Embarkation and Debarkation at US ports other than Port Canaveral

[dislvr75]

This past cruise was my first ever out of a port other than Port Canaveral. I realize Galveston is not the Orlando area but boy was I surprised. Despite arriving an hour before our PAT (it was about 1pm), after security and arriving upstairs at the terminal... there were no people. No characters, no people waiting for their boarding group they said we could just walk on. It was a good thing as we have waited in large groups of folks a few times at Port Canaveral. We cruise out of Miami in January, should we expect more of the same?
I was expecting a bit more fanfare, more festivity at the terminal. Yes again, it was nice to just board and not have to wait, this is not a complaint. Just curious if this is a common experience at other Ports or maybe just sometimes. I was wondering what others have experienced at Galveston and also Miami.

Also debarkation was also kinda a mess. The atriums on the Magic class ships are so small compared to the Dream class. We were late breakfast trying to make our way to Tritons and there were folks EVERYWHERE waiting to get off the ship. There was a long line off folks getting off which was getting confused with our long line on the other side of the hallway waiting to get into Tritons. Despite being asked to wait in any of the ships lounges for their tag color to be called, folks just headed to the atrium and took up A LOT of much needed space, making the atrium nearly impassable. I do not remember this from previous cruises, is this also pretty normal? Again, just wondering what other’s experiences have been. LOVED my birthday cruise by the way!

 

[gotomu212]

I think the biggest differences on embarkation is that you arrived after open boarding. When we’ve been in Galveston there have been characters, family of the Day fanfare, and the same pictures (although way more seating which I LOVED).

We’ve also been at Port Canaveral after open boarding and it’s like you describe Galveston- no characters, no crowds, no fanfare, just check in and walk on.

I’ve found most ports the same. The only big variables is how longnsecurity takes and whether there are enough seats.

 

[Marc D]

This is pretty much the experience you’ll get in any port outside of PC, especially if arriving later. First of all, there a lot less people to get onboard on the classic ships, so the crowd thins out rapidly when boarding begins. Also, port employees are not regular Disney CM’s so, for them, a Disney ship is like any other company. They follow the DCL procedures but are not necessarily into the Disney vibe.

That being said, they do bring out characters in other terminals. Maybe you missed them. The only thing we ever saw that was noteworthy in a non-PC port was in Europe, where local traditional bands played as we boarded or sailed away. It was especially true on our BI 12-days last year.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I just have to say, I have never waited so long after a cruise for customs than I did in Galveston. We had a 10:00 AM shuttle to catch and we were gong to wait on the ship until about 9 or so to get off. My DH insisted we get off at 8:30 and I'm glad he did. It literally took us an hour after getting our luggage (which was the quickest part) to wait in line to get through customs. European ports were much faster.

 

[RAD]

We just did a cruise out of Galveston last week. We had an 11:30 PAT and when we got there people already sitting in the waiting area. Mickey was having pictures taken and after a while was replaced by Minnie. We were boarding group #3 so it was around noon when we were allowed on the Wonder. The only issue we had was with the parking lot shuttle. It was a colder/windy day and we had to wait 20 minutes for a bus to show up.

Now for getting off, that's another story. We had first seating dinner so we had 7AM breakfast time. After that it was one big mess. They disembark you according to the luggage tag that you were assigned so you had to wait until your group was called. Problem was there wasn't enough spots for people to wait, so hallways were one big traffic jam. Once that was done the rest of the process was fine, found out luggage and had maybe a two minute wait for a customs person.

 

[mmouse37]

Just debarked in NYC yesterday (very easy) We ate in Cabanas and just walked off the ship at 8:00 am. Customs was pretty empty at that time. When we embarked last week the terminal was crowded around 10:30 am. The terminal is very long and they were trying to get people to sit further away from the check in desks (closer to the main entrance). No one wanted to leave the immediate area to sit. When they announced the Family of the Day and then Boarding Group 1 it was tough getting to the queue to leave the terminal for the ship. We have experienced this before in NYC as well.

OP....definitely the reason the terminal was so empty was that most everyone was onboard already. Once, when we boarded in Port Canaveral it was after 2:00 pm and the terminal was a ghost town.

MJ

 

[dcassetta]

I've found embarkation about the same in each terminal, although obviously Port Canaveral is better decorated. The most enthusiastic check in person I ever had was in New York City. I think debarkation is where you find the big differences, this mostly has to do with the size of the luggage halls. It would be nice in places like Galveston, if Disney would encourage people to stay in their rooms until their color is called. That would certainly free up space in the public areas and allow disembarkation to go a little smoother. However, as Disney likes people out of their rooms by 8 AM, it might not help that much.

 

[RAD]

I've found embarkation about the same in each terminal, although obviously Port Canaveral is better decorated. The most enthusiastic check in person I ever had was in New York City. I think debarkation is where you find the big differences, this mostly has to do with the size of the luggage halls. It would be nice in places like Galveston, if Disney would encourage people to stay in their rooms until their color is called. That would certainly free up space in the public areas and allow disembarkation to go a little smoother. However, as Disney likes people out of their rooms by 8 AM, it might not help that much.

Instead of the rooms how about the Walt Disney Theater, have a section for each character?

 

[Pooh2]

We did Quebec City to NY City in September.
We had characters in the Quebec City terminal.
When we arrived about 1 pm, there were only a few other people ahead of us in line to check-in and for security.
Debarkation was also very easy. We had breakfast at Cabanas and walked off with our luggage, no line at customs.
We had an amazing send-off with Canadians lining the shore to wave us off.

In Vancouver, we got to port about noon and the check-in line was about 45 minutes. We did not see any characters on the way in.

Our one port arrival at Port Canveral was very quiet, no line at check-in, characters were not out. Walked right on the ship from check-in at about 1pm.

For us, the later port arrival is nice for quick check-in, walk onto the ship, grab a quick lunch, then the room is ready to drop our luggage.

 

[jrabbit]

This is the way the Miami terminal looked 4 or 5 years ago ...

 

[Dug720]

This is the way the Miami terminal looked 4 or 5 years ago ...

That's what it looked like in 2017 as well.

 

[kiford]

We've boarded twice in Barcelona and once in Dover. Both times there was just a cordoned off section for DCL check-in - nothing else. Much the same experience in Dover.

The first time in Barcelona we had to wait outside in a line to get through security. Once in, there were very few people and no lines for check-in. Second time there was no waiting to get through security. Both times we boarded immediately after check-in apparently because we took DCL transfers from the hotel. I did see a block of chairs for people who were still waiting for their boarding number to be called but it was in pretty much a barren concrete hall.

In Dover, we walked straight in (well, through security but no one in line ahead of us), right up to check-in. Then immediate boarding. All three times we arrived around 11:30.

We typically board after open boarding (1-ish) in Port Canaveral so rarely experience lines, there are few people and the characters have long since left. The one time we checked in early because we came with friends, it was a total zoo and I will never do that again if I can possibly avoid it. I presume that there were characters but since it was wall-to-wall people pushed up against me (I was sitting), it wasn't possible to see.

Despite being asked to wait in any of the ships lounges for their tag color to be called, folks just headed to the atrium and took up A LOT of much needed space, making the atrium nearly impassable. I do not remember this from previous cruises, is this also pretty normal?

We never disembark until after late breakfast so never have any issue picking up our luggage right away - if there are calls by colour to disembark we either don't hear them in the restaurant and they don't need to continue them past a certain time or they aren't doing them. That was true in Barcelona as well as Port Canaveral. I do recall that in Dover we had just been notified that our flight was going to be delayed by a few hours and I thought maybe we could skip breakfast and disembark earlier so that we could see about getting the earlier flight. They hadn't opened the doors yet for people who were doing their own luggage walk off and a CM said that it would be at least 15-30 minutes before they would be allowed off first and then others could disembark. Given the volume of people and the fact that we would have to retrieve our luggage amid the crowd, I didn't see the point as the lines for buses would probably be long so we went to breakfast and just walked off afterwards - took only a couple of minutes to collect bags and get to the bus. I don't recall any colours called then either - again I don't know if you can hear in the restaurants.

I did see a very long line of people waiting to disembark early doing their own carry off on our last Caribbean cruise out of Port Canaveral (Fantasy) but once the doors opened for them, I heard no calls for individual groups to leave so I'm presuming that this procedure is probably in non-PC ports where the space is too small to accommodate the volumes. I only saw this line because I was picking up my held-alcohol in the atrium. But they were all lined up against the wall so were not in anyone's way.

 

[Marc D]

As I understand it, they call colors in ports where they are not able to get all the luggage off the ship and sorted before the ship is cleared. When we got off in Dover, there was still luggage being brought off the ship and sorted. Only about half the luggage was available in the terminal. We never noticed that in PC. We are usually in the first group off the ship and it seems all the luggage is already there.

 

[disneyholic family]

We've boarded twice in Barcelona and once in Dover. Both times there was just a cordoned off section for DCL check-in - nothing else. Much the same experience in Dover.

The first time in Barcelona we had to wait outside in a line to get through security. Once in, there were very few people and no lines for check-in. Second time there was no waiting to get through security. Both times we boarded immediately after check-in apparently because we took DCL transfers from the hotel. I did see a block of chairs for people who were still waiting for their boarding number to be called but it was in pretty much a barren concrete hall.

In Dover, we walked straight in (well, through security but no one in line ahead of us), right up to check-in. Then immediate boarding. All three times we arrived around 11:30.

We typically board after open boarding (1-ish) in Port Canaveral so rarely experience lines, there are few people and the characters have long since left. The one time we checked in early because we came with friends, it was a total zoo and I will never do that again if I can possibly avoid it. I presume that there were characters but since it was wall-to-wall people pushed up against me (I was sitting), it wasn't possible to see.

We never disembark until after late breakfast so never have any issue picking up our luggage right away - if there are calls by colour to disembark we either don't hear them in the restaurant and they don't need to continue them past a certain time or they aren't doing them. That was true in Barcelona as well as Port Canaveral. I do recall that in Dover we had just been notified that our flight was going to be delayed by a few hours and I thought maybe we could skip breakfast and disembark earlier so that we could see about getting the earlier flight. They hadn't opened the doors yet for people who were doing their own luggage walk off and a CM said that it would be at least 15-30 minutes before they would be allowed off first and then others could disembark. Given the volume of people and the fact that we would have to retrieve our luggage amid the crowd, I didn't see the point as the lines for buses would probably be long so we went to breakfast and just walked off afterwards - took only a couple of minutes to collect bags and get to the bus. I don't recall any colours called then either - again I don't know if you can hear in the restaurants.

I did see a very long line of people waiting to disembark early doing their own carry off on our last Caribbean cruise out of Port Canaveral (Fantasy) but once the doors opened for them, I heard no calls for individual groups to leave so I'm presuming that this procedure is probably in non-PC ports where the space is too small to accommodate the volumes. I only saw this line because I was picking up my held-alcohol in the atrium. But they were all lined up against the wall so were not in anyone's way.

at what time did they let people get off in dover?
we have a train to catch, so i'm wondering how nervous i should be

 

[kiford]

at what time did they let people get off in dover?
we have a train to catch, so i'm wondering how nervous i should be

I think we got on the bus at 10 am but we had late breakfast and took our time as we were saying goodbye to friends we travelled with. People got off long before we did.

 

[disneyholic family]

I think we got on the bus at 10 am but we had late breakfast and took our time as we were saying goodbye to friends we travelled with. People got off long before we did.

that's good.
i have our mini-bus picking us up at 9:00.