Port Canaveral Embark/Disembark - Good or bad?

[KarimaJ]

Hi. We are going on our first Carnival cruise on the Breeze next month. I just read a review that said embark and disembark were awful. Is this true?

I thought they now have timed embark which should be very quick and easy.

We will be doing self disembark, is that usually painless or is it a hot mess?

Thanks!

[Anyislandwilldo]

We sailed out of Port Canaveral 3 years ago and I don't remember any issues.  We got off the ship in a timely manner and took Carnival transportation back to the airport.  Not every one has the same opinion of easy.  Self disembark should be painless in my opinion.  

[Eliot Ness]

We've sailed out of Port Canaveral at least three times and it was pretty painless.  When I'm booking a cruise I breathe a sigh of relief if it embarks from Port Canaveral ( and a couple of those times we were not yet platinum).

 

There can be issues with any ship in any port if arrival is delayed for some reason such as weather or there are customs or immigration issues with the ship debarking while you wait to embark.

Edited January 11, 2019 by Eliot Ness

[Elaine5715]

All depends on the Cruise Director and how they announce who, what and when.  CDS that use "silent" debark, make no announcements and expect people to voluntary follow times posted with the debark instructions or those who keep announcing anyone who is self assist can leave at any time create chaos

[MikeMSD]

I had heard there was some dispute with CBP and Carnival at Port Canaveral that was causing a delay of processing passengers on disembark. I don't know if it's accurate or has been resolved. I'm also going out of Port Canaveral for the first time next month. Embarkation from what I've read has been pretty smooth

[ProgRockCruiser]

We sailed out of Port Canaveral in Dec 2018 (i.e. last month).

 

Embarkation was mildly slow, seemed about an hour behind.  No apparent reason at the time.

 

Debarkation was even slower.  There were only 3 CBP agents processing approx 4000 pax+crew.  We had decided to get a late debarkation slot, which was a mistake - we got off the ship around 10:30am, and weren't through CBP until 11:30.

 

I suspect embarkation was delayed due to previous cruise debarkation delays for similar reasons - minimal CBP staffing.

 

If @MikeMSD is accurate, then that would indeed correlate to what we expereinced.

 

Was it horrible?  No.  But it was slow and a bit painful, especially with how disorganized the terminal personnel (not sure if Carnival staff or not) were in getting lines formed and managing the crowd.

 

Hopefully Carnival and CBP/PC have resolved whatever disputes there may have been.  Of course with the Gov't shutdown right now...

[schazzy]

48 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

All depends on the Cruise Director and how they announce who, what and when.  CDS that use "silent" debark, make no announcements and expect people to voluntary follow times posted with the debark instructions or those who keep announcing anyone who is self assist can leave at any time create chaos

 

I know in Charleston the silent disembarkation isn't up to the CD or Carnival, it's because the City of Charleston has a very strict noise ordinance and so the ship isn't allowed to use their PA systems while ported there. 

[runningmoms2girls]

I just got back from a cruise yesterday from Port Canaveral.  The entire process was VERY smooth.  Debarkation was delayed a little bit (maybe 30mins) but the CD kept us informed all morning.  From the time they announced our deck to the time we were at our car was very fast - maybe 45 mins total.  

 

Port Canaveral is a great port to sail from.  We loved it!

[ProgRockCruiser]

7 minutes ago, runningmoms2girls said:

I just got back from a cruise yesterday from Port Canaveral.  The entire process was VERY smooth.  Debarkation was delayed a little bit (maybe 30mins) but the CD kept us informed all morning.  From the time they announced our deck to the time we were at our car was very fast - maybe 45 mins total.  

 

Port Canaveral is a great port to sail from.  We loved it!

 

Good to hear!

 

Debarkation for our previous two cruises out of Port Canaveral (prior to the one in Dec 2018 I described above) was like that, so I am glad to hear they have returned to "normal operations".

Edited January 11, 2019 by ProgRockCruiser

[ABQrobin]

We did it in March (spring break nightmare) 2 yrs ago... and there were 4 ships in that day.  Embark was horrible, but luckily we flew in the night before, stayed at a local hotel and used their shuttle ($5pp) to take us to ship.  There were hundreds of cars trying to drive right up and drop people off and pick people up, double parking, blocking entrances and exits.  Ugly ugly ugly.  I hope that has changed.  

Debark was looooong too, with so many kids on ship.  We'll never do a spring break cruise again.  

 

Hopefully it is better most times of year.  March...uggghhh.  No way for us ever again.

[ProgRockCruiser]

1 hour ago, ABQrobin said:

We did it in March (spring break nightmare) 2 yrs ago... and there were 4 ships in that day.  Embark was horrible, but luckily we flew in the night before, stayed at a local hotel and used their shuttle ($5pp) to take us to ship.  There were hundreds of cars trying to drive right up and drop people off and pick people up, double parking, blocking entrances and exits.  Ugly ugly ugly.  I hope that has changed.  

Debark was looooong too, with so many kids on ship.  We'll never do a spring break cruise again.  

 

Hopefully it is better most times of year.  March...uggghhh.  No way for us ever again.

 

And just to show you how variable it can be: we did a 4-day last March (2018) out of Port Canaveral, and debark was very easy.

 

Maybe we got lucky, hit a slow gap - we did sail in early-March, vs late-March.

 

So...roll the dice!

[KarimaJ]

Good to hear this, I hope we have good luck too! Excited to get out of this cold. Brrr....

[PhillyFan33579]

We sailed out of Port Canaveral 5 times last year (2 times on Magic and 3 times on Liberty). From my experience, Port Canaveral is the most efficient port in Florida when it comes to embarkation and debarkation.  We were on the ship as early as 10:30 AM, with the latest time boarding the ship at 11:15 AM. For all 5 cruises, we were on the road driving home before 8 AM. 

[KmomChicago]

No problems on or off Oasis of the Seas last March; granted that was RC terminal rather than Carnival.  Lots of traffic of course but it moved without any serious issues or delays.

[Elaine5715]

6 hours ago, schazzy said:

 

I know in Charleston the silent disembarkation isn't up to the CD or Carnival, it's because the City of Charleston has a very strict noise ordinance and so the ship isn't allowed to use their PA systems while ported there. 

Doesn't apply to Miami or Fort Lauderdale, just lazy CDs.

[livingthedream1]

We have sailed out of Port Canaveral several times and had no issues this is  actually our preferred port. 

[Drazil65]

PC is probably our favorite port to cruise from, if you are priority (platinum/diamond level) or have FTTF (Faster to the Fun - this is purchased when available and will give you priority status to board and debark , as well as cabin is ready as soon as you board the ship) things will move very fast in most cases.  No issues ever from PC coming or going, we park at port terminal so car is right there when we debark. 

 

Not exactly sure about regular boarding and debarking.  The lines appear to be long in cruise terminal for embarking, but not sure how fast they move typically.  Pick the earliest arrival time that is available when you book so that you can arrive early.  

Edited January 12, 2019 by Drazil65

[KarimaJ]

Great. We do have FTTF but my parents who booked later do not. We all got 11:30 embark times. I was actually thinking of cancelling FTTF  since we have early embark times and don’t have any tender ports. So I was wondering if it was even worth it.

[Bostwick girl]

The problem we encountered in Port Canaveral in November was the debarking. Worst ever and we generally sail out of there, probably 15 times now. First time having a mobility scooter for DH who has very limited walking ability these days. We were debarking with Platinum cruisers who were released after all the self assist people. Since we had scooter we had to use elevator. Unfortunately there is only one elevator. Needless to say there was a long line of self assist with so many suitcases they couldn't use the escalators and there must have been at least 15 people in wheel chairs and a few scooters trying to use the elevators too. It was a total mess! Then when we finally got down to ground floor, the lines were long because there was only 2 customs people working.  We're going from Port Canaveral again on the 20th and sincerely hope the debark goes better.

 

[summersigh]

On 1/12/2019 at 6:26 AM, livingthedream1 said:

We have sailed out of Port Canaveral several times and had no issues this is  actually our preferred port. 

Same with us. 

We stay at Country Inn & Suites with the cruise package - park the car there for the week and use their shuttle to and from the port.  In December our 2 room suite (a lovely surprise that it was 2 rooms) faced north and we were greeted with a view of the Breeze's Whale Tail in the distance.

[metromover]

I have waited to finalize my paperwork for March 8th on Sunshine & earliest embarkation time available was 1-1:30pm.  I am assuming there are earlier times for embarkation & we are Premier cruisers, so have Priority boarding.  Can we just show up earlier & if so, how early does Sunshine start the boarding process.  Or do I need to stick with thew 1pm time, knowing we will have priority boarding at that point?  Thanks!

[almendrada]

We sailed out of Port Canaveral in December 2017. I remember it being fairly smooth, but we had FTTF. Good luck!

[RW20]

I've had mixed experiences. One good, one bareable the last exceptionally frustrating.

 

The good we were off early with a FTTF and got a rental car no problem. Only one Carnvial ship debarking at the time.

 

The bareable two Carnvial ships were debarking at the same time. We had a suite so we were off early and out of the terminal quickly. However the rental car shuttles was chaos! Took for ever and there was no designated spot for any company. However we made it to Disney's Blizard beach by 10:15am. So not too bad.

 

The last one was February 2018. ONLY ONE CUSTOMS AGENT! We were in a suite had number 2 tags and didn't debark until 10:30. The customs officer was put in secondary and there was a (yes only one) police officer checking passports for all the passengers. However getting our rental car was much easier. We were heading to Disney to use up our minigolf admissions and didn't get there until 1:30.  

 

So it is hit or miss and I was happy to have late evening flights back to Toronto on each occasion.

[Valor2005]

A bit off topic, but we're sailing on the Breeze soon and wondering if someone can tell me where and when we pick up our luggage tags at the end of the cruise?  Our previous cruises we've had them delivered to our room, but I understand we now have to pick them up.  Thanks.

 

[travelnerd114]

Port Canaveral is my favorite port to cruise from because we ALWAYS use Go Port. They make everything so easy and stress free. I wish they were at the other ports.