I am due for online check-in this Friday for a 3 night Dream cruise. I am not concerned about shore excursions or dining. I might book a spa treatment but its not totally necessary. Which leaves only one thing I do want, and that's as early a PAT as I can get. I'm silver level though. So, should I be sitting at the computer at midnight? What are some PATs you have gotten and what is your level? Thanks!
The sooner you can do your PAT the better. The early slots do eventually fill up and are no longer an option available. It really just varies by cruise. Usually there are at least a couple left for silver cruisers.
We got 11-11:30am on our first cruise and I didn't do the online check-in until about 10am on day 75. This was on the Dream but I don't know if it was a sold-out cruise. Enjoy your cruise!
I just did the online check-in last night for our 4 night cruise leaving April 21st. This is our first cruise and we got 11-11:30. I did stay up and did it at midnight.
We've gotten 11:00 - 11:30 for both of our cruises. I didn't do online registration until the day after our window opened for our first cruise, which was sold out. We didn't even book our second cruise until 60 days prior to sailing and still got 11:00 - 11:30 when I registered!
For a 3night? I would not worry about it too much. Most of them are first timers and they have no idea they need or can check in 75 days in advance, specially if they used a travel agent who will send them the documents maybe 30 days before. If it's a Xmas or NYE cruise, then yes. Otherwise, I wouldn't sweet it too much. That said, me personally, I would do it at midnight, but that's the way I am...
PAT = Port Arrival Time The time DCL lets you 'get to the port' to check in. This is NOT the boarding time.
Port arrival time. So 8-night magic, silver cruiser, you would do it at midnight? It's 11:00 pm for me but have something that night so I was letting dd do Palo, cc excursions... And then do check in the next day!
Thanks for all the input!! We are staying at the MCO Hyatt the night before and using DCL transfers in the morning. I figured since it is such a short trip I would like to at least get there as early as possible, but it seems like it shouldn't be a problem! I will probably still aim for midnight, because that's how I am too (And then next week it'll be a 6 am morning for ADRs for our August Disney trip). The only issue with the midnight thing is that this trip is a surprise for the entire family and it is very uncharacteristic for me to be up on the computer at midnight, so I will have to see if I can pull it off! So has anyone tried to check in and not been able to get a PAT of 11-11:30? Or can you choose a later time if you want? Seems like everyone gets the early times. I know in the past the buses coming from WDW came later in the day...maybe that offsets some of it? Last time we cruised there was no online check-in.
When using Disney Transfers from the airport, your PAT is only used to determine your actual boarding group number. You can take the first bus from the airport if you want, regardless of what PAT you have, but you should still choose the earliest PAT that is available when you check in on-line. That way you should get an earlier boarding group number when you get to the terminal and actually check in.
