Carnival Panorama Boarding Times (Long Beach)

[willyt25]

Does the Panorama (or the port of Long Beach) have later boarding times then other ports?  We checked in at Midnight on our 90 day make and the earliest arrival appointment they had was 12:30 pm and they only had 4 options through 2:30 pm, nothing else was shown.  I know they have an unusual parking situation there, but does that seem late to start the arrival appointments.  Can any west coast cruisers chime in and let us know if it truly is just that laid back and chill? 

We are staying at the Queen Mary next door and wanted to board as quickly as possible, if it is a nice day way may just head over early and stand in the naughty early line. 

[dbrucern]

Our last cruise was a couple of years ago and one of the unusual things we noted was the boarding process.  We have done three cruises from Long Beach and each time it was a little different.  Our first cruise you could check in early at the Queen Mary and then leave to go for brunch and report back to board.  The next two times that we cruised there was a building that was out in the parking lot that we check-in too and then stood in a line outside waiting to board no where to sit.  We walked through the building but they never actually used it as at other ports for check-in, My understanding is now they actually use the building to check-in and no more lines outside. But the one thing that was a constant was the cruises always seemed to leave later.  In Florida we have always watched the ships pull in to port around 5:30am.  We stay at the Queen Mary as well and watched the ships pull in around 7-9am and later.  The Queen Mary staff did take your bags over to the check-in. Looking forward to cruising out there in 2021

Edited October 20, 2019 by dbrucern

[MEUB1112]

We sailed from LB last November on the Splendor, we also stayed on the QM prior to the cruise. We are doing this same trip again in January on the Panorama. On previous cruises LB was the worst IMHO for boarding, however, the last time it was awesome. We took the luggage to the porters around 09:00 or 09:30, went back and finished check out and headed back the dome around 10:30 or 11:00. I should add that we are Platinum so we can arrive whenever, but the boarding seemed to be a smooth operation for all. Check in was once outside under the awnings, now it is inside and there is ample space along with many more folks checking people in. They have added a lot of rows of seating for the wait. We were on the ship by noon, maybe earlier but I can't remember exactly. However (isn't there always a however), this is a much larger ship than the Splendor or the Miracle. Many more people to move off and through customs before we start to board, that could be the reason for the later check in times. I hope this helps.

Edited October 20, 2019 by MEUB1112
Spelling Error

[skrufy]

2 hours ago, willyt25 said:

Does the Panorama (or the port of Long Beach) have later boarding times then other ports?  We checked in at Midnight on our 90 day make and the earliest arrival appointment they had was 12:30 pm and they only had 4 options through 2:30 pm, nothing else was shown.  I know they have an unusual parking situation there, but does that seem late to start the arrival appointments.  Can any west coast cruisers chime in and let us know if it truly is just that laid back and chill? 

We are staying at the Queen Mary next door and wanted to board as quickly as possible, if it is a nice day way may just head over early and stand in the naughty early line. 

Last August the earliest check in time was 1230pm.

[Roscoe13]

I checked in right at 9pm last night for my 1/18/2020 Panorama cruise and sure enough 12:30 was the earliest check in time...

They aren't offering FTTF!  My math says more non-priority  passengers to check in and board in a smaller time window.

Must be that common core math...

 

 I just sailed out of Long Beach this past February. I received an 11:30am check in time. I came to the cruise port straight from LAX and arrived around 9:30am. It was a monsoon, literally pouring rain and winds gusting up to 50mph. I found the check in line for early/lates, and luckily was under a little bit of building eaves. Because of the severe weather the employees working the cruise port took mercy on us and let us que up inside starting at 10am. Then they surprised us by letting us check in as soon as priorities had checked in. I was onboard by 11am, soaking wet from crossing the long gang plank that has no drainage and only a roof but no enclosed sides! Instead of handing out welcome aboard maps of the ship the greeting team in the atrium was tossing towels to you as you entered, literally!

 

This leads me to my main point, why are they wanting more passengers than on the Splendor to check in and board in a smaller window of time? Makes no sense!

[jbethel11]

1 hour ago, Roscoe13 said:

1/18/2020 Panorama cruise and sure enough 12:30 was the earliest check in time...

They aren't offering FTTF! 

That's because Carnival is not offering FTTF on sailings prior to 2/2020.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1374/~/faster-to-the-fun-(fttf)

[cathyz]

4 hours ago, willyt25 said:

Does the Panorama (or the port of Long Beach) have later boarding times then other ports?  We checked in at Midnight on our 90 day make and the earliest arrival appointment they had was 12:30 pm and they only had 4 options through 2:30 pm, nothing else was shown.  I know they have an unusual parking situation there, but does that seem late to start the arrival appointments.  Can any west coast cruisers chime in and let us know if it truly is just that laid back and chill? 

We are staying at the Queen Mary next door and wanted to board as quickly as possible, if it is a nice day way may just head over early and stand in the naughty early line. 

You can come early and go to the early/late line, which could be huge or short or they may turn you away, a lot of it's to get on early.

[Roscoe13]

3 hours ago, jbethel11 said:

That's because Carnival is not offering FTTF on sailings prior to 2/2020.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1374/~/faster-to-the-fun-(fttf)

I know that, but your post does serve a notice to those that weren't aware.  But that is my point exactly, with no FTTF then only true legacy priority passengers will board early and forcing the remaining pax to check in after 12:30...doing the math, that's a smaller window before last call with more pax to push through.

[BlerkOne]

16 minutes ago, Roscoe13 said:

I know that, but your post does serve a notice to those that weren't aware.  But that is my point exactly, with no FTTF then only true legacy priority passengers will board early and forcing the remaining pax to check in after 12:30...doing the math, that's a smaller window before last call with more pax to push through.

 

FTTF cabin are not unlimited, anyway. Any impact for the remaining passengers is minimal.

[Roscoe13]

6 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

 

FTTF cabin are not unlimited, anyway. Any impact for the remaining passengers is minimal.

I fully understand FTTF.  When it was first introduced around 2013, it was capacity controlled and limited to the first 30 cabins.  They would sometimes release more near sail date, depending on plats and diamonds, etc.

 

Having said that, if they only sold 30 cabins that could be as many as 240 pax.  Maybe minimal in your estimation but would you want to wait behind an additional 240 pax to check in and board?

[PhillyFan33579]

4 hours ago, Roscoe13 said:

I know that, but your post does serve a notice to those that weren't aware.  But that is my point exactly, with no FTTF then only true legacy priority passengers will board early and forcing the remaining pax to check in after 12:30...doing the math, that's a smaller window before last call with more pax to push through.

I assume the boarding times are similar to Horizon, where the earliest the earliest boarding time is also 12:30 PM, unless it has changed recently.  The reason that is the earliest boarding time is because a lot of priority passengers are on every cruise. The same is likely with Panorama.  The window is smaller like you mentioned, but the number of passengers without priority is also smaller.  

[RWolver672]

13 hours ago, Roscoe13 said:

I fully understand FTTF.  When it was first introduced around 2013, it was capacity controlled and limited to the first 30 cabins.  They would sometimes release more near sail date, depending on plats and diamonds, etc.

 

Having said that, if they only sold 30 cabins that could be as many as 240 pax.  Maybe minimal in your estimation but would you want to wait behind an additional 240 pax to check in and board?

 

I wasn't aware that Carnival has any ships with cabins that hold 8 passengers.  Even if you averaged 3 to a cabin, that would only be 90 passengers and they all don't show up at the same time.  With staggered check in times, checking in only takes a few minutes for even a couple.  They scan your boarding pass, scan your passport photo or take a photo of you and you're good to go.

 

[Roscoe13]

2 hours ago, RWolver672 said:

 

I wasn't aware that Carnival has any ships with cabins that hold 8 passengers.  Even if you averaged 3 to a cabin, that would only be 90 passengers and they all don't show up at the same time.  With staggered check in times, checking in only takes a few minutes for even a couple.  They scan your boarding pass, scan your passport photo or take a photo of you and you're good to go.

 

My bad...celebrating the Packers win and math don't always mix. What I meant was as many as 120 pax. 

I have done staggered check in twice now and am versed in it, but both times the first check in times offered were about 10:30 am. 

[RWolver672]

It would appear that the larger ships have all changed to a later check in time.  With more passengers, it takes longer to disembark the previous passengers.  Some have even mentioned on here where they couldn't even park until some of the previous passengers have left.  

 

Our last cruise was on the Horizon out of Miami.  Being Platinum, only 12:30-1:00 was the only time frame offered to us and I checked in three hours after it was opened.

[willyt25]

Yes we checked in about 30 seconds after it opened and 12:30 was the earliest opening.  I'd imagine turn around takes a bit longer on these larger ships.

[1city@atime]

We are regular cruisers out of Long Beach, living in SD. The port has changed over the years. They have remodeled the terminal and fixed the long lines of waiting with appointment times. The process is pretty good now. We are booked on the Panorama Dec. 11th sailing, booked a few days ago and got a 1:00-1:30 check in time. We were disappointed, understood we were late to check in. We usually get the 12:00-12:30 check in, show up at 11:00 and are at the pool deck enjoying a drink by 11:30.  

[Jennytho]

I just sailed on the Splendor in September and the earliest check in time was noon, I believe. It is definitely going to be helpful that you are staying at the QM the night before, so you don't have to worry about parking. I arrived to the port at 11:15 or so for my 12:30 check-in and there was no parking at the port. I was directed to park off-site. I made it back for on-time check-in, but I imagine it is going to be a nightmare with the bigger ship unless they figure something else out! 

[glrounds]

On 10/20/2019 at 6:30 AM, dbrucern said:

Our last cruise was a couple of years ago and one of the unusual things we noted was the boarding process.  We have done three cruises from Long Beach and each time it was a little different.  Our first cruise you could check in early at the Queen Mary and then leave to go for brunch and report back to board.  The next two times that we cruised there was a building that was out in the parking lot that we check-in too and then stood in a line outside waiting to board no where to sit.  We walked through the building but they never actually used it as at other ports for check-in, My understanding is now they actually use the building to check-in and no more lines outside. But the one thing that was a constant was the cruises always seemed to leave later.  In Florida we have always watched the ships pull in to port around 5:30am.  We stay at the Queen Mary as well and watched the ships pull in around 7-9am and later.  The Queen Mary staff did take your bags over to the check-in. Looking forward to cruising out there in 2021

 

I also go back many years with this LB terminal. Remembering the check-in in the bowels of the QUEEN MARY and then later the little building right in front of the dome for the Platinums. It was small, but quite adequate (one cruise the lady told me there were 27 Platinum cruisers). Now the ENTIRE Dome is used for the check in negating anyone sitting or standing outside while waiting to board. There are several video on youtube about this new Dome setup. Have only used it once, but I was impressed. Smoothest embarkation process I've ever experienced in 32 cruises. As I remember embarkation usually started at noon. I will guess with the PANORAMA (booked on Jan 18th cruise) everything will be handled very well.

[cathyz]

2 minutes ago, glrounds said:

 

I also go back many years with this LB terminal. Remembering the check-in in the bowels of the QUEEN MARY and then later the little building right in front of the dome for the Platinums. It was small, but quite adequate (one cruise the lady told me there were 27 Platinum cruisers). Now the ENTIRE Dome is used for the check in negating anyone sitting or standing outside while waiting to board. There are several video on youtube about this new Dome setup. Have only used it once, but I was impressed. Smoothest embarkation process I've ever experienced in 32 cruises. As I remember embarkation usually started at noon. I will guess with the PANORAMA (booked on Jan 18th cruise) everything will be handled very well.

I remember those old days, looking forward to seeing the new dome check-in area next March!

[glrounds]

16 minutes ago, cathyz said:

I remember those old days, looking forward to seeing the new dome check-in area next March!

 

 

[marci4tony]

We also love being on board as early as possible - however...

 

We are sailing out of Galveston in a few weeks, and our check in time is also 12:30.  So we are just going to adjust our thinking - we will be "chill" - relax - get up a little later, sight see a little more - and not worry about it!

 

Have fun.  Its still vacation - no matter what time you get on board, right?

[Melanie H]

I Sailed on the splendor September 14, 2019 out of Long Beach, I am a platinum member and we didn't start boarding the ship till almost Noon... I honestly wouldn't recommend going before noon, It was complete chaos at the terminal( I sail out of Long Beach a few times a year on inspiration) but going on the Splendor was a complete SHIP SHOW for boarding.

Also, be prepared to be directed to a different parking lot about 2 miles away ( you save $56 for the week) and they shuttle you both way. The parking structure was full before 10am.

[glrounds]

14 hours ago, Melanie H said:

I Sailed on the splendor September 14, 2019 out of Long Beach, I am a platinum member and we didn't start boarding the ship till almost Noon... I honestly wouldn't recommend going before noon, It was complete chaos at the terminal( I sail out of Long Beach a few times a year on inspiration) but going on the Splendor was a complete SHIP SHOW for boarding.

Also, be prepared to be directed to a different parking lot about 2 miles away ( you save $56 for the week) and they shuttle you both way. The parking structure was full before 10am.

 

Do you know where this EXTRA parking lot is located. Can one go there right off the bat and get the free shuttle to the ship and save the $56 ? And, yes, my experience has been the ship usually starts boarding at Noon or close to thereafter.

Edited October 25, 2019 by glrounds

[1city@atime]

On 10/25/2019 at 12:25 PM, glrounds said:

 

Do you know where this EXTRA parking lot is located. Can one go there right off the bat and get the free shuttle to the ship and save the $56 ?

 

Would love to know this as well With that parking garage pretty quick to fill up, I feel we might just go there first as well.

 

When we were on Splendor earlier this year, there was quite the backup to get into that parking garage. With Panorama holding more guests, I am sure it will be more of the same.

[Melanie H]

Hi Everyone, 

Here is the directions & map to the parking location. I arrived to the port around 10:45 and they said the lot was full before 8am.