Arriving for boarding time, experiences of those who have sailed recently

[barbeyg]

For those of you who have already sailed from the various ports (Miami, Port Canaveral, Port Everglades, Cape Liberty, Seattle), what has been your experience? Which port did you sail from, and we’re the lines outside the terminal orderly and marked, or utter chaos?  Were you lost in the multitudes of people arriving early, or were the arrival lines organized?

 

Just trying to get a feel for which ports have pulled it together since restart, and which are a hot mess.  I figure there are other inquiring minds here who would like to know too. 🙂

 

Thanks in advance!

[EdandMary]

in Seattle we had a 12:00 check-in and there was a line for that check-in at 11:15. The terminal did not allow the check-in to happen until the appointed time. If you don't mind standing in line you start from a closer point, but if standing is difficult there are still places to sit . The check-in went well but takes time and you need every paper available to show the multiple folks that are doing the check-in procedure. It was a great cruise on the Ovation and the staff were fantastic..

[barbeyg]

Thank you. Glad you had a great cruise! Sounds like Seattle has it together. 🙂

[nelblu]

Sailed from Bayonne on the 5th of September. Had a 11:30-12 check-in time. Got there at 10:30 and was allowed to proceed. My documents, especially the vaxxed card must have been  examined some half a dozen times. 
As we got on ship, there was some 20 staff members and theyclapped  and chanted welcome aboard as we went under an arch of balloons.   A bit corny, but appreciated. They were truly glad to see Pax’s. 
Was able to drop carry on luggage at 11 in my cabin. 
This was Oasis sail. 

[barbeyg]

Thanks @nelblu. We hope to sail her in December from Miami. Appreciate the heads up on Cale Liberty. Dropping the carryon must have been nice. 🙂

[bkruiser]

We felt Seattle was a bit disorganized. We had a 1pm boarding time, got there at 12:30 and the line was very long and the workers didn’t seem to know what they were doing. We were at least an hour late getting on board. 

[crzndeb]

57 minutes ago, EdandMary said:

in Seattle we had a 12:00 check-in and there was a line for that check-in at 11:15. The terminal did not allow the check-in to happen until the appointed time. If you don't mind standing in line you start from a closer point, but if standing is difficult there are still places to sit . The check-in went well but takes time and you need every paper available to show the multiple folks that are doing the check-in procedure. It was a great cruise on the Ovation and the staff were fantastic..

Good to know. I have a 12-1230 check in for Oct 1 sailing from Seattle, and I’m about 15 miles from the port. I would rather arrive after check in actually begins. I’m on a B2B, so I’m not really in a big hurry to board.

Edited September 11, 2021 by crzndeb

[cruisinsusin]

Port Canaveral was pretty efficient over Labor day weekend- arrived at ~1215 for 1pm checkin - minimal lines although, as stated by other posters, our vaccine cards and Covid test results were examined multiple times.

[barbeyg]

7 minutes ago, cruisinsusin said:

Port Canaveral was pretty efficient over Labor day weekend- arrived at ~1215 for 1pm checkin - minimal lines although, as stated by other posters, our vaccine cards and Covid test results were examined multiple times.

That is impressive for a holiday weekend. 🙂 Thanks!

[Blizzard54]

In Seattle on the 3rd we had a 12:00 check in.  When we arrived 11:20 there were 2 short lines.  Since we are Pinnacle we were able to enter at 11:30.  It took about 10 minutes to complete the process.  I heard from others that by 1:00 there were 3 separate lines without signage and it got confusing.  Some were out there for an hour +    

 

There was not a separate line for Suites and Pins but I believe wearing our pins may have helped.

Edited September 11, 2021 by Blizzard54

[lauren0309]

1 hour ago, nelblu said:

Sailed from Bayonne on the 5th of September. Had a 11:30-12 check-in time. Got there at 10:30 and was allowed to proceed. My documents, especially the vaxxed card must have been  examined some half a dozen times. 
As we got on ship, there was some 20 staff members and theyclapped  and chanted welcome aboard as we went under an arch of balloons.   A bit corny, but appreciated. They were truly glad to see Pax’s. 
Was able to drop carry on luggage at 11 in my cabin. 
This was Oasis sail. 

Good to know. We're sailing out of Bayonne tomorrow with a check in time of 12:30-1:00. Maybe we'll come a little earlier

[Funbobby68]

Any one have any experience with departing out of Galveston ?

[wingatesl]

42 minutes ago, lauren0309 said:

Good to know. We're sailing out of Bayonne tomorrow with a check in time of 12:30-1:00. Maybe we'll come a little earlier

We got in line about 30-40 minutes early without issue. There was no investigation of what your arrival time is that I could see

[Eileen G]

When we sailed out of Seattle on the Serenade on 8-23 it was very orderly. There was signs for all the tims. 11-1130 was to the right of the door. 12-1230 was to the left. on the covered walk way were the signs for the other times. boarding started at 1145 and moved quickley. We had 12 and were through the door by 12.

[sunnydaysmile]

What is Miami's process - are there separate lines for each boarding time?

[barbeyg]

This is great info so far, all. Thank you for sharing. Hope we get examples from all the ports. 
 

You guys are the best! 🙂🏆

[ReneeFLL]

15 minutes ago, sunnydaysmile said:

What is Miami's process - are there separate lines for each boarding time?

We check in Monday and I’ll report back.

[barbeyg]

1 minute ago, ReneeFLL said:

We check in Monday and I’ll report back.

Thanks and have a GREAT cruise! 🥂

[DaniDanielle]

1 hour ago, lauren0309 said:

Good to know. We're sailing out of Bayonne tomorrow with a check in time of 12:30-1:00. Maybe we'll come a little earlier

We had a 12 checkin for the Simulation cruise and ended up on the ship at 12! They lined you up a little earlier than your arrival time.  It was Bayonne. Enjoy your cruise!

[AftMan]

Just off the Ovation out of Seattle. 12:00 pm check-in time.  We arrive ~11:20 am and 2 lines were formed with little signage to indicate what was what. We asked and were directed to the proper line.

At ~11:45 someone came by and asked if anyone was in suites or Diamond +. Yes, we moved. 5 minutes later a higher ranking pier coordinator moved us back to where we were originally and argued with the employee who made the changes.  

Once we started the sign in process, everything went smooth. 10-15 minutes to check in and be on the ship.

 

 

 

 

[barbeyg]

33 minutes ago, AftMan said:

At ~11:45 someone came by and asked if anyone was in suites or Diamond +. Yes, we moved. 5 minutes later a higher ranking pier coordinator moved us back to where we were originally and argued with the employee who made the changes.  

Power struggles. 🙄 Glad everything went smoothly afterwards. 🙂

[BirdTravels]

On Friday, we had a 1 pm check in time in Miami. We arrived at 11:45 and there were no lines. 
 

[Wildcat85]

5 hours ago, EdandMary said:

in Seattle we had a 12:00 check-in and there was a line for that check-in at 11:15. The terminal did not allow the check-in to happen until the appointed time. If you don't mind standing in line you start from a closer point, but if standing is difficult there are still places to sit . The check-in went well but takes time and you need every paper available to show the multiple folks that are doing the check-in procedure. It was a great cruise on the Ovation and the staff were fantastic..

I didn’t have a positive check in experience for Ovation on September 3 at 2:30 pm. Worst part of trip. I got there on time and waited a very long time. My Frustration with compounded by the fact that when I was the next in line to be processed the agent closed the line and did nothing to assist me in getting a comparable place in another line. I had to start at the back of a different line. I didn’t think that some other of the staff really knew what they were doing and a lot of things seemed ad hoc. Not everyone seemed to have the same experience. Security was more rigorous than TSA for my flights. There was confusion about whether a passport was required. Maybe security was just overly  gung ho but it seemed excessive and also seemed arbitrary depending on who you got. Maybe because I don’t have a special status or was traveling solo I got more scrutiny. Maybe I just had bad luck. There were no issues with my paperwork so it was annoying. I did everything by the book. The rest of the trip went smoothly. 

[ILCTCRUISER]

5 hours ago, bkruiser said:

We felt Seattle was a bit disorganized. We had a 1pm boarding time, got there at 12:30 and the line was very long and the workers didn’t seem to know what they were doing. We were at least an hour late getting on board. 

Also out of Seattle.  Restart of Ovation on 13Aug.  Very disorganized.  Little direction from anyone. No one making announcements.  Any signage was small and not prominently sited.  It wasn’t terrible, I guess, but it was a cruise with significantly reduced capacity.  No matter which port, I’d suggest asking a lot of questions to reconfirm you’re in right line at right time.  It was the restart of revenue cruises but shoreside staff had already processed test cruises as well as Serenade.  

[barbeyg]

Wow, @BirdTravels! Sounds like a smooth arrival for you. 🙂👍🏼

 

And sorry about the disorganized embarkation for those of you going out of Seattle. Hopefully they will learn from those events and get them straightened out.