Disembarking?

[saturday97]

I'm sure this has been asked before but the search wasn't working. How long does it take to get off the ship? What's the procedure?

 

[mmouse37]

very simple.....once the ship clear customs at around 7:00 am or so you can leave....most people do have breakfast before they go, but you do not have to. Everyone must be off the ship by 9:00 am.

All you do is walk out the door on Deck 3, go down to the terminal where you luggage will be waiting. Color coded according to cabin numbers. You can either get a porter to help you out with your luggage (be sure to tip) or take the luggage out yourself. You must hand in your customs form on the way out of the terminal.

The night before you would have left all your luggage except your carry ons outside your door and the disney elves take it away. This has to be done by 10:30 pm or so or you you stuck carrying all your luggage off the ship yourself...which is a pain in the butt!!

Just make sure you leave a set of clothes to wear in the morning. There are stories of people leaving the ship in their PJ's since they forget to leave clothes out!!!

MJ

 

[saturday97]

Thanks so much! I was under the impression that it would take hours and hours!

 

[dcruiser]

Our experience (on Saturday March 22nd, 2003) was that the long line was at the baggage check-in station that Delta Airlines had set up outside the cruise terminal after disembarking from the Magic. Our wait was approximately 30 minutes, perhaps a little longer. With a tired 6-year-old, this was stressful! It looked like the lines for other airlines (particularly American, which did not have a direct flight to our destination) that had baggage check-in stations at the port were *much* shorter.

 

[mmouse37]

Believe me, some other cruise lines do take hours to disembark. Disney really has a great system. There are times that the line backs up with people trying to get off at the same time, but for the most part, we have always just walked off in only a matter of minutes!!!

MJ

 

[mmouse37]

dcruiser....that is true. We did have to wait awhile for our Continental check in at the cruise terminal and other airlines seemed to have no line at all. I guess it just depends how many people are booked on each airline on that particular day.

MJ

 

[inkkognito]

Normally Disney's disembarkation process is a thousand percent better than other cruise lines!!! On RCCL, you do wait literally for hours, until your assigned color is called. On Disney, you can walk right off...you can either eat breakfast or skip it, depending when you want to disembark.
But notice that I said "normally." A couple cruises ago, the U.S. was on heightened terrorist alert, and it took literally an hour. We stood in a line that snaked back all the way to the Promenade Lounge. You had to produce two forms of ID, and most people had their passports and birth certificates buried in their luggage. Even if you were prepared, you were stuck behind the others and only allowed out in small groups.
For our trip a couple of weeks ago, the ship wasn't even cleared until after 7:30. I was getting a bit panicky, as we had an 11 a.m. flight. We brought our luggage with us so we wouldn't have to waste time finding it in the terminal, and we made our flight with plenty of time, but the last clearance definitely worried me. I need to make my Happy Limo ressies for April very soon, but I have no idea what time to tell them! We want to get an early start, but goodness only knows when clearance will be and what the line will be like.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[saturday97]

Thanks everyone-- My TA was basing his information on the procedures of other cruise lines, sounds like some of them can be a real mess! Barb, you're right-- I'm not sure how much security will be tightened in April, it could get better or worse. Luckily, we don't have a flight on disembarkation day, but I wanted to plan the rest of our day.

 

[okiemomx5]

We just returned on Sunday. By the time we got up and to breakfast the line was already way around and down the hall and to the elevators by Parrot Cay. We went in and had a nice breakfast and visited w/ table mates. After breakfast we got up and went out into the hall to visit other new friends and the line was gone. We milled around chatting and taking pictures w/ them and then the announcement came to get off the boat.
We did NOT want to go! LOL! We walked right off and down
to luggage area. The luggage guys were on our tail fast.....but we did carry our own......I mean we have five kids to help.

Like the other board person said........be careful what you pack when you pack and put your luggage out. My 11 yr old daughter had left to go somewhere w/ her new friends and we thought she had shoes on.......wrong. She had to go to breakfast and off the boat in bare feet! I had accidentally packed a pair of my white underwear......thought I had them laid out........I had white crop pants to wear off the ship.......my underwear I had on were blue......oh well.........I just pulled my shirt down.

We think my daughter left her blanket .......she's 11 and still sleeps w/her childhood blanky.......and it must have been in the covers...........so please check check and re-check.

Have fun! Disembarking wasn't so bad for us at all...........but like I said.....we waited till everyone standing in the long line was gone, then walked right off w/ out waiting.

 

[Buckaroo's Dad]

How long does it take to get off the ship?

If you have a verandah, merely seconds...

 

[mmouse37]

buckaroo.....that is funny....and truth is stranger than fiction!!! When we sailed on 7/7/01 on the Magic one bright teenager decided he wanted to exit the ship very quickly in St. Thomas and jumped from Deck 4 into the harbor (he said on a dare..good thing there were no bridges around).

Needless to say when he stood there soaking wet in regular clothes trying to get back onboard...they swiped his card and saw that he "still on the ship" according to the computer, they put two and two together....that along with eyewitness reports.

The Captain was not a happy camper and put him in lock down in his cabin. He was only permitted to leave his cabin if he was with his parents.

MJ

 

[Jeanny]

Hey MJ~
Good for them locking him down in his room... What an IDIOT. I work at a college and can't believe some of the stories the kids tell me... WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???

I always say we should offer a course in "Logic", because a lot of people do NOT know what that is!

That kid is just plain lucky. Me?, I don't know how to dive, so I wouldn't think about getting off a ship that way.

Jeanny