Boarding time - do you pick, or do they assign you?

[jbrinkm]

Could someone help me understand the process of boarding times, as it currently stands? I am reading about people choosing boarding time when they check in but the last time we cruised (2017), I think we just put in our flight info and they assigned us a time. What are the current boarding time ranges, earliest to latest? (i.e. 11am-3:30pm?) Do you get an exact time, or a range within that time? (i.e. 12pm-1pm) What happens if you arrive earlier or later than what you pick/are assigned, due to circumstances?

Our flight lands at 11am, so if I have a choice, should I pick noon if I have that option? (flying into FLL and cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale, as well) Any insight into luggage retrieval at FLL? We're just going to grab a rideshare to get over to the port. Please no comments about how dumb it is to fly in the day of the cruise! I know the arguments against it, but we made the best decision we could and I did buy insurance just in case something happens. 

[AshleyDillo]

Noon is probably a safe bet. If you are early you shouldn't have too long to wait. If you are late it's really up to port operations whether they let you ahead of the current boarding group or put you in the end of the line. Different ports are handling it differently and each passenger group behaves differently so it's hard to really nail down how it will go for your particular sailing.

[Pooch]

Pre covid check in times were just a suggestion.  Now they are enforced.  If your time is 2pm, you can’t just show up at 11 and go in.  

[jbrinkm]

28 minutes ago, Pooch said:

Pre covid check in times were just a suggestion.  Now they are.  If your time is 2pm, you can’t just show up at 11 and go in.  

I don't think this would be a problem for us, unless we're unable to get a noon boarding for some reason and have to pick 1pm. At most, if everything went perfectly (we're also going to make a stop to grab 2-3 things), we might be 10-15 minutes early, and wouldn't mind waiting. Late is more of my concern if the flight or luggage or ride get delayed, and sounds like it could go either way if we are late.

Are there certain boarding times that are more popular and "sell out" quickly? 

[Natalfaz]

12 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

I don't think this would be a problem for us, unless we're unable to get a noon boarding for some reason and have to pick 1pm. At most, if everything went perfectly (we're also going to make a stop to grab 2-3 things), we might be 10-15 minutes early, and wouldn't mind waiting. Late is more of my concern if the flight or luggage or ride get delayed, and sounds like it could go either way if we are late.

Are there certain boarding times that are more popular and "sell out" quickly? 

The earlier ones go a lot more quicker.

[CrznTxn]

28 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

I don't think this would be a problem for us, unless we're unable to get a noon boarding for some reason and have to pick 1pm. At most, if everything went perfectly (we're also going to make a stop to grab 2-3 things), we might be 10-15 minutes early, and wouldn't mind waiting. Late is more of my concern if the flight or luggage or ride get delayed, and sounds like it could go either way if we are late.

Are there certain boarding times that are more popular and "sell out" quickly? 

The early times are most popular. Earlier to start the vacation the better. Give yourself a little leeway from the airport. It is not very far and we took a taxi over. Standard boarding times are 11:30 to 3:30 in 30 minute increments although we were able to snag an 11:00am boarding on our upcoming cruise through the wife's diligence in checking every day on the App. This trip is a drive for us so we just leave a little earlier. Flying into FLL is easy so you should not have an issue with 12:00 ~ 12:30.