How do I find latest check in time?

[bbtbear]

My sister and I are sailing on the Carnival Dream Feb 24, but our original plans have changed. We were planning to fly in Saturday the 23rd and stay at an airport hotel for the night, take the shuttle to the ship, and had purchased Faster to the Fun so we could be on board first thing and our cabin would be ready. Then we planned to stay on in New Orleans for about a week after the cruise to enjoy Carnival and Mardi Gras. However, my sister had to change her plans and won't be able to stay on in NOLA. This means that she would like to enjoy some of Carnival and the parades on Sunday the 24th before getting on the ship. Does anyone know how I can find out what the latest time we can arrive to board the ship would be? I can't find it on our cruise contract and am not sure where else to look. I do NOT want to be late and not be allowed to board. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Schoifmom]

At initial embarkation, you must be on board no later than 1 hour prior to sailing.

 

The time should be on your boarding pass.

[bbtbear]

3 hours ago, Schoifmom said:

At initial embarkation, you must be on board no later than 1 hour prior to sailing.

 

The time should be on your boarding pass.

Thanks! I called them up this morning after posting here and confirmed. You are correct. Sailing is at 4; last minute to check in is 3.

[RWolver672]

Have you considered canceling your FTTF?  You won't be boarding early or getting into your cabin any earlier so you could save yourself some money by canceling now.  That is if you don't mind not using the Priority line at Guest Services or have a port where you use tenders.   Just a thought.

[bbtbear]

4 hours ago, RWolver672 said:

Have you considered canceling your FTTF?  You won't be boarding early or getting into your cabin any earlier so you could save yourself some money by canceling now.  That is if you don't mind not using the Priority line at Guest Services or have a port where you use tenders.   Just a thought.

I have thought about it. I'm just not sure yet. This is a super special trip for my sister and I, as it straddles the 1 year anniversary of both our father and our step father passing away this spring. So I'm trying to decide whether to hold onto this regardless, as we would have priority check in lines, priority at guest services, early or late departure, etc. I kind of want us to just feel super pampered from start to finish. The good thing is that I already have FTTF, so now I have the choice right up until a few days out, so I'm going to just keep thinking on this one. Thanks for the suggestion, though! 🙂

[RWolver672]

On 12/3/2018 at 1:56 PM, bbtbear said:

Thanks! I called them up this morning after posting here and confirmed. You are correct. Sailing is at 4; last minute to check in is 3.

I just looked at our Boarding Passes and it has the Final Boarding time in a big red box at the top right hand.  

[bbtbear]

56 minutes ago, RWolver672 said:

I just looked at our Boarding Passes and it has the Final Boarding time in a big red box at the top right hand.  

good to know! My sister hasn't completed her online check in yet, so I can't print boarding passes yet, but I'll double check there when I can print them!

[serene56]

On 12/4/2018 at 9:30 AM, bbtbear said:

 as we would have priority check in lines, priority at guest services, early or late departure, etc. I kind of want us to just feel super pampered from start to finish. ! 🙂

 

I dont think FTTF gives you pampering.  If you arrive later you will not need the priority check in line.  If boarding later your cabin will already be ready.    It will give you a priority at guest services as those lines are LONG.  

[okgirl]

I don't really think anything about FTTF would feel extra pampered.

 

If you are not getting to the terminal until well after boarding has begun there are no lines.  Almost everyone is already on the ship and you just check in and immediately board the ship.

 

There is the priority line at guest services and it is much shorter, but FTTF doesn't allow you to jump ahead of anyone else in the priority line.  Same way with getting on and off the ship, no priority line to get off or back on the ship in ports.  You can go to GS to be escorted to the priority line for tenders, but there is no priority line to get back onto the ship.

 

And neither FTTF or any other VIFP status allows you to jump lines in the dining room or comedy club or getting into the theater.

 

The only reason I would maybe keep it is if the weather turns bad in NOLA and you cancel your day plans and want to go ahead and board the ship earlier.

Edited December 5, 2018 by okgirl

[bbtbear]

Thanks for the feedback about FTTF. I'll keep it in mind. 🙂

[Davey Wavey]

On 12/5/2018 at 10:02 AM, okgirl said:

And neither FTTF or any other VIFP status allows you to jump lines in the dining room or comedy club or getting into the theater.

 

For anytime dining, our priority status allowed us to get seated first. As they took names and handed out pagers to people in line, when they got to us they told us to just come be seated. Another time, they gave us a pager and called us 10 minutes later while all the people in front of us were still sitting in the lounge. Of course, different ships may vary.

[crzndeb]

If you are going to arrive late, don’t push it. Give yourself leeway to get there before the last call for boarding. If you are late, you could be denied boarding. Somebody wrote recently that they were 12 mins past last boarding and were denied. They have to turn in manifest and the time is there for a reason.

[Schoifmom]

34 minutes ago, Davey Wavey said:

 

For anytime dining, our priority status allowed us to get seated first. As they took names and handed out pagers to people in line, when they got to us they told us to just come be seated. Another time, they gave us a pager and called us 10 minutes later while all the people in front of us were still sitting in the lounge. Of course, different ships may vary.

 

Or ... it could have been that they had a table that fit your party and not theirs.  

 

Priority status is not supposed to get you priority seating for YTD, although (like everything else), it depends on the whims and understanding of the staff.

Edited December 6, 2018 by Schoifmom

[bbtbear]

It's actually not an issue for us. We have fixed dining at the early seating. 

[bbtbear]

6 minutes ago, crzndeb said:

If you are going to arrive late, don’t push it. Give yourself leeway to get there before the last call for boarding. If you are late, you could be denied boarding. Somebody wrote recently that they were 12 mins past last boarding and were denied. They have to turn in manifest and the time is there for a reason.

Thanks for this advice. I told my sister we should aim to be at the pier no later than 2:30 with a 3:00 deadline. Does that feel like a comfortable margin to you?

[crzndeb]

45 minutes ago, bbtbear said:

Thanks for this advice. I told my sister we should aim to be at the pier no later than 2:30 with a 3:00 deadline. Does that feel like a comfortable margin to you?

It would be to close for me. You never know with traffic or some other unforeseen issue. I would plan on being there at least an hour before. But, I’m always the better safe than sorry kind of person. 

[bbtbear]

2 minutes ago, crzndeb said:

It would be to close for me. You never know with traffic or some other unforeseen issue. I would plan on being there at least an hour before. But, I’m always the better safe than sorry kind of person. 

I tend to err on the side of caution, myself. Thanks for your opinion. 🙂

 

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, bbtbear said:

Thanks for this advice. I told my sister we should aim to be at the pier no later than 2:30 with a 3:00 deadline. Does that feel like a comfortable margin to you?

 

I don’t think that gives you much of a margin at all. Personally I would plan to arrive at the terminal no later than 1:30 PM, although you could push it to maybe 2:00 PM and have a little room for any unexpected delay(s). 

 

Keep in in mind there is no way I am going to jeopardize missing the ship and possibly losing thousands of dollars.  If you are more of a risk taker, you can plan to show up later at the terminal. Just remember, if you show up late thru no fault of your own (traffic, looking for a parking spot, etc.), they will not let you on the ship. 

Edited December 6, 2018 by PhillyFan33579

[bbtbear]

12 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

I don’t think that gives you much of a margin at all. Personally I would plan to arrive at the terminal no later than 1:30 PM, although you could push it to maybe 2:00 PM and have a little room for any unexpected delay(s). 

 

Keep in in mind there is no way I am going to jeopardize missing the ship and possibly losing thousands of dollars.  If you are more of a risk taker, you can plan to show up later at the terminal. Just remember, if you show up late thru no fault of your own (traffic, looking for a parking spot, etc.), they will not let you on the ship. 

Thanks for your feedback and insight. We will definitely keep it in mind as we firm up our plans!

[DebJ14]

2 hours ago, crzndeb said:

If you are going to arrive late, don’t push it. Give yourself leeway to get there before the last call for boarding. If you are late, you could be denied boarding. Somebody wrote recently that they were 12 mins past last boarding and were denied. They have to turn in manifest and the time is there for a reason.

And the traffic in New Orleans will be a mess because of the parades that start at 11am that morning, so allow plenty of time to get to the pier. 

 

We used to live there, and only stayed for Mardi Gras when we were invited to a house party at at friend's on St. Charles Ave. where we knew we had food, drink, balcony access,  and bathrooms from early in the morning until late at night.  The other years we, like many other New Orleanians, got the heck out of dodge.  We discovered our first year there that we were trapped in our home one Saturday of every Mardi Gras as a parade went down our street on the West Bank.  

[bbtbear]

15 minutes ago, DebJ14 said:

And the traffic in New Orleans will be a mess because of the parades that start at 11am that morning, so allow plenty of time to get to the pier. 

 

We used to live there, and only stayed for Mardi Gras when we were invited to a house party at at friend's on St. Charles Ave. where we knew we had food, drink, balcony access,  and bathrooms from early in the morning until late at night.  The other years we, like many other New Orleanians, got the heck out of dodge.  We discovered our first year there that we were trapped in our home one Saturday of every Mardi Gras as a parade went down our street on the West Bank.  

Our intention was actually to walk from our hotel to the parade, then walk back to the hotel, grab our bags from the bellman, and walk to the pier. Our hotel is the Loews on Poydras and St. Peters, about a block from where the parades end and about .7 miles from the pier. Mapquest says it's a 16 minute walk from the pier. 

[loanshark]

14 minutes ago, bbtbear said:

Our intention was actually to walk from our hotel to the parade, then walk back to the hotel, grab our bags from the bellman, and walk to the pier. Our hotel is the Loews on Poydras and St. Peters, about a block from where the parades end and about .7 miles from the pier. Mapquest says it's a 16 minute walk from the pier. 

You could actually drop the luggage off at the ship in the morning, and walk directly to the ship after watching any parades from the South side of St Charles Avenue.  Traffic can be very bad in that area after parades, so navigating with luggage could be an issue.

 

 

[bbtbear]

3 minutes ago, loanshark said:

You could actually drop the luggage off at the ship in the morning, and walk directly to the ship after watching any parades from the South side of St Charles Avenue.  Traffic can be very bad in that area after parades, so navigating with luggage could be an issue.

 

 

sounds like a good plan. 🙂

[DebJ14]

1 minute ago, bbtbear said:

sounds like a good plan. 🙂

 Unless you have experienced it, you have no idea how bigs the crowds will be.  Sidewalks are 10 deep with revelers.  I would  definitely see about dropping the luggage off first before going off to watch a parade.  And, keep your boarding passes, passports, credit cards and money in a money belt under your clothes.  It is a pick pocketers dream with the throng of people.

[bbtbear]

Just now, DebJ14 said:

 Unless you have experienced it, you have no idea how bigs the crowds will be.  Sidewalks are 10 deep with revelers.  I would  definitely see about dropping the luggage off first before going off to watch a parade.  And, keep your boarding passes, passports, credit cards and money in a money belt under your clothes.  It is a pick pocketers dream with the throng of people.

I live close to NYC and have seen the aftermath of parades there, so I think I'm getting the picture now. Will definitely drop luggage in the a.m. at the port. I have a money belt all set for the trip, as I have read about the pickpocketing that goes on. Thanks for all the great advice! It truly is appreciated. The more worries I can take care of in advance, the better. My sister and I need some smooth sailing in our lives. 🙂