Port Canaveral arrivals & FTTF

[Cruisegoer]

Old to cruising, new to Port Canaveral so I’m curious how smooth the embarkation process at Port Canaveral is?  I’m guessing most people are coming from the Orlando airport area that day so I’m curious what time the busses begin to pull in? Do those Carnival transfer passengers get dropped off in the same lines as everyone else? We are staying in a nearby hotel with shuttle service picking us up at 9:30. Estimating to be at the port shortly after 10AM, the first regular Boarding time available when booking as 12noon.  I’m not familiar with how strict Carnval is to adhere in to your pre-determined check in and how they monitor it nor am I familiar with Pt Canaveral in general, is there seating? I rather not play the impaired card but if it get’s me a seat I may if expected to stand for nearly 2 hours. 

 

On the same note I’m wondering if FTTF would be worth it. If I new the ship would begin boarding by 10-10:30 I would consider it but this just doesn’t seem reasonable to me considering the thousands of people just getting off and the tremendous turnaround the ship has to do.

 

Thoughts?

[Jerseygirl1416]

We were on the Breeze in Oct with FTTF. We were given advise here to show up at 10:30. We did that and there was no line for us and minimal lines for the on time boarding group and the early/late group. We walked right up to the check in agent and then straight through security. We sat for about 15 minutes in the terminal before they started weddings boarding, followed by Diamonds and Platinums and then FTTF. We were in our cabin by around 11:00. I’m not sure how quickly the zones moved but at 10:30 the terminal was not crowded. Have a great cruise!

[Cruisegoer]

1 hour ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

We were on the Breeze in Oct with FTTF. We were given advise here to show up at 10:30. We did that and there was no line for us and minimal lines for the on time boarding group and the early/late group. We walked right up to the check in agent and then straight through security. We sat for about 15 minutes in the terminal before they started weddings boarding, followed by Diamonds and Platinums and then FTTF. We were in our cabin by around 11:00. I’m not sure how quickly the zones moved but at 10:30 the terminal was not crowded. Have a great cruise!

Thank you very much.

 

[PhillyFan33579]

If you want to get on the ship early I would recommend getting FTTF.  Both times we sailed on Magic out of Port Canaveral last year there were long lines for the early/late check-in line.  Since Breeze replaced Magic at Port Canaveral offs are good there will be long lines too.  Not too much fun standing outside for a long time, especially if you are cruising in the Summer and have to deal with the Florida heat.  Of course you could also just show up during your check-in window and you will likely have little to no wait from the time you enter the terminal until you are on the ship.