticker on it when you give it to the porter. These bags get delivered first. We were amazed on a recent cruise on the Freedom as we were held up boarding and did not get on the ship until 12:30. Our bags beat us to our cabin.

 

Wow thank you!

 

Is there a specific time to get to the port to avoid long lines without the FTTF.

 

I would presume 11 to 1 is probably packed?

 

Maybe we could just go to port for around 2 and breeze through?

[SkyMaster]

Wow thank you!

 

Is there a specific time to get to the port to avoid long lines without the FTTF.

 

I would presume 11 to 1 is probably packed?

 

Maybe we could just go to port for around 2 and breeze through?

 

You've pretty much got this figured out. Most people arrive between 11 and 1, so yep, if you come a bit later, you'll find far less people in line, and probably will check in, and walk right on board. I wouldn't plan on arriving much later than 2 however, as "poo-poo occurs", and you wouldn't want to miss the ship. :eek:

Have a GREAT cruise!

 

"SKY"

[jb456]

You've pretty much got this figured out. Most people arrive between 11 and 1, so yep, if you come a bit later, you'll find far less people in line, and probably will check in, and walk right on board. I wouldn't plan on arriving much later than 2 however, as "poo-poo occurs", and you wouldn't want to miss the ship. :eek:

Have a GREAT cruise!

 

"SKY"

 

Great thank you!

[SadieN]

When you drop off the bags with the porters make sure you have your docs, meds, electronics and beverages with you. Basically anything you cannot live without.

[YB Nrml]

DH & I keep swimsuits and 1 change of clothes, along with everything else mentioned in the above posts, in our carry on. That way if our luggage gets lost or held up we still have the basic necessities.

 

Don't be afraid to ask questions, we were all newbies once. If you get rude replies just ignore them, it's what works best.

[KLD1019]

i wish i would have kept DSs swim shorts in my bag i carried on. Even with FTTF, we were still without one luggage, the main one with EVERYTHING in it, cause the boarding tag got ripped off and it was one of the "nameless" bags that they couldnt deliver. when we got to our room, we had our bags as promised, but they were our shoe luggage and garment bag with our formal wear. we were on the ship around 12. didnt get the main luggage that was "nameless" until about 5, and that was by accident! our cabin was on deck 6, but me and DS just happened to be on deck 3 or 4 looking around. we turned down one corridor, and there was our luggage, along with a few others that lost their tags!

[serene56]

Wow thank you!

 

Is there a specific time to get to the port to avoid long lines without the FTTF.

 

I would presume 11 to 1 is probably packed?

 

Maybe we could just go to port for around 2 and breeze through?

 

 

We get to the pier about 10:30 and pre check in-- then take a seat until boarding starts-- usually about 11:30 or thereafter. Lunch will be available to you as soon as you board-- cabins are ready about 1:30 so pack lightly.

 

By 2:30 I am onboard- fed and unpacked and learning my way around the ship

[Jules12Wed]

So if you have FTTF and supposedly can go straight to your cabin but if there's locked doors stopping you go down the corridors how do you get to your cabin?

[goduckies05]

So if you have FTTF and supposedly can go straight to your cabin but if there's locked doors stopping you go down the corridors how do you get to your cabin?

 

Go past the doors they still open. Show you card if necessary.

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Forums mobile app

[serene56]

So if you have FTTF and supposedly can go straight to your cabin but if there's locked doors stopping you go down the corridors how do you get to your cabin?

 

the doors will not be locked. you open the door and go to your cabin

If you do not have FTTF do not leave your stuff in the cabin. They are not secured. Steward may think stuff belongs to the previous passenger and take it somewhere to be claimed

[Jules12Wed]

Go past the doors they still open. Show you card if necessary.

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Forums mobile app

 

Thanks for that I would never have known that you were allowed to push doors open. Thank you

[kingoftheicedragons]

Rooms are usually ready by 1 or 1:30 (I think it's officially 1:30). I have never seen the doors closed off preventing us from getting to our cabins, and we have gone by our room as soon as we've boarded in the past. Not saying it doesn't happen, I just have never noticed it on any of our nine previous cruises.

 

For the most part, bags will be delivered outside your room and this is where you should expect them. On occasion, they will be put in your cabin for you. This is more likely if your bags arrive separate from each other, and your steward sees that you have already put the early arriving bags in your cabin.