Regal Princess Walk-Off

[kitiara]

I’m new to Princess and I’m confused about the self assist walk-off process. With other cruiselines we used before, all we needed to do was keep our luggage in our cabin and, on disembarkation morning, take the elevator to the main deck to wait in line with the other walk-off guests until they let us off the ship.

 

In another thread, someone posted a DISEMBARKATION INFORMATION CHART from a recent Regal Princess cruise that shows a meeting lounge and meeting times for walk-off guests (see photo attached). How does walk-off work on Princess Cruises? Will we need to go to a waiting lounge?

 

[rjack22]

Yes, I believe you do go to an area to wait until you are called.

[kitiara]

15 minutes ago, rjack22 said:

Yes, I believe you do go to an area to wait until you are called.

Do you know how the meeting times are assigned? We would like to leave the ship early to catch a flight.

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

We recently just walked off of Regal Princess.  I think, just to control crowding and long lines right there, there were groups waiting.  Maybe they had Princess pick up their large bags that night before.   By the time we were ready to walk off,  one group had just finished walking off the ship, and we simply walked thru, zapped our medallion, and off we went.

 

They have the luggage color tags.  But if nobody from Princess is handling your luggage, just you, then that isn't really needed.   We handled all of our own luggage for that very reason. 

 

I think if there are a lot people trying to get off early all at once, they will be directing people just to manage the process.   I don't think you should have to wait long, or until some specific time.

Others might have different experience.  But, it was an easy no-brainer on Regal last week. 

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

You will receive an instruction sheet similar to what was posted above.  It will have a very small sub-section involving those who wish to walk off unassisted.  You may or may not be asked to go to a waiting area.  We have seen it both ways.  Regardless...you will have to wait until customs/local authorities clear the ship for disembarkation.  While you are waiting for this to happen...you *could* go to an open area near where the gangplank is located and as soon as they give the go-ahead you could be one of the first off.

[MissP22]

Unless your in the absolutely first walk off group you can just proceed to the disembarkation deck & get right off as you arrive. The rush to depart will be gone & the build up at customs is now a thing of the past with the facial recognition  system. 

[chrysalis]

2 hours ago, MissP22 said:

... the build up at customs is now a thing of the past with the facial recognition  system. 

not always...in early December, the facial system was down, and some passengers didn't get thru customs until 11am. It was complete chaos.

[MissP22]

41 minutes ago, chrysalis said:

not always...in early December, the facial system was down, and some passengers didn't get thru customs until 11am. It was complete chaos.

Surprise !

It only makes you appreciate the new system all the more, when it works.

[kitiara]

3 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Unless your in the absolutely first walk off group you can just proceed to the disembarkation deck & get right off as you arrive. The rush to depart will be gone & the build up at customs is now a thing of the past with the facial recognition  system. 

Do you know how the groups are assigned? Could I ask to be in the first group?

[DCThunder]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

Surprise !

It only makes you appreciate the new system all the more, when it works.

I was on the Regal TA bringing it to the US for the first time this season.  As a result the entire crew had to also clear customs as well as the disembarking passengers.  Somehow the Customs people had not scheduled enough inspectors to staff more than 1 line for crew and 2 lines for passengers until well after 10 am.  Even with facial recognition, disembarkation was a massive clusterfark.  Once you got to an inspector, everything went smoothly, but the lines to get there was massive.

[capriccio]

38 minutes ago, DCThunder said:

I was on the Regal TA bringing it to the US for the first time this season.  As a result the entire crew had to also clear customs as well as the disembarking passengers.  Somehow the Customs people had not scheduled enough inspectors to staff more than 1 line for crew and 2 lines for passengers until well after 10 am.  Even with facial recognition, disembarkation was a massive clusterfark.  Once you got to an inspector, everything went smoothly, but the lines to get there was massive.

Arriving on a TA at the beginning of the season is always a recipe for disembarkation and embarkation disasters because of the additional required US government scrutiny of the crew and the ship.  Disembarking passengers are frequently delayed which results in embarking passengers and the on-loading of provisions being delayed.  Sometimes Princess warns passengers but more often they don't IMHO.

[DCThunder]

Just now, capriccio said:

Arriving on a TA at the beginning of the season is always a recipe for disembarkation and embarkation disasters because of the additional required US government scrutiny of the crew and the ship.  Disembarking passengers are frequently delayed which results in embarking passengers and the on-loading of provisions being delayed.  Sometimes Princess warns passengers but more often they don't IMHO.

We had no warning that anything was out of the ordinary until we were in the various waiting areas for disembarkation when one of the officers told us of the issue with not enough Customs staff being on duty.  Fortunately, my flight wasn't until early afternoon, but there were others sweating out late morning flights.

[capriccio]

2 minutes ago, DCThunder said:

We had no warning that anything was out of the ordinary until we were in the various waiting areas for disembarkation when one of the officers told us of the issue with not enough Customs staff being on duty.  Fortunately, my flight wasn't until early afternoon, but there were others sweating out late morning flights.

Glad you made your flight! 

 

I've seen mention of passengers getting last minute notices about late embarkations (although we didn't the first time it happened to us) due to the required inspections of the crew ship just arriving after months outside the US but never about late disembarkations.  It seems to be a big secret until it happens to you or someone you know (or shows up in a post on Cruise Critic).

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

If you are handling all your own luggage, in most cases, you can simply 'walk-off', or might be directed to wait until clearance. Maybe in the dining room nearby.   If Princess is handling your luggage, and has collected it the night before, then you should go by the schedule posted on the top right.   As, this is how Princess will have your luggage sitting in those groups for you to find and pick up.

 

The papers with that chart will be left in your cabin, a couple nights before the end of the cruise.  I don't know, but I think you can indicate an earlier group.  But I haven't done that.  Not sure if you should do this near the end of the cruise at Customer Service or how?

 

Colored luggage tags were left in our cabin, but we didn't need to use them.

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by PRINCESS Sweet Pea

[MissP22]

4 hours ago, kitiara said:

Do you know how the groups are assigned? Could I ask to be in the first group?

Sure. 

We just don't bother & get to the disembarkation deck when we're ready to get off and there never seems to be a crowd. 

[cruisegal40]

Wondering if there is any issues on the reverse.  Ours is the last cruise on Regal in April. When we return, the ship is heading for a TA. Does anyone think we might run into any issues with getting the ship ready to head across the pond? Trying to avoid any flight back home issues.

[reedprincess]

17 minutes ago, cruisegal40 said:

Wondering if there is any issues on the reverse.  Ours is the last cruise on Regal in April. When we return, the ship is heading for a TA. Does anyone think we might run into any issues with getting the ship ready to head across the pond? Trying to avoid any flight back home issues.

Nope, no issues with immigration/customs in those cases. There's nothing extra to do to prep the ship for leaving the US, and even if there were - it would be on the TA cruise, not yours before it 

The only issues would be normal ones encountered occasionally - not enough officers, weather delay or such, which are all rare 

[cruisegal40]

19 hours ago, reedprincess said:

Nope, no issues with immigration/customs in those cases. There's nothing extra to do to prep the ship for leaving the US, and even if there were - it would be on the TA cruise, not yours before it 

The only issues would be normal ones encountered occasionally - not enough officers, weather delay or such, which are all rare 

Thank you for this. I have been wondering if the cruise experience would be any different when sailing a last cruise prior to a transatlantic. 

[nini]

We were on the Grand this last September. A few days before disembarking, you will receive an explanation of the choices for which you will sign up for. We chose independent walk off, first group and handled our own luggage. We had a meeting area (Crown Grill) and they told us when we could proceed. We were the first off.

[JoRoy218]

On 1/20/2023 at 6:15 AM, chrysalis said:

not always...in early December, the facial system was down, and some passengers didn't get thru customs until 11am. It was complete chaos.

We experienced the same coming off Regal (in FLL) on Jan 3. Did not appear to have any down but seemed to be having problems. Many lines with about 12 or more/line. Prob took about 15x20 min, to get through. 

[kitiara]

3 hours ago, nini said:

We were on the Grand this last September. A few days before disembarking, you will receive an explanation of the choices for which you will sign up for. We chose independent walk off, first group and handled our own luggage. We had a meeting area (Crown Grill) and they told us when we could proceed. We were the first off.

Thank you for this information, that’s exactly what I was looking for!

[sandyoftheseas]

If you do self disembarkation and want to use the escalator you must have one hand free for safety if not you will need to take the elevator which can take a while.  If we have 2 pieces of luggage  we use a strap to  "piggy back" our luggage so we can use the escalator. 

[Steelers36]

On 1/20/2023 at 9:24 AM, DCThunder said:

I was on the Regal TA bringing it to the US for the first time this season.  As a result the entire crew had to also clear customs as well as the disembarking passengers.  Somehow the Customs people had not scheduled enough inspectors to staff more than 1 line for crew and 2 lines for passengers until well after 10 am.  Even with facial recognition, disembarkation was a massive clusterfark.  Once you got to an inspector, everything went smoothly, but the lines to get there was massive.

Did they not have a line for Global Entry (includes NEXUS)?

[DCThunder]

12 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Did they not have a line for Global Entry (includes NEXUS)?

Perhaps they did, but I didn't have Global Entry at the time (I do now) and if it were, it certainly wasn't made known.

[MissP22]

49 minutes ago, sandyoftheseas said:

If you do self disembarkation and want to use the escalator you must have one hand free for safety if not you will need to take the elevator which can take a while.  If we have 2 pieces of luggage  we use a strap to  "piggy back" our luggage so we can use the escalator. 

It's easy enough to bypass the elevator if it gets to crowded.

My husband just does down the escalator with 1 of our bags while I wait at the top. He leaves it at the bottom & just runs back up the stairs to get my suitcase & I don't have to worry about being unsteady. 

They're to heavy to strap together.