What is the earliest you can get on the ship?

[Lori1960]

I would not try to get on the ship to early cause the rooms don't open til 1;30 and the gift shops dont opne til after you leave port.So there is not much to do.You could go to guest services and drop off somethig to have the charcters sign

 

[shburks]

I would not try to get on the ship to early cause the rooms don't open til 1;30 and the gift shops dont opne til after you leave port.So there is not much to do.You could go to guest services and drop off somethig to have the charcters sign

Personal opinion, I guess, but I'd completely disagree with this. You can eat lunch, swim, explore the ship, play mini golf (new ships), play in the Kids Clubs, go to the Sports Decks, have a drink, AND go to guest services to sign up for wine tastings, etc., drop off your character signing items (if you have them). We had done all that by 1:30 and got into our cabin. It was great!

 

[jenseib]

Personal opinion, I guess, but I'd completely disagree with this. You can eat lunch, swim, explore the ship, play mini golf (new ships), play in the Kids Clubs, go to the Sports Decks, have a drink, AND go to guest services to sign up for wine tastings, etc., drop off your character signing items (if you have them). We had done all that by 1:30 and got into our cabin. It was great!

I agree with you too. I like to be on early, eat and then try to find time to explore and get to know the ship...or swim, etc.

 

[Zandy595]

Personal opinion, I guess, but I'd completely disagree with this. You can eat lunch, swim, explore the ship, play mini golf (new ships), play in the Kids Clubs, go to the Sports Decks, have a drink, AND go to guest services to sign up for wine tastings, etc., drop off your character signing items (if you have them). We had done all that by 1:30 and got into our cabin. It was great!

ITA! On the new ships, this is one of the best times to ride the AquaDuck (before it gets really crowded).

 

[PegIra]

I am trying to figure out what time to suggest for us when I do our online check in. We are traveling with friends who are first time Disney cruisers, so they won't be able to pick a boardingtime until after us as this is our 8th Disney Cruise. Do you think they could come with us,since we are traveling in the same car? If not, I would rather pick a later boarding time so we can board together. I couldn't leave them in the terminal and board before them. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[BEAV]

When everyone speaks of "the port" are we talking only Port Canaveral, or ANY port a Disney ship departs from? (Seattle, New York, LA, etc)

 

[DizzyFORDisney]

Hi! We were on the Fantasy 8/18 sailing. Had port arrival time or 11-11:30.
We breezed through parking, check in (arrived in our parking spot around 11 am), went over to the kids club check in counter to get a mickey band...
Then pretty much waited not even 5 minutes until we were called to board (I think we were #5 - but they called a group - like 1 through 5 or something like that).
We had our photos taken and were announced....
Looked around and gawked at the sheer beauty of the lobby/atrium etc....

Headed up to deck 11....the kids were in line for the Aquaduck before it opened! At about 11:50.

I'd say that was probably the earliest we could have gotten on board!!

Aaaaaawwwwwww!! I want to do it again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TDC Nala]

I would not try to get on the ship to early cause the rooms don't open til 1;30 and the gift shops dont opne til after you leave port.So there is not much to do.You could go to guest services and drop off somethig to have the charcters sign

Loads of stuff to do, really - but remember you have to take your carry-ons with you. There will be noplace to put them until your stateroom is ready for occupancy.

we will need to drop by Remy and Palo to get our reservations squared away.

When everyone speaks of "the port" are we talking only Port Canaveral, or ANY port a Disney ship departs from? (Seattle, New York, LA, etc)

Port Canaveral. You have to pick a port arrival time now due to overcrowding that may occur in the terminal with the bigger new ships in port.

 

[Happy100]

I would not try to get on the ship to early cause the rooms don't open til 1;30 and the gift shops dont opne til after you leave port.So there is not much to do.You could go to guest services and drop off somethig to have the charcters sign

We have always gotten on early around noon and had lunch and took a small bag with our swim trunks in it to swim while everyone else was checking in. It is also a great time for pictures, exploring ship to get familar with it. I highly reccommend it.

 

[Zandy595]

I am trying to figure out what time to suggest for us when I do our online check in. We are traveling with friends who are first time Disney cruisers, so they won't be able to pick a boardingtime until after us as this is our 8th Disney Cruise. Do you think they could come with us,since we are traveling in the same car? If not, I would rather pick a later boarding time so we can board together. I couldn't leave them in the terminal and board before them. Has anyone else had this problem?

I've never been in that situation, but I have heard of first timers getting the 11-11:30am time slot.

 

[Zandy595]

Port Canaveral. You have to pick a port arrival time now due to overcrowding that may occur in the terminal with the bigger new ships in port.

I thought you had to pick a port arrival time for all DCL cruises now.

 

[BCV23]

I thought you had to pick a port arrival time for all DCL cruises now.

We had to pick one for NYC.

 

[TDC Nala]

I thought you had to pick a port arrival time for all DCL cruises now.

They've got it set up that way for all online check-ins. But it usually makes no difference as far as your being admitted to the terminal. You will be admitted to the terminal unless it's too full. It was instituted because of the problems at Port Canaveral.

 

[Anonny]

If I am taking DCL transport from WDW resort to port, do I still need to get an online checkin time?

 

[mrsfuzzmo]

We had to pick a port arrival time for Galveston. Unfortunately 11:00 was not available, so we have 11:30, which is fine I guess considering the IAH DCL shuttles don't even start out from the airport until 10:00 am. Should work out perfectly!

We definitly like to get on early. Could care less about the gift shops, but grabbing a drink, wandering around the ship while it's empty, watching everyone else boarding late arriving....that's why we like to board asap!! (Oh, and eating lunch, too!!)

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I am trying to figure out what time to suggest for us when I do our online check in. We are traveling with friends who are first time Disney cruisers, so they won't be able to pick a boardingtime until after us as this is our 8th Disney Cruise. Do you think they could come with us,since we are traveling in the same car? If not, I would rather pick a later boarding time so we can board together. I couldn't leave them in the terminal and board before them. Has anyone else had this problem?

I would go ahead and select whatever time you wish. As noted by PP, there are first time cruisers that are able to select the earliest time when their window opens. DCL does ask those parties with different arrival times to arrive at the later time. Your Port Arrival Time is only a "no earler than" time, you don't have to actually arrive only within the actual 1/2 hour window.

When everyone speaks of "the port" are we talking only Port Canaveral, or ANY port a Disney ship departs from? (Seattle, New York, LA, etc)

Yes, most of this is about PC. Although you do select a port arrival time for all terminals.

I thought you had to pick a port arrival time for all DCL cruises now.

See above.

 

[tcrowley]

When i did my on line booking this is what came up with the port arrival time

As you are Pre stay guest, you do not need to pick the arrival time as Disney staff will escort you to the Cruise

I am cruising on the Dream Oct 14th thru 18th
My first cruise and my daughter is getting married on the ship I am sooooo excited

 

[boogabuzz]

Personal opinion, I guess, but I'd completely disagree with this. You can eat lunch, swim, explore the ship, play mini golf (new ships), play in the Kids Clubs, go to the Sports Decks, have a drink, AND go to guest services to sign up for wine tastings, etc., drop off your character signing items (if you have them). We had done all that by 1:30 and got into our cabin. It was great!

Completely agree. There are tons of things to do. It's not like you're going on a cruise to sit in your room and go to the gift shops( which are only open when you are at sea) port Canaveral is one of your cruise days. Why not maximize your time enjoying your cruise. I always feel bad for people boarding later in the day. It's like they have missed out on things, and they paid the same amount as the ones who got on first

 

[shburks]

Completely agree. There are tons of things to do. It's not like you're going on a cruise to sit in your room and go to the gift shops( which are only open when you are at sea) port Canaveral is one of your cruise days. Why not maximize your time enjoying your cruise. I always feel bad for people boarding later in the day. It's like they have missed out on things, and they paid the same amount as the ones who got on first

Didn't even mention playing Midship Detective Agency! We stumbled on the desk on deck 2 right after lunch at Enchanted Garden on Fantasy and played half the first game that afternoon! We were so busy that we completely forgot to check out the spa. Oh, and we needed some time to figure out the wave phones!! Ha ha

 

[MonkeyPants]

Personal opinion, I guess, but I'd completely disagree with this. You can eat lunch, swim, explore the ship, play mini golf (new ships), play in the Kids Clubs, go to the Sports Decks, have a drink, AND go to guest services to sign up for wine tastings, etc., drop off your character signing items (if you have them). We had done all that by 1:30 and got into our cabin. It was great!

Completely agree with you. I have always loved to get on the ships early if for no other reason then to be able to get an idea of the lay of the ship.





oh and thanks for the info guys, I got a PAT of 11:30