New Boarding Procedures?

[pixie Mom]

I hope this is not true.. Boarding by catagory... we dont mind c12 because we are to busy to care what room we have. I think the only fair way is first come first serve even if it is the # system..

Hope to hear more on this topic as we get closer to our 1/2/06 wonder cruise.

 

[MrsMork]

Hmmm. So it seems Disney is truly going back to the days of "classic cruising" when the passengers in steerage were treated differently than those in first class. I'm sending them another email.

 

[BigBahamaDada]

-After you arrive at the terminal and go through security, you are given
a numbered 'boarding pass' at the top of the escalator. The boarding pass is
issued on a stateroom level.


Distribution by stateroom level certainly doesn't mesh with our experience on the 10/15 Magic. We were handed a boarding group number at the top of the terminal escalator, just after entering the terminal. And the person distributing them certainly didn't ask the floor on which we were staying.

 

[scrapperjill]

I didn't take time to read through all the posts...but just wanted to add we were just on the 10/22 7night cruise...and didn't come across any sort of number system. The line started forming infront of the large mickey ears...they had the normal barriers up where everyone was hurded in a zig zag pattern. I don't know how they decided which section would go first...but my mom noticed the zig zag two rows away from us (behind us) boarder before us. The reason she noticed was because the line that started moving ahead of us...was totally empty when we got into line...so we knew it filled up after us. It all moved so fast you really couldn't tell. One thing that we were told was that EVERYONE in your party MUST be in line together. I thought reading through the Passporter it said only ONE person had to be in line to hold your space. Of couse since we had a group of 19 people it may have made a diffrence....if it was a group of 4 or less I can see where a couple people could sneak away and easly get back into line.... Anyway our kids missed the character interaction in the terminal because of the "everyone in line" rule.

 

[Cruisin]

They must have to run through their numbers a few times because all people in a given stateroom level are not going to be there at the same time.

I can't see them holding everyone up just because someone from Cat 3 is not there

 

[castlegazer]

This is whacky bananas. If the numbers were supposed to based on cabin assignment, why not distribute the number cards with the documentation - kinda similar to SWA? That way you can adjust your mad dash for the terminal.

I completely don't understand this - but we are playing telephone here, so there may be something lost in the translation.

At least we know that DCL reads the boards.

 

[lillygator]

wow - by stateroom!! I really hope by our sailing they are back to lining up and waiting.

 

[mog]

That would be a problem if it is done by stateroom category or level - what about our son who is booked into the cabin with my parents. We are in category 6 - they are in Category 11. Does that mean our son can't get on the ship when we do????

 

[DrCavin]

I think when DCL stated by stateroom category, they meant that people in Cat's 1-3 would receive priority boarding, same as before. Everyone else would receive a group number when they arrive. I thought someone previously posted they were in a cat 3 & when they checked in at the counter they were given a #1 card.

 

[pdarrah]

Did they say stateroom "category"? I read it to mean one card per stateroom rather than one for each person....

As noted before - they didn't do this on 10/22 but they may have suspended the trial knowing we were all pretty upset already about the late notice on the itinerary change (We understand hurricanes cause changes, but DCL refused to admit there would be a change until Friday - when everyone else including other cruise lines knew a few days in advance...)

pdarrah

 

[dlf246]

I think when DCL stated by stateroom category, they meant that people in Cat's 1-3 would receive priority boarding, same as before. Everyone else would receive a group number when they arrive. I thought someone previously posted they were in a cat 3 & when they checked in at the counter they were given a #1 card.

BINGO!
I think this is the reality if you put all the posts together on this thread. It would look very much like 1st come 1st serve for a dozen posts, and then someone would say no, and I think they are just confused by the cat 1-3 getting priority. Then another dozen posts confirming 1st come 1st serve...

 

[KevinP1935]

Did they say stateroom "category"? I read it to mean one card per stateroom rather than one for each person....

As noted before - they didn't do this on 10/22 but they may have suspended the trial knowing we were all pretty upset already about the late notice on the itinerary change (We understand hurricanes cause changes, but DCL refused to admit there would be a change until Friday - when everyone else including other cruise lines knew a few days in advance...)

pdarrah

I wonder if Wilma didn't read the reaction on here, I got this response from her:

11/3/05

Dear Kevin,

We apologize for not making the information clearer in our previous email.

Since this is only a "test", we have no way of knowing if this will be in place
when you sail with
us. Please email us back closer to time for you to visit us so we may be able to
answer that
question.

A clarification on our previous statement. The boarding pass is issued to one
guest per stateroom.
So, the timing of your arrival at the port and going through security, can
determine which "boarding
pass" you will receive.

If your itinerary is changed due to rerouting, technically, the only thing that
might possibly be
affected, would be your shore excursion changes. Your Palo and Spa reservations
would remain the
same.

Again, we hope this information proves helpful.

Have a Magical Day!

Wilma

 

[lbgraves]

ROFL! OK, now we KNOW that someone from DCL monitors this boards. Thank you for clearing that up, Wilma!

 

[DrCavin]

ROFL! OK, now we KNOW that someone from DCL monitors this boards. Thank you for clearing that up, Wilma!

We all know this is where the DCL CM's get all their information from Disboard always sniffs out when the Wonder is going to be booked by a group & people who have booked already are going to get bumped... DCL reps are usually at least 2-3 days behind in knowing, they just know the can't book that date anymore

I think it is great that DCL actually notices & reacts to this group!!!

 

[mruhaak]

I hope this is not true.. Boarding by catagory... we dont mind c12 because we are to busy to care what room we have. I think the only fair way is first come first serve even if it is the # system..

Hope to hear more on this topic as we get closer to our 1/2/06 wonder cruise.

Pixiemom-
We are on the 1/2 Wonder cruise too! It is our first Disney cruise. Our 3rd overall. We will be traveling with our 2 1/2 yr. old son, my mother and his 85 yr. old grandmother.

 

[Big MacK]

Actually, it sounds pretty good to me.
As before, cat 1-3 get first boarding, then after that, they will board by numbers based upon time of check-in.
Arrive early, get a low # and board early. Don't have to stake a place in line early, will be free to roam around and do as you wish.

 

[BoardwalkBabe]

We did this last Saturday when we arrived for our cruise on the Magic.

After going thru security, you go up the escalators and they have CMs at a counter and that is where you will receive your boarding card with the number on it (we arrived at the terminal by 10:30am and were in group 3). You then proceed to the check-in area and can then sit comfortably, pose with characters -- whatever until they are ready to start boarding.

They start with groups 1 & 2 and if everyone else would stay out of the way until their group was called, it would be even easier to just zip right on to the ship. The new process avoid bottleneck at both the photography spot and when you are announced getting on the ship.

This isn't a huge deal and boarding seemed quicker than vs. the old way (we always arrive at the port at the same time). Much better flow - up the gangway, thru the Atrium, using the elevators, etc. We were quite pleased with the change.

 

[LuvEeyore]

I will be arriving by Disney transportation from POFQ and will have checked in at the DCL desk at the hotel. How does this affect the number you get since you only have to go through the securinty check?

 

[Michelle2]

I have a question for Boardwalkbabe or anyone else that knows....I was wondering, if you arrived at about 10:30, isn't that when the port opens? 10:30? And they were already on number 3? I am wondering how early you have to be there to get the #2 then?

Edited to add: Sorry, I went back a page and saw the official email from DCL on when the parking lot and terminal open. I am still surprised that it moved on to group 3 after only a half an hour, if the terminal opened at 10:00....

 

[BoardwalkBabe]

I do not know how many people they put in each group. We were upstairs by 10:30 the latest and there were already pretty hefty lines formed at the counters (they did not start checking people in until 10:40). Hard to guess how many people there were, but it was enough that it took us 40 minutes to complete the check in process.

We did call the other group numbers fairly quickly, so there wasn't a lot of waiting around for your number to be called -- which is good.