First Margaritaville at Sea cruise coming up

[sk8man]

Howdy all.  After 40 some cruises on RCCL and Celebrity, we decided to give this a try.  Sounds like fun, but I am surprised at the lack of communication from the cruise line.  Anyway, can someone give me the rundown on embarking.  Paperwork says check-in starts at 10:30 but boarding begins at 1PM.  If you're there early do you just hang around?  Is it best to get there closer to 1?  Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance

[rikitikitavii]

Haven’t been on the ship since rename, but in the past, embarkation started about 12:00.  Rooms ready somewhere around 2:00. 
Parking is valet only, $22/ day. If you cruise on Friday or Saturday, the line to park can get long. Make sure you paper work is complete before getting to check-in, makes it smoother. Check-in is similar to checking in to hotel vs other cruise lines. Afterwards, you go to area that takes photos, make restaurant reservations, excursions, etc. There is a small waiting area. 
Since you normally go RCL or Celebrity, turn your expectations down a few notches, as this is an old, small ship, but we enjoy the cruise.  There are a lot of YouTube videos available.

Enjoy!!

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

How soon they board is dependent on how many passengers were on the prior cruise. If you're on a cruise that follows a weekend cruise where there were a lot of guests (1500 or so), boarding will be later as it takes longer to get everything ready. If you yourself is on a weekend sailing, it's likely the sailing before you was not very busy so boarding will begin earlier. My recent experience was a Thursday sailing which means the sailing prior departed on Tuesday. The woman working the gangway entrance told me that sailing only had about 400 guests. We boarded by 12:30pm and were told the cabins were ready to go to.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

On 10/4/2022 at 10:28 AM, sk8man said:

Howdy all.  After 40 some cruises on RCCL and Celebrity, we decided to give this a try.  Sounds like fun, but I am surprised at the lack of communication from the cruise line.  Anyway, can someone give me the rundown on embarking.  Paperwork says check-in starts at 10:30 but boarding begins at 1PM.  If you're there early do you just hang around?  Is it best to get there closer to 1?  Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance

More fun on a weekend cruise. During the week not many on board and some things get cancelled if not enough Participants. Boarding can start as early as 11:00am depending if the ship is ready.

FTI Parking is $44.00 

[sk8man]

Thank you all for the responses.  We are just not used to taking paperwork with us to the terminal.  Sounds like all I need is our booking ID number and roll with the flow.  We are good with rolling with the flow.