Disembarkation Time on the NCL Spirit?

[mlm228]

Hi, I'm cruising on the NCL Spirit. Does anyone know what time I can expect to disembark? I have a wedding to go to that afternoon and want to figure out how much time I have. :eek:

 

Thanks in advance.

[kitty9]

They usually try and have all passengers off the ship by 9:30

[parody]

One would think that the websites for various cruise lines would prominently display this type of information but, except for Carnival, they don't. As an indication of times to book a return flight by debarkation port for Carnival cruises, click here.

[Happy ks]

One would think that the websites for various cruise lines would prominently display this type of information but, except for Carnival, they don't. As an indication of times to book a return flight by debarkation port for Carnival cruises, click here.

 

All cruise lines give the estimated time of arrival for the morning of disembarkation. The problem is that they cannot know until that morning what time actual disembarkation will begin, not even Carnival. There can be delays caused by any number of things.

 

One thing I do know is that they do want everyone off the ship as quickly as possible. Disembarkation day is also new pax embarking for them and they have a lot of work to do on those days. The absolute latest we have ever gotten off a ship was 10am and that was an extremely long wait (BTW it was our one Carnival cruise).

 

Many cruise lines now have what they call self-disembarkation, or express disembarkation. Don't let it fool you. The majority of passengers want to get off the ship as soon as possible. The line to get off the ship is knee deep, the lines are long, it is crowded. Even though they state they limit the numbers, I think a lot of people try to rush the line and the cruies employees aren't going to duke it out with you, they just want you gone!

 

Unless you have some pressing need to get off the ship ASAP, relax and take it easy. If you have more than one bag to haul along, leave it out the night before and pick it up in the terminal in the morning. The great thing about self-disembarkation that we are finding now is that there are far fewer bags to sort through in the terminal. We have a leisurely breakfast, leaving our carry ons in the cabin, return to the cabin for pick up and a last minute check (to see if we forgot anything) and proceed to our waiting area. We wait there until called, it's far more comfortable than the lobby, perched atop your own suitcase with the mass of people believing they are going to make a mad dash off the ship.

 

That's just us, we don't go to see first run movies as soon as they come out, either :rolleyes:

[parody]

All cruise lines give the estimated time of arrival for the morning of disembarkation.

 

While this is true, hopefully you would agree that it provides the traveler no useful information and is, in fact, deceptive. Saying that a cruise ship will arrive at its debarkation port at 6:30 AM (say) really tells the consumer no useful information. I would suspect that many first-time cruisers are then under the false impression that they can leave the ship soon thereafter and book their return flights accordingly.

 

IMHO, a better strategy would be to say something to the effect that the ship arrives at 6:30 AM. Passengers cannot deboard until the ship clears customs and everyone's account is settled. Individuals (except those in suites, etc.) will deboard by color codes that reflect the time of their airline flights. While the cruise line recognizes that delays in this schedule can happen, about xx% of the time all passengers have left the ship by 10:00 AM. The cruise line should know quite precisely what the value of "xx" is. Kudos to Carnival for providing at least some useful information to travelers.

[Happy ks]

While this is true, hopefully you would agree that it provides the traveler no useful information and is, in fact, deceptive. Saying that a cruise ship will arrive at its debarkation port at 6:30 AM (say) really tells the consumer no useful information. I would suspect that many first-time cruisers are then under the false impression that they can leave the ship soon thereafter and book their return flights accordingly.

 

IMHO, a better strategy would be to say something to the effect that the ship arrives at 6:30 AM. Passengers cannot deboard until the ship clears customs and everyone's account is settled. Individuals (except those in suites, etc.) will deboard by color codes that reflect the time of their airline flights. While the cruise line recognizes that delays in this schedule can happen, about xx% of the time all passengers have left the ship by 10:00 AM. The cruise line should know quite precisely what the value of "xx" is. Kudos to Carnival for providing at least some useful information to travelers.

 

 

There is absolutely no way they can predict this in advance. I've been off a ship as early as 7:30 am.

 

From what I can remember (I don't pay attention to the debarkation process after 12+ cruises) this is in verbal announcements onboard, the debarkation meeting they have and repeat continuously on the last day on their TV station as well as the info they pass out.

 

The whole point is that travel is what it is, you cannot always predict, accidents happen, strikes happen, weather happens, people don't report to customs....any number of things. To give a time to people and have them count on it can backfire in a big way.

[parody]

There is absolutely no way they can predict this in advance.

 

Again, while true, I find it completely disingenuous that cruise lines are essentially silent on this issue under the guise that it may "backfire" once in a while--and--at a frequency that they know but do not share with cruisers.

[Happy ks]

Again, while true, I find it completely disingenuous that cruise lines are essentially silent on this issue under the guise that it may "backfire" once in a while--and--at a frequency that they know but do not share with cruisers.

 

 

I don't think they are silent at all. They state the anticipated time the ship will return, they advise those who are flying not to book a flight before 12 noon. Every single return can be different. There are so many things that can and do interrupt the start of disembarkation. There are times they simply do not and cannot know in advance. I've read of ships being 2-3 hours late, even a day late, because of engine problems. There was a ship a year or so ago that (in Barcelona, Spain) that could not disembark pax for a whole day due to a sudden dock workers strike, with no warning at all. If a single passenger doesn't report for immigration it can hold up the entire ship (how many times have we heard the same pax being paged over and over again?).

 

Why would you prefer to be lied to or led on? Travel is what it is, not always predictable or smooth. I can only imagine the trouble they would have if they promised or advised a solid disembarkment time, many people are inexperienced at travel and are not prepared and cut things too close, it can be an absolute nightmare.

 

The majority of the time things do go smoothly, but I have been on a ship where express disembarkation didn't start until 9 am, even though we arrived in port at 6 am. I think they would rather be safe than sorry, wouldn't you?

[parody]

they advise those who are flying not to book a flight before 12 noon.

 

Why do I have this feeling that my posts have not been read? Carnival says in the webpage I posted earlier not to book a return flight before 1:30 PM (not 12 noon) if one is leaving from Galveston. Obviously, the TOD varies by port and things can go wrong. As I have suggested earlier, more concrete information should be provided to cruisers to help people make an intelligent evaluation to address questions such as that being asked by the OP.

 

Why would you prefer to be lied to or led on?

 

Am I not being "lied to" if the cruise line doesn't inform me of all the potential travel delays/problems that can occur? For most all scheduled airlines, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (a division of the US Department of Transportation) presents detailed information on a variety of factors (e.g., on-time performance, mishandled bags, etc.) on a monthly basis. If a particular airline has an on-time performance of 80% during the past 12 months, travelers can make an informed opinion as to the impact that might have on their travel plans. When a cruise line says it will dock at 6:30 AM, where does one go to get unbiased information on the reliability of this estimate? Do cruise lines meet this goal 1 time out of 10 or 9 times out of 10? I do not know. With some degree of assurance, can one state that there is a 99% chance that one will leave the ship by 10:00 AM or is it something else? As I stated previously, the cruise lines know the answers to these questions, but have chosen not to tell anyone else.

[Happy ks]

Why do I have this feeling that my posts have not been read? Carnival says in the webpage I posted earlier not to book a return flight before 1:30 PM (not 12 noon) if one is leaving from Galveston. Obviously, the TOD varies by port and things can go wrong. As I have suggested earlier, more concrete information should be provided to cruisers to help people make an intelligent evaluation to address questions such as that being asked by the OP.

 

 

 

Am I not being "lied to" if the cruise line doesn't inform me of all the potential travel delays/problems that can occur? For most all scheduled airlines, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (a division of the US Department of Transportation) presents detailed information on a variety of factors (e.g., on-time performance, mishandled bags, etc.) on a monthly basis. If a particular airline has an on-time performance of 80% during the past 12 months, travelers can make an informed opinion as to the impact that might have on their travel plans. When a cruise line says it will dock at 6:30 AM, where does one go to get unbiased information on the reliability of this estimate? Do cruise lines meet this goal 1 time out of 10 or 9 times out of 10? I do not know. With some degree of assurance, can one state that there is a 99% chance that one will leave the ship by 10:00 AM or is it something else? As I stated previously, the cruise lines know the answers to these questions, but have chosen not to tell anyone else.

 

:) I'm getting the same feeling from you!

 

I don't read Carnival literature, since I don't cruise that line. Many cruise lines advise you not book a flight before 12 noon.

 

Air travel is definitely different from cruise ship travel, you cannot compare the two when you are thinking of scheduling. To answer your second paragraph, how can they possibly know? There is no knowledge of delay in advance, nor would I assume that they can tell with any accuracy when a delay will happen. I hardly think there is a formula to follow, I do know they definitely want you off the ship and they definitely don't want delays. In other words, there is no simple solution.

 

Other than that, I have no idea how anyone could answer you satisfactorily.

[parody]

Many cruise lines advise you not book a flight before 12 noon.

 

I pity the poor cruiser who tries to find out even this very basic piece of information on the websites for Princess or Royal Caribbean--to name but 2 of the largest mass marketing cruise lines. But, as you pointed out previously, unexpected problems can even cause one to miss a flight that is taken after 12 noon. But, how often does this happen? I don't know.

[Happy ks]

I pity the poor cruiser who tries to find out even this very basic piece of information on the websites for Princess or Royal Caribbean--to name but 2 of the largest mass marketing cruise lines. But, as you pointed out previously, unexpected problems can even cause one to miss a flight that is taken after 12 noon. But, how often does this happen? I don't know.

 

 

Read CC for a few years, it does happen, occasionally. This very basic piece of information is not something that can be nailed down. You are looking for an absolute answer and it just isn't there. It's like driving on freeways, if you travel the same route every day for years. Most days, things flow smoothly (or there is a typical pattern) and then one day an accident occurs and the traffic is backed up for hours. There is no way to predict, there are no averages there are no guarantees and, most importantly, there is no way to predict when it will happen.

 

Advise to not book a flight before noon is typically ample time to get to many airports from many ports. Most that we have sailed out of are around a 30-45 drive. Even with delays, most of the time people are able to get to the airport by 10-11 am at the latest.

 

For the reasons I have already stated, we generally ditch the thought of flying out the day of disembarkation and spend another day or two at or nearby the port town. Not just to avoid crowded airports, but we don't care to get off a nice cruise ship and fly home immediately. Not everyone can manage that (usually a time factor) but it has proven to us to be a more pleasant way to ease back into the hassle of the real world.

[parody]

There is no way to predict, there are no averages there are no guarantees and, most importantly, there is no way to predict when it will happen.

 

By definition, it is true that there is no way to "predict" when a non-recurring congestion event will happen. However, there are averages. See page 7 of the report which states that on average, and in the locations that they examined, "the percent of non-recurring congestion is about 28 to 30% of the total congestion."

[Happy ks]

I have no idea how to answer you any other way than I have and I'm sure no one else can possibly give you an answer that is any more difinitive.

 

I highly doubt there are averages, stuff just happens, when it will happen..... nobody knows :rolleyes: I don't believe you can compare it to anything else like air traffic or freeway traffic.

 

Maybe you should see a psychic :)

 

Maybe you could track it for a few years and produce an answer yourself, although it could not be accurate.

[parody]

To the OP: NCL Spirit started disembarkation from a cruise that they made on November 28, 2004 at 12:15 PM and continued doing so until approximately 2:15 PM. Details can be found here. I do not know if this is the same type of cruise that you are taking. Unfortunately, looking at past Freestyle Dailys is the only way to get a handle on the information that you request, as I have stated many times previously, most cruise websites are silent on this issue.

 

I highly doubt there are averages

 

Do you or a close relative work for a cruiseline?