Port Canaveral horror show

[wgeddings]

Just boarded the Carnival Elation.  Had a11:30-12:00 boarding time and walked on the ship at 1:45. Apparently there were 6 ships leaving port today and 3 of them were Carnival (Mardi Gras, Magic and Elation). Port was PACKED and the line for Mardi Gras was really long!  For us, most of the port staff was pulled away for Mardi Gras and Magic so the skeleton crew for us was overwhelmed.  No priority lines for Diamond, Platinum or Suites.  Only 2 security lines open (plus only 1 for those being tested at port which had a very long slow moving line.  We really felt like third class although some staff were apologetic and others just angry like it was OUR fault 6 ships were in port.  
 

We did leave port late but not as late as I thought.  
 

If you know anyone leaving from Port Canaveral today, they will surely have interesting tales to tell.  

[firefly333]

Sorry but diamonds and platinum do not get priority boarding right now. Been this way since restart. Suite should have been called to board first. 

 

One of the rcl ships was supposed to have a port day today in "orlando" but it got cancelled. They said due to weather but it was sunny there today someone posted. 

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[quickrate]

This doesn't sound like fun! the time on your boarding pass isn't boarding time but check in time. Still shouldn't have taken so long to get on board. Have a great cruise.

Pat

[Bgcruising]

Two hours, not bad. 

[lyndarra]

2 hours ago, wgeddings said:

  We really felt like third class although some staff were apologetic and others just angry like it was OUR fault 6 ships were in port.  

For what other reason would they be there?🙄

[Saint Greg]

3 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Sorry but diamonds and platinum do not get priority boarding right now. Been this way since restart. Suite should have been called to board first. 

 

One of the rcl ships was supposed to have a port day today in "orlando" but it got cancelled. They said due to weather but it was sunny there today someone posted. 

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

While there is no "priority" boarding, Galveston does have a Diamond line and a Platinum line. You get to the boarding area faster, you board faster...assuming boarding has started. I think that's what OP was talking about.

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Saint Greg

[ray98]

3rd class....lol.  Such drama.

[beerman2]

4 hours ago, ray98 said:

3rd class....lol.  Such drama.

When will pax understand, they chose to cruise with things evolving every day. It’s not a “normal” time and who knows what tomorrow brings.

 

I guess as the old saying goes “ Expect the unexpected “.

 

Workers are probably overwhelmed right now.

Edited December 27, 2021 by beerman2

[KmomChicago]

Even back in The Before, the week between Christmas and New Year’s has always been the busiest time to travel, straining all systems as capacity is pushed to its max.

 

Back in my WDW days guests told me we should discount park tickets that week  because it was too crowded to enjoy the experience. They all felt like third class too , apparently. The massive hoards who choose to go when it’s most crowded then complain about the crowd. That is them. You are the crowd.
 

Yes that’s right. People were amazed that the busiest week of travel was, well, busy. 

 

Some people might think it’s some kind of wonderful to be back to travel like it used to be, with all its stresses and inconvenience and indignities, but what do I know?

[firefly333]

8 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

 

While there is no "priority" boarding, Galveston does have a Diamond line and a Platinum line. You get to the boarding area faster, you board faster...assuming boarding has started. I think that's what OP was talking about.

 

I've done vista and b2b breeze and never saw a proprity line. We went upstairs and were called by boarding time. Couldnt even get in the main waiting area for vista it was overflowing. We boarded about a hour and a half late.

 

Maybe I should add we boarded terminal 2 which is usually rcl terminal. Carnival terminal the boarding arm has been broke more often than it was fixed. We also disembarked by taking elevators down to deck 0 which took longer.  A carnival employee muttered why cant they just order 2 of the broken part. 

Edited December 27, 2021 by firefly333

[Saint Greg]

3 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I've done vista and b2b breeze and never saw a proprity line. We went upstairs and were called by boarding time. Couldnt even get in the main waiting area for vista it was overflowing. We boarded about a hour and a half late.

 

Maybe I should add we boarded terminal 2 which is usually rcl terminal. Carnival terminal the boarding arm has been broke more often than it was fixed. We also disembarked by taking elevators down to deck 0 which took longer.  A carnival employee muttered why cant they just order 2 of the broken part. 

 

As of three weeks ago they had diamond, platinum, on-time, and  all others. The diamond line had little/no wait. The platinum line was about half as long as the on-time line, and all others was in an area I couldn’t see.
 

I don’t think they had good signage for the diamond and platinum lines. They were within the on-time arrivals section and there were three doors. they had people at the doors telling you which to go in. First was on-time, platinum was in the middle and diamond was down on the end. 

In this picture I’m in the platinum line. The other side of that red roped off area to the left is diamond. The other side of the wall straight ahead is on-time. That side is all one bigger line.

 

 

 

Once upstairs there was no priority but there was really no line. It took 3 minutes to clear that area and get to the waiting area where I was zone A02 I assume because of my status even though they “don’t have priority” diamonds seem to be A01 and I have had A02 two cruises in a row.

 

It was a 4 minute wait to board.

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Saint Greg

[Saint Greg]

21 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

As of three weeks ago they had diamond, platinum, on-time, and  all others. The diamond line had little/no wait. The platinum line was about half as long as the on-time line, and all others was in an area I couldn’t see.
 

I don’t think they had good signage for the diamond and platinum lines. They were within the on-time arrivals section and there were three doors. they had people at the doors telling you which to go in. First was on-time, platinum was in the middle and diamond was down on the end. 

In this picture I’m in the platinum line. The other side of that red roped off area to the left is diamond. The other side of the wall straight ahead is on-time. That side is all one bigger line.

 

 

 

Once upstairs there was no priority but there was really no line. It took 3 minutes to clear that area and get to the waiting area where I was zone A02 I assume because of my status even though they “don’t have priority” diamonds seem to be A01 and I have had A02 two cruises in a row.

 

It was a 4 minute wait to board.

 

 

 

Actually I take that back about no priority upstairs. There is a platinum/diamond line in that picture upstairs. It just wasn’t really needed since there was no line.

 

So there “is no priority boarding.” But you get to pick your arrival time 2 days before non-platinum diamonds, you get a special security line, a special line upstairs, and an early boarding zone.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Saint Greg

[EngIceDave]

Just an FYI, the commoners who work for Carnival at Port Canaveral are just local residents like everywhere else, and they live in a tourist city assisting tourists all day....and they get sick.

 

Omicron right now, while not as deadly, is still infecting more and more local residents.

 

You are demanding Five Star Service in the middle of a pandemic.

You need to learn to roll with it.

 

Merry Christmas

[sailingships]

21 hours ago, wgeddings said:

Just boarded the Carnival Elation.  Had a11:30-12:00 boarding time and walked on the ship at 1:45. Apparently there were 6 ships leaving port today and 3 of them were Carnival (Mardi Gras, Magic and Elation). Port was PACKED and the line for Mardi Gras was really long!  

Are you all at the same dock Terminal 3 ?  The Magic was over at Charles Rowland Drive  Only the Suites are priority for boarding. D/P are treated like newbies. 

[Knights on the Beach]

1 minute ago, sailingships said:

Are you all at the same dock Terminal 3 ?  The Magic was over at Charles Rowland Drive  Only the Suites are priority for boarding. D/P are treated like newbies. 

Only Mardi Gras uses terminal 3.  I think Magic was at 6 and Elation was at 5 yesterday.

[Knights on the Beach]

Also, in August on Magic Diamond/Platinum boarded right after suites.  They sent us all upstairs to the same waiting room while everyone else waited downstairs.  But there was no D/P line - this was after we checked in.  We had a 10:30 check in time and were on the ship at 11:30. On Mardi Gras, we had a 10:00 check in time but our friends had 11:30 so we left our condo at 11:00 (Uber) and were on the ship at 11:35.  I thought that was pretty amazing.

Edited December 27, 2021 by cruisemom2

[sailingships]

41 minutes ago, cruisemom2 said:

Only Mardi Gras uses terminal 3.  I think Magic was at 6 and Elation was at 5 yesterday.

Thats why I wondered how wgeddings could know what was going on at the other terminals.

[Knights on the Beach]

18 minutes ago, sailingships said:

Thats why I wondered how wgeddings could know what was going on at the other terminals.

Depending on the route they took to the port, they may have seen a long line of cars heading towards the Mardi Gras.  We had breakfast at Grills at the port yesterday but when we left, we went the opposite direction because we weren't going home.  But we often see the traffic backed up heading towards Terminal 3 on embarkation days.  Also, I'm wondering if any of the shared shuttles take passengers to multiple terminals?  We Uber to the port when we cruise because we live just a couple miles from there so I don't know if all the passengers on a shuttle are going to the same terminal or not.

[wgeddings]

It astounds me how people leap to conclusions and want to nitpick yet also do not actually try to READ the post. Just nitpick and deride.  To answer some of the legit questions and clear up less than intelligent responses, now that we are back, here you go. 
 

1 - lyndarra, you made me chuckle and are exactly right. It is our fault for taking a cruise and without us passengers, the staff would not be there.  I took it as a funny and true comment.  
 

2 - there is no difference in my mind between priority boarding and a special line. If there is a difference in your mind, make a post somewhere else and nitpick to our heart’s content.  My point was that everyone had a single line (which I would not have been in a gold/plat/suite line anyway but I overheard many comments so felt it worth passing along).  I see many questions/comments about FTTF and such so there is interest in knowing if there was priority/special lines.  If you have no interest, do not feel compelled to share your disinterest and simply skip the post.  Yes, it is possible.  
 

3 - our shuttle (CruiseTime parking which I recommend) did go by the Mardi Gras’s terminal before dropping us off then drove by the other ship’s docks.  I believe we were in Terminal 5 but I did not really check for the number.  Tremendous line to get into the building for Mardi Gras and Magic as I said but our line (being a smaller ship) was much shorter.  
 

4 - my comments about the horror show at the port were correct.  With so many people, there were accidents, fire trucks, ambulances, police and delays galore.  Put a lot of people in a small area and this will happen.  It was a horror show.  
 

5 - comments about how it was normal or we should have expected a mess because of the time of the cruise failed to read the post I assume since I explained workers said it had never happened before with 6 ships all leaving that port at the same day/time.  Maybe other ports or whatever and I do not monitor the comings and going’s of Port Canaveral but I trust what the workers there say.  Since it was a unique occurrence, I mentioned it.  The Carnival staff was frazzled and stretched thin and anxious to talk to someone not complaining.  THEY told me how there was not sufficient staff to fully handle all 3 Carnival ships.  It was not my opinion and it was something Carnival or the port could have considered or not.  Point was it was a unique occurrence, all of them were stressed and many passengers were upset and it was what it was.  Note that my comment was not complaining but merely was saying if anyone was going out of that port or knew someone going out of that port, they would probably have interesting tales to tell. I hoped that mentioning the unique event of 6 ships leaving port and Carnival being so stretched, it would answer the questions many would have about why it was so slow and such.  If you were not leaving the port or knew someone on those cruises, fine but you could have chosen to just skip the post.  
 

6 - drama.  My comment was that we felt like 3rd class with the way some staff treated us but also were treated nicely by others (FYI watch Titanic to see how third class were depicted as treated or read books).  All cruise lines I know of pride themselves on trying to make passengers feel special.  It did not bother me but to someone on their first or second cruise, odds are they felt bad if they encountered one of the grumpy folks.  I had hoped by explaining what was happening and giving context, I could help them see it was not the norm and why.  If someone disagrees with my phrasing, that is fine and they are welcome to skip the post.  
 

I am noticing a lot less civility on the board in the last few months.  Many great posters and posts but also it seems an increasing number of trolls who just seem to want to nitpick and divert threads.  So many good/innocent questions quickly turn into heated debates about vaccines, policies, etc and that doesn’t help anyone.  I hope that people will take a moment to actual address the main topic, offer encouragement and support and save the political and policy debates and the nitpicking for somewhere else.  Start a thread about it and watch how few people give a hoot and leave those of us who want a helpful kind place to post alone.  

[IntrepidFromDC]

3 hours ago, wgeddings said:

It astounds me how people leap to conclusions and want to nitpick yet also do not actually try to READ the post. Just nitpick and deride.  To answer some of the legit questions and clear up less than intelligent responses, now that we are back, here you go. 
 

1 - lyndarra, you made me chuckle and are exactly right. It is our fault for taking a cruise and without us passengers, the staff would not be there.  I took it as a funny and true comment.  
 

2 - there is no difference in my mind between priority boarding and a special line. If there is a difference in your mind, make a post somewhere else and nitpick to our heart’s content.  My point was that everyone had a single line (which I would not have been in a gold/plat/suite line anyway but I overheard many comments so felt it worth passing along).  I see many questions/comments about FTTF and such so there is interest in knowing if there was priority/special lines.  If you have no interest, do not feel compelled to share your disinterest and simply skip the post.  Yes, it is possible.  
 

3 - our shuttle (CruiseTime parking which I recommend) did go by the Mardi Gras’s terminal before dropping us off then drove by the other ship’s docks.  I believe we were in Terminal 5 but I did not really check for the number.  Tremendous line to get into the building for Mardi Gras and Magic as I said but our line (being a smaller ship) was much shorter.  
 

4 - my comments about the horror show at the port were correct.  With so many people, there were accidents, fire trucks, ambulances, police and delays galore.  Put a lot of people in a small area and this will happen.  It was a horror show.  
 

5 - comments about how it was normal or we should have expected a mess because of the time of the cruise failed to read the post I assume since I explained workers said it had never happened before with 6 ships all leaving that port at the same day/time.  Maybe other ports or whatever and I do not monitor the comings and going’s of Port Canaveral but I trust what the workers there say.  Since it was a unique occurrence, I mentioned it.  The Carnival staff was frazzled and stretched thin and anxious to talk to someone not complaining.  THEY told me how there was not sufficient staff to fully handle all 3 Carnival ships.  It was not my opinion and it was something Carnival or the port could have considered or not.  Point was it was a unique occurrence, all of them were stressed and many passengers were upset and it was what it was.  Note that my comment was not complaining but merely was saying if anyone was going out of that port or knew someone going out of that port, they would probably have interesting tales to tell. I hoped that mentioning the unique event of 6 ships leaving port and Carnival being so stretched, it would answer the questions many would have about why it was so slow and such.  If you were not leaving the port or knew someone on those cruises, fine but you could have chosen to just skip the post.  
 

6 - drama.  My comment was that we felt like 3rd class with the way some staff treated us but also were treated nicely by others (FYI watch Titanic to see how third class were depicted as treated or read books).  All cruise lines I know of pride themselves on trying to make passengers feel special.  It did not bother me but to someone on their first or second cruise, odds are they felt bad if they encountered one of the grumpy folks.  I had hoped by explaining what was happening and giving context, I could help them see it was not the norm and why.  If someone disagrees with my phrasing, that is fine and they are welcome to skip the post.  
 

I am noticing a lot less civility on the board in the last few months.  Many great posters and posts but also it seems an increasing number of trolls who just seem to want to nitpick and divert threads.  So many good/innocent questions quickly turn into heated debates about vaccines, policies, etc and that doesn’t help anyone.  I hope that people will take a moment to actual address the main topic, offer encouragement and support and save the political and policy debates and the nitpicking for somewhere else.  Start a thread about it and watch how few people give a hoot and leave those of us who want a helpful kind place to post alone.  

That was exhausting to read.  But I endured it, because we're on Mardi Gras in three weeks and things seem quite dynamic, fluid and "crazy" right now.  Thanks for sharrrrrrrrrrring.  Also very grateful to St. Greg and others for posting their experiences, allowing us to try to get a feel for the trend and the embarkation experience we'll enjoy/suffer.

Edited December 31, 2021 by IntrepidFromDC

[rjrice1]

On 12/26/2021 at 7:24 PM, firefly333 said:

Sorry but diamonds and platinum do not get priority boarding right now. Been this way since restart. Suite should have been called to board first. 

 

One of the rcl ships was supposed to have a port day today in "orlando" but it got cancelled. They said due to weather but it was sunny there today someone posted. 

 

Enjoy your cruise.

yes it was very sunny and clear skies.  I live in near there

[wgeddings]

9 hours ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

That was exhausting to read.  But I endured it, because we're on Mardi Gras in three weeks and things seem quite dynamic, fluid and "crazy" right now.  Thanks for sharrrrrrrrrrring.  Also very grateful to St. Greg and others for posting their experiences, allowing us to try to get a feel for the trend and the embarkation experience we'll enjoy/suffer.

sorry for the length but I've just seen so many posts lately where trolls want to nitpick rather than help.  Had to vent a bit.  

 

I know you will have a great time on the Mardi Gras.  Looks like a great ship and I have read some detailed and informative reviews about it here.  Be sure to post your thoughts and insights when you get back!

 

FWIW, my wife and I were on the original Mardi Gras (a converted troop carrier I think) for our honeymoon back in 1986.  Boy have things changed in cruising since then!  

[K_e_short]

I left on the Mardi Gras Sunday.

 

I knew there would be so many ships.

 

I also heard that the covid testing was backed up.

A family didnt get on until 4pm, an hour after final boarding.

 

It did seem very busy when we arrived at 3pm.