Early Walk-Off

[Calgon1]

Based on scheduled end-of-cruise port arrival of 7:00 am; what time does early walk off begin?  

[LACruiser88]

Depends on how fast ICE gives clearance.  The earliest we have been off is 7:30ish...

Edited June 23, 2020 by LACruiser88

[LACruiser88]

The latest has been 9:00 in LA.  San Pedro is notorious for late disembarkations....

[Steelers36]

Princess has schedules sent to staterooms for disembarking and they begin as early as 15 mins after official arrival time.  Note that the ships are in Port Everglades and docked well ahead of the stated times - unless something unusual occurs.  You didn't state which port, but you probably are more interested in the Cali ports.

 

[Potstech]

3 hours ago, Calgon1 said:

Based on scheduled end-of-cruise port arrival of 7:00 am; what time does early walk off begin?  

Whenever ICE and Port Authorities give permission for it to begin. Would not plan on any particular time early in the morning.

[oskidunker]

First, you have to walk on. :.)

 

 

 

[skynight]

Assuming you are traveling post COVID-19 it should be fairly quickly once the ship is cleared. While the virus is still active???

San Pedro is has not been as efficient as Ft. Lauderdale. I would allow sufficient time if you are trying to plan a flight.

[capriccio]

Remember that ships can (luckily infrequently) arrive late and Customs and Border Control agents can be understaffed leading to long, slow lines so those arrival and disembarkation times are not absolutely set in stone.

[Cruiser_1977]

Royal Princess - Mexican Riviera - I was in line on time for early walk off in January at San Pedro. We stood for over an hour in LOOOONG lines. There was a delay. Don't assume that if you do early walk off that if it says 7 you'll be off in 30 minutes.

 

Edited June 24, 2020 by JennyB1977

[MCC retired]

Cruised a bunch of times from FLL .

Always do the Walk  off.

Most all have been close to 7am and most always on the road @ 7:30 .

 

However , the virus may change things now ?

 

Edited June 24, 2020 by MCC retired

[jennybenny]

Post Covid walk off may be a different experience. I don’t think any of us know what that will be like 

 

[trvlwrld]

Fort Lauderdale walk off last fall was caught up in a crew immigration check which backed things up for 3 hours because Princess disembarked their crew before passengers...caused ALOT of very disgruntled passengers who missed their morning AND early afternoon flights (any flights before 2 pm)...

[capriccio]

1 hour ago, trvlwrld said:

Fort Lauderdale walk off last fall was caught up in a crew immigration check which backed things up for 3 hours because Princess disembarked their crew before passengers...caused ALOT of very disgruntled passengers who missed their morning AND early afternoon flights (any flights before 2 pm)...

 

Out of curiosity - was this on a returning Trans Atlantic cruise?  Those are the cruises that are more or less guaranteed to have delayed disembarkations due to immigration clearances for crew and US government inspections of any ship that has been outside the US for a season or more.  Princess has gotten better about notifying embarking passengers in advance in the last few years but I don't think they do the same with disembarking passengers (or at least they didn't on our TA that arrived in early November 2017).

[Potstech]

Which is better and less stressful. 1. Counting on a very early walk off for an early flight and realizing it may not happen. OR 2. Having a later afternoon flight, getting off with an early walk off and having to wait at the airport for a flight.

 

We always go with option 2.

[trvlwrld]

yes-crown transatlantic

[capriccio]

25 minutes ago, trvlwrld said:

yes-crown transatlantic

Not surprising then.  Princess should adjust the arrival times on those voyages and add at least 3 hours to the usual disembarkation schedule.  

[skynight]

12 hours ago, trvlwrld said:

yes-crown transatlantic

We have been on a few of these and Princess notified us of the disembarkation delays. Bottom line for voyages returning from Europe, South America or other locations where the ship has been out of the U.S. for a season or more do not book early flights. On these sailings boarding for the next voyage is also delayed by a few hours.

[Steelers36]

From past experience, and reading many posts over the years about returning TA cruises, I have no issues with early flights from FLL for a closed-loop cruise from PE.  If we were to be arriving from a TA, I think I would just plan to stay over in FLL and fly the next day or two after.  

[san diego sue]

9 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

From past experience, and reading many posts over the years about returning TA cruises, I have no issues with early flights from FLL for a closed-loop cruise from PE.  If we were to be arriving from a TA, I think I would just plan to stay over in FLL and fly the next day or two after.  

We did that on the Sky transatlantic. Nice not having to worry about missing flights.However we weren't the only ones doing that and our hotel room wasn't ready till late in the afternoon. So many people with luggage hanging around in lobby of Embassy suites. We just had them check our luggage and we left for the day .

Getting off the Sky was really easy and we were off 1/2 hour before we thought we would be.  Could have easily done walkoff with plenty of time for flights.However, you never know what can hold up disembarkation. So we either stay over or book a really late afternoon flight home.

[Reader0108598]

21 minutes ago, san diego sue said:

We did that on the Sky transatlantic. Nice not having to worry about missing flights.However we weren't the only ones doing that and our hotel room wasn't ready till late in the afternoon. So many people with luggage hanging around in lobby of Embassy suites. We just had them check our luggage and we left for the day .

Getting off the Sky was really easy and we were off 1/2 hour before we thought we would be.  Could have easily done walkoff with plenty of time for flights.However, you never know what can hold up disembarkation. So we either stay over or book a really late afternoon flight home.

I always stay a day going down and a day coming home so much nicer! 🙂 When I first started cruising I rushed home had to get to the airport with the other 6,000 people or so  cruisers . lol Now older and wiser always stay another day!

 

Edited June 25, 2020 by Reader0108598