Information on Boarding Numbers

[maryliz]

As a PP said, they can't enforce the time you pick at on-line checkin with the boarding number you are given when you get to the terminal because there are just too many outside factors. I personally think that the whole "choose your time" is to try and spread out the people arriving. If you're a newbie, and don't frequent these boards , you might get your 2PM arrival time and book your car service/shuttle/flight or simply drive to port based on THAT time. If one out of every 10 families sticks to their assigned time, that's still less congestion at the port between 10AM and noon.

I didn't mind waiting around in the port ... it was our first cruise and I just enjoyed watching all of the people. And besides, we wanted to be on that ship, have lunch, and be on the AquaDuck long before others even boarded. I think my port arrival time was 12:30, but we were there at 11AM ... got boarding number 9. Would I go early again ... yep, in a heartbeat. but I do think your boarding number should be based on when you arrive at the top of the escalator in the terminal ... nothing more, nothing less. And if they want to give all Platinum CC members an automatic FP, go for it!

 

[Mmketeer]

LOVE your Bostons!!!!!!!

First time we cruised, we had a VERY unhappy 17 month old - and I don't mean she was fussy and copping an attitude. I mean she was making sure EVERYBODY on that gangway knew she was unhappy.

My wife picked her up and walked QUICKLY by those photo people. They actually FOLLOWED her and tried to tell her she had to. After several polite attempts, she turned to them, my daughter still crying, and said: "No THANK you!". That did it. They finally retreated. We proceeded to Parrot Cay - where said 17 month old immediately calmed down once she had some food.

I don't think it's just that it's against the norm. Those photos are $$ (for us to buy - certainly not for them to print) and Disney probably doesn't want to miss the opportunity for you to see the picture in Shutter's and feel a strong compulsion to buy it.

Thanks SnackyStacky- Bostons are awesome aren't they. I see you have one too.

I agree with you, they do want you to take them for that reason. They really don't like me to much cause I don't buy them really anymore. Oh and I think I know how your 17 month old felt, man if you skip breakfast your in big trouble now as their is nothing to eat in that terminal. Anyone who is insaline diabetic should take precautions, especially if those darn computers go down. I think I'd be right their with your kid and I'd be crying too!

 

[Mmketeer]

It seems like we arrived at 10:15 just seconds before the hoards of people. There was a waiting area with plenty of seating, tv's, and snack machines. As my children were lobbying for snacks, our number was called.

I have a feeling that it's going to be back to smaller ships for us.

Okay, makes sense to me now. I too probably got their before the crowds cause' that's about the time I get there ( if not a little earlier). I guess because I never had to wait, I didn't realize they had all that. Humm...must be on the other side of the check in counters???

Geeze, I think I remember seeing that kind of stuff at RCCL terminal in Miami too when we last sailed on the Naviagtor. Again we walked right on, so never utalized any of this.

Maybe Disney should at least add snack machines, seeings how they don't seem to want to bend on more seating.

 

[DizDragonfly]

Thanks SnackyStacky- Bostons are awesome aren't they.

I agree.

Anyone who is insaline diabetic should take precautions, especially if those darn computers go down. I think I'd be right their with your kid and I'd be crying too!

I'm going to have to remember to pack a few granola bars or something in my carryon bag. One of my boys and I have issues if our blood sugars drop too low. He'll actually get super moody and depressed. I'll just start to shake, get a headache and feel very sick. Horrible way to start a cruise!

 

[Mmketeer]

I agree.



I'm going to have to remember to pack a few granola bars or something in my carryon bag. One of my boys and I have issues if our blood sugars drop too low. He'll actually get super moody and depressed. I'll just start to shake, get a headache and feel very sick. Horrible way to start a cruise!

Love your Boston Pic.

Yeah it's a shame they don't have a snack machine. Oh or a ice cream stand- Mickey bars anyone? LOL!

 

[DizDragonfly]

Love your Boston Pic.

Yeah it's a shame they don't have a snack machine. Oh or a ice cream stand- Mickey bars anyone? LOL!

Thanks! She's the resident princess.

If they are going to start having people wait around for three or four hours to board, they better put in something.

 

[Mmketeer]

I had to tell the guy my last name like 5 times and I almost gave up and walked right past him.

They were explaining to me with the photo how I have to take out my card for them to scan. The lady kept telling me it's different. It's not any different for me.

Good gracious you have way more paitience than me. After the 2nd time I would have nodded my head, thanked the guy and went to buffet line. The one time we skipped it was probably because of that same guy that couldn't get the names right cause their was a bit of a line waiting for them to announce their names. So, DH and I said excuse us to the people waiting and walked on through. A crew member caught my eye and said, you didn't get welcomed yet. I turned to her and said, thanks, but we were just on the boat. Been their done that. Smiled and kept walking. I think a few jaws had to be picked up off the floor and what really ticked them off was I saw at least one other couple suit. LOL! I am such a bad influence.

 

[tnshsms]

If I were you, I would just select the earliest time available when you do the online check-in, even if what is available is before 12:00. If they assign you a number that has already boarded when you get there at 12:00, then you can just go ahead and board immediately.

Theoretically this should work, however, because the actual boarding group cards are handed out by the check-in agents based on what they have left at their station, you could still get a much later group when you arrive at 12:00 regardless of what time your online selection should have put you in.

example: You select 10:00-10:30 am for an arrival time, this should put in a low group likely 2-5. Theoretically, you should get a boarding card of 2-5 when you arrive at 12:00. However, what might happen is all of the 2-5 might be gone when you actually get there at 12:00 and you are given a higher number, like 30 or something.

The way they are handling this new system is flawed in my opinion, because it really doesn't matter what you select during online check-in, the boarding number you get is still ultimately determined by the cast member that you get upon arrival at the terminal or at the airport, based on what they have available at their station. What they need to so is print the boarding group on your Key Card, then there would be an actual computer assignment of the number and it would be more fair.

That's an excellent idea! We are taking a DCL bus from MCO so I'm hoping that means a smoother transition for us.

 

[truck1]

For this new system to actually work as intended DCL should assign boarding numbers while you are doing online check-in. Giving people a vague time to show up that they may or may not follow makes no sense.

This would not work. Many many things come up. Also that means they would have to perdict how long it will take people to get through the check-in process at the port, a month ahead of time. I think that would be just You would have people with #4 arriving as they are boarding #10 and a lot of confusion.

To me, it only appears to be a problem with the PORT stalkers. The ones that arrive there when the darn thing opens and want to get on-board that moment. Not remembering that the last passenger is just getting off th freakin' ship the hour prior. DCL actually says no baording until Noon (even though we know it happens before then). It always makes me laugh when people say "But I arrived at 10AM but could not get on the ship until 12:10. I waited with my kids for 2 hours.). Oh boy, that is the way the time goes. I really think DCL did this for them. To give them an idea of how many people at what time. Not to really interfere with your boarding numbers. I do not mind it either way. It has worked the same for us ALL cruises (except land/sea). This has to do with the fact we do not arrive to the port until after all of the Port Stalkers have started to board. I have a child that does not do lines well, so we adjusted ourselves to be able to just walk on the ship. 3

3 weeks ago, there were Gold members, Silver Members & First timers in the line with me. We ALL got the same boarding pass number at the AIR PORT. I paid our trip off at the last minute. So I really think this is a DCL thing for themselves. It "APPEARS" to me the only people that are having issuees/comcerns are those that arrive to the port time it opens or before & of them the ones thaqt think they should get on the ship right after check-in. Maybe if so many people were not sleeping at port or standing in line at 9AM as the disembarkation cruisers were leaving.... the boarding times would have never come to be. Just my thoughts...

Good point.....bottom line is they need a bigger terminal I guess.

Or they could enforce the arrival time from online check in. If people know they couldn't get in early, they wouldn't show up early, thus causing a huge reduction in port traffic.

Seems pointless if they are letting 1 p.m. people check in at 10 a.m. and giving them the earlier boarding numbers anyway. So the online check-in accomplishes nothing basically and it's still a free-for-all when you arrive at the port

As a PP said, they can't enforce the time you pick at on-line checkin with the boarding number you are given when you get to the terminal because there are just too many outside factors. I personally think that the whole "choose your time" is to try and spread out the people arriving. If you're a newbie, and don't frequent these boards , you might get your 2PM arrival time and book your car service/shuttle/flight or simply drive to port based on THAT time. If one out of every 10 families sticks to their assigned time, that's still less congestion at the port between 10AM and noon.

I didn't mind waiting around in the port ... it was our first cruise and I just enjoyed watching all of the people. And besides, we wanted to be on that ship, have lunch, and be on the AquaDuck long before others even boarded. I think my port arrival time was 12:30, but we were there at 11AM ... got boarding number 9. Would I go early again ... yep, in a heartbeat. but I do think your boarding number should be based on when you arrive at the top of the escalator in the terminal ... nothing more, nothing less. And if they want to give all Platinum CC members an automatic FP, go for it!

Ive been doing spme thinking lately, about several of the things that either the parks or DCL has done that has me scratching my head. This is one of those things.

This is me, but if the goal as stated by DCL with the new pick a boarding time, why would they close some of them out, if the intent is to see what time frame people arrive in? Shouldnt they just leave it as every time open,assign a boarding number as you arrive(as in the past) and see at the beginning of each cruise, what time frames got the most,and plan accordingly? To me, picking a time(if the true intent is for scheduling of CMs at the term) and having only a certain number of each time frames, defeats the purpose. Unless they plan on enforcing the time, then youll see a lot of people really upset.Theres too many variables for some people to accurately select an arrival time. For most yes they can say my plane lands at 11am, takes about 90 minutes for me to get from OIA to the term,(collecting bags etc) 1230 works. How about the people that stay at 1 of the resort near the port? I know for a fact that CIS wont let you select a time for the shuttle until the day you arrive. I also know of people (first hand) that stayed at the Radison and had to wait mult. shuttles to get to the port because the bus scheduler lost control of the crowd, and people were juming the line. And would have missed their time window as a result.

One of the other things that has me scrathing my head, is they spent over 20 million dollars, to extend and reinforce the pier, and dredge the pier, make the baggage room bigger, and build a multi story parking garage with a covered walkway. Why didnt someone make the terminal itself bigger? Come on. Its not a surprise the new ships hold 4000 guests full load. Its not like RCL parked the Allure of the Seas at term 8 and said heres your new ship enjoy.

 

[truck1]

I thought the photo thing is mandatory.

Depends on which photo. The photo attached to your KTTW is mandatory and everyone must go thru it, for security reasons.

The boarding photo(the one just before the bridge) isnt mandatory. 1 of the main reasons they do it, is so the facial recognition software can have an accurate picture of who is in what cabins. For a lot of people, some family may be in 1 pic while others are not, but at the beginning of the trip, everyone is together.Usually, unless you are traveling in a lare group thats arriving at different times.

 

[Cmbar]

Everything was booked and paid off at the same time... I honestly have no clue why there was such a difference in the boarding numbers.

Were you on the Daylight savings cruise on the 13th? Didn't they have major problems with the boarding that day because of the change in time. I heard they reverted to the old way by just giving people as they checked in.

How did you know you were 18? Did she first give you that and then change her mind?

 

[molarman]

On our March 13 Mexican Riviera cruise on the Wonder, we arrived at the terminal at 10:30. We were given our boarding group number as we approached the security scanners. They weren't handing out group numbers at the checkin counter. It appears they were just handing them out in the order we entered the terminal waiting area and not linked to the online checkin time we had selected (or was selected for us, which was 12:30-1:00).

 

[Mason3]

I picked the earliest boarding time, so I will make sure we are there early.

 

[anna08]

\ One of the other things that has me scrathing my head, is they spent over 20 million dollars, to extend and reinforce the pier, and dredge the pier, make the baggage room bigger, and build a multi story parking garage with a covered walkway. Why didnt someone make the terminal itself bigger? Come on. Its not a surprise the new ships hold 4000 guests full load. Its not like RCL parked the Allure of the Seas at term 8 and said heres your new ship enjoy.

I agree! We were on the March 17th Dream and were lucky enough to get #3 (I agree with the theory that it is connected to what time slot you choose - we had the earliest.) We aren't the kind of people to enjoy massive crowds, so we hung outside on the observation deck until they started boarding. It was ridiculous what we had to go through to get to the entrance of the boarding area when our number was called. People were so reluctant to move aside to let us by - it was very uncomfortable negotiating our kids through that area. I really wish DCL would come up with a solution for this. The terminal is way too crowded for the Dream's number of passengers, if so many come for the start of boarding. I would prefer concrete boarding times given ahead of time that you could not board earlier, if it meant you could just walk easily onboard when you got there.

 

[cwdefouw]

On the Group Photo, taken just before the Bridge. We were on the Dream, 2/27 and tried to bypass this photo since we never buy photos on the ships. We were told that with the new system that ties all of the onboard photos to a guest key card, this photo is now mandatory to set up the folio that is tied to the guest's key. I argued for a while with my wife glaring at me, and finally gave in. I still didn't buy any photos though.

 

[SnackyStacky]

On the Group Photo, taken just before the Bridge. We were on the Dream, 2/27 and tried to bypass this photo since we never buy photos on the ships. We were told that with the new system that ties all of the onboard photos to a guest key card, this photo is now mandatory to set up the folio that is tied to the guest's key. I argued for a while with my wife glaring at me, and finally gave in. I still didn't buy any photos though.

I don't think I really care for that.

 

[RedSox68]

The embarkation pic is one of our favorite souvenirs -- especially because it is framed with the date and sometimes the port info. Every cruise for 7 of the last 8 we have gotten matching tees with a theme but different colors. One year it was old Mickey pics. Another it was the Epcot emblems; another the characters hats. Then for some cruises we've had special group tees made at Cafe Press. In 2009 it was tees from the MK Halloween party, and this year our theme is Nightmare Before Christmas. Each family member picks the design from the theme and their color. Just looks great in the pics and helps us remember the year.

 

[twinstars]

On the Group Photo, taken just before the Bridge. We were on the Dream, 2/27 and tried to bypass this photo since we never buy photos on the ships. We were told that with the new system that ties all of the onboard photos to a guest key card, this photo is now mandatory to set up the folio that is tied to the guest's key. I argued for a while with my wife glaring at me, and finally gave in. I still didn't buy any photos though.

I don't think this is mandatory at all. On our 3/13 Dream cruise, with the computer problem, embarkation was delayed so much that when we were going in, they were basically saying the photo was optional. We don't usually buy photos on board, and by this time, we just wanted to get on the ship, so we just walked right past it and onto the ship.

 

[diesel]

I’m just curious how do other cruise companies handle boarding?

 

[Artmomdawn]

We are cruising in 25 days. I have not checking-in yet....My husband is in a wheelchair. Do you think that would make a difference??