Self-Assist Debarkation-Does it Work?

[ebonybee]

Or Disembarkation!! Just had my first experience on a "full cruise" that allowed passengers to be the first off the ship if they take their own luggage--this was on Grandeur of the Seas at the new Locust Point Terminal in Baltimore. I thought the process went awful, but maybe this is was an anomaly? Loads of passengers with LOTS of luggage clogging stairwells and the entire process was EXTREMELY slow today. They called "white tags" approximately 30 minutes later after self assist, but what we found were passengers with luggage still trying to manipulate bags off elevators and down stairwells. Ship personnel kept asking for only the paxs with the color tag that had been called and for "others" not to block the stairwells. What they didn't realize was there were no "others", everyone was following the rules but trying to manipulate 5 bags were causing the jam. I believe we docked about 9:30 and first paxs were called about 11am.

 

Everyone caught in the situation all thought that RCCL should re-examine the policy. On "Cruises to Nowhere" everyone takes their bags on and off, but this cruise had back-to-back paxs with lots of luggage PLUS alcohol they are trying to get pass the custom guys!

 

As for the new Baltimore terminal? Easy access with very short walk to buses or taxis(there were some but not a huge number) after retrieving bags. Plenty of port personnel directing but not a lot of porters. Parking lot is not as large as Dundalk's for passengers that will park their vehicle.

[LBB]

I walked off the last cruise I was on...in Miami. However, we weren't the first ones off. I know we were supposed to leave earlier, but we stayed in our room until a little after 8 when they said we had to. Then we just walked off. It wasn't a problem at all.

[cb at sea]

The only reason they call "colors" is to be able to get the luggage on the roundabout for you to pick up. We were one of the 1st off the ship--still had to wait about 20 minutes to get our bags. Not too bad, but if you have a 9am flight, that might push things a bit! I sure wouldn't want to have to lug all of our bags into those little elevators and down escalators! Just book your flight so you don't have to rush!

[Texsungirl]

We did the self assist and were off the boat and on our way back home in less than an hour. It was fantastic and we will do it again. We don't take much luggage so it was very easy for us to leave the cabin, get off the ship and make our way through the terminal. I could see where if you did take a more than a couple of items a piece it would/could be a pain. However, it sure beat the heck out of waiting for your color to be called.

[wrp96]

Self-assist worked on the Rhapsody in December and the Monarch in March. On Rhapsody, they had a set time where if you wanted to take your bags off you had to go during the 30 minute time period. If you weren't off by then, you had to wait for your color to be called.

 

Monarch, I was literally the first person off the ship in the self-assist time so no delays at all for me.

[QTBabyNurse]

Just off the Explorer today and the self-assist departure required you to be off the ship by 6;45 am....WAY TOO EARLY for me!!

[BearySweet2Cruise]

Ya know..so many want to know how soon they can board, and want to be on the ship early.. (we do too) and then people are fighting tooth and nail to get off the thing... other than an eary flight (which should have been made later anyways) I do not understand people wanting to rush off the ship... We do not mind being last is so be it, enjoy every moment you can! Sitting on the deck waiting to get off is not that bad, after all a lot of us sit on the deck through the cruise and that is just fine.. then time to get off and everyone wants off NOW! don't get it... :confused::confused:

[TKinAZ]

I wouldn't mind sitting on the deck waiting to be called, but on our last cruise, we were assigned a particular area to sit in and wait. We were assigned to the theater, where they were showing reruns of some stupid television show I had never seen--for good reason--and had the volume extremely high. It was impossible to relax, carry on a conversation, or read a book. I hope they don't still do that. It was miserable.

[photonut4]

The reason I like to be off the ship early is because I always have to face a very long drive home to TN. I can't stand sitting there waiting, when I could be getting the drive over with.

[crusnchick]

Is there a specific order they always call the colors?

[wrp96]

Is there a specific order they always call the colors?

 

Depends on the ship. Usually they'll have a priority color for all the Diamond C&A members and really early flights first. Then the rest of the colors are assigned based on flight times, whether you have a post cruise excursion or hotel, etc.

[greatdanemom]

We did self-assist Sept '05 in Baltimore off of Grandeur (old location) and in April '06 in Tampa. Both times it was a breeze. I wonder what happened to back it up so bad for the people on Grandeur this past week? I imagine it had something to do with the new terminal location? Sorry to hear what everyone had to deal with!

 

Cheryl

[Theresa522]

We did this on Carnival and it was wonderful... No problems at all. When we traveled on the Dawn last July they convinced us that because we had VIP passes to get off the ship we should Not carry our bags off the ship.. OH MY GOD was that a mistake.. IT WAS HORRIBLE.. Thousands of bags all over the place. My dh wanted to kill someone. :eek: We will NEVER do that again. JMPO

[lauren0309]

What time do you have to be off AOS with self assist? Do you have to inform anyone you are going to be going off this way the night before?

[ebonybee]

Yes, they place a form in your stateroom to be filled out if you would like to take this option. If you decide not to fill it out and take your own baggage anyway, I don't know how they will tell the difference.

[Happy ks]

We had our first and probably last experience with self assist last weekend. I suppose it could have gone smoother, but I did not care to haul all that stuff off the ship and I'm a light packer. All I had was a rollaboard, boarding bag and my purse.

 

Since I've never had much problem finding my bag after disembarking, I'll let them take it off for me in the future.

 

I will add that it seemed like half the ship was self-assisting. I had thought they had limitations on it.

[glanders]

We we on Jewel in April, and it was a mess. We were supposed to be the first off after self-assist, but there were so many people with SO MUCH LUGGAGE that we started getting nervous that we would miss our flights. Self-assist started at 8 and by 8:45, they had not called the first color. There was much griping from the throngs, and it was a bitter end to an otherwise pretty good time.

[wrp96]

What time do you have to be off AOS with self assist? Do you have to inform anyone you are going to be going off this way the night before?

 

They didn't have self-assist in San Juan when I sailed out of there in March.

 

If they do have it, most of the ships I've been on required you to sign up for it before the last day.

 

On Voyager (sister ship to AOS), they required you to sign up for self-assist. They actually has so many people doing it they divided it up into 4 groups to get off the ship.