BrianB Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 Don’t know if this is happening to others, but… I always make sure I’m up at midnight when check-in opens for my cruises. As @Matt mentioned in his story, it’s a good strategy to make sure to get an early arrival time before they’re all taken. But, when I checked in as soon as it opened for my cruise from Bayonne NJ on the Liberty of the Seas sailing May 5th…it allowed me to do everything except choose an arrival time. There was a message on top of the last page advising me to ‘check back closer to the sail date to pick an arrival time’. So, I kept checking back…several times a day…until finally the times were available to choose. This happened two and half days later…so not much closer to sailing day. Usually sailing on the Anthem out of Port Liberty…the earliest arrival time offered is 10 or 10:30am. This time, the first available time listed was 11:30am. I’m thinking this is just something regarding the Liberty coming back to Bayonne…or it’s to blunt the onslaught to the system when too many users try to check in at once. There have been times when it seemed the system crashed just after midnight…especially when it’s a popular cruise with lots of ‘in the know’ guests vying for an earlier arrival time. Curious. RCIfan1912 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastfaller Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 For my April 20 sailing I waited til midnight and the times came up earliest time available was 1130. So it isn't specific to your ship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 Keep checking. Sometimes they open up earlier times later. RCIfan1912 and BrianB 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 All of Icon’s sailings are 11:30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCIfan1912 Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 We sail our of NJ two to three times a year and I always stay up till midnight to get the early check in and have always gotten 10:30. 11:30 is too late as we always have specialty lunch reservations at 12 noon every embarkation day. I hope they haven't changed it to 11:30 earliest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxerMomNC Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 We are sailing on Liberty 4/1/24 and I checked in exactly at midnight. The earliest time available was 1130. RCIfan1912 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCIfan1912 Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 6 minutes ago, BoxerMomNC said: We are sailing on Liberty 4/1/24 and I checked in exactly at midnight. The earliest time available was 1130. Oh boy that's not good. We are sailing Liberty in October. We can't make a 12 o'clock reservation if our check in time is 11:30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rackham Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 Interesting. I wonder if the idea is to do away with waiting in the terminal for check-ins before the ship is ready for embarkation? RCIfan1912 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianB Posted March 24 Author Report Share Posted March 24 Having 11:30 as the earliest arrival time is one thing. But not being able to choose an arrival time until a few days later after checking in at midnight is what I’m wondering about. Strange. RCIfan1912 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottD Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 9 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said: Oh boy that's not good. We are sailing Liberty in October. We can't make a 12 o'clock reservation if our check in time is 11:30. I'm sure they have something in place if they know you can't board until almost noon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCIfan1912 Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 21 minutes ago, ScottD said: I'm sure they have something in place if they know you can't board until almost noon. In general though I don't like this. Embarkation day I don't eat till that lunch at noon. I did want to wait even longer. I didn't like this development at all. Not being able to choose check in time and earliest 11:30. Me being very cynical especially with Royal Caribbean I wonder if they are getting ready to charge for the earliest check in time? Wouldn't completely surprise me unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 I had a cruise last year where the earliest available time was 11:30 and I was on board by 10:45. RCIfan1912 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCIfan1912 Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 7 minutes ago, smokeybandit said: I had a cruise last year where the earliest available time was 11:30 and I was on board by 10:45. Whether I get 10:30 or not I will be there at 10:30. In fact I heard a few people on my last cruise on Anthem say they can't earlier than the time they got for check in. They aren't turning anyone away or least they weren't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluer101 Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 1 hour ago, ScottD said: I'm sure they have something in place if they know you can't board until almost noon. They do, your boarding time is on your sea pass in the upper right corner. The first check when getting inline to make sure you have all your documents out and ready is when they look at your sea pass with the boarding time. Yes, some attendants might be more relaxed but if your within 15-30 of your time normally your good to go. It also depends how many people are outside getting inline. If there is a crowd they will normally be more strict with time. This is my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottD Posted March 24 Report Share Posted March 24 56 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said: Whether I get 10:30 or not I will be there at 10:30. In fact I heard a few people on my last cruise on Anthem say they can't earlier than the time they got for check in. They aren't turning anyone away or least they weren't. If they are able to let you on, then I'm sure they will. If they are pushing it back to give the crew more time to prep or are only allowing the high level and suite people on, then they may have you wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattycruise Posted March 25 Report Share Posted March 25 12 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said: In general though I don't like this. Embarkation day I don't eat till that lunch at noon. I did want to wait even longer. I didn't like this development at all. Not being able to choose check in time and earliest 11:30. Me being very cynical especially with Royal Caribbean I wonder if they are getting ready to charge for the earliest check in time? Wouldn't completely surprise me unfortunately. Maybe more cost cutting? Less time for people to eat and drink free. CanHardlyWait and RCIfan1912 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianB Posted March 25 Author Report Share Posted March 25 Update…. I just checked in for the next cruise on this back to back. On the Liberty May 9. Because it is a b2b, I didn’t check in at midnight. But, when I checked in at 9am, the earliest arrival time was 12 noon. RCIfan1912 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCIfan1912 Posted March 25 Report Share Posted March 25 1 minute ago, BrianB said: Update…. I just checked in for the next cruise on this back to back. On the Liberty May 9. Because it is a b2b, I didn’t check in at midnight. But, when I checked in at 9am, the earliest arrival time was 12 noon. That's out of NJ? Something fishy going on. Very strange and it's concerning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianB Posted March 25 Author Report Share Posted March 25 @RCIfan1912 Agree…strange and concerning. I commented on both sailing’s Roll Call pages to see if anyone else had any different experiences…waiting. RCIfan1912 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCIfan1912 Posted March 25 Report Share Posted March 25 7 minutes ago, BrianB said: @RCIfan1912 Agree…strange and concerning. I commented on both sailing’s Roll Call pages to see if anyone else had any different experiences…waiting. Oh good idea. I have gotten pretty good responses from Royal Caribbean on Facebook. Something also tells me this is another Royal IT issue that'll take 6 months to fix. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCIfan1912 Posted March 25 Report Share Posted March 25 Someone I work with checks in for his Symphony cruise April 1st which is ironic being April Fools Day but he is gonna let me know what time he gets and it's available. He wants to at midnight like most of us do to get the earliest time slot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisingLife Posted March 26 Report Share Posted March 26 15 hours ago, BrianB said: Update…. I just checked in for the next cruise on this back to back. On the Liberty May 9. Because it is a b2b, I didn’t check in at midnight. But, when I checked in at 9am, the earliest arrival time was 12 noon. I checked in for the same cruise, May 9th Liberty out of Bayonne at midnight and was able to get a 10:30 AM slot. We have a GTY room, so went through the whole checkin process before app showed me the setsail pass so I can use the barcode trick (which worked!). After checking in, just out of curiosity I checked what times were still available and 10:30 and 11:00 were already full, the first one being offered was 11:30. RCIfan1912 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCIfan1912 Posted March 26 Report Share Posted March 26 Ok, Royals answer through Facebook was pretty generic. Boarding times vary by ship and itinerary. I'm not that worried about it. We have a paid for specialty lunch at noon so we will be on one way or another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianB Posted March 26 Author Report Share Posted March 26 Bayonne has been pretty loose as far as arrival times are concerned. Lots of people show up early and as long as the security lines don’t get too backed up, they just keep waving you into the terminal without checking SeaPasses. Just keep in mind the garage doesn’t usually open for new passengers until approximately 10am…to allow disembarking passengers to leave first. Even after checking in, the seating is first come-first serve for general passengers. Suites have their own seating area. When general boarding does commence, they have each row stand one at a time and they board. Hopefully they don’t change this as the weather gets nicer and being forced to stand outside isn’t the issue that it is during the winter in NJ. RCIfan1912 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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