Carnival: Disembarking with your Family?

[kaf7878]

I was wondering about the best way to disembark with your family. We live in Tampa so my parents will be picking us up from the port. We are not in a big hurry or anything. I also don't want my kids pushed and trampled. What option should we take? Can we hang out on Lido Deck or Dining Room until disembark time? Thanks!

[Kerry's Girls]

We're always some of the last passengers off the ship. That way we don't fight the crowds AND it's very easy to find our luggage since most of the rest is already gone. The only drawback to this strategy happened on our last cruise because something caused a delay in everyone getting off, so by the time we dis-embarked, the extreme early birds trying to get on the ship were flooding the port so there was a lot of traffic with people trying to get their luggage onto the curb at the same time lots of passengers were still trying to get picked up. But that was a flook - usually we're off in plenty of time to avoid the newcomers, even though we're last.

 

I bring my portable DVD player charged up and the twins just watch a movie while we relax somewhere with snacks (which I've stolen from the buffet the day before).

 

Best,

Mia

[mcfam5]

We always opt for self assist, where we get off quickly and while handling our own luggage. It is crowded, but we always have a LOOOOOOONG drive home from port so we want to get started. We have never had any problems with the kids getting scrunched. :)

[abitaturbodog]

We always leave our luggage out the night before and then take it easy in the morning. We have breakfast, play cards, check cell phone messages, etc and are the last ones off the ship.

 

No lines, no hurry...easy peasey.

[cb at sea]

Your kids won't be "trampled". If you're not in a hurry, you can wait in any public area until you're tag/color is called, then proceed in an orderly fashion to get your bags. If folks in your group are in a hurry, let them pass!

[seashell36]

We just got off the Legend yesterday:( (where is the bawling your eyes out icon?). We did self disembark with 4 kids (5,6,9 & 11). We were ready to go at about 7:15. I had to go down to the atrium for a minute and saw people already lining up. They only made one call for the immigration meeting. On our last cruise it was an immigration announcement every 15 minutes for an hour and a half! They did call for one person a second time on the Legend, but at the same time they were letting us off the ship. We were in our car and on the road at 8:00am!!! I think in all we were in line maybe 10 minutes - no crunching of the children either!:D