Port Canaveral Aug 7, 2021.

[centurycruiser]

On Aug 7 2021, we cruised on Carnival Mardi Gras, but, this was our experience at the pier:

 

I don't think I ever expected to think this way.

Our next scheduled cruise is October 24. Before cruising restarted I thought once it started we would fill in some of that "blank" time with some new cruises.  Carnival and the cdc dissuaded me. They succeeded in making boarding in Port Canaveral worse than Miami.

For anyone who got spoiled by entering through the Pinnacle or Diamond entrance and zipping through the terminal and getting on board in 10-15 minutes, this was a disaster.  TWO AND A HALF HOURS to get on the ship. No Diamond entrance and forget the scheduled arrival times. We arrived and got in the back of a line that was 1000-1500 people. It was like being at Disney on Christmas day.

After that we could not check in because we were "flagged." Our Allure test cruise took us out of the country so we needed to be tested. Another line. This time we were with people who had not been vaccinated. Other adults and lots of kids. We finally get to the sign in desk for testing and they ask for my credit card information.  I tell the girl "no way am I paying for this BS. We've done everything we were supposed to do. I refuse to pay. Call someone who can handle this." She says we are only the testing people. You have to talk to Carnival." I say "I am not moving until you get someone here. I'm not standing in another line."

A doctor associated with the testing outfit came over and talked to me. He offered to escort us to the ship's doctor. Turns out we didn't need to pay because we were both vaccinated but we had to be tested because we were "out of the country." The doctor escorted us back to the sign in table where we filled out forms and waited to be tested. Apparently,  most people were there with children who needed to be tested, but, were free. Two adults show up with no kids and the girl assumed we were not vaccinated and therefore subjected to pay.

After we got our test results we were able to check in, but, that was a different line. And, when we finally got to the boarding area I was told I hadn't checked in!

TWO AND A HALF FREAKING HOURS! Never again.

I am not sure how they allocate the scheduled boarding times, but, I concluded they didn't have enough agents to pump people through to keep the lines down. Final boarding is supposed to be at 4PM and I was wondering if we would make it. We arrived at 12:50 for a 1:30 scheduled arrival. Tough to determine when most of the parking places are closed, so, you don't know how long it will take you to get to the terminal.

We currently have over $18,000 in cruise bookings and a couple thousand in FCC's. I will use that but if this BS doesn't end, we'll be looking for vacation alternatives.

The only safety precaution they took on the pier was masks. There was no attempt at social distancing nor any attempt to separate vaccinated from unvaccinated.

 

[Ashland]

WOW....This sounds horrible ! We'll be cruising out of PC in April 2022 and am just hoping things like this will be in the past.

[TytalusWarden]

While I appreciate hearing about the conditions at Port Canaveral, did you mean to post this Carnival review in the RCL section?

[centurycruiser]

8 hours ago, TytalusWarden said:

While I appreciate hearing about the conditions at Port Canaveral, did you mean to post this Carnival review in the RCL section?

Yes, because Royal sails out of Port Canaveral. We were on the Allure test cruise and it was not as bad for two reasons. We had not been out of the country within 14 days and there were only 657 passengers. They did not have a Pinnacle line for embarkation. If they start sailing anywhere near full I would expect similar situation.

I would hope things get better, but, wanted to alert people to what might be possible.

[mauraoel]

I don't think you can compare Carnival's operation to RCCL's even in the same port.

[Mapleleafforever]

Not sure what people are expecting when cruising during a WORLD WIDE PANDEMIC. 

[Envelope21]

9 minutes ago, Mapleleafforever said:

Not sure what people are expecting when cruising during a WORLD WIDE PANDEMIC. 

I guess I would expect that a cruise line would have a certain amount of planning and preparation in place when hundreds of people will be arriving to board a ship. Because, you know, the WORLD WIDE PANDEMIC has been going on for awhile now and is no surprise.

[mauraoel]

1 minute ago, Envelope21 said:

I guess I would expect that a cruise line would have a certain amount of planning and preparation in place when hundreds of people will be arriving to board a ship. Because, you know, the WORLD WIDE PANDEMIC has been going on for awhile now and is no surprise.

Carnival didn't have that before the Pandemic, I have boarded both Royal and Carnival in Port Canaveral in the past the experience is way different.

[Mapleleafforever]

14 minutes ago, Envelope21 said:

I guess I would expect that a cruise line would have a certain amount of planning and preparation in place when hundreds of people will be arriving to board a ship. Because, you know, the WORLD WIDE PANDEMIC has been going on for awhile now and is no surprise.

Correction, thousands. What could go wrong? Answer, quite a lot. 

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Mapleleafforever said:

Correction, thousands. What could go wrong? Answer, quite a lot. 

 

With 30 minute boarding intervals, hundreds is accurate for now

 

FWIW, Allure this past Sunday had almost no line at 12:30

Edited August 20, 2021 by John&LaLa

[Mapleleafforever]

9 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

With 30 minute boarding intervals, hundreds is accurate for now

 

FWIW, Allure this past Sunday had almost no line at 12:30

How many passengers onboard? And so gone are the days of being on board with drink in hand by 11am? 

Edited August 20, 2021 by Mapleleafforever

[John&LaLa]

22 minutes ago, Mapleleafforever said:

How many passengers onboard? And so gone are the days of being on board with drink in hand by 11am? 

 

1700 from what I heard. Boarding may have started at noon. We were over at Grills.

 

I was just dropping off a FB friend 

[Mapleleafforever]

1 minute ago, John&LaLa said:

 

1700 from what I heard. Boarding may have started at noon. We were over at Grills.

 

I was just dropping off a FB friend 

Ah cool, thanks. 1700 on that ship sounds like a dream......a good dream. 

[TNcruising02]

That sounds horrible.  Pre-pandemic, when we boarded out of Port Canaveral on Carnival it was one of the easiest boarding experiences we ever had.  Carnival used to have an on time appointment line and an early/late line.  Anyone who arrived outside of their appointment window had to go to the early/late line.  That seemed to work very well in the past.  I don't know what their problem is now, but hopefully they will get their act together in the next few cruises.

I have read that tests are needed for anyone who comes off one cruise and then goes on to another one within 14 days.  That is definitely a pain, but they should have streamlined your process better,  Hopefully, this gets better with each cruise.  Port Canaveral used to be such an easy port with Carnival.

[audcc77]

Sorry OP. That sounds like a flipping nightmare.  Especially the part about standing in close proximity to people who weren’t vaccinated.  

[BoozinCroozin]

Carnival has to address the arrival time issue!!! They need to be strict, harsh, and real about it. If you arrive to get in line outside the terminal at 10AM and your arrival time is 11AM, they do not allow you to get into the line. Make them go stand somewhere out in the hot sun somewhere else and wait until it is 11AM. It is getting me sick to my stomach thinking that this is so simple to solve with 2-3 port employees.

[EngIceDave]

I wasted my time reading that and it's about RCCL?

[audcc77]

32 minutes ago, EngIceDave said:

I wasted my time reading that and it's about RCCL?

No, Dave. OP was on the Mardi Gras out of PC.  
 

OP was on a Royal ship just weeks prior, and this necessitated a negative covid test prior to sailing on Mardi Gras.  
 

OP sounds like they stood in multiple lines and a Carnival employee assumed they were unvaxxed which made them stand in line with other unvaxxed people. 
 

I believe OP was just trying to prepare others for the craziness at the PC port, especially if you’ve returned recently from another cruise. 

[EngIceDave]

Oh...ok

 

Thanks

[jetsfan58]

1 hour ago, BoozinCroozin said:

Carnival has to address the arrival time issue!!! They need to be strict, harsh, and real about it. If you arrive to get in line outside the terminal at 10AM and your arrival time is 11AM, they do not allow you to get into the line. Make them go stand somewhere out in the hot sun somewhere else and wait until it is 11AM. It is getting me sick to my stomach thinking that this is so simple to solve with 2-3 port employees.

I have no issue with people arriving early. Most people are very excited to be Cruising again and are very anxious to get back to Sea. What's the difference in letting someone cut in front of you in a grocery line if they have a few items and you have a full buggy? 

 

Be Patient people this too will be worked out in time. Glad we are Back!!!   

[Jayfo]

Oh no. The horrors of no diamond entrace. Give me a break. Hopefully you didn’t bark too much more at poor crew members just doing their job once you boarded. 
 

[Robo1098]

We were on the same cruise. We had an 11-11:30 check in time. We arrived a little early due to limited shuttle scheduling. Waited in a typical area with comfortable chairs and charging stations. They boarded all the suites, then diamond and platinum first but that was quick. The suites, diamond and platinum could bypass the line and board immediately after boarding started. We are among the commoners boarding but were still on board by 12:30. There were very few non vax passengers. You could pick them out for the most part because they could not check their luggage. They had a diamond an above lounge and they entered through a separate entrance to the gangway. From what I could see the lounge looked comfortable. The only issue we had was the man announcing the boarding numbers was difficult to  hear.  

I think the big issue with the OP is being out of the country within 14 days. To be honest I didn't think they allowed that. 

I think you have to give Carnival a little slack as it is a brand new terminal and it was only the second cruise on that ship. Since it was only the second cruise it was actually the first time they had to offload passengers and board new. 

We had no significant issues boarding or on the ship.

[WhaleTailFlCruiser]

Uhhhh Carnival already said no early boarding and that included diamond guests 

[WhaleTailFlCruiser]

This sounded like such a dam first world problem post. 

[Don Kehote]

17 hours ago, centurycruiser said:

We currently have over $18,000 in cruise bookings and a couple thousand in FCC's.

 

Neat.  Some people don't have jobs.  But you go flaunting that fat stack of cash, Caesar.