Why the rush at the end of cruise ???

[airlink diva]

I love to read ship reviews. One of my fav things on Sunday nights and Monday mornings is reading all the reviews from recent cruisers. But what I don't understand is why some many people are in a rush to get off the ship :confused: ???

I don't understand why book such an early flight and stress yourself trying to get off the boat so soon? It's not just HAL sailers, but people from every cruiseline.

Last year I sailed with another cruiseline and the night before I was in the bar sitting next to a couple who had a 10 a.m. flight. They were so worried about missing the flight. The same goes for my last HAL sailing with the two 1st night tablemates (they ate in Lido the remaining nights) who mentioned to me that they had an early flight.

Frankly, I'm one of the last people to get off the ship. I'm sad because real life is about to begin again and I want to enjoy every minute of the ship.

Can anyone tell me why you rush to end your cruise??

 

Sailing on the Maasdam in 32 days !!

April 4-14, 2007!!!

[bankerbabe]

Sometimes the flights are just cheaper earlier in the day.

 

If your home airport is smaller and has less air traffic, then it can be a matter of necessity - that is the only flight available that will get them home that day. We have that problem a lot, since we live in Oregon, and in fact usually wind up staying in a hotel that night and flying the next day.

 

That's my thought, anyway.

[agabbymama]

Your cruise is technically OVER. The cruiselines don't even charge you the tip for that morning of departure. They just want to get passengers off the ship so they can clean and prepare for the embarking passengers.

 

I had 4:30 flights, so was one of the absolute last passengers off the Constellation, and even that was around 10:30 am. But we had to vacate our cabin and go to the theatre by 8:00. Then waited with coffee/tea/juice/danish for them to call all the different luggage tags. Our luggage was almost all by itself on the Pier. Made it really easy to pick out that way. I had tried for a 1:30 flight, but it was sold out. Sometimes, you just take what is available. If I were to do it over, I think I would have stayed the night at an airport hotel and caught an earlier flight the next day, but didn't think to do that before hand.:p

[dakrewser]

Most lines don't allow you to stay in your cabin the way HAL does. There's nothing pleasant about spending a couple of hours packed into some lounge with a few hundred others, all with carryons, all wanting to be out the door as soon as their number/color is called. I'm sure when we get back from our Dawn Princess cruise on April 1 we'll be angling for an early disembarkation. But when we were on the Prinsendam last summer we were the very last people off, the last out of the luggage shed and the last out of the parking lot - and wished we could have made it last even longer.

[airlink diva]

Most lines don't allow you to stay in your cabin the way HAL does. There's nothing pleasant about spending a couple of hours packed into some lounge with a few hundred others, all with carryons, all wanting to be out the door as soon as their number/color is called. I'm sure when we get back from our Dawn Princess cruise on April 1 we'll be angling for an early disembarkation. But when we were on the Prinsendam last summer we were the very last people off, the last out of the luggage shed and the last out of the parking lot - and wished we could have made it last even longer.

I agree with you on HAL. I love sitting in my cabin, watching a movie until my number/color was call. No long wait for the elevator, no problem finding my luggage.

On my last cruise with another cruiseline, I had to leave the room. No big deal. I went and found me a nice spot on sit and listen to my ipod. I was near where you left the boat and it was like a cattle rush :eek: !! People shoving, pushing just to get off the boat. I was amazed. When they called my number group, I waited until the line got down and casually walked off the ship.

[sail7seas]

We almost always do a post cruise stay after our cruises. Once our cruise is over, we are eager to get to our hotel, check in, get settled and begin to enjoy the next phase of our vacation.

 

For other people, their choice of flights may be very limited to their home cities. Maybe there is only one non-stop per day and they want to be on it.

I agree booking a 10:00 A.M. flight is way too stressful. I would never do that.

 

[localady]

 

I agree booking a 10:00 A.M. flight is way too stressful. I would never do that.

 

 

In this day and age a 10 am flight is really a gamble. US Customs and Immigrations are totally in charge that day and no one gets off the Ship until they are satisfied!

Makes no sense to book a flight before noon just too stressful!:eek:

[bepsf]

I love to read ship reviews. One of my fav things on Sunday nights and Monday mornings is reading all the reviews from recent cruisers. But what I don't understand is why some many people are in a rush to get off the ship :confused: ???

I don't understand why book such an early flight and stress yourself trying to get off the boat so soon? It's not just HAL sailers, but people from every cruiseline.

Last year I sailed with another cruiseline and the night before I was in the bar sitting next to a couple who had a 10 a.m. flight. They were so worried about missing the flight. The same goes for my last HAL sailing with the two 1st night tablemates (they ate in Lido the remaining nights) who mentioned to me that they had an early flight.

Frankly, I'm one of the last people to get off the ship. I'm sad because real life is about to begin again and I want to enjoy every minute of the ship.

Can anyone tell me why you rush to end your cruise??

 

I've been saying the same thing for the past 4 years...

:cool:

[wizard-of-roz]

Ditto, my feelings exactly.....What's up with the "rush" thing! Poor planning, as far as I can see it....or, we "the people" are so used to being "cattle" in the big scheme of things....called, life....that we will get into a line and wait, wait, wait!

It's habit.......:(

[Chivalrygirl]

I have said that for many years, its something to do with coming from big populations. I guess to keep order lines are a necessity, the first time I ever saw the curling line was at Disneyland, we even use that down here now. Sometimes you Americans can move those lines real fast.

We have a large population of 4 million :D we get in small queues on occasions but I don't think we have quite got to the mob mentaility yet. Perhaps this is why we found some people on the Statendam downright rude? :confused:

 

Cheers

Val

[Smiles3usa]

...and there is no logical explaination for their actions! Waiting in line for 2 hours with mobs of others so they can be the first on the ship....then rushing to get off too. Ironically, it happens to be the same folks doing both. I could never understand why there was the rush to get off the plane--as if the folks in the front seats would magically disappear. I dunno, I think it has something to do with their upbringing that makes people so unreasonable in their actions. To each his own, I just stand back and look in awe.

[Sailorgirlseattle]

Well, I have to say I LIKE the rush of passengers getting off the cruise previous to mine ... means I can get in MY cabin sooner :D Seriously, though, I'm like you. Our last two cruises were homeporting here in Seattle, so we just said we could go anytime and tried to patiently wait our turn ... in that environment though, patience will only last so long. At least for me.

 

Another thing: If it's a West coast cruise and passengers are flying back to the East Coast, the flights usually leave early in the am because of the time differences. While 10 a.m. is early to be off the ship, it's actually late to be catching a flight back east.

[RevNeal]

I agree. I'm not in any hurry to get off the ship. I always book flights after noon so that, given normal circumstances, I don't have to worry about disembarkation delays (if the ship is late getting into port, that's another matter). By-and-large, I also don't bother booking a post-cruise hotel stay. Once I'm actually OFF the ship I want to get home. Twice I've booked post-cruise stays or tours. In both cases they made sense. Otherwise, I plan to head straight home once I'm off the ship. However ... leaving the ship is not something I'm particularly anxious to do.

 

Very few things beat the wonderful feeling of not having to disembark the ship when one is doing a b2b. :D

[earl_m]

I agree, why rush to get off the ship. You will get back to the real world soon enough. I always book my flight for the afternoon

[barriedavis]

Take a wider view guys, not every passenger is from the US! On our last cruise we had a flight and transatlantic connection to make with dodgy weather somewhere on the way. Missing ten minutes in that scenario could have been very difficult. When we get off, we have a hell of a game with Immigration which you do not have. That puts us behind everyone else in the scramble for baggage. Then the porters. Then the taxis/car rental buses. Then the rental car office (if applicable) If not, its a delay at check in as we are further back in the line there. Then the security check on the way to the gate. If there is a five minute delay in every one of those processes, it can wreak havoc with your plans, not funny if you have 16 hours of travelling ahead of you. Even those going to Green Bay or Canada will look at the day ahead with trepidation as far as weather and flight disruption is concerned so you can understand why they want to se tthe whole thing in motion. Remember, not everyone can get late flights. With maybe 8000 to 10000 people all trying to get from ship to airport and home, you take what you can get and need to get off to put it all in process.

[NHCruisr]

We always try to book flights after noon so that we're not having to rush off the ship. Sometimes that's not possible so we are a bit more pressed for time. I've always enjoyed the fact that we can stay in our cabin until our group was called. On our recent Westerdam cruise (an excellent cruise by the way) something odd happened. During the disembarkation talk the CD emphasized HAL's policy of being able to stay in the cabin. He mentioned this several times as being a special benefit that sets HAL apart from the other lines. You can imagine our surprise when our cabin steward came and knocked at our doors and asked us and our family who were in three adjacent cabins to leave our cabins! This was at 8:30 and the announcements hadn't even started yet. We did leave our cabins and waited out on the promenade deck for over an hour.

[trvlcrzy]

...because DH has to drive us home to NC. Work beckons on Monday morning so we can begin to pay off the bills from all we spent!!!:eek: (DH prefers to drive because he feels queasy when he is the passenger in a car. I prefer to sleep, so I don't have a problem with him driving.)

[seaisme]

I love to read ship reviews. One of my fav things on Sunday nights and Monday mornings is reading all the reviews from recent cruisers. But what I don't understand is why some many people are in a rush to get off the ship :confused: ???

I don't understand why book such an early flight and stress yourself trying to get off the boat so soon? It's not just HAL sailers, but people from every cruiseline.

Last year I sailed with another cruiseline and the night before I was in the bar sitting next to a couple who had a 10 a.m. flight. They were so worried about missing the flight. The same goes for my last HAL sailing with the two 1st night tablemates (they ate in Lido the remaining nights) who mentioned to me that they had an early flight.

Frankly, I'm one of the last people to get off the ship. I'm sad because real life is about to begin again and I want to enjoy every minute of the ship.

Can anyone tell me why you rush to end your cruise??

 

Sailing on the Maasdam in 32 days !!

April 4-14, 2007!!!

OK...another perspective. I love being on the ship and usually board very early...I am able to enjoy the ship...have a nice lunch...drinks...book spa appointments...etc. But I also like having an early disembarking time. Why? You can't enjoy the ship! Nothing is open. There's no "cruise excitement". Nothing. And I am anxious to enjoy my day...because we usually fly out the next day and have a rental car waiting for us to enjoy the area. Cruise is over (sob, sob)... may as well enjoy the LAND resorts! Just hate wasting time in our cabin or a lounge, with nothing to do. I think they have a good system!

[olechka]

Our first cruise we booked 4pm and sat on the floor in the airport (no seats at all) for 6 hours, that was not fun. Second cruise we booked 11am and missed our flight and the connection, it was a nightmare, we didn't get home until 3am and I was really sick fever and all. Princess disembarkation is a nightmare, it ruined the whole cruise experience.

 

This time we booked 1pm, let's hope it goes better with HAL.

[Odd Ball]

Here are my reasons for wanting to get off the ship early.

• I have to be in work the next day, so I want to get home to get my act together.

• Long lines at the airports. The earlier you get there, the shorter the lines.

[Randyk47]

I guess it's kind of a mixed bag with us. While San Antonio is a good size city the airport is not a major hub so some connections are limited. We don't book late morning flights for disembarkation day but we don't always have the luxury of picking a late afternoon flight either. We attempt not to rush when at all possible....sometimes it happens.

[jerseygirl3]

We always try to book flights after noon so that we're not having to rush off the ship. Sometimes that's not possible so we are a bit more pressed for time. I've always enjoyed the fact that we can stay in our cabin until our group was called. On our recent Westerdam cruise (an excellent cruise by the way) something odd happened. During the disembarkation talk the CD emphasized HAL's policy of being able to stay in the cabin. He mentioned this several times as being a special benefit that sets HAL apart from the other lines. You can imagine our surprise when our cabin steward came and knocked at our doors and asked us and our family who were in three adjacent cabins to leave our cabins! This was at 8:30 and the announcements hadn't even started yet. We did leave our cabins and waited out on the promenade deck for over an hour.

 

NH, same thing happend to us on the Westerdam 1/28/07 sailing. We were planning to go to breakfast in the dining room, but our cabin steward knocked on our door and asked us to vacate (in a very nice way, mind you). Since we didn't want to lug our carry-ons to the dining room, we skipped the dining room and just had coffee in the Windstar cafe. But you are right, they made announcements and it was in the paperwork that you could stay in your cabin until your color tag was called.

 

As to why people rush off ships, we don't because we normally are spending a few extra days post-cruise or we book a late flight. But we fly into Philadelphia or Atlantic City, so we have more flexibility with selecting flights. My sister and BIL are coming from Richmond VA, and they don't have the luxury of a non-stop flight, so they had to book a 12:50 out of FLL (we debark in Miami). They will have to be swift in their departure as it was the only flight available during Easter week, unless they wanted to pay over $1,100 pp (there are four of them).

[Juanita462]

I don't think you have to vacate your cabin just because the room steward asks you to. Ours asked us to leave and my husband told him that the announcement at the disembarkation talk said specifically that we could wait in our room and that's what we were going to do. He came in and prepared the cabin around us which was ok by us - so we concluded that it was for his convenience not ours.

 

We would have liked to take a 10:15 flight as we wouldn't have to change planes but opted for a later one in the afternoon so we will get off as late as we can and spend the afternoon at the airport. No problem as long as we have a good book to read.

 

Our next cruise is round trip from our home port - yeah!

[tip]

Why the rush? Not all of us are retired or are on extended vacations. Some of us face long flights with multiple legs. Some of us have to work for a living and have to be up at 5 a.m. the next day and don't want to arrive home at midnight! When it is over, it is time to get over it! Enjoy thinking about the good times that you had and planning your next cruise vacation!

[cruzlover56]

We too have endured the 6 hour airport wait ...sitting on the floor.

We have a 4:30 flight from Fort Lauderdale (the best time we could get) So this time we are going to try one of the HAL shore excursions. This will be our 4th time in Fort Lauderdale we have never seen the city. Its acombined Land and trip along the canals tour. My only worry is that they won't get us to the airport with enough time to go through all the additional hoops and that I will be toured out by then. :p