Debarkation Day - ship hang out locations?

[HappyTexan44]

 

So, you have to be out of your room by say 8:30am.   You have to be off the ship sometime later say 10 am.    We will have a car so don't need to leave the boat at any particular time.  The rest of the family is late-starters, and might need to chill for a bit to fully wake up.   I would also like to avoid the crush of people that need to get off ASAP.  
 

So where do people hang out on the ship after they leave the room but before they debark?  

 

[DaKahuna]

 My answer is  ....  "it depends ..."  

The best thing to do is to look in the app for your cruise and see what that hours are for the various venues that morning and pick one.  For example, on Oasis class ships I would choose the Park Cafe as it is open until around 1000-1030 on debarkation day.  

 

 

[reallyitsmema]

38 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

 

So, you have to be out of your room by say 8:30am.   You have to be off the ship sometime later say 10 am.    We will have a car so don't need to leave the boat at any particular time.  The rest of the family is late-starters, and might need to chill for a bit to fully wake up.   I would also like to avoid the crush of people that need to get off ASAP.  
 

So where do people hang out on the ship after they leave the room but before they debark?  

 

 

What ship?

 

Your late starters are going to need to get their act together because by 10 o'clock, they will be calling the stragglers names over the PA as they try to get to zero passenger count.

[HappyTexan44]

Voyager.   

We wouldn't want to be a problem so we'll get out of wherever by whenever time required.  

 

We'll have a ton of luggage (non-negotiable) so won't be using self-assist and we'll just have some small bags with us that day.  

 

I can totally see DH, for example, being happy to snooze in the sun between time to leave the room and time to leave the ship.   Are they OK with you using the pool and/or lounge chairs that morning?    

 

Are places like the library/game room open that morning?   Or do they want you to stay in an open dining location then?  

 

Although maybe the pool that morning would be a bad idea since we wouldn't be able to go back to the room to shower off the pool water.   But then the ship pools are probably salt water.   I wonder if the gym showers are open that morning?

 

 

[reallyitsmema]

Most venues are either closed that morning or only open limited hours.  Looking at our departure letter from our recent cruise, all breakfast locations closed at either 8am or 8:30am, with Starbucks being the last thing open until 9am.  You would be able to sit someplace on the Royal Promenade or up on the pool deck but you will end up being encouraged to leave the ship.  I have never actually seen anyone in a pool the last morning, but we are only up on the pool deck really, really early to see the ship come into port.

[reallyitsmema]

57 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 My answer is  ....  "it depends ..."  

The best thing to do is to look in the app for your cruise and see what that hours are for the various venues that morning and pick one.  For example, on Oasis class ships I would choose the Park Cafe as it is open until around 1000-1030 on debarkation day.  

 

 

 

Our departure letter for our recent Oasis sailing shows Park Cafe was only open until 8:15am.  Cafe Promenade, which is also on Voyager which is the ship the OP is sailing, was open until 8:30.

[Corby114]

They want you out of the cabin by 8:30 AM and off of the ship by 9:30AM  so they get the ship down to a zero passenger count and get ready for the next sailing. Everything is closed by 9:00AM and I feel bad that I am holding up the process for passengers excited about getting on the vessel and getting ready to begin there cruise vacation.

[taglovestocruise]

Just get a lower numbered tag from GS or the room steward, walk off at 8:30. That being said many people pay no attention to disembark time. The longer you wait the longer the CBP line.

[reallyitsmema]

18 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Just get a lower numbered tag from GS or the room steward, walk off at 8:30. That being said many people pay no attention to disembark time. The longer you wait the longer the CBP line.

 

They don't want to be off at 8:30, they want to stay later.

[cello56]

Remind your slow starter family members how excited they were on boarding day to get on the ship. The next group of passengers are eagerly waiting to board on your departure day. Please don't make them wait longer than necessary by getting off at the very last minute.

[MCC retired]

It’s over ! 
Your cruise is over , get off .

The sooner all are off , the sooner the new guests can board .

Recall how eager you were to board .

[Celialeah98]

In my experience, the pools and hot tubs are closed on debarkation morning: covered with nets. Deck crews are busy cleaning the hot tubs, pools and decks. Some times the deck chairs are stacked up and you are not able to use them on debarkation morning. We usually roll out of bed and go to the Windjammer with our stuff and hang out until our number is called. The elevators will be packed and slow, so best if you can use the stairs.

 

 

[matj2000]

Everything is closed except the windjammer.

 

It is pretty obvious that everyone wants you off.

 

However I have gone up and checked out the inside of the suites in the morning after the people leave.

[renza]

If on an oasis class it’s so easy. We sleep in and always carry our luggage off. We stay in room till about 8:45 keep luggage in cabin and go grab something at park cafe go back get our luggage and walk off ship. We never wait in line it’s pretty much cleared out by 9:30-10. 

[HappyTexan44]

15 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Just get a lower numbered tag from GS or the room steward, walk off at 8:30. That being said many people pay no attention to disembark time. The longer you wait the longer the CBP line.

 

So the line is longer at the end?   Urg.   

 

[orville99]

21 hours ago, Corby114 said:

They want you out of the cabin by 8:30 AM and off of the ship by 9:30AM  so they get the ship down to a zero passenger count and get ready for the next sailing. Everything is closed by 9:00AM and I feel bad that I am holding up the process for passengers excited about getting on the vessel and getting ready to begin there cruise vacation.

They also need to process the B2B cruisers through customs and get them back on board before general boarding begins (which can begin as early as 10:30 depending on the ship and port).

[BND]

We've been on 7 cruises since restart (3 b2b's) and on all but one (EN in July) we waited in our cabin until our number was called but we had to be out by 9am.  We just got off Jewel.  We were scheduled for 9, number was called about 845 and we were off the ship by 9.  915 is the latest I've seen for the last number.

 

As for the b2b's, we've had to wait on people every single time.  Last one on Jewel just the last couple of weeks (Nov 6 and Nov 13), there were 4 people still lollygagging around onboard around 945 on 13 Nov and they had to look for them.  We finally got back onboard around 1015 and new cruisers boarded around 11.   Just get off when your number is called and don't make it harder for everyone, b2bers, the crew and new people boarding.  

[HappyTexan44]

I was thinking that the last group numbers called would be sometime after we had to be out of the rooms.  

[reallyitsmema]

6 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

I was thinking that the last group numbers called would be sometime after we had to be out of the rooms.  

 

On our cruise last month, they asked passengers to be out of their cabins by 8am.  The last numbers were supposed to be called at 9am.  Our number was called just after 7am and we left our cabin around 7:15am.  We grabbed our luggage in the debarkation area and got a porter.  He told us to follow him (he took down one of the ropes lol) and bypassed the crowded area.  We did facial recognition, got our green light and off to the parking lot we went.  Porter went all the way to the lot with us and loaded the car.  Well worth the tip!  We were on the road before 7:45.

 

I know you are a new cruiser and are just trying to figure things out.  I am sure you can now see that the last morning is just grab something to eat and hit the road.  Make sure you check your onboard account on the app throughout the week so you don't find any surprises on the last morning.  If you do see charges that are wrong, take care of them when you find them as the last morning at guest services is crazy!  You don't want to get stuck in that line.  The photo area is closed debarkation morning, so make sure you have purchased and picked up all your pictures the night before at the latest.  Make sure you leave clothes to sleep in the last night and clothes and shoes to get home before you put your luggage out the night before.  

 

Just tell your late risers that they can sleep in the car home! 🙂 

[HappyTexan44]

On 11/23/2022 at 10:34 AM, reallyitsmema said:

Just tell your late risers that they can sleep in the car home! 🙂 

 

That is so common that while my husband does must of the driving, I usually do the morning driving on trips. 

 

Yes, it doesn't seem to be how I originally envisioned it.  My idea was like how I used to do when my flight arrived home at a reasonable time of day.   Home airport is DFW so lots of people have connecting flights.   I'd wait until the mad rush was over then exit the plane.   I'd leave when about 50% were still on the plane, so not delaying anyone or the plane.  The past tense is because I swore off flying when it became cattle air.    I know people generally have flights to get home from a cruise.   Although after I started this I read somewhere that 80% of Galveston cruisers got there by car.  

 

[Mum2Mercury]

Every vacation has its pros and cons.  When you're talking about cruises, embarkation and disembarkation are the cons.  Each day involves paying attention to time and getting in line.  

 

We also drive, and we have an 8-hour drive ahead of us, so we want to go ahead and get started.  Here's how we handle disembarkation: 

 

- When we leave the car at the port, we "set ourselves up for success":  We gas up the car the night before ... we try to park near an elevator /with the car headed out ... we take a picture of the deck number where we left the car ... and we clean out trash from our drive down.  

- We get up early and eat breakfast in the Windjammer.  We eat a full meal, but we don't dwadle.  

- After breakfast we go back to our room for our luggage ... one rolling suitcase and two backpacks ... and walk off.  We carry it off ourselves because it's easier /faster than sending it ahead and searching for it in the terminal.  

- We typically are in line before they allow anyone off the ship.  The line snakes through the MDR, and once it starts moving, it moves fast.  

 

We just disembarked Independence last week, and we were in our car, fastening our seat belts at 7:32.  

 

If you hang around, you'll have nothing to do ... except sit in the Windjammer or the MDR.  Everything else will be closed.  Your friendly cabin steward will push you to get out (because he needs to "turn over" the room for his next guest).  The pools will be closed with a net over them.  The staff won't be rude, but they don't engage /subtly push you towards the door.  

[HappyTexan44]

3 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

When we leave the car at the port, we "set ourselves up for success":  We gas up the car the night before ... we try to park near an elevator /with the car headed out ... we take a picture of the deck number where we left the car ... and we clean out trash from our drive down.  

 

Adding this to the word file for my cruise notes.   We were planning on parking at the port.   But I could see us arriving back to a car almost on E that stunk from old food.   We also learned the hard way to put the car keys in a special known place.   One time at a convention after not using the car for 5 days, we had to search through our luggage to find the keys and we had no clue where it was.  We just knew it wasn't in the room.  

[jean87510]

lol one sailing we poked around at the Windjammer and when we came back to room to shower, they stripped the bed. We were surprised they didn't finish our packing.

[HappyTexan44]

We are people that would rather have lots of luggage than do without creature comforts that we can think of that is possible to get onboard.    For example, a back scratcher and real maple syrup are both essentials.   So, we'll be putting our luggage out the night before.  

[Mum2Mercury]

52 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

But I could see us arriving back to a car almost on E that stunk from old food ... We also learned the hard way to put the car keys in a special known place ... 

Yuck!  On our first cruise a parking attendant told us to clear out all food, saying they have an ant problem.  That could make for a sad ride home. 

We always put our car keys into our room safe.  I don't know how bright that is -- it's not like anyone could steal our car -- but it's just what we do.  

48 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

lol one sailing we poked around at the Windjammer and when we came back to room to shower, they stripped the bed. We were surprised they didn't finish our packing.

I don't know how they manage "turn over day", so I understand their desire to get started -- but, damn, Dude.  Give us a minute.  

43 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

We are people that would rather have lots of luggage than do without creature comforts that we can think of that is possible to get onboard.    For example, a back scratcher and real maple syrup are both essentials.   So, we'll be putting our luggage out the night before.  

I always bring my back scratcher -- I've been married to him for 33 years.  

Seriously, though, aside from a few clothes, you really don't need much onboard, and the rooms are small.  Bringing extras can easily backfire.