How do you know when staterooms are available on embarkation day?

[Flossbolna]

My first cruise without printed navigators is coming up. In the past there was always a little blurb on the first day‘s navigator telling you when staterooms were expected to be available. Usually it was 1:30 pm.

Is that info somewhere in the app now? Or how do people find out that time? I don’t want to hang in the hallway to wait for stateroom rope drop.

It also seems that the 1:30 pm time which was the standard pre-Covid no longer is set in stone? I have seen people on here talking about all kind of different times recently!

Any insight would be helpful! Thanks!

 

[kiford]

They will give you a card when you arrive at the port that tells you when your rooms will be ready. For us in January it was 2 pm and they were taking down the ropes at exactly 2 pm.

 

[happycamper47]

2 pm seems to be the post covid time, but they have dropped the tape earlier on several of our past cruises

 

[soniam]

We didn’t get a card. Just look to see when your hallway is open. Should be around 2pm but could be a little earlier.

 

[Calantha]

They had it on the display screens at PC before we got on the ship.

 

[Flossbolna]

Thanks for all the replies.

I know it’s only 30 minutes, but it annoys me that it seems to consistently later now.

we used to time our arrival so that we would get on the ship just when the staterooms were opening, dropped our luggage and then headed for a late lunch. So, those 30 minutes make a difference. I also find the crowds of people hanging out with carry on stuff everywhere on the ship just hectic and frantic. But I guess I will have to live with it…

And knowing that there is supposed to be a card, I can at least ask for that…

 

[sponica]

I also find the crowds of people hanging out with carry on stuff everywhere on the ship just hectic and frantic.

All I remember from my 2014 cruise is foolishly picking an early arrival time and not sticking everything in the luggage and wandering the ship for what felt like an eternity with our carryons until the rooms opened at 2.

I mean I remember other things, but this part stood out

 

[Disturbia]

I saw a recent review and the person stayed at Hyatt (@airport) the night before and luggage wasn’t dropped off in the room onboard the ship until 5 pm. Does that happen often with Hyatt?

 

[lanejudy]

I saw a recent review and the person stayed at Hyatt (@airport) the night before and luggage wasn’t dropped off in the room onboard the ship until 5 pm. Does that happen often with Hyatt?

I don't know that it's specific to the Hyatt, but yes it's possible luggage doesn't make it to your stateroom until evening. We've had bags as early as 2pm and at least once 1 bag didn't arrive until after we'd already gone to main dining. How they got separated because everything was checked together at the curb, but if you've ever seen the pics of luggage coming onboard I guess it's not surprising everything doesn't stay together.

 

[kiford]

I saw a recent review and the person stayed at Hyatt (@airport) the night before and luggage wasn’t available until 5 pm. Does that happen often with Hyatt?

I don't think it necessarily has anything to do with where you're coming from. We've come from the resorts and from the Hyatt and our luggage often didn't get to our room until after the sailaway party.

All I remember from my 2014 cruise is foolishly picking an early arrival time and not sticking everything in the luggage and wandering the ship for what felt like an eternity with our carryons until the rooms opened at 2.

Largely why I've never wanted an early PAT. I'd far rather get up later, have a leisurely breakfast, pack up, relax, watch TV and then head out, walk right onto the ship and to my room. The only times we've ever had an earlier PAT was in Europe (taking DCL transfers) and when we come with our friends who live in Florida. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a boarding number until our first Med cruise, but because we were coming from the DCL-selected hotel and transfers, we were given a card with boarding number 2 or something like that when we checked in and we walked right on. I'd never even had to wait to board until our first cruise when we arrived with our friends and got there at 10:30 am. Hated it. A couple of extra hours of being on the ship hauling around a carry-on bag waiting for my room to be ready after I've had to wait to get into the terminal and wait until they called for boarding with people crammed in around me and trying to block my entrance to the ship isn't worth it to me. It's not like I can really participate in anything other than lunch (with a ginormous bag at my feet) and I'm not keen on walking around with it so I can't even explore.

 

[Flossbolna]

I saw a recent review and the person stayed at Hyatt (@airport) the night before and luggage wasn’t dropped off in the room onboard the ship until 5 pm. Does that happen often with Hyatt?

We had a cruise where part of our luggage didn’t appear at the stateroom until well after the lifeboat drill.

I don’t mind the luggage taking longer. But I want to put my valuable in the safe and not carry them around.

 

[Marc D]

I saw a recent review and the person stayed at Hyatt (@airport) the night before and luggage wasn’t dropped off in the room onboard the ship until 5 pm. Does that happen often with Hyatt?

It has nothing to do with the Hyatt bus. All the dropped-off luggage gets merged together once it is received, then x-rayed, then loaded onto crates separated by room location to be brought onboard either at the aft or middle loading bay. They are then lifted to your deck and finally brought to the staterooms by the attendants. We've sometimes seen bags waiting backstage for a long while on our deck, possibly because the attendants were greeting guests. Something happening at any point in that long process can affect when the bag finally gets to you.

If something prohibited is spotted in one bag, it will be taken aside to be searched. That can result in that bag arriving separately from the others for the same stateroom.

 

[Snowwhyt]

I’ve had luggage arrive after the first show. No time to change for dinner.

 

[lucas]

Off topic, but how do you know where to go to meet with the maitre d' about dining requests/changes? In the past, the printed navigators always showed a time/place to meet. How is this handled now?

 

[auntlynne]

 

[auntlynne]

 

[cedricandsophie]

We get as early a PAT as possible. We just put carryon at a table by the pool, grab lunch on deck and relax, I’ve left our bags without concern. it never occurred to me to worry about them. When the rooms open, we dump bags and go back to pool.

 

[brentm77]

Thanks for all the replies.

I know it’s only 30 minutes, but it annoys me that it seems to consistently later now.

we used to time our arrival so that we would get on the ship just when the staterooms were opening, dropped our luggage and then headed for a late lunch. So, those 30 minutes make a difference. I also find the crowds of people hanging out with carry on stuff everywhere on the ship just hectic and frantic. But I guess I will have to live with it…

And knowing that there is supposed to be a card, I can at least ask for that…

It was 1:30 still on the Fantasy two weeks ago. They opened exactly on time too.

 

[Snowwhyt]

Off topic, but how do you know where to go to meet with the maitre d' about dining requests/changes? In the past, the printed navigators always showed a time/place to meet. How is this handled now?

I have never experienced this in the last 7 cruises, but on #8 I was taken by a Palo employee to DLounge on the Magic and talked with the head of all dining and 2 head-of-team men(I assume one for each of the other two restaurants) with laptops and white/cream suites just after I got on the ship. Seemed like the main guy handed me to the lead guy for my rotation.
Full backstory: I started 14 years ago with guest services notification, then entered into phase where I would meet head of center in Lumeres/triton MDR. This seemed to be my first rotation with out fail all 7 cruises until I booked a Palo the first night on this last trip, only then I was at Rapunzel’s restaurant.

On trip #8 I went up to Palo first because I assumed I would have to pick out a meal to have altered to work with my allergies. Nope it’s all premade and no changes can be made. What? So he said let’s go talk to Mr. X?? he will know what to do. So after a few radio calls I was taken to DLounge.