How long does it take to disembark

[motherofthebride]

How much time should we allow to get off the ship, get our luggage, etc.?

[Corby44]

The time varies according to your travel plans. The people with the early flights usually get off first, and the people with no flights scheduled get off last. If debarkation starts at 8:00. most of the time everyone is off the ship by 10:00 or so. They are pretty efficient at getting you off. Getting your luggage and getting out of the terminal is another story. This can take anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes from the time you get off the ship.

Some ports are better at this than others.

[Cruisin'40]

Can we carry our luggage off the ship?

[tannedfool]

Was on the Explorer of the Seas and they allowed people to disembark the ship with their luggage. This group was the first group off the ship (I think that started at about 6:45-7:30am). If you have alot of luggage, this may be a problem, but otherwise, it saves you the hassle of putting your luggage outside your stateroom the night before and waiting for your luggage at the terminal.

[trabucocruiser]

If you are coming from any port other then a U.S. port the luggage will be taken off to be inspected by customs and will be waiting for you in the dock area.

[GMoney]

The time it takes to disembark will largely depend 1) the time it takes to offload luaggage from the ship to the terminal and 2) on how many non-US citizens you have sailing on your cruise, as that tends to extend the immigration process.

 

On most RCI ships now, they have express disembarkation, usually around 630am and 8am. This allows you to walk off the ship hauling your own luggage.

[motherofthebride]

Does anyone know if the Majesty offers express disembarkation? We have standby flights on the way home. There is one offered at 10:30 and one at 11:20. It would be nice to be able to make those. Need to go from the Miami port to FLL.

[mspeg]

I have always booked early flights (before noon) and have never had a problem but found myself sweating it this past cruise. All was going well as our we calmly walked off the ship by 8:00 and proceeded to baggage claim. Quickly we plucked several pices of our luggage off the conveyor and then we waited......... and waited........and waited........ My DD was in tears as all the white tags seemed to stop and luggage from the next color (brown) marked for our room started to appear except her last piece. When we questioned the RCCL representative about more white tags she was unresponsive and actually rude which was shocking after having spent a week of hearing 'it's our pleasure' from anyone in a RCCL uniform.

 

Our knight in shining armor was a porter who noticed the tears and stopped and asked what the problem was and basically rallied all the porters who kept their eyes open in all the rooms (her luggage was clearly marked with masking tape and pink ribbon) and would ask if we had found it whenever they walked by. Our porter went behind the scenes and searched for us. My DD stood at the entry to the conveyor belt in tears watching and hoping. As the time came where we had to cut our loses and head for the airport the porter took her to report the lost piece. As I stood and continued the watch the RCCL representative walked by me pulling DD's suitcase without even looking at me although she had spoken to us and should have recognized me. When I said that it was our suitcase she handed it to me and just said that it had been going around on the conveyor belt which was a lie because of the upsetment and that the two of us had been standing there for over an hour. The porter then helped us out and of course received a sizable tip because he had spent more then 1 !/2 hours helping us. Due to the confusion and upsetment I didn't get his name and I only wish I had as he went above and beyond to help us.

 

So, once again I made an early flight but again it is the things you don't expect that can cause you to miss it.

[motherofthebride]

Thanks for all the info.

[wrp96]

I have always booked early flights (before noon) and have never had a problem but found myself sweating it this past cruise. All was going well as our we calmly walked off the ship by 8:00 and proceeded to baggage claim. Quickly we plucked several pices of our luggage off the conveyor and then we waited......... and waited........and waited........ My DD was in tears as all the white tags seemed to stop and luggage from the next color (brown) marked for our room started to appear except her last piece. When we questioned the RCCL representative about more white tags she was unresponsive and actually rude which was shocking after having spent a week of hearing 'it's our pleasure' from anyone in a RCCL uniform.

 

Our knight in shining armor was a porter who noticed the tears and stopped and asked what the problem was and basically rallied all the porters who kept their eyes open in all the rooms (her luggage was clearly marked with masking tape and pink ribbon) and would ask if we had found it whenever they walked by. Our porter went behind the scenes and searched for us. My DD stood at the entry to the conveyor belt in tears watching and hoping. As the time came where we had to cut our loses and head for the airport the porter took her to report the lost piece. As I stood and continued the watch the RCCL representative walked by me pulling DD's suitcase without even looking at me although she had spoken to us and should have recognized me. When I said that it was our suitcase she handed it to me and just said that it had been going around on the conveyor belt which was a lie because of the upsetment and that the two of us had been standing there for over an hour. The porter then helped us out and of course received a sizable tip because he had spent more then 1 !/2 hours helping us. Due to the confusion and upsetment I didn't get his name and I only wish I had as he went above and beyond to help us.

 

So, once again I made an early flight but again it is the things you don't expect that can cause you to miss it.

 

A couple of years ago I had a similiar situation in Miami, except I never could get anybody else to help me. Neither could the 6 other people with the same color tags as I, who were also missing our bags. Eventually we found our bags, mixed in with the last color to come off the ship. I ended up missing my 11:40am flight out of MIA.

[GBRBEB]

Aahhh disemmbarkation: I think it really matters on what port your are disembarking . On our last cruise it took 4 hours to get off the ship (atthe cape liberty cruise terminal) and from my experience disembarking in NY many times a long wait is not uncommon up here in the Northeast

 

I have learned to ask the room steward for priority disembarkation tags...I get them every time I ask and then just put a little extra in the tip envelop....

[Michuck]

Does anyone know if the Majesty offers express disembarkation? We have standby flights on the way home. There is one offered at 10:30 and one at 11:20. It would be nice to be able to make those. Need to go from the Miami port to FLL.

 

You'll be travelling to Ft. Lauderdale airport from the Miami Port during some pretty heavy travel hours on I-95. I'm not saying it's impossible to do, but the slightest delay (going thru immigration, then customs, then traffic) may hold you up from making an 10:30 or even 11:20 flight.

 

The Majesty does offer early embarkation. If you're not a C&A Diamond or Platinum member, be sure to get white luggage tags (the first group off) from the Purser's Desk.

 

Michele

[GMoney]

 

The Majesty does offer early embarkation. If you're not a C&A Diamond or Platinum member, be sure to get white luggage tags (the first group off) from the Purser's Desk.

 

Michele

 

Anyone can sign up for express debarkation; and the first early debarkation group (usually 630am) gets off before the Diamond / Platinum members and before the White tagged passengers (the first color group that gets called). Normally you sign up by seeing Guest Relations during your cruise, and then they usually drop any early debarkation pass off in your stateroom the last day.

[motherofthebride]

Thank you so much. I had e-mailed RCI, but hadn't heard back. Love this forum, really helps us novice crusiers. :)

[waterlyric]

We did the express checkout for disembarkation off Monarch last week, and it was great! We would have otherwise had to wait until 10am for our color, so it was really convenient to be on the road by 8am (it's a long drive home to Sacramento from LA!)

[GBRBEB]

"Normally you sign up by seeing Guest Relations during your cruise, and then they usually drop any early debarkation pass off in your stateroom the last day."

 

 

And as I posted earlier if you don't have time to got to guest relations your cabin steward will get the priority tags for you...