Early to board but early to disembark?

[Woody14]

Okay I get wanting to board early to get my vacation started but why the rush to get off the ship.   Yes there is not much going on on disembarkation day and yes I know we are all getting off and you likely won't be there past 9:30 am but why the stress to get off the ship as one of the first people?   you don't have to book the 9:45 am flight.  Speaking as someone who has to get back to the west coast and in Canada coming back from a cruise is an all day thing but why start the day so stressed to get off?   seems to almost ruin a good vacation.

Thoughts?

[CruiserBruce]

There will be several thousand people on your ship, trying to get to probably several hundred flights, with a similar number of reasons to get off the ship at a given time. We are retired, so usually our need to get off early is less critical. But others have more serious needs.

 

Different strokes for different folks.

[sanger727]

I don’t usually count my travel day home as a vacation day. Travel days tend to be hectic and stressful to begin with. We typically try to book late morning flights and do the self walk off. Have never had issues with that feeling rushed. We did the traditional disembarkation once and hated it. Had breakfast and then went to our designated waiting area. Everything got backed up and we ended up waiting there for over an hour. 

[mom says]

Well let's see. Some people may not have a lot of choices in flight times, if they want to get home the same day. Some people would prefer not to spend hours and hours cooling their heels while waiting for later flights. Some people may not be flying at all, but are faced with a long drive. I find nothing more stressful about a 7:30 disembarkation than a 9:00 one, and it certainly doesn't ruin anything. It just means getting up a bit earlier. What's the big deal?

 

If disembarking in distant, foreign ports, we prefer to extend our stay by several days. However, with US ports, the earlier the flight home, the better for us.

[navybankerteacher]

When the cruise is over, it is OVER.  The ship's staff want you off, your fellow cruisers want to get the best flight time possible - those driving want to get on the road.  I usually have no need to be first off, but I also have no wish to linger

[Mum2Mercury]

Several reasons: 

- We have an 8-hour drive ahead of us, and we want to get started down the road. 

- Not all flights are the same price, and some people will try to hit a time-window that'll allow them to take advantage of lower prices. 

- Some of us are fortunate enough to be retired, but many people have to go to work the next day, and they want to get home and prepare.

- If you wait, the departure lines are longer.  

- Not much point in staying on the ship with all the amenities (except breakfast) closed down.  And you're kicked out of your room.  

[Ferry_Watcher]

The sooner the disembarking ship can reach "zero count", the faster shore-side staff and ship crew can open up for embarkation.

 

You have had your vacation cruise, now it's time to let the next group of passengers have their's.

[navybankerteacher]

3 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

The sooner the disembarking ship can reach "zero count", the faster shore-side staff and ship crew can open up for embarkation.

 

You have had your vacation cruise, now it's time to let the next group of passengers have their's.

A good thought - but do you really think departing cruisers have ANY interest in the convenience of their successors?

[CruiserBruce]

28 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

A good thought - but do you really think departing cruisers have ANY interest in the convenience of their successors?

You aren't serious, are you? 😉

[navybankerteacher]

2 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

You aren't serious, are you? 😉

Of course not -- I was only kidding. 

 

Not only do ALL departing cruisers hold warm thoughts for the happiness of those who will occupy the same staterooms, they frequently go to great lengths to pre-clean the accomodations as an altruistic gesture -- and will sometimes hide little gifts for them.

[Ferry_Watcher]

11 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

A good thought - but do you really think departing cruisers have ANY interest in the convenience of their successors?

 

It only takes one passenger (literally), who decides to stretch their departure off the ship for as long as they can delay the inevitable.  It messes up the early lunch break schedule of the disembarkation team, the outside transportation team and the Customs & Border Offices who also have to wait.

 

 It also means that the early arriving embarking passengers have to wait (usually outside) until these "I don't want my cruise to end" passengers finally are escorted off the ship by shoreside staff managers, clear customs and without any embarrassment or self-awareness, walk past the hundred plus passengers waiting to start their embark process.  

 

[gerryuk]

Did Barcelona to Dubai on Costa Toscana in November, the ship arrived in Dubai at 07.00. They asked all customers to leave their cabins around 08.00. They did tell everyone that they could remain on the ship until the afternoon. They could use all facilities including getting lunch as long as they did not go back to their cabins. I have heard Costa allowing customers to remain on the ship as late as 16.00 hours, very civilised. My flight from Dubai was in the evening so this was very welcome. 

[Honolulu Blue]

15 hours ago, Woody14 said:

Okay I get wanting to board early to get my vacation started but why the rush to get off the ship.   Yes there is not much going on on disembarkation day and yes I know we are all getting off and you likely won't be there past 9:30 am but why the stress to get off the ship as one of the first people?   you don't have to book the 9:45 am flight.  Speaking as someone who has to get back to the west coast and in Canada coming back from a cruise is an all day thing but why start the day so stressed to get off?   seems to almost ruin a good vacation.

Thoughts?

 

I'm on the fip side of this.  I usually don't hurry to try to get on the ship.  I have found that when I board late, there's less of a line and I can sail right through, unpack, and do the rest of the things that are necessary for me to enjoy my cruise.  On disembarking...

 

12 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

When the cruise is over, it is OVER.  The ship's staff want you off, your fellow cruisers want to get the best flight time possible - those driving want to get on the road.  I usually have no need to be first off, but I also have no wish to linger

I pretty much agree with this, but I'll amplify things.  I've always thought of disembarkation day on the ship as the morning after being with... someone who's not a keeper.  You've had your fun, but now it's time to go.  🙂  I've felt some of this from the crew that I've interacted with on that day - they're nice and all, but they've got a lot to do, and the sooner I'm out of their way, the sooner they can get ready for their new best friend(s) for the week (or however long the cruise is).

[K32682]

I have better things to do than linger on the boat I've spent the last week or two on. Cruise's over, time to leave and my idea of a good disembarkation is to be among the first ashore.  

[Markanddonna]

I was surprised that our last cruise on Feb 6 had rather late times for debarkation, almost to 10:30 or 11:00. Usually the last call is around 9:00 AM.

[mjkacmom]

14 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

When the cruise is over, it is OVER.  The ship's staff want you off, your fellow cruisers want to get the best flight time possible - those driving want to get on the road.  I usually have no need to be first off, but I also have no wish to linger

The vibe definitely shifts on that last morning, you can tell they want you OFF. 

[MCC retired]

Hey . your cruise is over , get a jump on Immigration lines , shorten your trip home time.

Lastly get out of the way of embarking guests , as they did for you.

[K32682]

12 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

The vibe definitely shifts on that last morning, you can tell they want you OFF. 

 

Then I am in perfect alignment with the crew. I want me OFF as soon as possible too. 🙂

[ontheweb]

Not to contradict everyone, but we once had an experience where after we disembarked, we still felt we were on our cruise vacation. Our ship was in Dover, and we took a ship's excursion to Heathrow  which included a walk in Dover and a trip to Canterbury. Also, there were 4 others on the excursion who had been on our roll call and we had met on the cruise. The trip to the airport still felt like part of our cruise experience, not the usual it's over feeling.

[capriccio]

9 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Not to contradict everyone, but we once had an experience where after we disembarked, we still felt we were on our cruise vacation. Our ship was in Dover, and we took a ship's excursion to Heathrow  which included a walk in Dover and a trip to Canterbury. Also, there were 4 others on the excursion who had been on our roll call and we had met on the cruise. The trip to the airport still felt like part of our cruise experience, not the usual it's over feeling.

We had a similar experience with a disembarkation in Southampton.  Our flight from Heathrow wasn't until 4 pm so we took a ship's excursion with an excellent guide on the bus.  The destination was Windsor Castle where we had a 2+ hour self guided audio tour followed by a very scenic drive from Windsor to Heathrow.  We arrived at the airport around 1:30, had an easy check-in, waited in the United lounge, and then got bumped up to business class at the gate.  A lovely day all around!

[TheOldBear]

I have only been an in transit passenger for Southampton, but it does appear that the disembarkation / turn around day is very different than a US port [Brooklyn] where the ship must be 'zeroed out' before new passengers board. There still was the vast quantity of luggage staged in lobbies beginning the night before, in the morning many rooms with the doors propped open for cleaning - but life was normal for in transit passengers.

 

We had our normal room service breakfast, then I took the shuttle into town for some minor shopping and a visit to the 'sea city' museum. Mrs Bear elected to stay onboard (it was a rainy day) to read a library book, have lunch and I think use the deck 12 hot tubs [one of the Southampton days the Pavilion pool area was closed while they were working on the roof].

 

I didn't check, but I don't think that the Britannia had the extra early breakfast hours used for Brooklyn turn around days.

 

I needed to exit the Mayflower terminal via the luggage hall, and that was still about a third full - but there were no lines by the customs desks - the pre-arrival paperwork clearance makes the disembarkation flow quite a bit smoother.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, capriccio said:

We had a similar experience with a disembarkation in Southampton.  Our flight from Heathrow wasn't until 4 pm so we took a ship's excursion with an excellent guide on the bus.  The destination was Windsor Castle where we had a 2+ hour self guided audio tour followed by a very scenic drive from Windsor to Heathrow.  We arrived at the airport around 1:30, had an easy check-in, waited in the United lounge, and then got bumped up to business class at the gate.  A lovely day all around!

In 2020, we were supposed to have a cruise from Southampton that was lost to Covid. We were going to do a ship excursion back to Heathrow that stopped in Stonehenge. DW said she was actually looking more forward to that then the actual Norwegian fjords cruise.

[cruisemom42]

What a surprise -- different people have different wants, needs, imperatives....  😨

 

Most of my cruises start in a foreign city and my vacation is already underway. I see no need to rush to the ship to be among the first to embark -- I'm going to be on that ship for a number of days; I'll have time to experience it all. What I won't have is more time in (Rome/Athens/Istanbul/Singapore/Tokyo).

 

Yet others will miss out on what is easily a good half-day of sightseeing in order to rush to the ship and eat mediocre food in the buffet. Go figure. 

[mjkacmom]

3 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

What a surprise -- different people have different wants, needs, imperatives....  😨

 

Most of my cruises start in a foreign city and my vacation is already underway. I see no need to rush to the ship to be among the first to embark -- I'm going to be on that ship for a number of days; I'll have time to experience it all. What I won't have is more time in (Rome/Athens/Istanbul/Singapore/Tokyo).

 

Yet others will miss out on what is easily a good half-day of sightseeing in order to rush to the ship and eat mediocre food in the buffet. Go figure. 

Ours start in NYC, 20 minutes from home and somewhere we’ve been many times, I’d rather be on the ship than in my living room.

[ldubs]

11 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

 

I'm on the fip side of this.  I usually don't hurry to try to get on the ship.  I have found that when I board late, there's less of a line and I can sail right through, unpack, and do the rest of the things that are necessary for me to enjoy my cruise.  On disembarking...

 

 

5 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

What a surprise -- different people have different wants, needs, imperatives....  😨

 

Most of my cruises start in a foreign city and my vacation is already underway. I see no need to rush to the ship to be among the first to embark -- I'm going to be on that ship for a number of days; I'll have time to experience it all. What I won't have is more time in (Rome/Athens/Istanbul/Singapore/Tokyo).

 

 

Me too.  I try to avoid that frantic early embarkation crush.   It is kind of off-putting.  Much better to come  later and walk onto the ship.