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Royal Caribbean's Stress Free Boarding Process


twangster

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8 hours ago, twangster said:

When I sailed Carnival it only took one time of being rejected and sitting on the grass surrounded by a bunch of smokers for me to learn that lesson.  Never again.  Carnival was absolute about it.  At 1:55pm they were still rejecting 2pm people.  

It's not the cruise lines job to find you something to do until it's your time.  That's on you.   Make a plan now.

Wow, you sound like the Gestapo..............We might do like most are doing now, AVOID SAILING! Too much BS from start to finish for a lot of money. If you like all this as it is right now though, good for you....enjoy. If somebody has to wait, so what?

You might need to try something else to do yourself for a while, way too uptight.

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Twangster is being direct. 
 

While directness can make some people uncomfortable, it doesn’t rise to the level of the secret state police of a genocidal and outlawed regime. 
 

At the end of all the arguments, he’s right.   Pre-pandemic we used to just hang out in the port waiting area until we could board.   Now that we are aware it’s not a current option, we are thinking of alternatives.   Does that excite us?  No.  Will we find another place to kill time? Yes. 

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2 hours ago, L454S said:

Wow, you sound like the Gestapo..............We might do like most are doing now, AVOID SAILING! Too much BS from start to finish for a lot of money. If you like all this as it is right now though, good for you....enjoy. If somebody has to wait, so what?

You might need to try something else to do yourself for a while, way too uptight.

Why does that make me uptight?  I choose not to sit on the grass waiting outside.  I learned my lesson - don't show up early.  I arrive at the time they assign to me.

I have no issue with their boarding process nor do I with the other cruise lines that enforce arrival times.  I simply find something to do and coordinate my arrival to comply.    I don't have an expectation that the cruise lines must accommodate me whenever I feel like showing up.

Many cruise lines are enforcing arrival times.  Cruising during the restart isn't for everyone.  If not being allowed into the terminal anytime you want is a show stopper for you then avoiding cruising right now may be a good idea.

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Agree we all need to plan. Our current plan in 3 weeks is to check out of our FLL hotel at 10:30 and head for Miami. Park by 11:30. Get out of car at 11:45 and get in line for our 12:00 time. 
 

It won’t (hopefully) be like this forever. Capacity is slowly going up. Pre-pandemic you were car to bar in about 20 minutes with a full ship. We’re prepared for an hour to get through the process, if earlier great, if a bit later, whatever. 

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2 hours ago, Ray said:

Given the fact there are German and Jewish cruisers on this forum your choice of words in your comparison is very poor !!!! 

 

 

I am German......but I don't see how that matters one way or the other.

 

Twangster, I don't expect the cruise line to "accommodate" me if I arrive early because of a flight schedule, but to be looked at in the light you project is overbearing.

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Sheryl and I boarded Freedom on Monday Sep 27th, and I have to say it was simple.

We left our hotel (DoubleTree) 5 mins before checkout time at 11:00 and loaded the bags back into the car. Our scheduled arrival time was not till 1pm so we had a couple of hours to kill.

Easy enough, we went for a stroll around Bayside Marketplace, which is about 5 mins from the terminal. It was a little precruise relaxation and fun, and parking was only $6.00 (one of the advantages of driving to the port)

When we parked up at Terminal A, we were 15 mins early, so we sat and waited for 10 mins, then took the bags to the handlers, and strolled up to the door. From entry to being onboard was less than 25 mins, with no hassles other than me leaving my walking cane at security, which was easily fixed.

Arriving at the door at the right time seems to have been the way to go.

 

 

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12 hours ago, Jill said:

Agree we all need to plan. Our current plan in 3 weeks is to check out of our FLL hotel at 10:30 and head for Miami. Park by 11:30. Get out of car at 11:45 and get in line for our 12:00 time. 

If I might mildly hijack the thread for a minute - suggestions on a good inexpensive hotel in FLL, ideally one we could leave our car at and get shuttled to Port Everglades? We normally fly in but now that we've got a small one the cost of plane tix isn't worth it, so we're gonna drive down from GA the day before and stay the night in a hotel. This is gonna be for the inaugural on Wonder in March.

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17 minutes ago, WRSmith2PhD said:

We have stayed at the Hyatt House Fort Lauderdale Airport - South & Cruise Port several times and will do so again in November.  On-site parking for cruisers, shuttle service to the ship (and back).  Places to walk to as well.  We hope this helps!

How much cheaper is their daily parking compared to the port?

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  • 1 month later...

We are cruising out of Port Everglades on Allure of the Seas tomorrow and our arrival time says 1:30 but we will be at the terminal about 11 or 11:30. Does anyone know what we should expect? Will it be too much of an issue getting in early? 

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1 hour ago, SEB said:

We are cruising out of Port Everglades on Allure of the Seas tomorrow and our arrival time says 1:30 but we will be at the terminal about 11 or 11:30. Does anyone know what we should expect? Will it be too much of an issue getting in early? 

Not sure anyone can predict what you will experience.  If you get in early that’s great.  If you don’t just understand it’s not on them.  

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12 hours ago, SEB said:

We are cruising out of Port Everglades on Allure of the Seas tomorrow and our arrival time says 1:30 but we will be at the terminal about 11 or 11:30. Does anyone know what we should expect? Will it be too much of an issue getting in early? 

It seems every port has different processes…usually based on the layout of the building and how they manage the flow of passengers. Also, there are some ports where the workers ‘in charge’ on that day are knowledgeable, experienced and good at keeping control…while communicating clearly how boarding is proceeding. Then there are those who have difficulty managing the process and it results in a confusing mass of passengers trying to get information on what to do. I’ve experienced both. Hopefully, as time goes on, they are able to work out the kinks and have a consistent boarding process. I like the assigned arrival time boarding because it seems to alleviate a lot of the confusion…especially when the early birds try to push past and get turned away. If that happened more often, I think it would help educate those who don’t pay attention to arrival times because, to be fair, they were never really enforced in the past. Royal has been good communicating the need to comply with the time. I’m sitting here now at home waiting to leave for Bayonne for my boarding time of 12:30. So far today, I have received two notifications on my cell phone reminding me of my arrival time. Soon…..

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Just my own opinion here…Royal has us check in and choose our boarding time.  I do not think it is fair if someone with a 1pm time gets there at 11am and thinks it’s okay to board.  They should be made to wait for their chosen time.  If Royal allowed everyone to board when they arrive then what is the sense of assigning actual times?
I boarded last Wednesday in Miami and had an 11am time.  Arrived around 11:15 due to traffic and Uber driver and the earliest time on the roped sections was Noon.  So naturally we got right on but so were the “nooners” boarding.  There were other roped sections for 1-2pm and 2-3pm which made me happy that at least they were made to wait a little bit longer to board!  
All in all the process was easy…smooth…and exciting.
 

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Port Canaveral was a mess and I agree, why assign a boarding time if you are just going to let anyone board? PC had roped sections for time but when we arrived at 11:15, there were people in front of us with an after 2pm check-in. It was very visible on their set sail printout and they bragged about how no one has bothered to say anything. The workers never checked. There was only a star class line and no other line for suites. Also the tablets they used kept dropping connection, so we ended up having to get in line twice. The process wasn't stressful but I didn't feel like I was able to get the priority perk for staying in a suite.

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