How strict are boarding times?

[alishac]

We have been assigned a 12:00 boarding time for this Sunday's Wonder of the Seas out of Port Canaveral and just received an email stating that those who arrive before their boarding time will be turned away. I've never followed my boarding time in the past and typically arrive pretty early to the port, but I haven't cruised Royal since pre-COVID. I have seen in recent posts that cruises on the Wonder have started boarding fairly early (10:30). Can recent cruisers out of Port Canaveral confirm that we won't be turned away if we show up early? Thank you.

[Biker19]

13 minutes ago, alishac said:

Can recent cruisers out of Port Canaveral confirm that we won't be turned away if we show up early?

@orville99 might have some feedback.

[molly361]

I usually arrive around 10:30 and there are no lines.  That said most of my cruises were on the Indy not Wonder.  Also they have never checked my arrival time

Edited July 27, 2023 by molly361

[OCSC Mike]

1 hour ago, alishac said:

I have seen in recent posts that cruises on the Wonder have started boarding fairly early (10:30). Can recent cruisers out of Port Canaveral confirm that we won't be turned away if we show up early?

 

Chances are you can probably get on before your 12:00 time but don't be upset if you wind up waiting. There's never a guarantee that they will let you board early.

 

I can confirm based on my own June 4th sailing and from several reports since then that boarding does seem to begin very early for Wonder... more like 10:10-10:15am.

[GTO-Girl]

2 hours ago, alishac said:

We have been assigned a 12:00 boarding time for this Sunday's Wonder of the Seas out of Port Canaveral and just received an email stating that those who arrive before their boarding time will be turned away. I've never followed my boarding time in the past and typically arrive pretty early to the port, but I haven't cruised Royal since pre-COVID. I have seen in recent posts that cruises on the Wonder have started boarding fairly early (10:30). Can recent cruisers out of Port Canaveral confirm that we won't be turned away if we show up early? Thank you.

In Canaveral when you arrive you will be put in sections outside according to your assigned boarding time.  When we were there we only saw sections up to 11:30-12:00 and all others were asked to go sit in another areas and wait until the first arrival times were able to enter the terminal.

 

Once inside the terminal you will once again sit in sections according to your assigned arrival time and this is also the order in which you will board.

 

you will probably get on earlier than your 12:00 time…..but just to let you know this is the process now at Canaveral

[loman]

What is the process in Miami  ( Harmony ) and what happens if you arrive a little later than your assigned timeslot there.

[Mum2Mercury]

We sailed out of Port Canaveral recently, and they DID check boarding passes.  Not a big deal for us because we had the 10:30 time slot.  

[bigsky]

Symphony out of Barcelona? We want to arrive much earlier than we're scheduled. We usually go at 10:30. I was late to set up a boarding time and stuck with 1:00. Hoping to just show up and get on. Many said they don't check boarding times. 

[nferr]

In December out of Bayonne they weren't checking at all.

[smokeybandit]

Anyone sail out of Everglades recently? The earliest slot was 11:30 which seems really late. 

[ONECRUISER]

1 hour ago, loman said:

What is the process in Miami  ( Harmony ) and what happens if you arrive a little later than your assigned timeslot there.

Later, no issues. Few Months ago Miami was checking times and Sectioning us off in Groups. Seen this at Tampa last Fall. Ship was delayed and they made new passengers wait outside the Fence for a while

[Ret MP]

I think, from what I've read and experienced, boarding times are very dynamic.  It all depends on the location, landside pier management (Royal's), if the ship comes into dock on time, the size of the ship and passenger count, and the number of people that show up early. 

 

For example: On our last cruise out of Canaveral, the new terminal, October 2022, Independence of the Seas, we showed up at 10:00 AM, we had a 12:00 - 12:30 boarding time, the serpentine ropes were already set up and several landside employees were monitoring people and lining them up according to boarding times.  At 10:30 they started allowing people to enter the terminal, by 10:40ish the line was down to nothing and they just opened it up to whoever was there, regardless of boarding times.    

 

So, it's a crap shoot, at best.  We "usually" cruise Star Class and boarding times are flexible.  But, we do cruise in balcony category cabins about 40 - 50 percent of the time and I will always show up, when not in Star, at 10:30 regardless of our boarding time.  Worse that can happen, at least at Canaveral, is we would have to walk next door to the very good bar & grill and have a few adult beverages while waiting.

In addition:  It's a "crap shoot" with lots of Royal's policies and whether they will be enforced or not.  

 

BTW, I've used "boarding times" (that's arrival times to the terminal) in this post because that seems to be the popular lexicon.  However, they are actually "arrival times".  

Edited July 27, 2023 by Ret MP

[LilBlackDress]

3 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Anyone sail out of Everglades recently? The earliest slot was 11:30 which seems really late. 

Really late?? The first time slots are normally 10:30
If you will be turned away if you show up early depends on the personnel working that day. 

[Merion_Mom]

3 hours ago, Ret MP said:

 

 

BTW, I've used "boarding times" (that's arrival times to the terminal) in this post because that seems to be the popular lexicon.  However, they are actually "arrival times".  

 

Since you said that, I will amend:  They're actually "check in times."  🙂 

[Ret MP]

16 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Since you said that, I will amend:  They're actually "check in times."  🙂 

Sorry, I must disagree.  "Check-in" times are when the App will allow you to complete your boarding information and that is when you get your "Arrival Time" to show up at the terminal.  However, if you don't "Check In" on the App, you can "Check In" when you arrive and enter the terminal which slows down your progress.  

 

When should I arrive at the cruise port terminal? - Royal Caribbean Cruises

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/cruise-ship-port-arrival-time

A. Guests should arrive at the terminal within the "arrival time" slot you selected during Royal App check-in. Those who arrive early will not be able to begin boarding, and those who arrive late will need to wait until we are able to work them into another group. Due to government regulations requiring cruise lines to submit final departure ...

 

 

[PhillyFan33579]

I have cruised on Wonder three times since December. For all three cruises port employees checked and enforced check-in times. There were separate lines outside based on your check-in time. The last time I cruised on Wonder, we talked to a couple at the Trellis Bar that waited 2.5 hours outside the terminal. They showed up at 10:30 AM and their check-in time wasn’t until 1 PM. I think this delay was mainly due to the large number of passengers that showed up early for that cruise. 

[smokeybandit]

11 hours ago, LilBlackDress said:

Really late?? The first time slots are normally 10:30
If you will be turned away if you show up early depends on the personnel working that day. 

When you're used to 10:30, 11:30 is really late to be the first arrival time.

[OCSC Mike]

7 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

When you're used to 10:30, 11:30 is really late to be the first arrival time.

 

Agreed, since I only sail from PC, can't remember the last time I wasn't on the ship prior to 11am let alone not checked-in at the port.

[smokeybandit]

1 minute ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Agreed, since I only sail from PC, can't remember the last time I wasn't on the ship prior to 11am let alone not checked-in at the port.

I'm in a suite, so we'll roll in that magical hour early anyway.

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Agreed, since I only sail from PC, can't remember the last time I wasn't on the ship prior to 11am let alone not checked-in at the port.

When I cruised on Mariner a few months ago they didn’t start boarding the ship until 11:15 AM.  No chance to be on the ship before 11 AM that day. 

[OCSC Mike]

36 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

When I cruised on Mariner a few months ago they didn’t start boarding the ship until 11:15 AM.  No chance to be on the ship before 11 AM that day. 

 

Maybe it's a terminal 1 thing. Wonder has even begun boarding well before 10:30am for the past couple months.

[karena1]

18 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Anyone sail out of Everglades recently? The earliest slot was 11:30 which seems really late. 

As a rule when we cruise out of FLL, ship opens at 10:45 - Suites/Pinnacle board first, then Key and then everyone else.  Doors open at 10 am and they let everyone in.  No one ever checks your time, When the doors open, you can go, get checked in and then go wait.  They will board by row based on the time you arrive.

 

[mscinmia]

2 hours ago, karena1 said:

As a rule when we cruise out of FLL, ship opens at 10:45 - Suites/Pinnacle board first, then Key and then everyone else.  Doors open at 10 am and they let everyone in.  No one ever checks your time, When the doors open, you can go, get checked in and then go wait.  They will board by row based on the time you arrive.

 

The first arrival time of 11:30 has been in place for quite awhile.  It is too avoid too many people showing up  early and causing lines.   As it is we have people showing up as early as  8:00 am and really there is no where to sit and wait outside.  Some ships will start boarding at 10:45 but we have a couple others that start 11:00 to 11:30 depending how fast we get clearance from the prior cruise.  As far as the order of boarding, as @karena1posted Suites/Pinnacle board first then Key, then row by row in the order you arrived.  It is much smoother this way.  

[PhillyFan33579]

7 hours ago, karena1 said:

As a rule when we cruise out of FLL, ship opens at 10:45 - Suites/Pinnacle board first, then Key and then everyone else.  Doors open at 10 am and they let everyone in.  No one ever checks your time, When the doors open, you can go, get checked in and then go wait.  They will board by row based on the time you arrive.

 

When I cruised on Odyssey several months ago they were strictly enforcing check-in times at the terminal. However, when I cruised on Adventure last month they did not verify check-in times This is consistent with my experiences at Port Canaveral and Port Miami this year. For some cruises they strictly enforce check-in times while other cruises they never check anything. 

[karena1]

9 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

When I cruised on Odyssey several months ago they were strictly enforcing check-in times at the terminal. However, when I cruised on Adventure last month they did not verify check-in times This is consistent with my experiences at Port Canaveral and Port Miami this year. For some cruises they strictly enforce check-in times while other cruises they never check anything. 

Exactly.  I was speaking of Liberty out of FLL, we have not sailed on another ship out of there in a while.  Out of Miami, we do Freedom a lot, and in Dec we did Oasis and they did not check.  Going on Wonder in Oct out of PCC, so will see if they check or not.