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Port Canaveral Arrival Time


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Hello

We are leaving out of Port Canaveral on June 27.  Have an 'official' arrival time with Royal Caribbean App of 10:30 and also have the Key for all of us.  We are fortunate to live pretty close to Port Canaveral, so we can plan our arrival to the Port within minutes.

So my questions are:

What time does the Port open for arriving passengers to drop off luggage and such?

If boarding does start at 10:30, will we be OK and not have to fight the crowds of people who ignore arrival times?  How does that work with people arriving early anyway?

What time would you suggest rolling into PC to get that 10:30 ship boarding?  9:45 or so?  Too early/late?

Is there a Key check in line at Port Canaveral?

If we do get on the ship say between 10:30 and 11:00, will the MDR be open for the Key lunch?

Will bars be open?  We have Drink packages and wouldn't mind breaking it in as early as possible....😀

Thanks!

PS....I diligently checked in at 45 days and got an 11:00 arrival time....but thanks to the tips on this site, I checked back frequently and 10:30 opened up yesterday.  So I snagged it.  Guess that means the ship is sailing full, right?  But that is now why I am wondering how early is too early to get to the Port

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@OrlandoDadwhen we were there last month they didn't actually open the doors to the terminal until about 11am.  People were lined up outside but it wasn't crazy.  Yes, there was a specific line for The Key.  It may have been the same line as the Suite guests.  We got up to the MDR for the Key lunch around noon and the bars were open.  

Wish we were that close to the Port!  Got off the boat and had a 9 hour drive back to NC.   But totally worth it!    Have fun!

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We had a 10:30 last Sunday. Got there around 10:00, dropped off bags and parked, got into the terminal around 10:30ish, boarded at 11:00 (among the first as we were suite guests).

As others have mentioned, it can vary week to week though.

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49 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

We had a 10:30 last Sunday. Got there around 10:00, dropped off bags and parked, got into the terminal around 10:30ish, boarded at 11:00 (among the first as we were suite guests).

As others have mentioned, it can vary week to week though.

Thanks...that's the kind of info I was looking for

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19 minutes ago, OrlandoDad said:

Thanks...that's the kind of info I was looking for

You're welcome. Didn't mean to ignore your other questions, just not familiar with The Key.

Check the app for which bars open earliest. Finding a drink should not be a problem. 🍻

We obviously have a short drive as well and also prefer to get on the ship ASAP.

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We just travelled out of port Canaveral a couple weeks ago on Harmony. The experience was pretty similar to what was mentioned above. I can add that because of some travel logistics we were dropped off early before our 10:30 PAT. We sat around waiting for a bit so I will run through what happened.
 

Folks started to lineup near the entranceway even though the queues weren’t open yet. A port representative came out around 10 or 10:15 and with a microphone made an announcement that they will start lining up shortly. The gentleman proceeded to call pinnacles and suite guests right around 10:30 to enter the cues . After that he called for the key guests. Then he started calling the 10:30 group and continue to fill in the queue space near the port entrance. I don’t recall exactly how long but there was a short wait and port staff started to look at cruise docs and COVID tests while we waited for the doors to open.  It wasn’t long and they started letting guest into the port for security screening, and then you proceeded up to the check-in. 

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8 hours ago, ScooterScott22 said:

We just travelled out of port Canaveral a couple weeks ago on Harmony. The experience was pretty similar to what was mentioned above. I can add that because of some travel logistics we were dropped off early before our 10:30 PAT. We sat around waiting for a bit so I will run through what happened.
 

Folks started to lineup near the entranceway even though the queues weren’t open yet. A port representative came out around 10 or 10:15 and with a microphone made an announcement that they will start lining up shortly. The gentleman proceeded to call pinnacles and sweet guess right around 10:30 to enter the cues . After that he called for the key guests. Then he started calling the 10:30 group and continue to fill in the queue space near the port entrance. I don’t recall exactly how long but there was a short wait and port staff started to look at cruise docs and COVID tests while we waited for the doors to open.  It wasn’t long and they started letting guest into the port for security screening, and then you proceeded up to the check-in. 

Thanks for adding these details. Part of my family was already there and in line (suite guests) so we politely joined them. I didn't get to hear the announcements and hierarchy part. Good to know since we'll be 10:30 but no other special categories next month.

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We had a very good experience in March but perhaps not typical.  Arrived at 10:45, no line at the security check, into the suites line, again no wait.  Boarding began 11:15ish.  If we hadn’t stopped for pictures, we might have been the first on board.

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We will be leaving in July on the Mariner at pier 5.  I have never been to pier 5 so wondering if anyone else has left out of that area?   Is the luggage drop off in the parking garage or out by the ship.  Is the parking about the same as the RC pier?  Are there clear signs directing to parking etc.?

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42 minutes ago, Pooch said:

We had a very good experience in March but perhaps not typical.  Arrived at 10:45, no line at the security check, into the suites line, again no wait.  Boarding began 11:15ish.  If we hadn’t stopped for pictures, we might have been the first on board.

I cringe on family cruises when my sister in law makes us stop for pictures, lol. It was very smooth for us last Sunday as well. Only waited a short time outside the terminal b/c we were there so early. Hoping it goes as smoothly on Indy next month when we will be commoners, not suite guests.

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18 minutes ago, Pooch said:

We always stop.  That’s the 1 picture I always purchase showing who went on what ship when.

You make such a good point I hadn't considered. I have generally always breezed by with a polite "no thank you" but after reading your post, wish I had stopped each and every time!

And if they ever allow me to cruise again, I'm stopping and getting that picture!

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Grills Tiki Bar is easy walking distance to where Royal usually docks at Port Canaveral. Bonus! They open everyday at 7am.

 

I don’t understand why all the Kraken thirsty Blog people don’t belly up  there before a cruise.out of Canaveral? Your arrival time would no longer matter and any concern about crowds would easily be solved by literally looking across the street.

 

Are you guys not aware of this???

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11 hours ago, ScooterScott22 said:

Folks started to lineup near the entranceway even though the queues weren’t open yet. A port representative came out around 10 or 10:15 and with a microphone made an announcement that they will start lining up shortly. The gentleman proceeded to call pinnacles and sweet guess right around 10:30 to enter the cues . After that he called for the key guests. 

Excellent info.  Thanks!  We are parking at the port, so I am going to leave my house for a 10:00 arrival time at the port.  Figure that will give us 30 minutes to drop off luggage, find a spot to park, gather what we need out of the car, and make our way to the terminal around 10:30, which is our arrival time.  Glad to hear they called the Suite and Key guests to enter queues.

Thanks Again

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17 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

We had a 10:30 last Sunday. Got there around 10:00, dropped off bags and parked, got into the terminal around 10:30ish, boarded at 11:00 (among the first as we were suite guests).

As others have mentioned, it can vary week to week though.

This is our first time embarking from PC. Is there good signage at the port for suite guest check-in? 

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17 minutes ago, HawkeyeSarah said:

This is our first time embarking from PC. Is there good signage at the port for suite guest check-in? 

I think it's just one line outside. As I mentioned, some of my extended family was already in line so we politely hopped in with them.

Someone mentioned they just call for Pinnacle/Suite guests first.

Once inside, yes, you will see clear signs for Suites, Pinnacle, The Key, etc.

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On our last cruise out of PC (4/8 - 4/11) the Parking Deck filled up.  I was there at noon, and was the last car allowed into the Deck.  There was another ship leaving as well on that Friday, but, if you like the parking deck, probably less risk getting there before noon.  

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9 minutes ago, Snotarni said:

On our last cruise out of PC (4/8 - 4/11) the Parking Deck filled up.  I was there at noon, and was the last car allowed into the Deck.  There was another ship leaving as well on that Friday, but, if you like the parking deck, probably less risk getting there before noon.  

One thing of note, Mariner was previously using terminal 1 in addition to terminal 5... it is now exclusively using terminal 5 so that should help a bit with the parking situation at terminal 1.

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9 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

One thing of note, Mariner was previously using terminal 1 in addition to terminal 5... it is now exclusively using terminal 5 so that should help a bit with the parking situation at terminal 1.

That's great!  we're off on Indy next weekend so it's nice know we can park if we want to get a half day in at the office before boarding on Friday  

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12 hours ago, OrlandoDad said:

Excellent info.  Thanks!  We are parking at the port, so I am going to leave my house for a 10:00 arrival time at the port.  Figure that will give us 30 minutes to drop off luggage, find a spot to park, gather what we need out of the car, and make our way to the terminal around 10:30, which is our arrival time.  Glad to hear they called the Suite and Key guests to enter queues.

Thanks Again

First, I was using voice typing so had to correct the “sweet guess” to Suite Guest!  LOL .  Someone should have called me out on that!

You May want to give yourselves a few extra minutes, since once they started lining up, I’m not sure how they managed suite guests that arrived later.  (We were in a suite so I didn’t pay much attention to what happened behind us.). We had some friends sailing with us that had a PAT of 11:30 and even though they were right on time, they almost missed our lunch reservation at 12:45.  There is a guy who posted a video about the boarding on 5/15 on Harmony that is not pretty.  Looks like people are not following PAT’s assignments.

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