Live from the PC Terminal 8/2/11

[Mmketeer]

You know I had boarding group #2 back at the end of April and we weren't able to get onboard till 12:10! So, it sounds like they have at least gotten that part figured out if the low boarding group numbers were getting on by 11:30 or so (which is what they use to be able to do with the Magic/Wonder at least everytime I sailed). I am sure just being able to get onboard earlier has helped alot at the terminal. It's too bad though the days of arriving at the terminal early is gone though. Guess I'll start driving over the day of again instead of staying over the night before.

 

[SNicksed]

We are cruising 8/21 -8/28 on the Dream. We will be driving from WDW and parking at the port. At this point, I plan to leave Disney at 10:00am. (We have a port arrival time of 10:30-11:00). I will post our experience in this thread from my phone.

 

[lbgraves]

Yes today is the 2nd cruise. So if this were to happen, a 2:00 person could possibly check-in before a 12:00 person and the 12:00 person could possibly be made to wait outside, that's messed up.

Exactly what I thought.

 

[KS929]

We are cruising 8/21 -8/28 on the Dream. We will be driving from WDW and parking at the port. At this point, I plan to leave Disney at 10:00am. (We have a port arrival time of 10:30-11:00). I will post our experience in this thread from my phone.

lol… we're gonna be on the same cruise as your first! I'm so jealous you get to do a B2B lol

I regret signing up for a 1:00-1:30 port arrival time now… Too bad the earlier ones aren't available anymore

 

[BuzzLiteyear]

lol… we're gonna be on the same cruise as your first! I'm so jealous you get to do a B2B lol

I regret signing up for a 1:00-1:30 port arrival time now… Too bad the earlier ones aren't available anymore

We'll be on that first leg too! 13 days and counting

 

[dscott1996]

We cruised on the 8/2 cruise.

We had a 1-1:30 arrival time and arrived at noon. I was NEVER asked about my arrival time. We arrived at noon and were waiting at the elevator to go up to Cabanas for lunch at 12:45. The boarding number we were given was "open" and they weren't announcing numbers over the speaker. Minnie was taking photos. It was effortless!!!

I think arriving early might be pointless. If you want to be first on the ship o.k., but if you arrive at noon you just get to go through the process without stress or frustration.

Enjoy!

 

[conandrob240]

That is weird. So, that means there was no wait at all inside the terminal after check in to board? The "open" boarding is confusing me. So, you arrived at 12pm, got paperwork done and essentially walked on the ship at leisure? Interesting.

I am going to leave WDW at 9:30am for our 8/25 cruise. I hope that puts me in the garage a few minutes before 11am and then on the ship in one of the first boarding groups. I still have a 10:30am -11am check in time, did not use a TA and have heard nothing from DCL so I am going to shoot for a 10:45am or so arrival and hope for the best. The only thing that worries me is a 30 minute car back up. Can anyone from 8/2 or 8/5 comment on how long for the line of cars to get in once they started allowing it to move?

 

[dscott1996]

That is weird. So, that means there was no wait at all inside the terminal after check in to board? The "open" boarding is confusing me. So, you arrived at 12pm, got paperwork done and essentially walked on the ship at leisure? Interesting.

That's correct.

According to other posts, early arrivers did not have that experience, but we could have walked right on the ship after getting our KTTW cards. We took a few pictures and then walked on the ship.

 

[mmouse37]

That is weird. So, that means there was no wait at all inside the terminal after check in to board? The "open" boarding is confusing me. So, you arrived at 12pm, got paperwork done and essentially walked on the ship at leisure? Interesting.

I am going to leave WDW at 9:30am for our 8/25 cruise. I hope that puts me in the garage a few minutes before 11am and then on the ship in one of the first boarding groups. I still have a 10:30am -11am check in time, did not use a TA and have heard nothing from DCL so I am going to shoot for a 10:45am or so arrival and hope for the best. The only thing that worries me is a 30 minute car back up. Can anyone from 8/2 or 8/5 comment on how long for the line of cars to get in once they started allowing it to move?

Boarding can start from 11:30 on so it is not surprising that people getting there at 12:00 can check in and just walk on. makes sense.

MJ

 

[jrbdad]

Sounds like they have become much more efficient.

Guess if they are moving folks through that quickly, it takes some of the benefit away from being concierge or platinum?

We've only been on two cruises and both times we had long waits/lines in the terminal and boarding didn't begin until after noon.

 

[conandrob240]

Actually, it is VERY surprising. In the past for the smaller ships with much lfewer passengers, you could never just walk on at leisure that early. You would have received a fairly high boarding number arriving at 12pm and probably had to wait at least 30 minutes even if they opened the ship right at 11:30am.

 

[tinker6]

What I want to know - Can you still have your picture taken with Mickey/Minnie etc. in the terminal and are you still able to get the wristbands for your kids in the terminal? Also, does anyone know why the Port Authority changed the time until 11:00?

 

[poohj80]

What I want to know - Can you still have your picture taken with Mickey/Minnie etc. in the terminal and are you still able to get the wristbands for your kids in the terminal? Also, does anyone know why the Port Authority changed the time until 11:00?

When we sailed on the Dream in May we could still take character photos and get kid's wristbands in the terminal, but the lines were SO long, we didn't want to.

 

[swissgirl66]

We were on the August 2 cruise and like lots of others we were amazed how smooth everything went. We had Port Arrival time 11:00-11:30AM, arrived at the port arround 10:45. The informed us that port is still closed and we should make an extra turn, there were few other cars making that turn aswell and my husband tried to stay on the slower lane so that we were not too fast in order to avoid making a second loop. We arrived at the entrance again around 10:55. My husband droped us and the luggage of and proceeded to the parking garage. The luggage was taken away and we went through security and up the stairs.

The hall was nearly empty, we filled out the health questionnairy and then the lady asked us if we cruised before, the answer is yes, once. So we are Silver Castaway Members and she directed us to an empty line . We had already done the online check-in, I had to give the lady the forms, had to sign one form re. kids activities and who would be alowed to take her out of the clubs. We had done that online too, but she needed another signature on that. Then she made identification pictures (just for security) and by then my husband joined us (after parking the car) and we were through , at 11:10am and with a Boarding time 3 .

We then went to the line for kids registration, they gave our daugther that wristband, important for us as my daughter is german speaking only and we felt safer with that band, in case she got lost.

Then into the line with Minney and at 11:20am that was done too. Only 5 minutes later our Boarding Number 3 was called and we were on the ship by 11:30. Amazing.

I met people, arriving the same time, but with an initial port arrival time of 2pm, they were in the line next to us but ended up with boarding nr. 20, so it seems, that it is worth sticking to your initial port arrival time, then you will be through with no hassel.

Regards and oh how I wish to cruise soooooooooooon again, we had an awesome time on our cruise, mainly thanks to my follow DIS cruisers and Fish Extender ship mates. It was so awesome meeting them all and they made our cruise an unforgettable journey.

Cheers and regards
Swissgirl66

packing and on the way back to Switzerland

 

[AngelDisney]

I met people, arriving the same time, but with an initial port arrival time of 2pm, they were in the line next to us but ended up with boarding nr. 20, so it seems, that it is worth sticking to your initial port arrival time, then you will be through with no hassel.

Glad that DCL is enforcing the port arrival time. This may discourage people from showing up early with later arrival times and hopefully for those with earlier arrival times, they won't have to wait outside when terminal reaches capacity if that happens in the future.

Thanks for the info!

 

[tinker6]

We were on the August 2 cruise and like lots of others we were amazed how smooth everything went. We had Port Arrival time 11:00-11:30AM, arrived at the port arround 10:45. The informed us that port is still closed and we should make an extra turn, there were few other cars making that turn aswell and my husband tried to stay on the slower lane so that we were not too fast in order to avoid making a second loop. We arrived at the entrance again around 10:55. My husband droped us and the luggage of and proceeded to the parking garage. The luggage was taken away and we went through security and up the stairs.

The hall was nearly empty, we filled out the health questionnairy and then the lady asked us if we cruised before, the answer is yes, once. So we are Silver Castaway Members and she directed us to an empty line . We had already done the online check-in, I had to give the lady the forms, had to sign one form re. kids activities and who would be alowed to take her out of the clubs. We had done that online too, but she needed another signature on that. Then she made identification pictures (just for security) and by then my husband joined us (after parking the car) and we were through , at 11:10am and with a Boarding time 3 .

We then went to the line for kids registration, they gave our daugther that wristband, important for us as my daughter is german speaking only and we felt safer with that band, in case she got lost.

Then into the line with Minney and at 11:20am that was done too. Only 5 minutes later our Boarding Number 3 was called and we were on the ship by 11:30. Amazing.

I met people, arriving the same time, but with an initial port arrival time of 2pm, they were in the line next to us but ended up with boarding nr. 20, so it seems, that it is worth sticking to your initial port arrival time, then you will be through with no hassel.

Regards and oh how I wish to cruise soooooooooooon again, we had an awesome time on our cruise, mainly thanks to my follow DIS cruisers and Fish Extender ship mates. It was so awesome meeting them all and they made our cruise an unforgettable journey.

Cheers and regards
Swissgirl66

packing and on the way back to Switzerland

When you had to loop back around - where did you loop too? Glad to hear everything else went well and that you can still have your picture taken with Mickey or Minnie.

 

[wheelerkidz3]

so i'm wondering how it's working for any b2b'ers?? do they have to get off earlier than before? do they get back onboard still before others? anyone done a b2b yet and can chime in??

 

[swissgirl66]

When you had to loop back around - where did you loop too? Glad to hear everything else went well and that you can still have your picture taken with Mickey or Minnie.

Not far, Just past the parking garage and into the loop again. But people arriving much too early were told to leave the port area.

 

[Zandy595]

Sounds like there were problems at the terminal today.

A friend is setting sail on the Dream today and posted this on fb, "DCL needs to fix this check-in mess." Uh, oh...

 

[conandrob240]

Please let us know when you find out more about what she meant.