Earliest check in time if you don't have FTTF pass

[Luvcruisin76]

What normally is the earliest check in times of you don't have FTTF or booked in a suite ECT... The earliest time it shows available is 12:30-1. Did I just finish my online check in too late to get an earlier time??

[bury me at sea]

That's the earliest I have seen on cruises out of Galveston.  I know nothing about other home ports.

[TNcruising02]

I had an appointment time of 11:30 to 12:00 when I cruised on the Breeze out of Port Canaveral.  It might depend on the port.

[Luvcruisin76]

5 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

I had an appointment time of 11:30 to 12:00 when I cruised on the Breeze out of Port Canaveral.  It might depend on the port.

That's where we are going out of... 

[Organized Chaos]

26 minutes ago, Luvcruisin76 said:

What normally is the earliest check in times of you don't have FTTF or booked in a suite ECT... The earliest time it shows available is 12:30-1. Did I just finish my online check in too late to get an earlier time??

 

Online check-in technically opens at midnight eastern on the date specified, so there's a chance others checked in before you, but the earliest times vary. Last year, for our Glory cruise, I had originally picked 11:30-12:00, which was the earliest available. A few months later, I happened to notice that Carnival had changed it to 11:00-11:30. Don't know why and they never notified us of the change.

[TNcruising02]

1 minute ago, Luvcruisin76 said:

That's where we are going out of... 

I checked in online just after midnight as soon as it opened up.  I got boarding group A1.

I ended up arriving at 10:45, so I had to go to the early/late line.  It was my lucky day because there was hardly anyone in the line at the time.  It looked like a lot of people arrived earlier and were already seated.  Group A1 was called to board the ship at 11:05 am.

[Luvcruisin76]

16 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

I checked in online just after midnight as soon as it opened up.  I got boarding group A1.

I ended up arriving at 10:45, so I had to go to the early/late line.  It was my lucky day because there was hardly anyone in the line at the time.  It looked like a lot of people arrived earlier and were already seated.  Group A1 was called to board the ship at 11:05 am.

Ok good to know so we will probably take our chances and get in early 🤞

[lasvegascruising]

I have wondered about this also.  I think the times have been pushed a little later.  I seem to think I have read here on cruise critic that diamonds, plats, wedding parties, fttf, etc board first and that takes time so the rest of us have to wait until a bit later and Carnival does not want us arriving too early and causing a human traffic jam.

[Organized Chaos]

17 hours ago, lasvegascruising said:

I have wondered about this also.  I think the times have been pushed a little later.  I seem to think I have read here on cruise critic that diamonds, plats, wedding parties, fttf, etc board first and that takes time so the rest of us have to wait until a bit later and Carnival does not want us arriving too early and causing a human traffic jam.

 

Yep, they board wedding parties, diamond, platinum, suites, and FTTF first. Then begin general boarding. At many ports, I'd say it's about average for boarding to begin around 11am. A while back, there was a lot of talk about boarding starting later for Vista & Horizon, but that was because it was taking them longer to clear them since there's so many more passengers. There were several reports of boarding not even starting until noon, but I don't know if that's still an issue. We'll be on Horizon next spring. A few years ago, we had a 10:30am check-in time at Port Everglades, and that was without any kind of priority status. I don't think they give out times that early anymore.

[christyran1228]

On 9/30/2019 at 2:40 PM, bury me at sea said:

That's the earliest I have seen on cruises out of Galveston.  I know nothing about other home ports.

 

I've always gotten 11:30-12:00, which is when our check in on our cruise on the Freedom in December. 

[bury me at sea]

4 minutes ago, christyran1228 said:

 

I've always gotten 11:30-12:00, which is when our check in on our cruise on the Freedom in December. 

 

I am glad to hear that.  Thanks.

[ober134]

From what I can tell assigned boarding time depends on several factors: how many Diamond/Platinum/Weddings/Fttf/special passengers. Boarding time can also be delayed if there is a delay in ship return ing to port and/or issues off-loading prior passengers. Go early if you want but be prepared to wait. We've gotten on early, but we've also had to wait.