Debarkation day says arrive 5 am depart 12 am & I’m confused

[cruisinqt]

We are doing our first international cruise (London) and I noticed that when we arrive back in London to disembark it says “arrive 5:00 am depart 12:00 am.” I’m a longtime cruiser but none of its been overseas. I’ve never seen anything like this. What does it mean?

[CruiserBruce]

It probably means the ship arrives at 5am, and departs at midnight that night. Or, possibly a misprint.

[cruisinqt]

1 minute ago, CruiserBruce said:

It probably means the ship arrives at 5am, and departs at midnight that night. Or, possibly a misprint.

I just did some mock bookings and lots of cruises say the same thing. It’s weird. I’ve never noticed it until now. I happened to notice it this time and thought it was an international cruise thing but I guess not. 

[CruiserBruce]

6 minutes ago, cruisinqt said:

I just did some mock bookings and lots of cruises say the same thing. It’s weird. I’ve never noticed it until now. I happened to notice it this time and thought it was an international cruise thing but I guess not. 

Did you ask on the board for the cruise line involved?

[cruisinqt]

54 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Did you ask on the board for the cruise line involved?

Not yet but I’m about to. Thanks for the help. 

[Bob++]

Since you are leaving the ship, the 'depart' time is immaterial. You will dock at 5am but you will probably not even notice. There will be plenty of information for you to help you through the debarkation process.

 

You will be expected to pack all bags that you aren't carrying the night before, and they will be waiting for you when you leave the ship. We always try to work it so we can get some breakfast on board before we leave.

 

You should also know that "London" is probably 80 miles or so away from your port, so you will have to arrange transport.  This thread is worth a scan: https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2662148-transfer-southampton—london-incl-lhrlgw-train-car-other/page/19/#comment-64231409

 

[Globaliser]

45 minutes ago, Bob++ said:

You should also know that "London" is probably 80 miles or so away from your port, so you will have to arrange transport.

 

On a quick search, it looks like the OP will actually be sailing to Dover. Like Southampton, it's not London (and cruise lines should IMO be made to stop misleading customers like this) - but that Southampton thread probably won't help with transport.

[ontheweb]

When we sailed from Dover on Princess, we took a Princess excursion back to Heathrow with a tour of Dover and a stop in Canterbury. Especially with a few of the others on the excursion being people we knew from our roll call, it made it seem like it was still a nice part of our vacation instead of just off the ship and going back to the airport.

 

In 2020 we intended to do something similar from Southampton to Heathrow with a stop in Stonehenge.