Port of San Diego Question

[GooniesAndy]

We leave on tomorrow's five-day cruise to Cabo and someone in our group who is on a back-to-back posted yesterday that they had arrive for their 11AM PAT and were told they could not drive in to the area where the porters are until after noon. Has that been your experience on all of these last few cruises? I know she didn't get in until about 6:30AM yesterday, which is pretty late, so possibly that is the reason... but having to haul all of our luggage in from the street (not parking and taking a shuttle, just getting dropped off) would throw a giant wrench into my "surprise the kids" plan, which involves us walking away and my dad unloading the luggage my kids don't know about! Thanks!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

All I can tell you is that when we went on our PC cruise last year the Port of San Diego was horrendous! Lines extending down the dock and around! We dropped off the luggage and went sightseeing for four hours and came back right before embarkation closed. I've embarked in Seattle, San Pedro and Port Canaveral too but never saw anything as disorganized as the Port of San Diego. Great cruise though!

Some of those issues had to do with the ship being late into port, I believe. And the immigration process in San Diego can be a problem also. The Panama Canal cruises tend to have bigger immigration issues than "regular" closed loop cruises due to the "distant foreign port" stop required on those cruises.

 

[DisneyMommy77]

We had a 12:30 boarding time on 10/9, arrived at the port at 11 and thank goodness we did because we didn't make it into the building to begin checking in until 1PM. It took us another 1.5 hours from there to actually get on the ship. It was absolute chaos and traffic was horrible. There was no parking available! I don't know the answer to your question, but The Port of San Diego is nothing like the any other ports I have been to. (Next time I know to reserve parking ahead of time)

Expect traffic just getting to the port from the downtown area. I wish you luck and even if the the surprise doesn't turn out the way you want it to you will still have a wonderful time. It is still a DCL cruise after all!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We had a 12:30 boarding time on 10/9,

What you had was a 12:30 Port Arrival Time. Boarding numbers are tied to your PAT, but you generally won't be boarding until sometime after your PAT at most embarkation ports. Sometimes fairly quickly, other times not so much.

 

[GooniesAndy]

I live just a few minutes from the port, and we were on the Panama Canal cruise in May so I'm familiar with general port stuff... I heard people were on the ship starting at 11:30 last Sunday. I just need to know if they were preventing people from driving in to drop off luggage prior to noon. We have an 11am PAT, so we should be fine with our arrival time. I just don't want to have to haul our luggage in from the street!

 

[Saamh]

We had an 11am PAT on the 10/4 Wonder sailing and arrived about 11:10 and had no problem going into the port luggage drop off area. There were HUNDREDS of people already inside the terminal when we walked in. We went through security, checked in, received boarding group 3 and only waited about 15 min before we boarded. As we were boarding we walked by a family who was waiting angrily and talking to each other about how they were boarding group #25 and only up to #3 had been called. You should be fine arriving about 11am with your 11am PAT. I'm not sure why anyone would arrive way before their registered PAT to have to sit around and wait in crowds for so long!

 

[Saamh]

Also, since the cruise before yours isn't coming all the way from Cabo (I think it was just a quick Ensenada cruise) you shouldn't have to worry about it docking late.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We had an 11am PAT on the 10/4 Wonder sailing and arrived about 11:10 and had no problem going into the port luggage drop off area. There were HUNDREDS of people already inside the terminal when we walked in. We went through security, checked in, received boarding group 3 and only waited about 15 min before we boarded. As we were boarding we walked by a family who was waiting angrily and talking to each other about how they were boarding group #25 and only up to #3 had been called. You should be fine arriving about 11am with your 11am PAT. I'm not sure why anyone would arrive way before their registered PAT to have to sit around and wait in crowds for so long!

Sometimes there are people who arrive at the port unaware that they should have selected a PAT. It's my understanding that those people get boarding numbers beginning with the next highest number past those already allotted via the PATs.

 

[Saamh]

Sometimes there are people who arrive at the port unaware that they should have selected a PAT. It's my understanding that those people get boarding numbers beginning with the next highest number past those already allotted via the PATs.

IMO everyone should be assigned a PAT and denied entry if they arrive before their PAT (unless taking Disney transport or Concierge or Platinum). Especially on our 5nt San Diego cruise there were quite a few people who had the "me first, me first" attitude all cruise long.

 

[GooniesAndy]

Thanks! I was thinking that it was likely because they had come all the way from Cabo. They didn't get in until like 6:30am and they didn't leave until around 6pm. Since the one coming in tomorrow is a cruise to nowhere, there's not much of a chance of it being late!

When we came in from the WBPC it was the simplest process ever, other than the fact that one of our suitcases got put in the wrong area. The lines were moving quickly, the people in port were incredibly helpful, and customs took about two seconds before we were off.

 

[GrumpyMom1]

I was on the 5 day that returned yesterday and I think it may have just been an issue on that day. The ship pulled in around 7:00 which I think was expected but it took forever to clear customs because several people didn't report to the Walt Disney Theater at 6:30 which is required for non-US citizens. They were still making announcements looking for those individuals at 8:15 when we went to breakfast. I don't think they started letting people off until after 9:00 and we were not off until after 10:00. This was not an issue for us since we were in no hurry to leave so we just sat in Studio Sea watching a movie.

As far as boarding issues, we had a 1:00 PAT and parked at the Wyndham at about 12:20. We were able to walk right into the port building where the security line was a little long but it went quickly. The Castaway Club check in line was very short and we were onboard by 1:05.

Have a great cruise! We did.

 

[GooniesAndy]

I was on the 5 day that returned yesterday and I think it may have just been an issue on that day. The ship pulled in around 7:00 which I think was expected but it took forever to clear customs because several people didn't report to the Walt Disney Theater at 6:30 which is required for non-US citizens. They were still making announcements looking for those individuals at 8:15 when we went to breakfast. I don't think they started letting people off until after 9:00 and we were not off until after 10:00. This was not an issue for us since we were in no hurry to leave so we just sat in Studio Sea watching a movie.

As far as boarding issues, we had a 1:00 PAT and parked at the Wyndham at about 12:20. We were able to walk right into the port building where the security line was a little long but it went quickly. The Castaway Club check in line was very short and we were onboard by 1:05.

Have a great cruise! We did.

Thanks! I can't wait! I hope everything goes smoothly!

 

[Saamh]

I was on the 5 day that returned yesterday and I think it may have just been an issue on that day. The ship pulled in around 7:00 which I think was expected but it took forever to clear customs because several people didn't report to the Walt Disney Theater at 6:30 which is required for non-US citizens. They were still making announcements looking for those individuals at 8:15 when we went to breakfast. I don't think they started letting people off until after 9:00 and we were not off until after 10:00. This was not an issue for us since we were in no hurry to leave so we just sat in Studio Sea watching a movie.

As far as boarding issues, we had a 1:00 PAT and parked at the Wyndham at about 12:20. We were able to walk right into the port building where the security line was a little long but it went quickly. The Castaway Club check in line was very short and we were onboard by 1:05.

Have a great cruise! We did.

We had the same issue on the 5 day cruise that disembarked on 10/9. They kept paging the same people over and over again starting at 7am to come to the WDT but by 9am they still had not shown up and so the ship could not be cleared by customs/immigration. It was chaos with both early and late seating all being finished with breakfast but still unable to disembark. Luckily for us, we grabbed breakfast in Cabanas and did express walk off and avoided that whole mess.

 

[JasonShannon76]

We boarded the Disney Wonder in San Diego on 10/16 for a 2 night cruise. A shuttle dropped us off out front and porters were easily available. Our PAT was 12noon and we arrived around 10:45-11:00. Check in was a breeze, only a few people in line in front of us. We were boarding group 13 and we were on pretty quickly.

 

[Bluesteyzz]

We drove right up to the ship with no problems last Sunday 10/11, even though we were 2 hours early. They ask to see your Cruise Docs spiral notebook. If you have that, you can arrive any time and drive right in. I CAN TELL YOU THIS, HOWEVER: THEY LOST MY LUGGAGE ON DEBARKATION DAY due to the crappy paper Disney luggage tags with slight rain.

 

[bcwife76]

I was on the 5 day that returned yesterday and I think it may have just been an issue on that day. The ship pulled in around 7:00 which I think was expected but it took forever to clear customs because several people didn't report to the Walt Disney Theater at 6:30 which is required for non-US citizens. They were still making announcements looking for those individuals at 8:15 when we went to breakfast. I don't think they started letting people off until after 9:00 and we were not off until after 10:00. This was not an issue for us since we were in no hurry to leave so we just sat in Studio Sea watching a movie.

As far as boarding issues, we had a 1:00 PAT and parked at the Wyndham at about 12:20. We were able to walk right into the port building where the security line was a little long but it went quickly. The Castaway Club check in line was very short and we were onboard by 1:05.

Have a great cruise! We did.

We had the same problems when we disembarked in San Diego on October 1st. It was a nightmare. Non US citizens were supposedly staggered with their arrivals times in the Walt Disney theatre (we were given a time of 6:45am). It was awful, a total gong show. We didn't get out of the theatre until 8:15 and barely made it to Tritons for our 8:30 breakfast (still had our carry on luggage in our cabin). And yes, they were paging that morning for people to show up for Customs. We didn't get off the ship until 10:10! So no, not an isolated issue, that's how it is getting off in San Diego. If you are a US citizen you do not have to go through the cluster f*ck that is customs on the ship, but you won't be allowed to disembark until every last non-US citizen has cleared. Sucks if you want to do Express Walk off.

 

[Bluesteyzz]

Because of my lost luggage, I don't think I will ever sail out of San Diego again. But do note, DCL paid for my taxi ride home because of their poor paper luggage tags and the time we wasted trying to locate my luggage. It was misty-wet conditions when we arrived back at the SD Port and that lousy paper tag fell off, leaving only the grommet and the string! Corporate Disney was there and took note and will hopefully be changing the debarkation tags to not only a stronger and waterproof tag, but one that is pre-printed so that I don't have to waste my precious time filling out stupid luggage tags the night before debarkation, that eventually fall off! I cannot BELIEVE I paid that kind of money for a cruise and Disney treated my luggage so poorly. The Port DOES NOT check tags against a receipt tag, so ANYONE can walk away with your luggage. LOCK YOUR LUGGAGE! It sits in groups waiting for you to identify and claim it...but then again, anyone can claim and take your luggage! A TERRIBLE SYSTEM!

 

[Bluesteyzz]

PS: I HIGHLY recommend the $39 winery tour in Ensenada and the camel ride tour in Cabo. The best part of our trip was the two Port Adventures!

 

[Flossbolna]

Non US citizens were supposedly staggered with their arrivals times in the Walt Disney theatre (we were given a time of 6:45am). It was awful, a total gong show. We didn't get out of the theatre until 8:15 and barely made it to Tritons for our 8:30 breakfast (still had our carry on luggage in our cabin). And yes, they were paging that morning for people to show up for Customs. We didn't get off the ship until 10:10!

We had a really bad time getting off the ship in San Diego after our Panama Canal cruise last year, too. But at least no one suggested that I should be somewhere to go through the Customs process at 6:45am!!!

 

[bcwife76]

We had a really bad time getting off the ship in San Diego after our Panama Canal cruise last year, too. But at least no one suggested that I should be somewhere to go through the Customs process at 6:45am!!!

Haha, yes it was a rather startling end to our lovely cruise! We set the alarm for 6:15 so we knew we'd have plenty of time to get up and dressed. Our girls, who are usually wide away early in the morning, of course were dead to the world and hard to rouse. No wonder we were all in a foul mood by the time we got the theatre; waiting for 1.5 hours without breakfast or coffee did NOT make the situation any better. My oldest kept asking for popcorn lol