tonyfsu21

I like to get on the ship as early 10:30am and off the ship as soon as the ship is cleared by customs. The vacation is over and it’s time to go home and get the new round of guests on as early as possible.

TBH, the few times we went to the C&A lunches, we decided they weren’t worth the time or effort.  I loathe small talk and really have little interest in “getting to know” the staff and officers (with very few exceptions).  Since we normally have the UDP, we have to miss a specialty meal to go and the food is generally very “meh”.  We hadn’t been in years, even before our 2 year pause due to COVID.  I’m glad they have it for those who enjoy it but it’s not our scene.

Leave the hotel (or wherever) and arrive at the Canaveral parking garage at 9:45-10:00am. If you are able body, park the car in the garage and wheel the bags downstairs to where the porter is instead of wasting time circling around to drop the bags off. This is going to generate some noise from this crowd but ignore the boarding times listed on the the small signs and just walk down the earliest time entry point like you own the place. You should be on the ship with a cocktail in hand by 10:30 with plenty of time to figure out where you want to eat lunch!

Thanks all!  I’m going for it!

This is the only hot sun you will be waiting in for hours and it’s much better with a Kraken Pina Colada:

Yep, roll the dice on this one. I personally think the entire enforcement process is bogus and a mirage for the sake of crowd control at the terminal. I cannot imagine these terminal workers holding anyone back, in fact the entire act of holding people back and scrutinizing a boarding pass entry time goes against the line flow and stops forward progress. 

I like to get on the ship as early 10:30am and off the ship as soon as the ship is cleared by customs. The vacation is over and it’s time to go home and get the new round of guests on as early as possible.

Same here! I’m in LA and have a $6k cruise booked that will cost about $6-7k to fly my family out to San Juan to embark onto the ship.

I like to get on the ship as early 10:30am and off the ship as soon as the ship is cleared by customs. The vacation is over and it’s time to go home and get the new round of guests on as early as possible.

I like to get on the ship as early 10:30am and off the ship as soon as the ship is cleared by customs. The vacation is over and it’s time to go home and get the new round of guests on as early as possible.

I miss the books they had in each stateroom which detailed the port information, shopping exc. Some of the books had interesting facts about the ship or detailed the ship building process which was a nice touch. I haven’t seen the books in years. I don’t really watch TV in the staterooms but I used to like the video showing the ship building as well (not sure if that’s long gone as well). 

All three are similar and they basically occupy the same stretch of beach. The vibe at Nachi is chill and Mr Sanchos is a bit more of a tequila party atmosphere. I find the food to be equally good between all three. You really can’t go wrong with any of them in my opinion. 

Haha, you received the infamous note. It must be effective crowd control because they continue to use it. If there’s ever a time to defy the rules or bend them a bit, it’s for the good of a family vacation. Hit “delete” and continue to the destination.

Haha, you received the infamous note. It must be effective crowd control because they continue to use it. If there’s ever a time to defy the rules or bend them a bit, it’s for the good of a family vacation. Hit “delete” and continue to the destination.

I think they can (and do). Maybe not 15 minutes but no more then 30 in my experience for the last few sailings post pandemic. I agree with you re: priority boarding and no more of this race to the online check in nonsense. 

I wonder if you were staying in a suite or not or if it was just a different set of crew members. Having the Key or staying in a suite will matter as to if you are let in early. You could have been one of the first there and they let you go because there wasn't a lot of people. But once the lines start to form, they do start to enforce the times. 

I checked in recently at 6:30am and the first available was 11:30. Several in our Facebook group checked in after noon and got 10:30. How does that happen? 
 
I wish they’d go back to C&A priority boarding. 
 
Pre Covid we were able to board oasis class ships in about 15-20 minutes without boarding times. 
 
Remember RC’s old slogan, “car to bar in 15 minutes?” They were able to do it pre Covid, why not now? 

I think it would be fine. I’ve never had anyone look at my boarding time. Last cruise we actually got a notification to wait an additional hour, but I was five minutes from the port and just went ahead and boarded, no problem.

I miss the books they had in each stateroom which detailed the port information, shopping exc. Some of the books had interesting facts about the ship or detailed the ship building process which was a nice touch. I haven’t seen the books in years. I don’t really watch TV in the staterooms but I used to like the video showing the ship building as well (not sure if that’s long gone as well). 

Reality = 99.99999% chance you can board early.
What RC/ Others will tell you = “you might get turned away” or “you should have picked your boarding time as soon as it was available”. You might even get the email from RC the night before with the same message “don’t come early”! The email in my experience is bogus and the gate agents are either clueless, confused by the chaos or don’t care. 
 
“you lose 100% of the chances you don’t take”
- Unknown 
 
 
 

I miss the books they had in each stateroom which detailed the port information, shopping exc. Some of the books had interesting facts about the ship or detailed the ship building process which was a nice touch. I haven’t seen the books in years. I don’t really watch TV in the staterooms but I used to like the video showing the ship building as well (not sure if that’s long gone as well). 

Reality = 99.99999% chance you can board early.
What RC/ Others will tell you = “you might get turned away” or “you should have picked your boarding time as soon as it was available”. You might even get the email from RC the night before with the same message “don’t come early”! The email in my experience is bogus and the gate agents are either clueless, confused by the chaos or don’t care. 
 
“you lose 100% of the chances you don’t take”
- Unknown 
 
 
 

The shipbuilding video is still on Channel 1 or 2.   The videos vary but I saw one with the original ships like Song of Norway and Empress to the latest video for Wonder.
I think it comes on the same channel that the cruise director uses for the morning updates and activities.

We were off the ship at rum factory then, so no. We didn't hear any scuttlebutt that night either. My wife says that on Facebook folks were complaining about rough seas that night and we both didn't feel a thing. How was the last night for you?

Did you by any chance witness heavy black smoke coming from the front of the ship around 2pm yesterday while docked in Nassau? I was sitting on my balcony and heard all this commotion and saw about 7-10 Royal Caribbean security personnel running from the gangway towards the front of the ship where a massive plume of black smoke was pouring out. I watched for maybe a minute or two before I saw extinguishers do their magic. There were lots of people down there so I’m sure someone knows what happened.