Embarkation time for Meraviglia in Miami

[tkwbear]

I got my 3rd or 4th Cruise Ticket from MSC today. I still have the same room number, but on this one they moved my boarding time from 11am to 2:30pm. As usual it came with a warning not to arrive too early or I will be forced to wait outside the cruise terminal. The second warning was that my boarding opportunity would end at 3:30.

 

I am new to MSC and was new to Royal Caribbean until I sailed the Ovation last month. They issued similar warnings, so I arrived at the start of my boarding window only to find a thousand or so people in line ahead of me. Several admitted they just came when they wanted.

 

My question is, does MSC play the same games, or if I arrive at 2pm will I be escorted by guards that will watch me carefully until 2:30 rolls around? No I am not YC but I am a Diamond thanks to their status match.

[SunFunRum88]

We have the same situation, 8th cruise ticket and from 11am boarding to 3pm boarding.  Boarding time change just happened this week.  Diamond due to status match and YC due to bid.  

[tkwbear]

4 hours ago, SunFunRum88 said:

We have the same situation, 8th cruise ticket and from 11am boarding to 3pm boarding.  Boarding time change just happened this week.  Diamond due to status match and YC due to bid.  

Have you sailed with MSC before? It's my first time. HAL never turned anyone away if they were early, at least they got to sit inside.

[Morgsmom]

5 hours ago, SunFunRum88 said:

We have the same situation, 8th cruise ticket and from 11am boarding to 3pm boarding.  Boarding time change just happened this week.  Diamond due to status match and YC due to bid.  

Winner winner, chicken dinner.  Board whenever you'd like.

[Morgsmom]

13 hours ago, tkwbear said:

I got my 3rd or 4th Cruise Ticket from MSC today. I still have the same room number, but on this one they moved my boarding time from 11am to 2:30pm.

Print out the previous page that says 11am if that suits your fancy.  No one, I mean no one, is going to stop you once you are there.  

[wallyj]

I boarded the Meraviglia on Oct 16, 2021. No one was checking boarding time. I think with the lower capacity, currently it does not matter. I was on a B2B and on the Oct 23 embarkation, I noticed they opened the terminal doors to start checkin about 10:15 am.
 

I got off the ship to use the free WiFi, but found out you have to be IN the terminal building, the signal did not work outside the front glass doors.

 

This probably varies on when the ship reaches ‘zero’ count so they can start the embarkation process.

 

if you want to arrive early, I believe you will not be asked to wait.

[tkwbear]

I just spent 45 minutes on the phone with MSC (half of that was hold time with the awful too-loud music playing) to ask why the boarding times have been pushed back. This was a polite representative but she really had no clue. I asked her to ask around to see if there is a Coast Guard inspection happening on the 13th. She put me on hold and said basically show up before 3:30. I can't believe that is what MSC intends, as there will be a mob of thousands there trying to get on. 

 

I called the Coast Guard to see about a possible inspection that day. I got the voice mail.

 

So, if you are booked for the November 13th Meraviglia cruise, AND YOU STILL HAVE AN EARLY BOOKING TIME (before 1pm), could you please let me know? The last thing I want to do is stand in line for 3-4 hours.

[phissy]

We have 11:00 am embarkation time for the 13th.

We are in YC, not sure if that makes a difference. We will get there sometime between 11 and 12. 
Hope this helps.

[SirWolf]

1 hour ago, phissy said:

We have 11:00 am embarkation time for the 13th.

We are in YC, not sure if that makes a difference. We will get there sometime between 11 and 12. 
Hope this helps.

The first eMail with Tickets on 10-04-21 had embarking time of 11:00am for sailing 10-16-21 in YC. Two days later we received second eMail with Tickets and embarking time changed to 2:30pm.

[tkwbear]

14 hours ago, phissy said:

We have 11:00 am embarkation time for the 13th.

We are in YC, not sure if that makes a difference. We will get there sometime between 11 and 12. 
Hope this helps.

So far you are the only one who has responded that didn't get their boarding time moved way back. I am a diamond member, and another poster here is also a diamond member and in YC. Could you double check online and see if you boarding time is still 11am? I am thinking the only reason they are pushing us all back is some kind of maintenance or Coast Guard inspection. If so by 2:30 it's going to be an angry mob outside.

[phissy]

Just logged in and our time of 11am is still showing. ( on both)

Not sure about Coast Guard activity. This has not been reported.

Time to start packing….

Edited November 6, 2021 by phissy

[dexddd]

As I reported previously, their times are whacky.  For our recent Divinia trip, many of us for months had a 8:59 pm boarding time for ship leaving at 5 or 6.  Then in last week got email with new time, then text that said superceded all previous times yet at same time, online had yet a different time finally vs the 8:59.

[tkwbear]

1 hour ago, phissy said:

Just logged in and our time of 11am is still showing. ( on both)

Not sure about Coast Guard activity. This has not been reported.

Time to start packing….

Thanks for checking. I really appreciate it.

[tkwbear]

42 minutes ago, dexddd said:

As I reported previously, their times are whacky.  For our recent Divinia trip, many of us for months had a 8:59 pm boarding time for ship leaving at 5 or 6.  Then in last week got email with new time, then text that said superceded all previous times yet at same time, online had yet a different time finally vs the 8:59.

That's insane! What time did they finally tell you to be there?

 

I've been disappointed in the customer service team. The ones I have talked to are polite, but evidently not trained very well. They can probably answer questions like "do I need a passport" or "do I need a vax card" but not anything of substance.

[Ofmyheart]

Coast Guard inspection should have happened ASAP after the ship can't from Europe.