San Diego Port arrival time

[rlmac1001]

Was wondering what is the earliest time you can arrive and check in. Ticket says embark 1:30 - 3:00 but I have read where people are able to get in the terminal and check in at 11:30 AM. We have never gone out of San Diego before so we are not sure of the set up there. We are going on Carnival Spirit.

OH, there will be 3 ships embarking that day.

[mjbearit]

San Diego has security fencing around the terminal so there is no place to wait and no getting on early! You might by some weird stroke of luck get on earlier than that, but you most likely will be just standing there for a couple of hours. If it were me, I would just either show up at 1:00 and get in line, or show up at 2:00 after most of the first wave is in.

3 ships in port? Wow! I don't envy you! Make SURE that your luggage goes in the correct bins! There have been horror stories in SD of luggage getting on the wrong ships when there are 2 or more in port!

[linnealee]

I went out on the Radiance of the Seas from S.D. and The Pride of Aloha and Serenade of the Seas was there as well. It took FOREVER just to get past the fence that mjbearit mentioned in the shuttle. Be prepared to wait a while, so have a book handy.

[rlmac1001]

GREAT! lol Standing a long time is not a good thing for DH as he is recovering from a broken back. How do they get everyone embarked between 1:30 and 3:00 PM as that is the embark time on our tickets or do they break it up and some have a different embark time?

[Splinter]

The problem with 3 ships in port is disemarkation. They will be lucky to have everyone off the ship by 11:30, so by the time they finish cleaning, etc. it will most likely be 1:00 at the earliest that they will start embarkation. I assume if your time for embarkation say 1:30-3PM that the ship actually leaves at 5PM (since most ships now require you to be on board 2 hours before departure), but if you are in line well before 3PM you will have not problems getting on the ship.

[mjbearit]

This may be a bit of "hope springs eternal" or maybe a "pollyanna" type attitude, but I hold out hope for the fact that embarkation will be much faster now since we are having to provide so much more information to CCL up front. In theory, things should go very quickly now! Right? C'mon, somebody agree! :rolleyes:

From what I understand having listened to a lot of people who have embarked here, there is no place to sit down when you are outside of the fenced area either. Is it possible for you to call CCL, explain that your husband is recovering and maybe get them to provide a wheelchair? They may do that so he has a place to relax or they may offer early boarding or something. All they can do is say no. It is worth the phone call at any rate.

[rlmac1001]

This may be a bit of "hope springs eternal" or maybe a "pollyanna" type attitude, but I hold out hope for the fact that embarkation will be much faster now since we are having to provide so much more information to CCL up front. In theory, things should go very quickly now! Right? C'mon, somebody agree! :rolleyes:

From what I understand having listened to a lot of people who have embarked here, there is no place to sit down when you are outside of the fenced area either. Is it possible for you to call CCL, explain that your husband is recovering and maybe get them to provide a wheelchair? They may do that so he has a place to relax or they may offer early boarding or something. All they can do is say no. It is worth the phone call at any rate.

 

*Thanks, I will give them a call, not sure if DH would like to sit in a wheelchair for a couple hours...lol and to look at him you would not know he has a broken back.

*I checked and YES 3 SHIPS IN PORT THAT DAY :eek: YIKES!

*How do they expect to get that many people checked in and on the ship in 1 1/2 hours...

*Do they have a cut off time to not let you get in line?

*What if your not checked in and on the ship 2 hours before she sails?

 

We have never sailed out of S.D. and I have only read and heard of the nightmares people have had there.

We have always sailed out of San Pedro and never had a single problem. Walked up porter took our bags, security checked tickets, on to line to check in (5 minute wait) and on to ship.

 

We are getting very nervous about the mass people because of 3 ships and loooong lines...

[star453]

We are sailing out of SD in November on Celebrity. Hearing that I will have to stand in long lines really bothers me as I can not stand for long periods. I guess a call to Celebrity is in order to ask the same questions. Using a wheelchair is just not my style, I do use a cane however. Hopefully in the next few months things will get better,:)

 

What website shows what ships are in port together?

 

Dennis

[mjbearit]

There is a website that most people use on this board, but right now, for the life of me I can't think of it! I use the port of San Diego web page and it works great! The address is:

http://www.portofsandiego.org/sandiego_maritime/cruise/schedulesearch.asp

The other site is great for finding out all ports, but this just shows what is scheduled in San Diego so should give you the info you need.

[AZAaronBoy]

*Thanks, I will give them a call, not sure if DH would like to sit in a wheelchair for a couple hours...lol and to look at him you would not know he has a broken back.

*I checked and YES 3 SHIPS IN PORT THAT DAY :eek: YIKES!

*How do they expect to get that many people checked in and on the ship in 1 1/2 hours...

*Do they have a cut off time to not let you get in line?

*What if your not checked in and on the ship 2 hours before she sails?

 

We have never sailed out of S.D. and I have only read and heard of the nightmares people have had there.

We have always sailed out of San Pedro and never had a single problem. Walked up porter took our bags, security checked tickets, on to line to check in (5 minute wait) and on to ship.

 

When we leave in a few weeks there are 2 ships the Dawn & Elation. Lucky for me they are both smaller ships and crossing my fingers that it won't be too bad.

 

We are getting very nervous about the mass people because of 3 ships and loooong lines...

 

A couple of months ago on the Princess board there was a report of 3 ships in port. (one being Princess) The Princess ship actually did their check-in at the Convention Center to ease congestion. If you haven't heard from CCL it may be one of the other ships.

[Wa Cruiser]

There is a website that most people use on this board, but right now, for the life of me I can't think of it! I use the port of San Diego web page and it works great! The address is:

http://www.portofsandiego.org/sandiego_maritime/cruise/schedulesearch.asp

The other site is great for finding out all ports, but this just shows what is scheduled in San Diego so should give you the info you need.

The website you are referring to is cruisecal.com.

 

Just did a check, it shows only 2 ships (the Spirit and the Zaandam) on 2/18/08. The Elation won't be there until the following day, which is confirmed at the Carnival site.

 

Guess the Port of San Diego site is not up-to-date.

[leoandhugh]

There are seldom 3 ships here on one day; if there are, one of them docks at the Broadway pier. But the poster above says only 2 - Zaandam and Carnival Spirit. In this case I would expect them to put the Zaandam on the side of the Cruise terminal pier that has the permanent structure because she will be returning from and leaving for 2week RTHawaii, hence more luggage to deal with. The Pride will be on the side with the temporary structure. However, for boarding they have recently been boarding both ships through the permanent structure. Once inside, you should find signage telling you which way to go for which ship.

As for actual boarding time, it is sometimes affected by either the late arrival of the ship or delay in unloading luggage. Customs and Immigration will not allow passengers to disembark until all luggage is off the ship. So--- if the ship is late or luggage delayed, the embarkation process cannot begin until incoming pax are all off. If everything runs smoothly you may be able to board as early as noon. We have a cruise out of here on March1 and have the shuttle to the pier ordered for 11:30, and because we are handicapped with wheelchair and scooter, they permit the shuttle on to the dock to unload:)

[rlmac1001]

I surely hope there are only 2 ships on the 18th... One site shows 3 ships

15. 2/18/2008 Carnival Spirit 8-day Mexico 16. 2/18/2008 Holland America Zaandam 15-day Hawaii 17. 2/18/2008 Carnival Elation 5-day Mexico

But Carnival shows the Elation on the 19th, so I really hope the Carnival site is right and the other site is WRONG...lol We are diving our selves to the ship so not sure how early to get there. We don't want to have to sit in the car for hours nor stand in a line for hours as DH can't really do that for long periods.

[AZaTaz]

We have sailed out of SD twice in the last 6 months, the last one in January. I am not sure what long lines, waiting, and fence you are talking about. We arrive at the Pier between 10:30 and 11:00. Drop off our bags, check in, get picture taken and walk on to the ship. Had a DoD and hamburger in hand by 11:30. It has never takes more than 30 minutes and last time there were two ships in port.

[rlmac1001]

I assume if your time for embarkation say 1:30-3PM that the ship actually leaves at 5PM (since most ships now require you to be on board 2 hours before departure), but if you are in line well before 3PM you will have not problems getting on the ship.

 

Our ticket says boarding time is 1:30-3:00, do they have different boarding times for different cat's and VIP or does every have 1:30-3:00. I also checked and our departure time is 4:00 so not really possible to be on board 2 hours before we depart unless we are one of the first to board.

 

We have not sailed out of S. D. before so not sure, do they have a cut off time so if your not checked in by say 2:30-3:00 you miss the ship? We've always gone out of San Pedro and never had any issue, always walked up about 11 and on the ship with in about 30 minutes, and our tickets said boarding time was 1:00.

[skidrue]

I'm with AzaTaz on this one. Not sure what everyone else is mentioning here, but embarkation was a breeze. Plenty of seating, quick and no lines.

[puli]

The website you are referring to is cruisecal.com.

 

Just did a check, it shows only 2 ships (the Spirit and the Zaandam) on 2/18/08. The Elation won't be there until the following day, which is confirmed at the Carnival site.

 

Guess the Port of San Diego site is not up-to-date.

 

When I checked both sites regarding the Ryndam sailing out of San Diego on 4/15 the Port of SD site showed only one ship while cruisecal showed two. More research showed that the second ship was not embarking from San Diego but rather San Diego was just a port stop for this ship on a cruise originating from LA. Hopefully this will make a big difference in the Ryndam boarding issues. Perhaps this happens often in this port!

[frchteaze]

Our ticket says boarding time is 1:30-3:00, do they have different boarding times for different cat's and VIP or does every have 1:30-3:00. I also checked and our departure time is 4:00 so not really possible to be on board 2 hours before we depart unless we are one of the first to board.

 

We have not sailed out of S. D. before so not sure, do they have a cut off time so if your not checked in by say 2:30-3:00 you miss the ship? We've always gone out of San Pedro and never had any issue, always walked up about 11 and on the ship with in about 30 minutes, and our tickets said boarding time was 1:00.

 

Just my opinion here, but I've always believed the tickets put a later boarding time to deter some pax so that everyone doesn't all show up at the same time. Of course, us early bird boarders just ignore the stated times and go with the earliest for the particular port and cruiseline. Maybe you wait half an hour or so, but it's fun being one of the first on board.

[CWcruisers]

I have been on 33 cruises and San Diego is one of the fastest embarkations I have ever experienced. The problem is that if you get there really early, say 9-10:00, you will be standing in line outside that fence. But since I live hear, I sail out of hear a lot and ususally from the point where I am dropped off to the point where I am in my cabin is 15 minutes. Of course, I usually wait until after 1:30 to get on, but I agree with AZataz that most people are boarding by 11:30.

 

As for a cut off time to get on, I don't believe one exist. The last time we sailed the Elation we got on around 3:30 because we were finishing up some work stuff and it was no problem. I think you can get on as long as a gang plank is still attached to the dock.

 

Besides, there is not much use in coming too early unless you like sitting in traffic on the freeway.

[rlmac1001]

So it would be safe to say if we get dropped off at the terminal say 11:00ish we would not in counter a long line and we would be able to board the ship then? Or would it be better to wait a bit, (we are coming from Corona) so not to be in the AM work traffic and get to the ship about 12:00ish.

[CWcruisers]

I think noonish would be better. The traffic on the 5 South takes time to clear.

[rlmac1001]

Hi all,

 

Just back from the Carnival Spirit that is out of San Diego. I was so worried about the embark/debarking of the ship because of all the terrible things I had heard of about S.D. Well, I must say it was so easy!!!

 

We got dropped off at the terminal at 11:28 and we were on the ship NO LIE by 11: 45. Guess we got there at the right time cuz there were no lines at all and a big sign that said embarkation starting at 11:30. The only time we had to wait was to get our picture taken just before we got on the ship.

 

Very sad now, we are back... boo hoo any way, we got into port at 6:45 AM The ship was cleared from customs and we were off the ship by 8:38 and that was after they took off the VIP's, early flight people/express luggage people. We got in the line to bing bong off the ship and get our luggage. Walked into the warehouse found our luggage and out the doors back to reality...

 

EVERYTHING went so smoothly.

[alphakitty]

We recently sailed on the Carnival Spirit out of San Diego. Here's a bit from my review regarding embarkation.

 

 

The morning of the cruise we walked to the port from the hotel and had breakfast just across the street from the ships. The dock is right on the street, so getting a good view of the ships in port was nice. There was a sign warning that there was no dropping off of passengers before 11:00 AM.

We were dropped off by taxi at 11 on the dot. We left our luggage with a porter who refused our tip. I was pleasantly surprised by this…he told my husband to “spend in on her”. After passing through the security line, we were given a card with Zone 9 on it. We got our Sign & Sail cards without waiting in any line and were then directed to seats to wait until our zone was called. This took about 20 minutes and we were walking on board. All in all, it was a very easy embarkation. We left our carry on in our cabin (we didn't wait until 1:30 to go in) and headed up to the Lido deck for lunch.

[mjbearit]

I just love hearing this! We will be leaving next week and are trying to figure out our morning schedule. Reading these two reviews of the port gives me renewed hope in our Port District! :) I think we will be going downtown a day or two early though to scope out the area since we don't go downtown all that often and one of the kids will be dropping us off so I want to be sure he knows where he is going and how to get back home!

Thanks both for writing about your experiences!

[rlmac1001]

mjbearit,

 

I was so worried because of the horror stories I had heard about embarkation in San Diego, but once we got there I was shocked in a good way...lol

Maybe we hit it at just the right time or something but from the time we were dropped off till we had food and drink in hand was NO MORE than 20 minutes if that.

 

We had our daughter drop us off and she also picked us up when we got back. She doesn't know her way around S.D. very well since we don't live there but she had no problem getting there to get us. She drove right in the drop off/pick up area parked, we loaded and off to home we went.

 

I hope you enjoy your cruise, wait how could you not...LOL

Oh ya watch for dolphins and whales... you tend to see the dolphins in the morning and going into the ports.