Email about staggered embarkation

[2boys2girls]

Well with our cruise coming up real fast, just got on email from Carnival that they are trying to cut down on lines and so they are staggering the embarkation times to assist with this. They gave us on embarkation time of between 2 and 3pm.

First of all, we are getting a ride down to the port and the person driving us has to take us in the morning because they work. We have always tried to get to the port by 10:30 or 11:00 and I realize Carnival is trying to help with lines, but I think that people come at all different times anyway.

I don't know how they can enforce something like this and maybe they don't but we are paying a lot of money for this cruise and we will arrive when we can get there, not when Carnival tells us to get there. JMO :))

[ZanziBarred]

Well with our cruise coming up real fast, just got on email from Carnival that they are trying to cut down on lines and so they are staggering the embarkation times to assist with this. They gave us on embarkation time of between 2 and 3pm.

First of all, we are getting a ride down to the port and the person driving us has to take us in the morning because they work. We have always tried to get to the port by 10:30 or 11:00 and I realize Carnival is trying to help with lines, but I think that people come at all different times anyway.

I don't know how they can enforce something like this and maybe they don't but we are paying a lot of money for this cruise and we will arrive when we can get there, not when Carnival tells us to get there. JMO :))

 

Then don't come on here after your cruise and complain about the lines because you and your fellow cruisers chose to ignore the email. :)

[2boys2girls]

I have never complained about lines and never will...there will be lines at 11am and at 2pm. That is to be expected. My point was that we already had made arrangements to get there and they can't be changed because Carnival sent an email right before the cruise. If we have to stand in line, so be it...we just want to get on the ship and get our vacation started!

[cruzeluver]

If carnival expected these boarding times to be followed, they would make sure ALL embarking passengers got them, and would send them much further in advance. Don't most people have their boarding day plans in place more than a day or two prior to the start of their cruise? It is simply a way to try and spread the folks out, but no way could it be construed as anything more than a vague suggestion.

[StolidCruiser]

I have never complained about lines and never will...there will be lines at 11am and at 2pm. That is to be expected. My point was that we already had made arrangements to get there and they can't be changed because Carnival sent an email right before the cruise. If we have to stand in line, so be it...we just want to get on the ship and get our vacation started!

 

Thanks for sharing that you, like everyone else, want to get on the ship and start your vacation. Ignore the email like responses to the second most frequently posted query always end up.

 

You realize you will be waiting in a sea of people with the same intentions so there should be no complaints with the bottlenecks.

[love my grandkids]

We would also ignore the email. Sooner you get to the port sooner your vacation starts.

[elainmir]

We got an email last cruise asking us to arrive around 1 pm..uh no..I didn't shell out 50 bucks for FTTF so I could arrive late...no thank you. We were on quickly and all was well

[2boys2girls]

I honestly have to say that I would have never come on here to even mention the email I received if I'd known I would get some, not all, sarcastic comments. My intention was not to break some rule or talk about something that has already been talked about. This is the first time we have cruised since 2011 and this email was a new thing and I just thought I'd bring it up. We will all be standing in line and waiting to get on the ship and hopefully everyone will be happy just to get their vacation started...counting down the days!

[SMSACE6]

I've read quite a few posts here on CC and elsewhere from people who have gotten those emails, and yet have purchased FTTF. I think Carnival just randomly sends out these emails to a certain number of passengers, regardless of whether they have FTTF or not. Guess they just dont want everyone showing up at the same time.

 

I am sure there are times when boarding will be delayed for a number of reasons, but since they seem to send these out regularly/every cruise, I can see why people are disregarding them. I do too.

 

I too will stick with my regular arrival time at the port, whether I get an email or not. If boarding is delayed...well I just have to live with it. Got to check out of hotel anyway...might as well be at the port. Water bottle and granola bar in bag..will survive till I board.:cool:

[ccruisequeen]

We got an email last cruise asking us to arrive around 1 pm..uh no..I didn't shell out 50 bucks for FTTF so I could arrive late...no thank you. We were on quickly and all was well

 

So ironic that FTTF P/D would get them. You'd think the computers would be smart enough to send them to other passengers!

 

Sent from my KFSOWI using Tapatalk

[winddawn]

I honestly have to say that I would have never come on here to even mention the email I received if I'd known I would get some, not all, sarcastic comments. My intention was not to break some rule or talk about something that has already been talked about. This is the first time we have cruised since 2011 and this email was a new thing and I just thought I'd bring it up. We will all be standing in line and waiting to get on the ship and hopefully everyone will be happy just to get their vacation started...counting down the days!

Sorry for all the negative comments you got.

 

Carnival sends these emails frequently trying to get people to arrive later.

 

There are a variety of reasons that embarkation can be delayed, but the reality is that embarkation is not normally delayed. Your embarkation could be delayed, but probably won't be. Just because you received an email does not necessarily mean that embarkation will be delayed. But it could be.

 

Since you have already arranged for arriving at a normal time, I would not be too concerned if I were you. The worst case scenario is that you will have to sit in the terminal for a while before boarding.

 

Best wishes for a normal, on-time embarkation. Have a great cruise!

[ZanziBarred]

I don't know how they can enforce something like this and maybe they don't but we are paying a lot of money for this cruise and we will arrive when we can get there, not when Carnival tells us to get there. JMO :))

 

So did 3,000 of your fellow passengers. But you do what you gotta do.... :cool:

[autofan]

I love the naysayers on the board. They keep everyone in laughs. We have had 14 cruises and only have had to deal with lines twice and one was due to a fog delay and you would have thought that was the first time there was a fog delay for the employees did not seem to have the slightest idea as to handle the delay. One time I received an email advising to board at 1:30, the email for my wife told her to board at 11:30. There have been additional couples that have posted the same. If their computers do not keep track of those in the same stateroom for surely you wouldn't expect them to keep track of those that paid for FTTF.

[dmdiver]

We have not received one of those e-mails but a friend of mine did. She was concerned about getting to the port too early. They were driving down. I feel like CCL is just hoping that people will not all show up early & have to stand in the terminal for 3 forevers. It makes sense to me, but honestly, I get there when I get there. I'm not gonna leave my house later when I have a 5 hour drive and don't know when there will be a traffic tie-up (which happened on my last drive down). Nor am I going to hang out in Galveston for a couple of hours with my luggage in the car. If I wait in a line longer than normal, so be it. I just want to get my parking space & be ready to board.

 

And what about people who fly in? Are they supposed to sit in the airport terminal and wait to leave the airport. And again, what if the highway is shut down between the airport & the port? Things happen.

 

I'd still rather be stuck in a line in the terminal knowing I'm not gonna miss the boat.

[JMAE]

How does that work when your fight arrives at 9:30 and they tell you you can't board until 2PM?

[SMSACE6]

How does that work when your fight arrives at 9:30 and they tell you you can't board until 2PM?

 

Don't worry, by the time you get off the flight, pick up baggage and get transportation to port it will likely be around noon anyway, and chances are that they will already be boarding. Just stick with your original plan of arrival to port. Be also prepared for a possible delay in boarding, but more than likely, you will be on board by 1pm.

[VASOXFANN]

On our most recent cruise, they sent me one of those Emails with a different embark time than DH and DD. :eek: We were all on the same account :rolleyes:

 

We showed up at the earliest time and waited for 2 1/2 hours because no one knew what they were doing at the Port of Norfolk. :mad: I'm never sailing from there again!

 

Had Norfolk not been a quagmire...if someone tried to separate me from my family, they would have had a problem.

Edited June 1, 2015 by VASOXFANN

[2boys2girls]

Just have to say thanks for all the positive replies and kind of amused at the main "negative" cruiser who I hope is not on my cruise!!

[You Me & the Sea]

Just have to say thanks for all the positive replies and kind of amused at the main "negative" cruiser who I hope is not on my cruise!!

 

As others have said, arrive when you need to. We too received a similar letter prior to our last cruise, but we were booked in a suite...which gets priority boarding! So, I guess count us among the "rule-breakers" who chose to take advantage of one of the perks of booking a suite rather than arrive as the letter suggested.

[whciv]

We leave in 3 weeks from Galveston and will drive down and try to board when we get there. We've done this 3 times and they normally allowed us to board when we arrived. Once we waited about 20 minutes. No big deal. If we tried to adjust our arrival time to the port, it would be our luck that an accident would make us late for departure.

 

We will check to see if our room is ready right when we get on board. We aren't diamond, but we are gold and its not a big deal to move into your room early if its ready. We don't push the cabin steward to finish we just check to see if he's ready.

 

In my opinion, Carnival does much of this to help sell their FTTP service. We have been cruising for 20+ years and this is the one additional cost I refuse to accept. Before too long, everyone will have FTTP and boarding will be exactly like it has always been. If you have paid for a suite, then by all means board early just like first class on an airplane. But before too long they will charge us more to board by gangway, or use the elevators or eat on real plates.

Edited June 1, 2015 by whciv

[Quilcruisers]

We have not received one of those e-mails but a friend of mine did. She was concerned about getting to the port too early. They were driving down. I feel like CCL is just hoping that people will not all show up early & have to stand in the terminal for 3 forevers. It makes sense to me, but honestly, I get there when I get there. I'm not gonna leave my house later when I have a 5 hour drive and don't know when there will be a traffic tie-up (which happened on my last drive down). Nor am I going to hang out in Galveston for a couple of hours with my luggage in the car. If I wait in a line longer than normal, so be it. I just want to get my parking space & be ready to board.

 

 

 

And what about people who fly in? Are they supposed to sit in the airport terminal and wait to leave the airport. And again, what if the highway is shut down between the airport & the port? Things happen.

 

 

 

I'd still rather be stuck in a line in the terminal knowing I'm not gonna miss the boat.

 

 

I will have to agree with you on this one. I got the email to arrive between 2pm and 3pm, boarding ends 330. There is no way in the " hot place" I am going to chance driving to Galveston and risking traffic jams that have been known to add more than an Hour to a typical commute. I am planning to get there same time I do every time we cruise. If I have to sit in my car across from the port I will. I cannot risk driving down over an hour to Galveston in our traffic. I live in Nw Houston and there is literally construction on every single freeway.

 

I have waited in long lines before and have stood outside in the humid heat too. There were also times where we were on board eating at 1pm.

 

To the OP , don't change your plans, they say the reason our embarkation is suggested as such is due to another ship being in port the same day and the Triumph will be in a smaller terminal.

[love my grandkids]

Just have to say thanks for all the positive replies and kind of amused at the main "negative" cruiser who I hope is not on my cruise!!

 

Some people on here are just not to be taken seriously. Enjoy your cruise.

[sweetsixteencruisers]

When we left out Port Canaveral in October 2014. We received an email not to arrive until 1:00. We had a park and ride shuttle reservation. We arrived at our shuttle time, 10:30 if I recall correctly. They wouldn't bring us over to the ship until then. They said they weren't allowed to bring the shuttles over. We sat there on a line that wrapped around their building! Couldn't do anything about it, so just went with the flow.

[ZanziBarred]

I think that carnival is inching toward giving people actual times to board like Disney does.. They are doing some voluntary emails now, but within a year or so they will announce that they are now going to give actual boarding times for people to make for a better boarding process.

 

I think the boarding process works fine as is. 2,000 people being processed like cattle pushing and shoving their way though the chute and to the front just to be one of the first at the trough.

 

And then don't forget coming back here and writing a trip report describing how embarkation was the worst experience ever because they had to wait in line for an hour to get past security and it ruined their entire cruise.

[portocaller]

Personally I wouldn't have a problem with assigned boarding times but they have to get their computers accurate first. If they can't get people in the same stateroom together the same time or differentiate between p/d/s/fttf first, then why would I be inclined to follow a suggested time? In addition, for ports located in a city, traffic is too unpredictable to even suggest a 3 pm boarding time.