Self-Disembarking

[Raxter54]

I looked at a Compass for the Serenade someone posted on CC. It mentioned that people who wish to self-disembark should meet in the theater at a certain time with their luggage. How quickly will self-disembarking get you off the ship compared to regular disembarking? We are not needing to meet a flight or anything, but getting off earlier would allow us to get out of NOLA and get to Memphis earlier.

[Wilson]

We chose the self-disembark on Majesty last month. We had one bag each since it was a 3 night cruise and wanted to avoid the 1-2 hour process.

 

There was a 5-10 minute line so they could scan our SeaPass cards as you walked off the ship and a 5 minute line at Customs. No long lines, no searching for luggage and it allowed us to catch a flight that got us home 2 hours earlier. We basically walked right off the ship and will choose this option in the future as long as we can handle all of the luggage. :)

[turtleash]

We just got off the Jewel in San Juan and did the self disembarkation, it may have been the first time I have done so. We just took our luggage, caught the elevator and walked off the ship did not meet in a certain location. I enjoyed it we were in no rush to catch a flight and check in at hotel wasn't till the afternoon. We got off the ship no later than 9 and it went smooth. A little line going through customs check but nothing compared to what I saw the previous year. Most people were probably already off and headed to airport. We may have waited in line for 20 minute tops! It was pretty easy!

[TEXASMUNK]

Have observed, everytime we disembark, long, long lines of folks snaking back and forth waiting their turn at customs.

 

So, you will see varying degrees of wait time.

[Alan13]

I self disembarked from the Indy TA last month. I was off the ship at 620a and at FLL airport at 640a. Customs never even asked if we anything to declare. It was so fast. Even though I have to take my bags off it is still quicker than trying to find them at the pier. And the later it gets the longer the lines get. For me, self-disembarkation is the way to go!

[TEXASMUNK]

I honestly believe it is the port and the US Customs team, not necessarily the ship or cruise line.

Galveston self-disembark is slow.

[Scoobydobe7]

IMO - if you are one of the first in line IT IS THE WAY TO GO. The longer the line the nastier (imo) the people get. If I did not have an early plane to catch I would stay on board late and then get a porter to take care of my luggage. Sometimes it can be the best 5 bucks I have spent.

[twindaddy]

Once self assist is called, can I leave anytime after that? Or is self debark supposed to be off by a certain time?

 

This is what we do on Disney, and it is allowed. As soon as they call the first tag, if you are self assist, you can go whenever you want.

[JamesEM]

I was on the Allure last month and was off the ship very quickly only to stand in line for over an hour to clear customs.

[twindaddy]

I was on the Allure last month and was off the ship very quickly only to stand in line for over an hour to clear customs.

 

Did you self debark with a group, or can you just leave any time you want? I found an old compass that says selfies need to between 630 and 715, but I am not sure if that is enforced or followed anymore. I would prefer to leave a little later, I have a later flight, but I love self assist.

[mollyeilis]

IMO - if you are one of the first in line IT IS THE WAY TO GO. The longer the line the nastier (imo) the people get.

 

I completely agree.

 

We did self-disembark off Vision in Fort Lauderdale, misjudged the number of people who wanted to do it, and ended up in a very very long line. We were still off before people in later groups, and definitely before we would have been (group 23 was on our luggage tags), but it was annoying. The line was all through deck 4 in the Centrum and then up to deck 5. That's where we were. No elevators were made obviously available to us, so we got to clunk our bags down the stairs to 4 when our turn came. And then the line through the customs building was long. Once we got ot the customs person it was very fast, but with that many people, it all adds up.

 

In the future I would get up EARLY and be among the first in line.

[cindivan]

Did you self debark with a group, or can you just leave any time you want? I found an old compass that says selfies need to between 630 and 715, but I am not sure if that is enforced or followed anymore. I would prefer to leave a little later, I have a later flight, but I love self assist.

 

We did self about a year ago on the Allure. We didn't get up as early as we should have and ended up getting off the ship with the first round of regular disembarkers. Nothing was said to us about being self and going late, but it certainly delayed us.

[gymnastmom1]

We just returned from sailing on the Brilliance on Dec 1 and did self disembark. We were originally told to meet in the theater and disembark would start at approx. 7:30, but at 7:15 they made an announcement that any US citizen wishing to self disembark could head to the galley. We probably headed down about 5min later and were through customs within about 15-20min.

Edited December 10, 2014 by gymnastmom1

[JamesEM]

Did you self debark with a group, or can you just leave any time you want? I found an old compass that says selfies need to between 630 and 715, but I am not sure if that is enforced or followed anymore. I would prefer to leave a little later, I have a later flight, but I love self assist.

 

I was one of last bag draggers to leave the ship in the self assisted group, but was informed that I could leave later if I wanted to do so.

[bigeck]

I self disembarked from the Indy TA last month. I was off the ship at 620a and at FLL airport at 640a. Customs never even asked if we anything to declare. It was so fast. Even though I have to take my bags off it is still quicker than trying to find them at the pier. And the later it gets the longer the lines get. For me, self-disembarkation is the way to go!

 

Hi Alan

Wish we had done that. They closed the embarkation for a bit and we had to wait over an hour and there were big lines at the luggage pick up.

Next year we will be off early.

[latunxitom]

It was so fast. Even though I have to take my bags off it is still quicker than trying to find them at the pier.

[FOXTROT]

We do it a lot. We just did it last Sat. on the Serenade. With so many people on the ship from New Orleans it took longer than usual. From getting in line on deck 5 till we boarded a taxi was about 20 minutes.

[Lmb2548]

We have done self assist a few times and have had positive experiences. On our last sailing on the Allure, we had a later flight and hung around the ship rather than waiting at the airport. It worked out perfectly. My only tip is to make sure you are capable of handling your bags. Sailing out of NY once we saw many people attempt self assist with all of their luggage - you still have ramps and escalators to tackle.