Disembarkation - Needs to be better

[Girl of the South]

Just off the WBTA. Tried to to the Express Walk Off. Due to the close proximity of FLL airport to Port Everglades, this was heavy on “taxi/Uber” usage.

People started lining up a full hour before the projected 7:15 clearance.

For the entire cruise there were well managed lines for the millions of Character interactions. Yet (I felt) DCL pretty much left THIS most important line to fend for itself. There are miles (!) of those red velvet “line organizers” on the ship - why not use them in this instance? There were 3 “corrals” at the very front which were maybe 15 feet long. That’s it. Enough for maybe 3 families each, with their luggage.

No explanation about why we were being held up. Latecomers milled around the front of the line figuring they’d just merge in with those who had been standing there an hour. When informed, by passengers, NOT crew, that the end of the line was headed down the hallway towards Animators, one Mom replied “I don’t care”. Others said “I have a flight”. We ALL have flights!

Around one hour into this, I did see some sort of officer, one man in white, speak to the most obvious line crashers. They all gave an excuse of some sort, never moved, and he left.

The “wait until your luggage tag color/character” is kind of lame and rarely “enforced”. And I don’t know what the answer is HOWEVER I feel that DCL needs to manage this line like they do for Goofy and Chip and Dale.

Really left everyone with a bad taste in their mouth and feeling frustrated. The only public announcement was regarding refueling.

And the almighty App, as well as crew, NEVER mentioned that Cabanas is open at 6:30 am as a breakfast option. You need to ask, point blank. They don’t want to open it - and only a small portion is opened with very limited options. They will probably eventually close it saying it was “underused”.

DCL needs to do better. At least manage the line until it gets to the hallway towards AP. Have visible crew in the area. Put a character in a safety vest to point the way to the end of the line!

And a shout out to my fellow blue clad passenger who also attempted to preserve the “integrity” of “The Line”. You know who you are. Kudos, my friend!

 

[happycamper47]

Nothing new here, typical human nature. Happens on every cruise line I've been on.

As to calling tags, that may or may not happen. We've been told that at PC or FLL they normally don't call tags and they are only used to locate luggage in the terminal since it is all off loaded and placed fairly fast.

Cabanas has always been open for breakfast for debarkation with limited offerings. That is mentioned on the Forum all the time.

So as usual..The only thing consistent is the inconsistency.

 

[mjkacmom]

We’ve always done early walk off on cruises, staff isn’t around, survival of the fittest. The backups are usually due to the port, not the staff, but they are busy getting the ship ready for the next passengers.

 

[Skippyboo]

Got of the Fantasy on Oct 26 at PC. The app definitely had the Cabanas hours. You have to change it to the departure day and look under Dining and Lounges.

 

[cvjw]

We do express walkoff every cruise. There are always passengers who think they don’t have to wait in the long line - they are special and just want to break the line. Sometimes there are CM’s that see them and show them the end of the line. Sometimes there aren’t. Usually there is just one CM working that long line.

Cabanas is always open for breakfast, but rarely advertised. Took us many cruises before we realized we could eat there before leaving the ship.

 

[Henlady]

We have started booking flights around 2:00pm to avoid the disembarkation fiasco. Have a leisurely breakfast at Cabanas then head to the atrium, find a comfortable seat and wait till the rush quiets down then head off the ship.

 

[TheHoppingTigger]

They don't tell everyone about Cabanas as they want you to go to the main dining room. The ship had to clear customs and took a little longer since it was entering the states for the first time. The lines is normal.

 

[holula]

I’ve done the post WBTA cruise and boarding was delayed on that because US customs took agents to inspect since it was the first time the ship had come back to the US. I don’t know if that’s normal but I really didn’t enjoy waiting in the super hot sun in San Juan while waiting to board.

If it does happen regularly Disney should really delay boarding times for that post WBTA cruise and maybe schedule breakfast for an hour later.

 

[insureman]

We have always felt like DCL just gives up on debarkation day. No more smiling engaging crew members just a free for all with little staff help. Also been cruising since 2004 on DCL and never had breakfast in the MDR so if they don't want people in the buffet then don't open it.

 

[Cfabar1]

They are definitely secretive about Cabanas on debarkation day. But it is also the worst kept secret in all of DCL... I often felt like it had more to do with the paper surveys and wanting to make sure you turned it in....

 

[rainbowredpanda]

We have started booking flights around 2:00pm to avoid the disembarkation fiasco. Have a leisurely breakfast at Cabanas then head to the atrium, find a comfortable seat and wait till the rush quiets down then head off the ship.

This is exactly what we do (if we aren't at our home port which is only a 40 minute drive home) or ideally we just stay the night somewhere. Honestly, it's not worth the stress of walk off as it really doesn't save you much time. We are packed up the night before, suitcases out, a duffel bag for our toiletries and pyjamas, trip to Cove for a coffee, a stop at Cabanas for some fruit and then we just wait until we're almost the last to disembark. We walk off, not a single wait anywhere, our bags are usually the last few and straight out of the terminal. After a relaxing vacation, I'm not getting in a line with people for anything.

 

[Cfabar1]

This is exactly what we do (if we aren't at our home port which is only a 40 minute drive home) or ideally we just stay the night somewhere. Honestly, it's not worth the stress of walk off as it really doesn't save you much time. We are packed up the night before, suitcases out, a duffel bag for our toiletries and pyjamas, trip to Cove for a coffee, a stop at Cabanas for some fruit and then we just wait until we're almost the last to disembark. We walk off, not a single wait anywhere, our bags are usually the last few and straight out of the terminal. After a relaxing vacation, I'm not getting in a line with people for anything.

We have done all kinds of ways… The port is a drive for us…

We will moving forward only do the “last off” approach. So much more relaxing, and worth taking that extra half day or day of vacation (if we did express we could be at work Monday morning).

 

[rainbowredpanda]

We have done all kinds of ways… The port is a drive for us…

We will moving forward only do the “last off” approach. So much more relaxing, and worth taking that extra half day or day of vacation (if we did express we could be at work Monday morning).

Yes. This is what we did two weeks ago and just took an extra day and few home the following morning. Due to some problems arriving in the port, our luggage tag wasn't even called until 10am. We just enjoyed our latte and find somewhere to sit and wait it out. It was nice and relaxing, we chatted to a couple Officers and then disembarked. By the time we collected our suitcases, went to the bathroom, we could grab an Uber without surge pricing. It was a great morning. Well as great as any day you disembark DCL can be

 

[Anna131517]

We had zero issues debarking the Dream in Port Everglades a few weeks ago. Signed up for DCL transport to FLL. Put our suitcases out the night before for pick up. Went to breakfast at our assigned time. After a nice breakfast walked right off with no line, walked right through customs with no line, immediately picked up our bags, and walked straight onto the bus to go to the airport. It couldn’t have been simpler. So I highly recommend this for anyone interested in trying to make their life easier! I think our breakfast time was 7 am? So maybe we missed all the early morning craziness of people anxious to get off as soon as possible?

 

[emmabelle]

PC went fairly smoothly on 9/7 but last year getting off the Dream in NYC was a nightmare. Everyone just getting in line where ever they wanted.

 

[FWRR3]

We have done all kinds of ways… The port is a drive for us…

We will moving forward only do the “last off” approach. So much more relaxing, and worth taking that extra half day or day of vacation (if we did express we could be at work Monday morning).

As more people choose the "last off' approach it may cause DCL to work a little harder to improve and speed up the process as they need people off of the ship. We have been hanging out until the last minute for a long time and it works well.
Interestingly, I believe we were recently the actual last ones off of the ship due to a situation that I won't go into. When we got to the exit door an officer looked at a screen and said, "stateroom xxxx?", and I said, "Yes". I was expecting all of the workers standing around in the empty departure hall to give us a cheer like runners to the departing ship receive.

 

[TigerLaw]

Sorry to ask this, but can someon just explain the express walk off process generally? For example, why would you have to deal w. luggage tags being called if you're doing express?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Mommb]

Sorry to ask this, but can someon just explain the express walk off process generally? For example, why would you have to deal w. luggage tags being called if you're doing express?

Thanks for the help!

You don’t need to deal with luggage tags if you use Express Walk Off. You don’t leave luggage to be picked up and can disembark as soon as the ship is cleared for debarkation.

If clearance takes longer than expected, as it apparently did on the WBTA, the Express line can back up. It would make sense for the release by tag to be delayed until the initial line clears, but I don’t know if that’s what happens or if tags are called based solely on luggage delivery. As people finish breakfast, some will get in line even if their tag hasn’t been called.

 

[Dug720]

Gotta say, I do love how Celebrity handles self-disembark. All those doing self-disembark are directed to a specific lounge where there are multiple crew members who have you line up your luggage in arrival order and when they get the signal have everyone line up in that order and escort people to the doors. In the meantime, there are a few crew members pointing people approaching the doors to the waiting area and not letting anyone jump in line until the people who listened and followed directions are off the ship.

That said, I never bother with early walk-off on Disney. I like that final breakfast with my serving team.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Gotta say, I do love how Celebrity handles self-disembark. All those doing self-disembark are directed to a specific lounge where there are multiple crew members who have you line up your luggage in arrival order and when they get the signal have everyone line up in that order and escort people to the doors. In the meantime, there are a few crew members pointing people approaching the doors to the waiting area and not letting anyone jump in line until the people who listened and followed directions are off the ship.

That said, I never bother with early walk-off on Disney. I like that final breakfast with my serving team.

This was not our experience on Celebrity last year on the Summit. It was a long, slow snake of a line that was torture. If it weren't for our slightly early flight home, I would have gladly sat in a lounge somewhere until the line was gone.