New Debarkation Process????

[amscene1]

On board carnival victory returning to Miami tomorrow and there is a “mandatory” safety briefing because of “newly changed rules” in the recent weeks.

 

has as anyone else heard of this? 

[canes20]

got off Fantasy yesterday, nothing out of the ordinary. No more custom form to fill out, just tell the custom agent.

[Shaded Lady]

The only disembarkation change other than no custom form as canes20 mentioned is that if you plan to put your luggage out the night before, they don't deliver the luggage tags to your room anymore- you need to go somewhere (usually near Guest Services I think) to pick them up. If you want to get off early, you need to get there as soon as they put them out since the lower numbers tend to disappear quickly.

[Aplmac]

3 minutes ago, Shaded Lady said:

The only disembarkation change other than no Customs form

- is that if you plan to put your luggage out the night before,

they don't deliver the luggage tags to your room anymore-

you need to go somewhere (usually near Guest Services I think) to pick them up.

.

I'm trying to figure out

where the ($$$?) saving is in this new procedure.

Changes like this are usually profit-oriented (am I wrong?).

Is/was there a big hassle in luggage tag distribution system? that we never knew about?

 

Carnival must benefit from this somehow, or they wouldn't be doing it.

Do you have to pay for lower numbered tags? Tags over 20 are free?
What's up? I'm missing something.

[Shaded Lady]

1 minute ago, Aplmac said:

.

I'm trying to figure out

where the ($$$?) saving is in this new procedure.

Changes like this are usually profit-oriented (am I wrong?).

Is/was there a big hassle in luggage tag distribution system? that we never knew about?

 

Carnival must benefit from this somehow, or they wouldn't be doing it.

Do you have to pay for lower numbered tags? Tags over 20 are free?
What's up? I'm missing something.

I have yet to experience this new luggage tag process, but I find it extremely difficult to imagine how Carnival could benefit monetarily from this. Perhaps it's just a quality initiative, or a way to please some of the guests, by allowing THEM to choose when they debark, as opposed to the luck of the draw based on what their cabin steward leaves for them.

[Aplmac]

30 minutes ago, Shaded Lady said:

I have yet to experience this new luggage tag process, but I find it extremely difficult to imagine how Carnival could benefit monetarily from this. Perhaps it's just a quality initiative, or a way to please some of the guests, by allowing THEM to choose when they debark, as opposed to the luck of the draw based on what their cabin steward leaves for them.

.

I agree!

I find any monetary gain difficult to figure out!

 

Royal Caribbean ppl on these Carnival boards have often commented how much better

how much more 'sorted' Royal's disembarkation process has become, lately

and like.. What is Royal doing right?

 

Maybe Carnival is on to something re. quality initiative - like you said above...
Someone will fill us in

[ZoeyVictoria]

2 hours ago, amscene1 said:

On board carnival victory returning to Miami tomorrow and there is a “mandatory” safety briefing because of “newly changed rules” in the recent weeks.

 

has as anyone else heard of this? 

 

Interested because we are boarding the Victory tomorrow.  Will you please let us know?

[TNcruising02]

1 hour ago, Aplmac said:

.

I'm trying to figure out

where the ($$$?) saving is in this new procedure.

Changes like this are usually profit-oriented (am I wrong?).

Is/was there a big hassle in luggage tag distribution system? that we never knew about?

 

Carnival must benefit from this somehow, or they wouldn't be doing it.

Do you have to pay for lower numbered tags? Tags over 20 are free?
What's up? I'm missing something.

I think it's simply to allow the passengers to choose their own time to leave the ship.  I have been on a couple of cruises that have this process.  I showed up right when they became available and was able to choose a low number for free.  However, the numbers did not start with number 1, so I think the Platinum and up passengers still might get the tags delivered to their cabins.

[Jamman54]

When you get your debarkation letter it will explain the procedure and tell you when and where to pick up your tags. The lowest number available will be either 4 or 5. Diamonds, Platinum, FTTF, and maybe suites still have their tags delivered to their cabins (#'s 1to 3). Nothing else has changed.😎

Edited May 5, 2019 by Jamman54

[Nic6318]

1 hour ago, Aplmac said:

.

I'm trying to figure out

where the ($$$?) saving is in this new procedure.

Changes like this are usually profit-oriented (am I wrong?).

Is/was there a big hassle in luggage tag distribution system? that we never knew about?

 

Carnival must benefit from this somehow, or they wouldn't be doing it.

Do you have to pay for lower numbered tags? Tags over 20 are free?
What's up? I'm missing something.

 

Hi

 

Well... the cabin stewards don't have to deliver them. Whatever the process was for the cabin steward to acquire the correct amount/type of tags is no longer needed. Typically it is considered that any process that can be eliminated saves money. 

 

The onus is now on the passenger.  I am sure the customer service counter will have a bit more traffic due to these changes, but I assume they have taken that into account, and feel there is a benefit.  I have already seen a "worst cruise ever" type post on this site where one of the issues was that the OP was not aware of the changes and did not pay attention to directions and when finally made aware found that the only available debarkation numbers were not one of the first. 

[2wheelin]

55 minutes ago, Jamman54 said:

When you get your debarkation letter it will explain the procedure and tell you when and where to pick up your tags. The lowest number available will be either 4 or 5. Diamonds, Platinum, FTTF, and maybe suites still have their tags delivered to their cabins (#'s 1to 3). Nothing else has changed.😎

Last week there was no letter (waste of paper) but there was a well advertised presentation after which you could pick up tags starting with #2 on the LIDO deck (and possibly elsewhere but we were self carry so didn’t need them). Priority were obviously given private instructions—possibly a letter.

[Djptcp]

We debarked from the Miracle last Sunday and our tags were delivered to our cabin just as before. We are Platinums and assume that is why. We did receive the debarkation information which said you had to go pick up your luggage tags and that was new since our last Carnival cruise in Nov. We are always in Zone 1, but were in Zone 2 this time - probably because there so many Platinum and Diamond passengers on this trip. We were off the ship and in our car before 8:30am and home in less than an hour. There wasn't any mandatory safety briefing that day before debarkation, so don't know why the OP's ship had that. Yes, the rules changed but all you had to do was read the debarkation letter to know what was supposed to be done. Maybe they figured a lot of people don't bother to read the relevant information they are given and then complain bitterly because "I didn't know."

[Jamman54]

20 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

Last week there was no letter (waste of paper) but there was a well advertised presentation after which you could pick up tags starting with #2 on the LIDO deck (and possibly elsewhere but we were self carry so didn’t need them). Priority were obviously given private instructions—possibly a letter.

 

What ship were you on that didn't give a debarkation letter? Only a small percentage of passengers attend the debarkation talk or bother to watch it on the cabin TV. Without the letter I would think there would be a lot of confused people. We were on the Inspiration last week and received a debarkation letter. 😎

[1025cruise]

I remember my last Carnival cruise a few years ago and was shocked that luggage tags were assigned solely your cabin location (Plat/Diamond/whatever outstanding). We had an early flight so our assigned time was too late to meet our transportation. I had to go to guest services to get an earlier tag. I'd much rather be able to get a tag that corresponds to when I need to get off.

[IPlayWithString]

3 hours ago, Shaded Lady said:

I have yet to experience this new luggage tag process, but I find it extremely difficult to imagine how Carnival could benefit monetarily from this. Perhaps it's just a quality initiative, or a way to please some of the guests, by allowing THEM to choose when they debark, as opposed to the luck of the draw based on what their cabin steward leaves for them.

We experienced it one time (we turned Platinum on the next cruise after that, so it didn't matter anymore) and it was hellish. We didn't KNOW you were supposed to go to a certain place (in that case, the Red Frog pub) at a certain time to get your zone tags for debark. We ended up getting some high number we didn't like and fortunately for us, Carnival hasn't changed their debark zone tags in god knows how long. We had found some zone 1 tags left from a previous cruise in one our suitcases and decided to use those instead.

[Organized Chaos]

2 hours ago, Aplmac said:

.

I agree!

I find any monetary gain difficult to figure out!

 

Royal Caribbean ppl on these Carnival boards have often commented how much better

how much more 'sorted' Royal's disembarkation process has become, lately

and like.. What is Royal doing right?

 

Maybe Carnival is on to something re. quality initiative - like you said above...
Someone will fill us in

 

Carnival seems to put more effort into embarkation than debarkation. They take steps to make embarkation as quick & efficient as possible. Introducing the staggered check-in system a few years ago and even since then, they've streamlined check-in further to become pretty quick in most cases. But it seems they care less about debarkation. We've experienced a nightmare of a debarkation a few years ago. More than one crew member on their radios admitting they had lost control. Masses of people cutting in line long before their zones were called, stairwells jam packed when they were specifically told not to, and no one with Carnival willing to be assertive enough to enforce their own procedures. Last year, we were supposed to wait in the MDR for our zone to be called. While walking through the lobby, one of the Fun Squad members directing traffic pointed us to the line off the ship. We TRIED to follow the rules. I told her it wasn't our turn and we were headed to the MDR where we were assigned. She told us to just get in the line leaving the ship. If they won't follow their own procedures, they're asking for trouble. I've lost count of the horror stories I've read about Carnival's debarkation. You'd think they'd have it figured out by now.

 

 

[tytanbri]

We had FTTF on our cruise in January. Our luggage tags were still delivered to our room on the Conquest. I think our number was 2. The other luggage tags were put out on deck 5 near the computer hub. The lowest number was 4.  The only benefit is that people who want/need off early can get a lower zone if they get there when the numbers are put out. People who don't care or plan on staying on the ship a little longer can select a higher number. The process was smooth and its let groups of people select zones together instead of having to go to guest services to switch.

Edited May 5, 2019 by tytanbri

[Doggielover68]

Just debarked Carnival Miracle this morning and everything seemed to be normal. We got group one luggage tags delivered to our room (Platinum) but didn't use them. We carried off our own bags as usual and went on our way. No customs forms, no unusual questions. I can confirm that they have luggage tags at guest services. 

[RoperDK]

We experienced the new debark process on the Breeze in February.  We are Platinum and our friends were in a suite and both received our tags in the stateroom.  We got #2, but this was a John Heald FFS cruise and there were MANY diamonds on board. I'm sure they received #1 because we met in the same lounge and they were escorted off before us.  Our friends in the suite did self assist and were on their way before us.   They were very pleased.  I noticed the positive change for our debark because the lounge had coffee and pastries and when our number was called they actually prioritized our debark by moving us through the self debark lines and got us to the luggage area in just a couple of minutes.  When we got to the luggage area only our luggage was available and they actually had someone organizing the porters so everyone got a porter in proper order.  No chaos as before where the loudest, most aggressive person got a porter.  It was our best Carnival debark ever.  Don't know if the John Heald group made the difference, but we will see on our next cruise.  It was handled more like other cruise lines, I was impressed.  If you didn't have priority, then you had to report to pick up your tags.  Not sure if people read their debark documents, but it clearly stated to pick up their tags.  I believe it was at the Red Frog Pub. 

[bingomamma19]

7 hours ago, amscene1 said:

On board carnival victory returning to Miami tomorrow and there is a “mandatory” safety briefing because of “newly changed rules” in the recent weeks.

 

has as anyone else heard of this? 

There isn't a mandatory meeting, however like others have stated, the tags are no longer delivered to most passengers (we were platinum on our cruise on horizon last month and we did have ours delivered, #2)

 

We didn't care about the tags since we are self assist and wait to be the last off.  That is really the only change.    Not sure if that helped debarkation though, as it started late and we were not off until after 11am.   This was on the Horizon

[Border Granny]

We have FTTF so will have priority debarkation after the diamonds/plats and suites have been called, but my husband will be using a walker and will not be able to use the stairs. Does anyone have any experience with this since we won’t be able to use the stairs?  This will be the first time for the walker so never had to worry about it on our previous cruises.

[Nic6318]

26 minutes ago, Border Granny said:

We have FTTF so will have priority debarkation after the diamonds/plats and suites have been called, but my husband will be using a walker and will not be able to use the stairs. Does anyone have any experience with this since we won’t be able to use the stairs?  This will be the first time for the walker so never had to worry about it on our previous cruises.

 

Hi

 

They have elevators in every terminal that I can recall. That is how they transport people using wheelchairs.

 

hope this helps

have a great cruise

[Border Granny]

8 minutes ago, Nic6318 said:

 

Hi

 

They have elevators in every terminal that I can recall. That is how they transport people using wheelchairs.

 

hope this helps

have a great cruise

 

8 minutes ago, Nic6318 said:

 

Thank you, I knew they had to have one for the wheelchairs, wasn’t sure how that worked...for instance when they see us will they peel us off from the herd heading for the stairs or do I need to make arrangements at guest services before hand. It’s always been such a cattle call, even when we’ve had FTTF, that I’ve never paid that much attention. I’m just always trying to not walk into the back of someone in front of me or trip going down the stairs,  I have been known to be quite the klutz, lol!

[Athankfulheart]

My daughter debarked from the Magic this morning. She was not priority and it was a typical debarkation. Ive cruised a few times with the new tag procedure. I believe it gives passengers some choices they didnt have previously plus I bet there is a lot less waste. 

[Plant]

1 hour ago, Border Granny said:

We have FTTF so will have priority debarkation after the diamonds/plats and suites have been called, but my husband will be using a walker and will not be able to use the stairs. Does anyone have any experience with this since we won’t be able to use the stairs?  This will be the first time for the walker so never had to worry about it on our previous cruises.

If you aren't in a hurry I'd definitely ask for a wheelchair disembark.  I've used it once and it made a huge difference.