unavoidable early arrival due to being on a 'side to side' cruise?

[clevercruiser]

We are currently on Carnival Celebration and are switching over tomorrow (Sunday 19th) to Oasis OTS in Miami.

 

This is the first time we have ever done two consecutive cruises and we are a bit worried about potentially

being turned away from the RCI terminal as we have no choice but to arrive at least two hours before our

official check in slot, which is 12.30 to 1.30pm (the earliest available when we did online check in).

 

Has anyone ever done this before?  What is likely to happen when we arrive at terminal A? 

 

I don't want to be yelled at for being too early, but I don't think we can hang about at the Carnival terminal either.

If we explain why we are early will they at least allow us to wait in the terminal area?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cigar King]

When we did it we were allowed to wait.  Ours was pre-covid though.  Suggest you drop off the luggage ASAP.  Worse case, you take a walk.

 

 

[matj2000]

Your worried about being "yelled at"?

 

[clevercruiser]

38 minutes ago, matj2000 said:

Your worried about being "yelled at"?

 

 

OK, maybe not literally yelled at, but we received our boarding day reminder email 

this morning and it clearly states:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

it's critical that you adhere to your arrival time! Those who arrive sooner

will be turned away to avoid an overcrowding of guests at the terminal and

 asked to return during their scheduled time.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

We don't really want to be 'turned away' and forced to wonder around

PortMiami in the blazing sun for two hours plus, so we were hoping that

if we explained politely why we were early, they might take pity on us 

poor confused Brits?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 18, 2023 by clevercruiser
typo

[topnole]

Take a cab/Uber somewhere and grab a coffee.  You aren’t force to go to the checkin area.  You have plenty of options to explore.  

[cruiselvr04]

We did it in December.  There was no issue checking in early. Like you we had no where to go.  No guarantees but I’d try to check in.  If anyone challenges you, kindly offer an explanation and hopefully that would work. 
 

We did disembark the first ship in the last group “everyone must now leave.”

Edited February 18, 2023 by cruiselvr04

[taglovestocruise]

21 minutes ago, clevercruiser said:

 

 

OK, maybe not literally yelled at, but we received our boarding day reminder email 

this morning and it clearly states:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

it's critical that you adhere to your arrival time! Those who arrive sooner

will be turned away to avoid an overcrowding of guests at the terminal and

 asked to return during their scheduled time.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

We don't really want to be 'turned away' and forced to wonder around

PortMiami in the blazing sun for two hours plus, so we were hoping that

if we explained politely why we were early, they might take pity on us 

poor confused Brits?!

 

Someone boarding in Miami over the last few weeks needs to chime in. We have had three cruises in the last 6 months. Boarded in San Pedro, Seattle and Vancouver.. Never once did anyone check our time, most reports have been checking times died when Covid protocols ended.  I thought you Brits loved to Q up.  Oasis is awesome, happy cruising.  

Edited February 18, 2023 by taglovestocruise

[cruiselvr04]

We did it in Miami in December.

[cruisegirl1]

Never heard a terminal agent yell at a passenger, the other way around,  sadly yes.

M

 

[ONECRUISER]

Miami checked times but that was last April... shoot I had 1130am checkin in LA, was on ship at 1025

[clevercruiser]

8 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

I thought you Brits loved to Q up.

We had quite enough of that at MIA immigration a week ago (90+ minute lines!)

 

 

8 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

 Oasis is awesome, happy cruising.  

Thanks - we're really looking forward to it (boardwalk balcony).

 

Unfortunately, we have not enjoyed Carnival Celebration this past week.

We went with an open mind as we have sailed with Carnival previously and

enjoyed it, but their Vista Class is way too crowded and lacks the 'wow factor'

of any of the new RCI ships of the past decade or so.  

 

Basically, if you don't like endlessly drinking or gambling (we don't do either),

Carnival doesn't offer much to do - we have been bored on the sea days,

whereas on RCI ships we can spend hours just roaming around the ship,

watching people having a blast on the flowrider, climbing wall, zip line, etc.

 

Also, the ship is absolutely crawling with photographers in an evening,

including blocking entrances to the main restaurants - it's like trying to

avoid the hawkers in Nassau/Cozumel!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pcur]

Be as late getting off the Carnival ship as you can.  Go to the RCCL ship and drop off luggage. If you cannot go in the terminal building, and using the Uber app on your phone, take an Uber to the Bayside Marketplace.  Lots of shops and restaurants:

 

https://www.baysidemarketplace.com/directory

 

Then, Uber back.  $24 - $30 roundtrip.

 

I did this on a b2b, plus another a day later, recently in Baltimore and Newark, NJ.  Good opportunity to stock up on depleted toiletries, etc.  I also had breakfast with my sister, who lives in MD, on one of the turnaround days.

 

Take that lemon situation and embrace the lemonade you can make out of it!!!

Edited February 18, 2023 by pcur

[ILCTCRUISER]

Since assigned times were mandated, we’ve always arrived before our scheduled time and there’s never been a problem (one self-inflicted hiccup).  For one cruise out of Miami, we arrived VERY early.  I even told the rep that we were very early and he looked at me like I had two heads and waved us right in.  On the other hand (the hiccup), we arrived early for a cruise out of Seattle, August 2021, for restart of Ovation.  They had set up “holding” areas using rope and stanchion with signs indicating check-in times.  We were told we needed to wait and obeyed.  We waited too long.  We turned to someone else in line and that person told us he had a much later check-in time and that he thought those with our check-in time were already being admitted.  Sure enough, that was it.  We left the holding area, got in line, and went right in, and we probably could have done so as soon as we arrived.

 

My take on this:  The timed check-in process was created by someone in an office in Miami.  Covid precautions were probably the driver, but smoothing the entire process was probably a consideration as well.  Now, management on board (keep in mind, each ship is set up as a profit center) wants you onboard so you can book speciality restaurants, buy drink packages, have a few drinks while waiting for rooms to become available, etc. etc.  They’d kill if they were allowed to open the casino!  They have budgets they need to meet and will do what they need to do to meet those budgets.  If they don’t then another person sitting in an office in Miami calls them on the carpet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 18, 2023 by ILCTCRUISER

[Tlbecker1]

5 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Someone boarding in Miami over the last few weeks needs to chime in. We have had three cruises in the last 6 months. Boarded in San Pedro, Seattle and Vancouver.. Never once did anyone check our time, most reports have been checking times died when Covid protocols ended.  I thought you Brits loved to Q up.  Oasis is awesome, happy cruising.  

We did a S2S in Miami in December and we were there 2 hours early.  They don’t seem to care about when you arrive anymore.

[BirdTravels]

12 hours ago, clevercruiser said:

We are currently on Carnival Celebration and are switching over tomorrow (Sunday 19th) to Oasis OTS in Miami.

 

This is the first time we have ever done two consecutive cruises and we are a bit worried about potentially

being turned away from the RCI terminal as we have no choice but to arrive at least two hours before our

official check in slot, which is 12.30 to 1.30pm (the earliest available when we did online check in).

 

Has anyone ever done this before?  What is likely to happen when we arrive at terminal A? 

 

I don't want to be yelled at for being too early, but I don't think we can hang about at the Carnival terminal either.

If we explain why we are early will they at least allow us to wait in the terminal area?

On our recent cruises from Miami, no one checked times. Move side to side and enjoy your cruise!

[DirtyDawg]

21 hours ago, clevercruiser said:

We are currently on Carnival Celebration and are switching over tomorrow (Sunday 19th) to Oasis OTS in Miami.

 

This is the first time we have ever done two consecutive cruises and we are a bit worried about potentially

being turned away from the RCI terminal as we have no choice but to arrive at least two hours before our

official check in slot, which is 12.30 to 1.30pm (the earliest available when we did online check in).

 

Has anyone ever done this before?  What is likely to happen when we arrive at terminal A? 

 

I don't want to be yelled at for being too early, but I don't think we can hang about at the Carnival terminal either.

If we explain why we are early will they at least allow us to wait in the terminal area?

 

Just identify yourselves to the gate agent as Boris and Liz. Say you've both had a bad past year and see if they'll take pity on you. 😀 😉

 

Psst. That's Boris Johnson and Liz Truss for our American friends on here on CC. 😊

[clevercruiser]

21 hours ago, Tlbecker1 said:

We did a S2S in Miami in December and we were there 2 hours early.  They don’t seem to care about when you arrive anymore.

In a rare example of 'OP returns to report back on the thread he started',

I'm pleased to report that everything went smoothly this morning; we were

waved through at each stage and were chilling out in Central Park by 11.20

 

Thanks for all the replies!

 

 

 

 

[PhillyFan33579]

The best answer is there is no correct answer. When I sailed on Freedom last month out of Port Miami they never checked your check-in time. However, when I sailed on Freedom in December they were strictly enforcing check-in times. There were several long lines outside the terminal, with each line corresponding to a 30 minute check-in period. On the bright side, I showed up during my check-in time in December and never stopped walking from the time I left my car in the parking garage until I was on the ship, with a few brief stops getting checked in and going thru security.