Ship Boarding Time

[HPCW]

I just received my Guest Vacation Documents. I am so excited...but the Documents say "for your comfort and convenience we recomend you arrive at the pier no earlier than 02:00.

 

I keep reading on CC that some people are arriving at 10 or 11 am. I can't see how they are supposed to get 2500 or so people on the ship in 3 hours and I would hate to be caught in a cattle drive.

 

What will happen if we do go earlier and will being in a GS make any difference at this time? :confused:

[cb at sea]

Only folks who don't know better show up at 2!!! It's for RCI's convenience!!! Really, get there about 11:30--you should be able to walk right in! Check-in takes about 20 min. or so--just like in a hotel. Start enjoying the ship--you've already paid to use this 1st day!

[Sue L]

Ours said 2 also and we were there at 10:30 and on the ship at 11:30! There were no lines.

[isujim]

I wonder if there is any rhyme or reason on this 2pm notice thing.......we have never had documents with that in them.........certain embarkation ports maybe? although we have sailed out of almost all of them........of course maybe it was there and I missed it or ignored it.......LOL

[HPCW]

:D Thank you all so much. I knew that CC's could clear things up for me. I am so glad I asked. If my fiancee and I had to wait in a huge line he would not be happy, but he is a by the book guy, now I can convince him that it is ok to go early. GREAT!!!!:D

[piercetc4]

you are in a suite so you will get priority boarding and lots of other neat perks! congrats !

[Sue L]

you are in a suite so you will get priority boarding and lots of other neat perks! congrats !

 

 

It was funny in Miami in March we walked right up to regular check in for deck 9 and the "priority" line had about 10 people in it. We were on about a half hour earlier then our friends in the suite line.

[andyjo0930]

Our last cruise was just a couple of weeks ago and we were leaving san juan at 6 and the documents said to get to the pier no earlier than 3. We landed at 1:10 and took the taxi over to the pier and we were boarded and in the windjammer having lunch by 2:15. And there were already 100's of people already on board.

[Emi's Mom]

Getting there by noon is usually a good time. You sail through the short lines and are enjoying a drink on deck in no time at all.

[Desert Cruizers]

We are going on our 4th Cruise, 2nd with RCC on the Radiance to Hawaii RT Oct 2008, and fiends will be joining us for their first cruise. I hope we can board together but now am wondering if we will board before them and use a differant line. We are also members of the Crown and Anchor, will that make a differance as to which area we go to. We are sailing out of San Diego.

[artk]

hmmm... i think i was a fiend on my first cruise too:D

[bmw mama]

Getting there by noon is usually a good time. You sail through the short lines and are enjoying a drink on deck in no time at all.

WE are going on the 6/24/07 cruise and will be there at 11;00 ! Rhapsody of the sea. I really don`t know how they have time to do all the cleaning before we get on the ship...because my last cruise we got off at 9:30 after a big breakfast !!:)

[Emi's Mom]

WE are going on the 6/24/07 cruise and will be there at 11;00 ! Rhapsody of the sea. I really don`t know how they have time to do all the cleaning before we get on the ship...because my last cruise we got off at 9:30 after a big breakfast !!:)

 

RCCL has hired a troup of little elves with tiny little wands, and "abrakadabra" all is cleaned and sparkling in a matter of moments!! :p Those guys really work miracles. I would leave my cabin in a mess, go have breakfast, come back to the cabin within the hour and everything was perfect! :D I don't know how they do it, but it gets done.

[jacsdan]

Just sailed on the Radiance in March, we boarded by 11:30 though the cabins were not open till 1:00. They will store your carry-ons so you can get early preview of the ship and a leisure lunch in the Windjamer. Will sail her again in July out of Anchorage.

[R and K]

For our last cruise, which was out of Galveston on Splendour of the Seas, we arrived at the pier at 9:30 AM due to availability of free transportation from the hotel. We were able to check in our luggage and then waited in an area before the screening stations until 10:30 AM. After check-in, we had a drink and snacks (Diamond Members) and then were allowed to board about 10:50 AM. We were the first to walk on the ship and this early boarding allowed us time to check out our table location in the dining room then explore the ship. At noon we had lunch and relaxed until 1 PM at which time the rooms were available.

Boarding early is much more relaxing that having to stand in line.

Have fun.

[Desert Cruizers]

I'm glad they are not strict on their boarding times. As one I believe said earlier, there might have been a boarding time but she didn't even look and got right on. We have so far never had a a delay in boarding, getting there by 11, except for last Cruise were taken over to Terminal at 1 but still boarded imediately.

[HPCW]

Thank you all so much. I will be looking at getting there around 11 am then. I can't wait!!!:)

[ksjserv]

We find that getting there around Noon is a good time. If you get there too early like 10 or 10:30am there seems to be too much traffic & congestion between people being dropped off at the terminal and other passengers getting off the ship. We need to get there early this time because of a wedding but normally we don't get there until Noon and never had to wait more than 15 minutes to check in.

[PrettyLA]

We were allowed on the ship earlier than 2:00, however we were not able to go to our stateroom until later on.

[ksjserv]

We were told to get to the terminal by 10:30am because we were attending a ship wedding. However, they didn't allow anyone to check in until almost 11:30am. So my advise would be don't get there too early because the earliest they start checking in passengers is around 11:30am. Your stateroom may NOT be ready.

[willysgrandma]

We don't arrive that early because if there is any delay in disembarkation of the previous cruise, you could be waiting around a long time to get on.

 

On RCCL , you may not be permitted to go into your room until 1:00 or later - we hate carrying around out carry ons. We learned to go later on to the ship and enjoy not waiting on lines.