Carnival Breeze - Port Canaveral

[AGards]

Hi,  website shows ship arrival time as 8am on 2019-01-05.  Does anyone know if generally the ship is in port and they start disembarkation earlier than this most of the time?  When booking a shuttle with Cochrans they told me I would have no trouble making the 8:00-8:15 shuttle provided we do self assist disembarkation.  My flights just got rescheduled from 12:50pm to 10:55am at MCO so want to be at the airport by 9am if possible.

[BoDidly]

Depends on the actual time the ship will arrive to port. Delays do happen .  I feel its skimming close to borderline. 

Are you Diamond or Platinum ? FTTF ? Those would be to your advantage.

[AGards]

That’s what I’m wondering , if anyone knows if the ships actual time is usually in dock earlier than 8am?  I know delays happen, just is it usually in earlier than 8am.  I do not have Fttf or any status.  I would like to have fttf but it’s been showing sold out for a year now however I’ll try right up until sail day.   I have heard that if you have an early flight to go to guest services before the last day and they can help/advise a speedy disembark using self assist.  Anyone have experience with that?

[Athankfulheart]

If it was me, I would call and refuse the new time. They should allow you to reschedule without penalty.

[AGards]

Next flight that is not already sold out is 2 days out so they say.  I’m using points.  Options are not great to where I’m going in Canada.

[Elaine5715]

40 minutes ago, AGard said:

Next flight that is not already sold out is 2 days out so they say.  I’m using points.  Options are not great to where I’m going in Canada.

I would suggest a back up plan or at least private ( not shared transportation).  MCO is notorious for long  and slow security lines.  

[Jerseygirl1416]

We were on the Breeze in Oct. They did have the people with flights that departed before 12pm meet in the theater with the FTTF self assist group and we debarked the ship first. I think we were off the ship by 7:20ish. We also took Cochran’s shuttle and they were out there at that time. We left around 7:45 and picked 2 passengers up at the Disney terminal and then onto the airport. We got to MCO around 8:45. There was absolutely no line at TSA PRE so sitting at the gate by 9. 

As long as there are no unforeseen delays with the ship, you’ll be fine.

[AGards]

Thanks you!  I had heard they had the people with early flights meet in the theatre but wanted confirmation.  Did you have to go to guest services to let them know you had an early flight?  I did put the information in my profile on carnival.com.

[Jerseygirl1416]

41 minutes ago, AGard said:

Thanks you!  I had heard they had the people with early flights meet in the theatre but wanted confirmation.  Did you have to go to guest services to let them know you had an early flight?  I did put the information in my profile on carnival.com.

Yes. On the last day they announced that people with the flights departing before 12:00pm go to guest services. 

[AGards]

Great.  Thanks for your help.

[serene56]

If the ship docks at 8- you still need to make your way off the ship.  Through Customs and immigration.   I dont think you will be at the airport before 9.   Maybe 9:30     As long as your luggage is checked in 60 minutes before your flight you are good.

But remember flights board 30 minutes before flight time

 

[AGards]

Carry ons only so no checked luggage and I will check in online and download my boarding passes to my phone before I arrive at the airport.  I will only have to hit the security line when I get there.  I will probably just grab an uber or cab instead of the shuttle though.  Lots of cabs waiting at the port usually?

[Jerseygirl1416]

5 minutes ago, AGard said:

Carry ons only so no checked luggage and I will check in online and download my boarding passes to my phone before I arrive at the airport.  I will only have to hit the security line when I get there.  I will probably just grab an uber or cab instead of the shuttle though.  Lots of cabs waiting at the port usually?

I’ve never been on a ship that hasn’t docked a couple hours before it’s stated time to dock. We were on our way to the airport by 8:00. You’ll  be fine taking the shuttle and it’s so much cheaper than Uber. When we disembarked with FTTF self assist we never stopped moving until we were outside and then I started thinking we were going to have to wait until 8:00 outside for the shuttle but it was there and we left before 8:00. Unless there’s some hiccup to the ships normal schedule you’ll have more than enough time for your flight taking the shuttle. And if there is a delay nobody can plan for that unless you leave the next day. It could be an hour delay or hours you’d never know until it’s too late. We never plan for a problem but if one comes up we deal. Have a great cruise! 

[ProgRockCruiser]

We were on Sunshine and arrived in port at Canaveral this past Sunday and were cleared to let people off the ship at 8am, I believe.  Maybe I was mistaken and there were FTTF and D/Ps that got let off before then, but I am pretty sure I heard the announcement as "we are now cleared to start debarkation" right at 8am.

 

And CBP was sloooooooow.  (Understaffed.)  

 

Hopefully you will get into port a bit earlier, get cleared to debark earlier, and CBP will have more than two/three people for the whole ship...

[ChattTenn]

• We were on the Breeze 12/8 - 12/15.  They cleared the ship and started to let people off before 8AM and told to vacate the cabin by 8:30.  We asked for early departure to drive home and did not get off the ship until 10 AM then through US Custom until 11AM.  It was the WORST debarkation Carnival let us through.  The last cruise was not our first with Carnival or other lines and we re-think to cruise with Carnival again in the future.
• Carry off the bag(s) departed by deck - 11, 10, 9 then 1, 2 the others deck they let ALL off at the same time???.
• Plan your flight wisely.
• Happy Cruising

Edited December 16, 2018 by ChattTenn

[AGards]

Did you utilize self assist debarkation?

[ChattTenn]

3 hours ago, AGard said:

Did you utilize self assist debarkation?

We did not but got #6 (early departure 8:30 to 9:15).  By the time they called our number around 10 they also let the self assist debarkation for ALL DECKS to leave .  The depart line by then was very long to wait for checking out.  

On the week last year on the Magic we did the same thing and were out on the highway before 9 AM.  We do not know if this was a new procedure or what was the hold up.  

Once I get the survey email, I will make sure to tell them that.  

Hope you will get a better time to get off the ship.

Have a great cruise.

 

[Bostwick girl]

I don't care how many times, even on the same ship, the debarkation is always different November getting off Sunshine was awful. They let the self assist go first, didn't even call them by decks! You can imagine what a mess that was! All the wheel chair/mobility scooter people had to wait at least a half hour between elevators to get down to get luggage because of the self assist folks gauging so much luggage they couldn't get on the escalator, it was the worst debark ever after 23 cruises and most out of Port Canaveral. I don't think the problem is the terminals fault, it's the staff on the ships. In my opinion they keep getting worse, not better. Port Canaveral only has one elevator so that adds to it. We also had to meet on deck 4 for special assist, then try to go down to deck 3 to get off. Total disaster. 

 

[grandmarnnurse]

On 12/13/2018 at 9:21 PM, AGard said:

Hi,  website shows ship arrival time as 8am on 2019-01-05.  Does anyone know if generally the ship is in port and they start disembarkation earlier than this most of the time?  When booking a shuttle with Cochrans they told me I would have no trouble making the 8:00-8:15 shuttle provided we do self assist disembarkation.  My flights just got rescheduled from 12:50pm to 10:55am at MCO so want to be at the airport by 9am if possible.

Personally, I’d change your flight. 10:55 will be very iffy to make. Ships don’t always arrive at port on time, and debarkation takes time. Then you have an hour ride to airport. I never schedule early flights, just to be on the safe side. Why rush around and be all stressed after a vacation? Change your flight, if possible.

[Elaine5715]

On 12/14/2018 at 10:53 AM, AGard said:

Carry ons only so no checked luggage and I will check in online and download my boarding passes to my phone before I arrive at the airport.  I will only have to hit the security line when I get there.  I will probably just grab an uber or cab instead of the shuttle though.  Lots of cabs waiting at the port usually?

The problem with the Cortvans is they will wait for the other guests who signed up for that time.  If those folks are slow pokes, you will wait for them.  Plan on a Uber or a private shuttle.

[AGards]

33 minutes ago, grandmarnnurse said:

Personally, I’d change your flight. 10:55 will be very iffy to make. Ships don’t always arrive at port on time, and debarkation takes time. Then you have an hour ride to airport. I never schedule early flights, just to be on the safe side. Why rush around and be all stressed after a vacation? Change your flight, if possible.

I stated above that the airline changed my flight time.  I did not pick this time on my own.  Yes I can change my flight but the next available that is not already sold out is 2 days out using my points.  I should state that I do have good travel insurance.  So if there is even a chance I can make this flight that would be the preferred route.  Flights to where I'm going are very limited.  I will not be stressed out trying to catch this flight.  Either I make it or I don't.  I will be as prepared as I can be and that's all I can do.  That means not having checked luggage, utilizing self assist (early flights leave with self assist FTTF), and will be checked in and have boarding passes on my phone.  I now think Uber is a better choice than the shuttle so will do that as well.  I just wanted a feel as to if this ship is USUALLY in before the stated time of 8am.  All other cruises I have been on I have been off the ship before 8am, but I've never had a flight this early so never checked to see what time the ships were actually scheduled to be in port.  I thought 8am was maybe later than the norm?  I'm thinking now that they were probably all around the same time but were just in port earlier.  Last year we were at the airport by 8:30am and had a long wait until our 1:30pm flight.  This was in Miami though.  In theory the ship could be an hour delayed or 6 hours delayed which could affect most same day travellers. You have no control over that.  Worst case I don't make it and I will have to make a call to the airline to be booked on the next available which will suck but if I changed my flight now it would be the same outcome.  I do have a backup plan in mind if we end up having to stay for a couple more days.

[Jerseygirl1416]

You don’t pay for Cortrans shuttle service in advance, you just have a reservation so they’re not going to hold up a shuttle for people who don’t show up on time. There’s probably a lot of people who make reservations that don’t show up. The busses they use were small so they must run serveral. The bus we were on left before 8am with about 8 empty seats and we went to the Disney terminal and picked up only 2 more passengers and onto the airport. 

 

To the OP I’d keep your shuttle reservation and if you feel like they’re not going to leave by 8-8:15 then take an Uber. I’m not taking a guess that you’ll make it I did it. We were at the gate by 9:00am. You’ll be fine. Stay your course. 

[AGards]

8 hours ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

You don’t pay for Cortrans shuttle service in advance, you just have a reservation so they’re not going to hold up a shuttle for people who don’t show up on time. There’s probably a lot of people who make reservations that don’t show up. The busses they use were small so they must run serveral. The bus we were on left before 8am with about 8 empty seats and we went to the Disney terminal and picked up only 2 more passengers and onto the airport. 

 

To the OP I’d keep your shuttle reservation and if you feel like they’re not going to leave by 8-8:15 then take an Uber. I’m not taking a guess that you’ll make it I did it. We were at the gate by 9:00am. You’ll be fine. Stay your course. 

Thank you.  I would prefer to use Cortrans as it is much cheaper.  This was their reply when I changed my reservation time with them:   "Your reservation has been changed from the 8:45-9:00 am shuttle to the 8:00-8:15 am shuttle.

We have lots of passengers chose the self debarkation option and make it for our 8:00 am shuttle." 

If for some reason we are still waiting by 8:15 am I could always jump out and grab a cab I suppose.  It would be even better if we could catch an earlier one.  We shall see how we make out :-)

[ProgRockCruiser]

23 hours ago, ChattTenn said:

• We were on the Breeze 12/8 - 12/15.  They cleared the ship and started to let people off before 8AM and told to vacate the cabin by 8:30.  We asked for early departure to drive home and did not get off the ship until 10 AM then through US Custom until 11AM.  It was the WORST debarkation Carnival let us through.  The last cruise was not our first with Carnival or other lines and we re-think to cruise with Carnival again in the future.
• Carry off the bag(s) departed by deck - 11, 10, 9 then 1, 2 the others deck they let ALL off at the same time???.
• Plan your flight wisely.
• Happy Cruising

 

As I mentioned above, our most recent debarkation from the Sunshine was slooooow.  And I believe it was all triggered by understaffed CBP.  Carnival can only push folks down the gangway as fast as they can be processed.  My guess is that what happened to you is what happened to us: Carnival tried to get everyone off in a normal order, but when it became apparent that it would take far too long, they just dump everyone off into the terminal - once all pax are off ship, it doesn't matter to Carnival how long it takes for CBP to process you in the customs hall.  And by pushing us all out, they can start boarding the next round.

[summersigh]

Just got off the Breeze in Port Canaveral Saturday.  Disembarkation was veryyyyy slow - not sure whether it was because a problem they've been having with the porters union or with customs being very slow.  I'm not sure they even called any self departures before 8:15 or 8:30 and that was just for decks 10-11-12.   It was at least another 1/2 hour before they called the next 3 decks.

It may have been a fluke but this is was happened on Dec 15