Miami Port Arrival Time Question

[KaystotheKingdom]

hey all!


Being a first time cruiser I was not on top of the online check in ( which I now realize I should have been). Check out from our hotel is 10 am, and our port arrival time is 3 pm- I have 2 toddlers. We don’t have a rental car- needless to say I’m now dreading these 5 hours of in between time.

Does anyone know if this means you show up at 3 and start your port testing then? Does it mean you show up prior to 3 for the test but can’t get on until 3?

The last shuttle from the hotel to the port is at noon.

Any tips/insight?

I looked into an Uber for more flexibility time wise but we can’t get one with 2 car seats.

Thanks in advance !

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

Does anyone know if this means you show up at 3 and start your port testing then? Does it mean you show up prior to 3 for the test but can’t get on until 3?

I can at least answer this part. 3:00pm is your time you are supposed to arrive at the port. You then go through any testing you need/require and do any last minute check in process items (they double check you have your documents etc). The time you are allowed on the ship is your boarding group. Normally by around 12-1:00pm at the latest all the boarding groups have been called and anyone in any boarding group is free to board at any time.

3:00pm is a very late Port Arrival time. More recently I've been seeing the latest around 2:45pm. You can check from time to time to see if any other times open up.

In the past DCL hasn't been very strict with enforcing Port Arrival times, but with everything it's all changed. I don't have any insight into how strict they are being about this. If you are there 15 minutes early and the check in area has room it should be fine. But I wouldn't try to arrive 5 hours early.

Good luck. Hopefully you can find an earlier port arrival time.