Convincing in-laws disembarking is quick

[disnut8]

I've read the related threads about how efficient Disney does the disembarking. I'm a first time cruiser and have full faith that the whole process will be quick and painless. However...

We're cruising with my in-laws who are veteran cruisers but this will be their first Disney cruise. My mother-in-law is insisting on staying at Port Canaveral Saturday night (we're doing the seven day Eastern) because they "don't want to be rushed" to disembark and then head out for home. I suggested a compromise and we'd go to Daytona or St. Augustine but they are insisting it'll take hours to get through disembarking and customs.

Those of you who have done other cruises, can you help? Could you compare and contrast the other lines to what Disney does and why Disney does it better? This is the last little detail to settle and it's driving me crazy that my mother-in-law trusts me with all things Disney except this. At least I finally got her to believe that Disney allows you to take alcohol on board with you.

 

[DrCavin]

I do not have experience with another cruise line, but it took at MOST 15 minutes from the time we walked off the ship until we were waiting for the Budget shuttle. 5 of those minutes was searching for one of our bags that was put one shelf over from our other luggage.

The customs lady only asked if we were US citizens & waved us through, she didnt look at any of our paperwork.

 

[disneyagain]

We sailed on the Wonder last summer (DH, me, DS, DD). We had 2 bags and 1 carry-on. We had early seating so we had early breakfast on our last day.

We were part of the early groups getting off the ship (we wanted to get to US/IOA). There were many bags in the terminal, but it was so well organized, we quickly found our 2 bags, walked up to the customs agents, and were through with no problem at all. We had a rental car parked at the port, we took a short walk over to that loaded up the trunk and were at US/IOA by 9:15 am. I'm thinking it was around 8:00 when we started off the ship....So it maybe took 20 minutes to get our bags and through customs officers.

We sailed NCL back in 95, I remember hearing horror stories about their disembarkation, but I don't recall that being bad either.

 

[djs113]

If history shows anything, each trip we have been off the ship at 8:30 and at the airport by 10 am using the Disney Shuttles

Good luck

 

[Medleytrio]

Disney was probably the quickest we have ever been off the ship. The mornin
of debarkment, we had showers, aate breakfast. went to Shutters (ONE MORE TIME!) and finally thought OK lets go. We were off the boat and in the disney bus by 9:30-10:00

 

[depomas]

Echoing everyone else, this is so simple, it is almost unbelievable that a ship holding so many people, can disembark so quickly...

 

[thegales]

Yes it is painless, but your in-laws want to know why. So here is my best attempt.

The last night of your cruise, you put your luggage outside your door by 11:00 pm. It is collected and taken to the bowels of the ship. In the morning, as soon as the ship is docked, they start taking all the luggage off the ship, and putting it in a huge room, which covers the majority of the first floor of the terminal. Luggage is sorted by which deck you are on.

So, in the morning, you get up, have breakfast, visit Shutters, or whatever. When the ship is given the all clear, passengers start to leave. At times, they slow down the people getting off the ship to give the first folks time to clear. Once you down the escalator, you go to the section which has your deck's luggage. You find all your bags and call over a porter. (Some people will find the porter to ask him / her to help find their bags.) The porter will load all your bags on his/her cart and ask for your paper work. You then follow the porter through customs control, and indicate where you want your bags taken (car, white tent across the street, airline check in). The porter unloads your bags at your requested spot and you tip the porter.

With no effort at all, you can be off the ship by 8:30 am.

My understanding of other cruise lines is that they have limited space to put luggage. So they clear one or two decks at a time, then they need to set out the next group of luggage. This is why other lines sometimes take so long.

 

[webray]

I agree...15 minutes top to debark. It is really a quick process, we couldn't believe it.

 

[jott3]

Disney disembarkation was much quicker and more efficient than Carnival. On Disney you can walk off whenever you want.

On Carnival everyone was stuck waiting for their area to be called. Then everyone just ended up all smashed together in the hallway waiting to get off the ship. A lot of people had luggage with them and it was a real mess.

 

[power_alaska]

Have been on Holland America, Carnival, Princess & Disney ...
Disney is easiest & quickest, your in-laws will be wondering what to do with the extra time - why don't you have them take you to lunch?

 

[allears]

We've only cruised with Disney, but have managed to do that 5 times now. We always pick late seating for dinner, so we're in the late group on debarkation morning. We take our time, shower, shove the last minute stuff into our carry ons, have breakfaste, say good-bye to our new and old friends and begrudgingly leave the ship. We are often leaving between 8:30 and 9:30. By that time there is not line. Walk off, down to the escalator, find luggage, get a porter, we've yet to be stopped at customs and out to the buses. We've been at the airport as early as 10:30.

The only time it seems a little slow is right around the time they first open the doors and the line of people waiting starts to leave. I recommend hanging back a little, let the crowds go and then wander off.

As others have already said, on DCL you don't have to wait for your deck, color or whatever to be called to leave, you just have to wait for the ship to be cleared and the doors to be opened. And with the way they do the dining rotation w/two seatings in the three dinining rooms plus Topsiders people are pretty well spread out.

It really is amazingly simple.

 

[JonJehrio]

Dis-embark is very fast, not like other Cruise Lines. We learned the hard way. We had a Disney shuttle back to the airport and had flights at 1:30. They got us off the ship and to the airport so fast we had to wait a long time at the airport.

 

[aprilgail2]

It took only minutes to disembark! We were at the gates of Magic Kingdom at 9am waiting for it to open!!

 

[tvguy]

Well.......IT DEPENDS.

Disney was my 7th cruise. Others in order were Paquet, NCL(x2), RCCL(x2) and HAL.

The system Disney uses for getting your luggage on the dock is the best.

The system Disney uses for getting off the ship needs improvement.

HOWEVER, the total time it took to get off the ship, get our bags and be on the way to the airport was really about the same.

I didn't like having to STAND in line for 45 minutes on the ship to get off onto the dock. Other lines assign you a public room to to SIT and wait in, serve you coffee and pastries, and call your group based on what time your flight leaves.
There was a steady flow off the ship from 7:45 am, but it took until 10:15 am to get everyone off. Disney says they want everyone off by 9 am.
As for staying Saturday night at the Port, well, anything that extends your vacation by a day works for me. I had to be back to work Sunday so that was not an option for us.

 

[becobscot]

I found disembarking to be very fast. We didn't bother with going to the assigned restaurant. We just went to the Beach Blanket Buffet. We were told it would only be a continental breakfast there but it was the same as all the other mornings(except no omelets). After a leisurely breakfast, we left the ship. A porter came to help us immediately and we were in the car in 10 mins.(if that long). On RCCL, we sat and waited for our color to be called! I wish other lines could incorporate DCL's method. To me, it was much faster and easier!

 

[disnut8]

Thank you to everyone who responded and so quickly! I had no idea about the processes on other cruises. Now I have the Disney facts to talk to my mother-in-law about. I think once she hears people have been off the ship by 8:30 or 9:00, she'll want to do something other than hang around Port Canaveral for another day. Who knows, maybe I can convince them to go to Disney World for the day!

 

[logan1_2000]

Buffet Breakfast was the same except no omelets? Please elaborate for the incredulous--hot dishes like scrambled eggs, breakfast meats, potatoes, were being served on the buffet line? Mickey Waffles, perhaps the most Disney food item of all? On disembarkation morning?

Have I been duped by the term "continental breakfast" three cruises now? If it is as I think it was just described, might well have just headed up there to have breakfast at my own pace,

Oh--here's an observation from disembarkation on the Wonder in January--we were in PC the last dinner and again for the last breakfast, early seating, and when we filed out, the rest rooms at the aft stairs outside the PC entrance were MOBBED!! So do yourself a mental health favor and after breakfast, before diembarking and hitting the road, plan to venture elsewhere on the ship to take care of that sort of business.

And let me be the umpteenth voice of assurance to your in-laws that I have been in the car, bags in the trunk, having cleared customs and assisted by the porter as described above in this thread by no later than 9 am and sometimes earlier (in January this year coming off the Wonder we were in the car, engine started, and pulling out of the parking space at 8:06 a.m. after 6:30 early breakfast.

 

[crisi]

I think, from reading here, that ON OCCATION, you end up with continental breakfast upstairs, but more commonly the hot food is out. I'd guess DCL says continental so that if they have issues that morning they can throw out rolls, coffee and juice without hurting expectations. Gives them a little flexibility.

We had a lengthier debark, but only due to my daughter losing her princess accessories (a trip to guest services, and another trip in the luggage area), a long bathroom stop (avoid public restrooms on the ship that morning - at least the ones near the restaurants), lost luggage, etc. A lot of "little things" that meant we took an hour longer to leave for the airport than I anticipated.

 

[Oliviaclare]

We disembarked on 3/10 from the Wonder. We left the ship at 7:45, retrieved our luggage, and boarded the bus by 8:10. There were many buses lined up to leave. We were at the airport shortly after 9 AM for a 12:05 Flight. No problem. We did, however, flag a porter at the terminal to help us with the luggage to the bus. She was wonderful and we went through customs easily. I never felt as though there was a crowd or a delay at any step in the process.

 

[becobscot]

Buffet Breakfast was the same except no omelets? Please elaborate for the incredulous--hot dishes like scrambled eggs, breakfast meats, potatoes, were being served on the buffet line? Mickey Waffles, perhaps the most Disney food item of all? On disembarkation morning?

Have I been duped by the term "continental breakfast" three cruises now? If it is as I think it was just described, might well have just headed up there to have breakfast at my own pace,

Oh--here's an observation from disembarkation on the Wonder in January--we were in PC the last dinner and again for the last breakfast, early seating, and when we filed out, the rest rooms at the aft stairs outside the PC entrance were MOBBED!! So do yourself a mental health favor and after breakfast, before diembarking and hitting the road, plan to venture elsewhere on the ship to take care of that sort of business.

And let me be the umpteenth voice of assurance to your in-laws that I have been in the car, bags in the trunk, having cleared customs and assisted by the porter as described above in this thread by no later than 9 am and sometimes earlier (in January this year coming off the Wonder we were in the car, engine started, and pulling out of the parking space at 8:06 a.m. after 6:30 early breakfast.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but we were on the Wonder Jan.20-23 and as I said, they did have the hot items on the buffett! I was only expecting continental so it was a nice surprise! Didn't want to try to make a 6:45 breakfast!