Self-Assist Disembarking

[Coolauntangie]

We have an earlier flight than we wanted but we don't have a lot of options for this trip. So I am wondering how the self assist works so we can get to the airport. Do we have to let Carnival know? Can we still eat breakfast? What are your thoughts to make this easier?

 

Hopefully in the future we won't have to take a 11:20am flight. Unfortunately this could not be helped. Thanks in advance.

[springs741]

While the drive is only about 20 minutes you will need to get off the ship, collect your luggage, clear customs, find a taxi, travel, check in at the airport and go thru security. If you are going to be a good traveler and be at the airport an hour to 90 minutes before your flight. So around 10? My suggestion is grab a quick bit to eat as soon as the Lido opens and then self assist. You should be fine.

[skrufy]

For self assist, you do not need to advise Carnival, but have your luggage all packed and ready to go right after breakfast. You will have time to have a good breakfast.The lido deck will be open early. If your in a cab by 9am, you will be at the airport by 9:20-9:30am. We never self assist take it easy and we are ready to go by 8:30-9am all the time.

[huenix]

I'm super paranoid about missing flights. And I used to know the exact time it took to sprint from security to nearly any gate at Hartsfield.

 

Why not use the 90 min wait time to grab a breakfast at the airport?

[GUT2407]

I have done self-assist and it works fine.

 

Personally I prefer the more leisurely method unless I am in a rush for some reason.

[smurfm69]

We just recently got back from a cruise on the Glory and had an early flight(10:45am). When you do your online check in before the cruise, they ask for your flight info. Because of this, they knew we had an early flight and self assist debarkation for guests with an early flight took place before general self assist debarkation. We were off the ship at 8am.

[day-day]

We cruised on the Carnival Dream last month out of New Orleans. We used self-assist but did not have any priorities (e.g. early flight, FTTF, Diamond, etc.). We wanted to get off early for our drive home.

 

We were advised to be clear of our rooms by 8am. This was not a problem for us. We left our bags in the room while eating breakfast at the buffet. I think the buffet opened at 6:30 (maybe earlier on debarkation day but I don't have my paperwork).

 

The first call for self-assist was not for our deck (I think decks 1 and 2) and the announcement was made while were eating breakfast a little before 7am. I'm guessing priority self-assist folks had already started leaving the ship. We were finishing up breakfast when the announcement was made so we went to our room for a final packing and headed to debarkation.

 

We had a short line (less than a minute) for the scanners to leave the ship and no waits until customs. The wait for a customs agent and the talk with our customs agent took less than two minutes total. We were at our car in the cruise port parking lot by 7:40.

 

As long as the ship arrives as scheduled, you should have no problem getting to the airport early even without any priorities. Get up early enough, you can be completely ready and eat breakfast on the ship. Some folks were waiting for their deck to be called and a crew member told them not to worry about it and go ahead and debark.

Edited June 15, 2015 by day-day