Boarding Getaway - terminal arrival time vs actual boarding time?

[CruiseeCrazee]

I'm boarding Getaway in NYC on Monday. This is basically my first time on Norwegian and I'm confused about when to arrive. My e-docs say my scheduled arrival time is 9:30am, but they also say that boarding starts at noon. So...why would I show up at 9:30? Like, is there a reason I would want to sit at the pier for that time, or am I better off just arriving at 11-ish? I'd like to not be sitting in the terminal for hours (I know from sailing on other lines that it can get *crowded* and unpleasant) but I also don't want to find myself in the way back of some line I didn't know to arrive early for. Other cruise lines I've sailed just give you a boarding time, not an arrival time that's hours before boarding starts, so I'm just...confused.

[Asawi]

You choose your terminal arrival time during online checkin. You shoul have picked a later time! Having said that, usually they don't care what time slot you have. And boarding usually starts earlier than 12, even if that is what eDocs say-
(For my upcoming Cape Town departure there has however been sent out an email that they WILL check your time, and not let you in if you're early. It doesn't say anything about being late though...)

[bkrickles1]

54 minutes ago, CruiseeCrazee said:

I'm boarding Getaway in NYC on Monday. This is basically my first time on Norwegian and I'm confused about when to arrive. My e-docs say my scheduled arrival time is 9:30am, but they also say that boarding starts at noon. So...why would I show up at 9:30? Like, is there a reason I would want to sit at the pier for that time, or am I better off just arriving at 11-ish? I'd like to not be sitting in the terminal for hours (I know from sailing on other lines that it can get *crowded* and unpleasant) but I also don't want to find myself in the way back of some line I didn't know to arrive early for. Other cruise lines I've sailed just give you a boarding time, not an arrival time that's hours before boarding starts, so I'm just...confused.

I've never boarded in NYC later than 11:30 and usually it's closer to 11am.

If you show up at 9:30am you'll get through security and checkin by 10:30 and will wait less than an hour, almost certainly. 

If you show up at 11am,the lines are likely to be very long. 

We usually go early and wait a little longer to board. 

We're sailing Getaway in April out of NYC and are planning to show up later. Probably around 1pm. I anticipate that we'll cruise (get it) through and board very quickly with little to no lines. It's a 10 day sailing so we're not as anxious to squeeze every minute out of our cruise. 

[mjkacmom]

You can show up at 9:30 and get an low boarding number and you should be on the ship before 12, or you can get there at 11 and wait in line and get on the ship later. I’ve never heard of getting a boarding time vs. a check in time. We like to go to a MDR for lunch, they open at noon.

[hallux]

1 hour ago, CruiseeCrazee said:

Other cruise lines I've sailed just give you a boarding time, not an arrival time that's hours before boarding starts, so I'm just...confused.

Boarding time, even on other lines, can't be guaranteed.  On my last cruise they could have given me an 11AM boarding time but they would have missed the mark as the previous cruise was still disembarking the ship.  As noted - you could have picked a later time.

[CruiseeCrazee]

20 minutes ago, bkrickles1 said:

If you show up at 9:30am you'll get through security and checkin by 10:30 and will wait less than an hour, almost certainly. 

If you show up at 11am,the lines are likely to be very long. 

This is basically what I needed to know, thank you! I'll be arriving at 9:30.

 

For the people wondering why I selected an early time if I wasn't necessarily going to arrive then, I thought I was signing up for a boarding time (while marveling "wow, Norwegian boards so much earlier than other lines!") rather than an arrival time. And then when I realized those were two different things I wasn't sure why arriving so much earlier than boarding would make sense.

[cruiser2015]

1 hour ago, CruiseeCrazee said:

This is basically what I needed to know, thank you! I'll be arriving at 9:30.

 

For the people wondering why I selected an early time if I wasn't necessarily going to arrive then, I thought I was signing up for a boarding time (while marveling "wow, Norwegian boards so much earlier than other lines!") rather than an arrival time. And then when I realized those were two different things I wasn't sure why arriving so much earlier than boarding would make sense.

If you're having second thoughts about your "early arrival", just show up when you want.

While many CC posters say that they never see anyone checking the arrival times, no one cares at all if you show up later. 10, 11, 12 - doesn't matter.

Your choice.

[DCGuy64]

1 minute ago, cruiser2015 said:

no one cares at all if you show up later. 10, 11, 12 - doesn't matter.

This ^^^

[DuckTollerFans]

I'm weird in that I like the excitement of waiting in the terminal.  It's a great people watching exercise. 

 

On my first cruise ever, the woman who organized a lot of activities walked through with Mardi Gras type beads asking if they were part of the CC "gang."  Talk about a great welcome!

 

I'm one of those people who like to guess where folks are from, what's their story, figuring out if it's their first time, all that.  And wondering who I may make friends with by the end of the week - and who I may want to avoid.  (such as rude behavior to staff)

 

So when it's time to complete check-in in a few weeks, I'm going for early!

[cruiser2015]

6 minutes ago, DuckTollerFans said:

I'm weird in that I like the excitement of waiting in the terminal.  It's a great people watching exercise. 

 

On my first cruise ever, the woman who organized a lot of activities walked through with Mardi Gras type beads asking if they were part of the CC "gang."  Talk about a great welcome!

 

I'm one of those people who like to guess where folks are from, what's their story, figuring out if it's their first time, all that.  And wondering who I may make friends with by the end of the week - and who I may want to avoid.  (such as rude behavior to staff)

 

So when it's time to complete check-in in a few weeks, I'm going for early!

Go for it!   ☺️

[hallux]

53 minutes ago, DuckTollerFans said:

And wondering who I may make friends with by the end of the week

On my cruise on the Joy 2 years ago I chatted with a woman and her nieces while waiting to board, ended up being their '4th' for meals and hung around with them much of the cruise otherwise...

[stinkyharriet]

People like to get an early check in time so they get a boarding pass sooner.  The earlier you get there, the sooner your group is called once boarding actually starts.  I do because my sister likes it that way.  I did my first solo trip last month and wished I had chosen a later check in time.  I got there before 9:00 for my 9:30 check in.  Check in is pretty fast once it starts.  But then you have to sit and there aren’t enough seats for everyone.  People will then gather in the center near the area where they allow you out of the building to get on board.  Staff will then continually scream at those people to move out of the way, which they won’t do.  Boarding started around 11:30, maybe a little after.  Again, once it begins it’s pretty fast.  They board people who need assistance first, then Haven and other priority groups.  Then they start calling the boarding pass numbers.  
 
I did not have any kind of priority boarding and while I was in one of the earliest groups to be called for boarding I don’t know if it was the first.  I was on the ship by noon, the whole boarding process took less than 30 minutes for me.  If I had chosen a later check in time, say noon-1pm, I probably would have gone through security, done my check in, and walked right on the ship.  It all depends on whether or not you care about sitting around for a couple of hours in the terminal.

[D_And_K_gocruising]

I gave my wife the choice.. Early check in time, earlier to board, but going to be waiting in a large room with some seating but maybe not enough for everyone (had no clue, and honestly still dont know lol) for probably a couple of hours.. Or show up 11:30 or so, (which was her choice)  MAYBE had a little wait (only had about 5 minutes in security because as usual I picked the wrong line and people in front of us were clueless on stuff, passengers, not workers) then pretty much walked right up to the check in desk, got our cards and pics taken, then walked right on the ship.. MAYBE 20 minutes from getting out of car and giving porters bags (we were dropped off) to walking on the ship.  Actually just looked at pics I took.. got out of car at 11:27 walked onto ship at 11:56 so 30 minutes.. 😉  

[graphicguy]

Or, get there at 12:30....no check in lines and you'll probably walk right on board.  Problems solved.

[vince_g]

My last cruise on Getaway (Feb. 26, 2023) we arrived around 12:30 and the lines were pretty darned long. We checked in through one of the latitudes lines and walked right on.

 

It was bedlam inside the ship. We attempted to put our names in at Savor, but were told that both Savor and Taste already had too many pagers out, and would be unable to accommodate our request. Tried to go to the buffet but that was totally a madhouse. Everyone was camped out at tables, waiting for the staterooms to be ready. We ended up getting a table outside, and that was pretty unpleasant. 

 

What I would suggest is arriving around 2pm. By that time that staterooms might be ready.

 

Just didn't like that ship at all and wouldn't go again, even if they paid me, but I do hope you enjoy it.

Edited February 23 by vince_g