Carnival Panorama boarding

[carrieluvsgreg]

We are sailing out of Long Beach next month on the Panorama.  I see that the ship arrival time says 9 a.m.  I also see with many posts on the topic that the arrival window times begin at 10 and people often state they boarded by 10:45... How is that possible? It's a huge ship- I would not expect all passengers to be off board in less than 2 hours let alone they have cleaned and ready to open the doors for the next 4000+ people... Am I missing something here?  We are flying in the night before from the east coast, it is our first time sailing out of Long Beach so we are newbies in that regard.  We are platinum, so I think I have done the proper research to understand that part, I just question if arriving at 10... I am sure we will be so excited to board, it won't matter when we actually get there...  🤪

[trudster57]

We usually pick 10am-10:30am arrival time at Long Beach.  We still see people coming out of the terminal at that time.  Usually they start boarding at 11am. That's been my two experiences with the Panorama. It's arrived as early as 6am and start clearance to disembark at 7am.  We are getting on the Panorama again this weekend and I have the 10-10:30 arrival once again.  We'll see how long it takes them to clear the ship since it's Spring Break time.  

[kdr69]

Ship usually arrives around 6 to port. early debarking starts once customs clears the ship which can be as early at 7 am.  I know we had to be out of our cabins by 9 am so the Stewards could start cleaning them and that everyone was usually off the ship by 10:30 unless there was a snafu.  So it is possible if all the ducks line up that they would start embarking new passengers at 10:30.  Cleaning is constant so rooms and Lido buffet would be mostly what they are workin on when people start coming on and rooms arent usually ready until 1:00 pm.

[jsglow]

The 'normal' Boarding Time is right around 11a in Long Beach in my experience (save one time the Coast Guard did an inspection!).  I don't have personal experience with the Panorama and am a bit surprised as well that they list her arrival at 9a.  I'll trust the Long Beach 'old salts' to know that she arrives significantly earlier every week. 

[csm5986142]

3 minutes ago, jsglow said:

I don't have personal experience with the Panorama and am a bit surprised as well that they list her arrival at 9a.

 

I think that is a "worst case scenario" time.  According to my Uber receipt, we were off Panorama and in the car headed to the airport by 7:54 am. 

We are platinum and were told to meet at 7:30 for priority debarkation - when we arrived at the meeting location (about 7:25) everybody was already gone and they quickly redirected us to a short line of people getting off the ship.

[NightOne]

A few weeks ago we were not off the ship until around 10am.

 

Don't book early flights. 😉

 

We we embarked we showed up around Noon-ish and walked on without ever sitting in the terminal but lines were pretty long.

[jsglow]

I'm guessing that rough weather can occasionally delay them.  It's a pretty good haul up from Cabo with only one seaday. And if they're bucking a very strong northerly, delay seems plausible.

 

I remember our very first cruise aboard Splendor years ago. Seems to me that weather caused a significant delay. I remember standing around for an extended period of time outside the dome. We were fairly inexperienced cruisers then so I probably wasn't totally clued in to the details I'd recognize now.

[carrieluvsgreg]

Thanks all for the responses.  That makes more sense.  We used to live  about 20 miles from the port of Jacksonville where tides could affect whether or not the ship could clear the bridge to get to port.  Delays happened sort of frequently.  Our flight out of LAX is at 1:55 so I think that should be fine even if we did not disembark until 10. 

[sealpup]

How picky are they at long Beach with boarding.  My hubby is platinum and his brother and wife bought fttf. The sister that is going with us but has neither.   Will she be able to board with us?

[sealpup]

How picky are they at long Beach with boarding.  My hubby is platinum and his brother and wife bought fttf. The sister that is going with us but has neither.   Will she be able to board with us?

[csm5986142]

In our experience they were very picky - as soon as we got through security someone checked our boarding passes and directed us to the Captains Lounge area (for platinum) and at the door to the lounge, they checked our passes again.  I'm not certain where they directed FTTF people as I never heard them mentioned.  When it was time to board, someone came into the lounge area and I heard them call Diamond/Suites and then Platinum, but I never heard FTTF so I'm assuming they were called next (but I didn't see where they were waiting).  

If the sister is neither platinum nor FTTF (and not sharing in either of those cabins) I don't think they will let her board with you.

[pc_load_letter]

For us a couple weeks ago, boarding did not happen until almost noon, with my group, A3 not getting on until around 12:45.

 

This spring break season I would anticipate the same timing.

 

*When we arrived to the port around 10:15 am, people were still coming out with their suitcases.

[jsglow]

Very picky. You will be admitted into the terminal in your assigned time slot regardless of Priority.You will be boarded in Dia/Suites/Plat/FttF/Zone order. They will check your paperwork numerous times.

If you wish to board together the only way is for those with Priority to linger until all are eligible. 

[staceyglow]

1 hour ago, csm5986142 said:

In our experience they were very picky - as soon as we got through security someone checked our boarding passes and directed us to the Captains Lounge area (for platinum) and at the door to the lounge, they checked our passes again.  

Agree. As I posted in a different thread, I am Platinum and boarded Panorama last Saturday. My boarding pass was carefully checked at every step of the embarkation process, as was everyone else's. 

[redsox1584]

I was on the Panorama in September. I don’t remember what our port arrival time was but I know it was before they started boarding anyone on the ship yet. As for debarking, they did not start debarking people until shortly before 9 and we were out of the terminal and waiting for our ride at 10:30. I’m not sure what caused the delay but there were many people arriving as we were leaving. 

[TaraLynne]

Joining this thread because I'm wondering how problematic it is to board later in the day. We are driving in from a little over an hour away and with having to drop off pups at a boarding facility that morning, we weren't planning on getting there until later. (We CAN arrive as early as 11 AM but I was kinda planning on rolling in closer to 1 PM, especially as we're going over a summer holiday week so I'm sure the ship will be sold out or close to it.) Does anyone have experience with boarding later/suggestions on when is the latest we could/should arrive?

[Squirreladd]

1 hour ago, TaraLynne said:

Joining this thread because I'm wondering how problematic it is to board later in the day. We are driving in from a little over an hour away and with having to drop off pups at a boarding facility that morning, we weren't planning on getting there until later. (We CAN arrive as early as 11 AM but I was kinda planning on rolling in closer to 1 PM, especially as we're going over a summer holiday week so I'm sure the ship will be sold out or close to it.) Does anyone have experience with boarding later/suggestions on when is the latest we could/should arrive?

As long as the ship doesn't arrive late to the port you should be able to nearly walk right through security. Did the panorama last week, did 10-10:30 embark was on by about 11:45(FTTF). Did the Radiance in December had 1-1:30 was on the ship at around 1:30. 

 

 

Edit: it's your vacation. You paid for it and price is the same no matter what time you arrive to the ship. You get more from your money arriving early.

However if you have a low tolerance for lines show up a little later and pretty much walk directly on the ship

Edited March 31, 2023 by Squirreladd

[jsglow]

2 hours ago, TaraLynne said:

Joining this thread because I'm wondering how problematic it is to board later in the day. We are driving in from a little over an hour away and with having to drop off pups at a boarding facility that morning, we weren't planning on getting there until later. (We CAN arrive as early as 11 AM but I was kinda planning on rolling in closer to 1 PM, especially as we're going over a summer holiday week so I'm sure the ship will be sold out or close to it.) Does anyone have experience with boarding later/suggestions on when is the latest we could/should arrive?

Arriving in the early afternoon is just fine.

[carrieluvsgreg]

On 3/21/2023 at 12:45 PM, sealpup said:

How picky are they at long Beach with boarding.  My hubby is platinum and his brother and wife bought fttf. The sister that is going with us but has neither.   Will she be able to board with us?

If she is in a cabin with someone who is platinum she would receive the benefit.  FTTF is for the whole cabin, so I am guessing that she is not in that cabin.  On all of our experiences, (multiple ports, none Long Beach) being platinum and traveling with friends, they were not permitted to board with us.  When we travel with our kids, we split our booking and put my husband and one kid in one cabin and me and the other in the second cabin- they then get the benefits.