On line check-in- when should I complete it?

[caryatid]

We booked a cruise on the Carnival Liberty for next April. I see online that there is an option for on-line check-in and I had a few questions. 1. When should I complete the on-line check in? Can I do it now, even though we are 200+ days from Crusing? 3. Is on-line check in where you choose your time to get on the ship? 4. We would like to get on the ship as early as possible, so should we check-in now to get an early time?

 

A lot of things have changed in the 10 years since we cruised Carnival, so I'm sorry in advance if this is a stupid question, I'm sure I'll have more coming!

[riffatsea]

You can choose your check in time and then fill out the rest of the check in stuff later if you prefer.

I generally wait until I have completed final payment to fill in the rest but you can do it any time.

IF they have the times available for you to choose check in then definitely do at least that now.

[Melipope]

We are cruising in January and are unable to pick our check in time yet.

 

 

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[beerman2]

Friends traveling with us next May were assigned a 12:30 check in time. They just paid in full.

 

I haven't paid in full yet so can't get mine.

[evandbob]

Friends traveling with us next May were assigned a 12:30 check in time. They just paid in full.

 

I haven't paid in full yet so can't get mine.

 

 

I've been able to select a check-in time slot on cruises that I've only put a deposit down, as well as cruises that I've paid in full.

I don't need to get an earlytime being Diamond, but Carnival wants those with priority boarding to pick a time slot, so I comply.

[deborahjo]

Mine is completed for my November cruise.

We have 11am check in but doesn't matter to us. I am platinum.

 

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[cajunfla]

We booked a cruise on the Carnival Liberty for next April. I see online that there is an option for on-line check-in and I had a few questions. 1. When should I complete the on-line check in? Can I do it now, even though we are 200+ days from Crusing? 3. Is on-line check in where you choose your time to get on the ship? 4. We would like to get on the ship as early as possible, so should we check-in now to get an early time?

 

A lot of things have changed in the 10 years since we cruised Carnival, so I'm sorry in advance if this is a stupid question, I'm sure I'll have more coming!

 

just remember, check in means check in to the terminal, not the ship.

[bury me at sea]

Friends traveling with us next May were assigned a 12:30 check in time. They just paid in full.

 

I haven't paid in full yet so can't get mine.

 

You do not have to be paid in full. One day the option will just suddenly be available.

[cganesh]

Check in since that's when you fill out all the info for each person cruising. If they have the option to pick a time to arrive at terminal for final checkin, it will come up when you finish the cruise documents and if you want the perks that go with FTTF, it will show up in excursions if available. Some cruises delay letting you choose times. If that occurs you will see a checkin window and need to check back from time to time to see if they've opened that up. If you're not in big hurry to board I'd suggest either noon or 12:30. We rarely have to wait but a few minutes at those times.

 

Cherie

[riclop]

You can complete it anytime.

[hrmkr]

The check in makes no sense. We are not sailing until the middle of November and I just did my online check in and the best time was 1:00-1:30?? I find it hard to believe that all of the earlier slots are already filled up 4 months away from our cruise date.

[Organized Chaos]

We booked a cruise on the Carnival Liberty for next April. I see online that there is an option for on-line check-in and I had a few questions. 1. When should I complete the on-line check in? Can I do it now, even though we are 200+ days from Crusing? 3. Is on-line check in where you choose your time to get on the ship? 4. We would like to get on the ship as early as possible, so should we check-in now to get an early time?

 

A lot of things have changed in the 10 years since we cruised Carnival, so I'm sorry in advance if this is a stupid question, I'm sure I'll have more coming!

Yes, you can do it now if you want. Keep in mind, the online check-in process is simply verifying your citizenship info., your travel document info., on board expense account, etc. It is separate from picking a check-in time. At some point a separate link will pop up in your cruise manager to pick your check-in time. Obviously, the sooner you pick a check-in time, the earlier the time you will get, so keep an eye out for it. They assign zone numbers based on the order in which people check in. The sooner you check-in at the terminal, the lower the zone number you get. They board weddings, diamond, platinum, suites, & FTTF first. Then they start calling zone numbers.

 

The check in makes no sense. We are not sailing until the middle of November and I just did my online check in and the best time was 1:00-1:30?? I find it hard to believe that all of the earlier slots are already filled up 4 months away from our cruise date.

You'd be surprised. I think the option to pick a check-in time tends to show up in people's cruise manager around 6 months prior to the cruise, give or take (and don't quote me on that). So there's a good chance people have had a 2 month head start picking times ahead of you.

[bUU]

The check in makes no sense. We are not sailing until the middle of November and I just did my online check in and the best time was 1:00-1:30?? I find it hard to believe that all of the earlier slots are already filled up 4 months away from our cruise date.

Why is that so hard to believe? I booked my slot for my upcoming cruise within an hour it was offered, and it was gone within hours. I bet well over 200 passengers saw comments on social media that the slots were now available for selection, and probably jumped at the news to book their slot. Remember, they're offering the slots in limited quantities with various objectives to serve. They will "sell out".

[RWolver672]

If you fill it out now, you can always go back in and either finish one part later or edit what you have already put in. We have a cruise booked for Feb, 2019 and I have filled in everything except our flights. Needless to say, those flights aren't available yet. When we do book them, I'll just go back in and enter that information.

[13cheermom]

The check in makes no sense. We are not sailing until the middle of November and I just did my online check in and the best time was 1:00-1:30?? I find it hard to believe that all of the earlier slots are already filled up 4 months away from our cruise date.

 

 

 

We chose our check-in time about 1 1/2 months ago also for our November cruise. The 11:30 am was the earliest time slot available then. We are also platinum so I guess it really doesn't matter but I still chose earliest time. Seems like the 5-6 months prior is the usual timeframe of posting the on-line check-in.

 

 

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[beerman2]

You do not have to be paid in full. One day the option will just suddenly be available.

I will keep checking, however dependable the web is, that's the message I received.

 

And we all know how cruiselines webs can be🤣🤣🤣

[lizardhowson]

I will keep checking, however dependable the web is, that's the message I received.

 

And we all know how cruiselines webs can be🤣🤣🤣

 

The only restriction dependent on being paid in full is being able to print boarding passes.

Are you sure you are not confusing the two.

 

You have never been required to be paid in full to choose a check-in time only to print your boarding passes.

[beerman2]

You do not have to be paid in full. One day the option will just suddenly be available.

Should have said print boarding passes which has arrival time on it.

 

Just checked again and I get message that must be paid in full to print.

 

On line check is has been finished for awhile!

[bury me at sea]

Should have said print boarding passes which has arrival time on it.

 

Just checked again and I get message that must be paid in full to print.

 

On line check is has been finished for awhile!

 

I'm happy that confusion has been clarified!

 

Happy sailing.

[Organized Chaos]

We chose our check-in time about 1 1/2 months ago also for our November cruise. The 11:30 am was the earliest time slot available then. We are also platinum so I guess it really doesn't matter but I still chose earliest time. Seems like the 5-6 months prior is the usual timeframe of posting the on-line check-in.

I didn't know this until someone I'd consider a very reputable member of this forum said it yesterday. She said if someone who already has priority status picks an early check-in time, they can go back and pick a later time and it would actually open up the earlier slot for someone else. Since the check-in time doesn't really matter for a priority passenger anyway. If that's the case, it'd be nice if Carnival wouldn't even allow priority passengers to take up valuable early time slots to begin with.

[It's a Ship!!!]

I didn't know this until someone I'd consider a very reputable member of this forum said it yesterday. She said if someone who already has priority status picks an early check-in time, they can go back and pick a later time and it would actually open up the earlier slot for someone else. Since the check-in time doesn't really matter for a priority passenger anyway. If that's the case, it'd be nice if Carnival wouldn't even allow priority passengers to take up valuable early time slots to begin with.

I absolutely agree with you, but I know why they do it. They want to get an accurate determination of who is going to come in at what time. They want the priority people to choose the time they will actually get there so there isn't a big unexpected influx of people at a certain time. However, that can go both ways if priority passengers choose an early time and get there late. Your suggestion of just not letting them choose would be better since there probably aren't that many with priority compared to everyone else.

[cherbear4000]

I usually complete the online check-in a week before sailing. I do, however, pick my arrival time as soon as possible. If you wait too long, your desired time may not be available.

[swodog94]

The check in makes no sense. We are not sailing until the middle of November and I just did my online check in and the best time was 1:00-1:30?? I find it hard to believe that all of the earlier slots are already filled up 4 months away from our cruise date.

Where are you sailing from? Baltimore moved all their check in slots to the right after Pride's arrival time switched to 1000 am. We're sailing on Pride at the end of this month and picked our check in slot in April when we booked the cruise; earliest slot we could pick was 1230.

[Organized Chaos]

I absolutely agree with you' date=' but I know why they do it. They want to get an accurate determination of who is going to come in at what time. They want the priority people to choose the time they will actually get there so there isn't a big unexpected influx of people at a certain time. However, that can go both ways if priority passengers choose an early time and get there late. Your suggestion of just not letting them choose would be better since there probably aren't that many with priority compared to everyone else.[/quote']

I understand what you're saying perfectly. I don't know the ratio of priority passengers to non-priority on any given embarkation day. I guess it would be too much of a hassle for Carnival to find out, but it'd be interesting to know if it would slow down the check-in process if they didn't force priority passengers to choose a time. Opening the early time slots they would've taken to non-priority passengers. How many priority passengers actually stick to the time they choose, knowing they can show up whenever they want? If most of them do, then there'd be no reason to change it. But if most of them don't, then forcing them to pick a time seems pointless.

[bUU]

And if they did it correctly the end result would probably be roughly the same as it is the way they're doing it now without having to go through all of that hassle. You have to figure that a relatively small number of elite passengers are going to bust their tail to get online day after day until the check in appointments become available... just to get an early slot that technically they don't need. The specific Elite passengers may be different, but I have a hard time believing that *the number of* elite passengers securing early check-in times will be significantly different than *the number of* elite passengers actually checking in early.

 

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