Check In time for Viva & St. Thomas dailies (have all 6 others)

[Mrssqueek]

Merry Christmas! I checked in online and received a check in time of 1:30-2:00.  We have to be out of hotel by 1:00 or so.  Can we head to the dock and board earlier than time assigned or will we just be sitting and waiting for our time?

 

Also, I have day 1-6 of Dailies and am looking for day 7 of this itinerary. If someone has can they please post?

 

Thank you,

Lisa

 

[UKstages]

opinions will vary as to whether or not you can check in early. the reason they give checkin times is to manage the flow of people at the terminal. if everybody arrived earlier than their stated checkin time, chaos would ensue. so, many people believe it's bending the rules and not good karma if you show up early.

 

that being said, it would be rare for them to turn you away. most port personnel are not looking at your checkin time when they look at your documents and allow you to get in line.... they are just making sure you have the right date and ship.

 

don't confuse checkin time with boarding time. assuming you have a 4 PM departure, boarding won't begin until 11 am at the earliest for elite status guests and haven and such. general boarding begins twenty or thirty minutes later. if you arrive at 1 PM, you will likely walk right onto the ship after checkin. if you arrive before noon, you might have to sit round and wait for boarding to begin or for them to call your group number.

Edited December 25, 2023 by UKstages

[olemissreb]

3 minutes ago, UKstages said:

I have never checked in at the st. thomas port, but i assume it works the same as every other port.

 

opinions will vary as to whether or not you can check in early. the reason they give checkin times is to manage the flow of people at the terminal. if everybody arrived earlier than their stated checkin time, chaos would ensue. so, many people believe it's bending the rules and not good karma if you show up early.

 

that being said, it would be rare for them to turn you away. most port personnel are not looking at your checkin time when they look at your documents and allow you to get in line.... they are just making sure you have the right date and ship.

 

don't confuse checkin time with boarding time. assuming you have a 4 PM departure, boarding won't begin until 11 am at the earliest for elite status guests and haven and such. general boarding begins twenty or thirty minutes later. if you arrive at 1 PM, you will likely walk right onto the ship after checkin. if you arrive before noon, you might have to sit round and wait for boarding to begin or for them to call your group number.

I believe the OP is boarding in San Juan and departure is 8 or 9pm.  St. Thomas is day 7 of their cruise.

 

OP - I've never sailed NCL out of San Juan, but I have sailed with Celebrity and Royal and neither of them had assigned boarding times when I sailed.  That being said, on Celebrity, we didn't show up until after 1pm (that was when our flight got in) and we essentially walked right on the ship - no waiting.  For Royal, my FIL at the time was in a hurry to get to the terminal and so we got there about 11:00ish to long lines.  Luckily we were in suites, so we did get to bypass those lines a bit, but we still had to wait till about noon to board though.

 

My sister and I and our boyfriends are sailing this itinerary in March '25 and I don't plan on getting to the cruise terminal until after lunch in the hopes of avoiding some of the lines...plus I love OSJ and no one else in my group has been there, so while we are flying in a day ahead of time, I still want to be able to maximize our sightseeing times.

 

Enjoy the Viva and please come back and post a review for those of us that are having to live vicariously through others until it's our time to board!

[UKstages]

3 minutes ago, olemissreb said:

I believe the OP is boarding in San Juan and departure is 8 or 9pm.  St. Thomas is day 7 of their cruise.

 

yes, I realized that after reading the post again and I actually edited that out of my comment while you were posting. thanks.

[olemissreb]

3 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

yes, I realized that after reading the post again and I actually edited that out of my comment while you were posting. thanks.

Ahhh...great minds huh?

[BirdTravels]

7 hours ago, Mrssqueek said:

Merry Christmas! I checked in online and received a check in time of 1:30-2:00.  We have to be out of hotel by 1:00 or so.  Can we head to the dock and board earlier than time assigned or will we just be sitting and waiting for our time?

 

Also, I have day 1-6 of Dailies and am looking for day 7 of this itinerary. If someone has can they please post?

 

Thank you,

Lisa

 

Lisa

 

Show up whenever you want. 
 

Remember that San Juan is a small port with poor passenger control. Leaving your hotel to being on the ship is sometimes measured in hours.