On-Time Port-of-Call Arrival Question?

[neutie88]

Please don't judge me for being an overplanner - I can't help it, it is who I am! We are cruising on the Disney Fantasy Aug 13-20, and our first stop will be Tortola on 8/16. I originally was planning a Disney Excursion, but after reading a few posts, many other websites, and knowing my need to have the flexibility to do what we want when, we are going to do our own excursion to Virgin Gorda that day. I plan on using Speedy's Ferry, which has the first ferry to Virgin Gorda leaving at 7:45 am. We want to beat all of the excursions that will be taking a later boat. Our off-ship time is estimated at 7:30am. It is a 10 minute walk to the ferry pier.

So my question is, for all you early morning, experienced Disney cruise-goers, how accurate is that time? If we are in port earlier, will they hold the door until 7:30am, or let people off earlier? I don't want to rush to get down there to miss the first ferry and have to kill an hour and a half to the next ferry, if it is more common for them to always do an on-time or even late ashore time. If the odds are not good, we will plan for the 9am ferry.

And, this is our only "rush off the boat first thing" day. The rest of the trip will be very leisurely, with lots of sleeping in!

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

DCL most places are very accurate however if arrive earlier they let you off earlier.

DCL has to book the docks in the poets of call and these socks are very busy and cost. Therefore they will stick to these and slow down if running early to be there exactly on time. They will book a pilot a local person who knows the port to come on at an exact time pre arrival and this dictates arrival time.

( early arrival is occasionally experienced in Europe like St Petersburg but that's for different reasons).

I book private tours in nearly all ports and like to get off quickly, So my advice from experience is:-

Do not wait for the " we have been cleared" announcement made by the cruise director, this is often about 5/10 minutes after the ship is cleared. They manage the queues.
If you have a verandah, look out, is your side the exit side? If so, look, is the exit forward or aft, and is it deck 2 or 3?
If you do not have a verandah, or you can't see the port on your side when due in, go to deck 9 or 10 or 4, ( open decks on new ships) and look to see where the exit is.
Watch them, dock, and start to put up the gangways, then proceed there.

In a short time queues will develop.

As said in the Caribbean and Bahamas the times are very accurate, elsewhere I have been off the ship up to an hour in advance, but that's another story.

 

[neutie88]

Thank you so much for the great information! It is good to know we might have a shot at getting off even 5-10 minutes early! I will follow your instructions, we have a Deck 10 aft port verandah, so we should be able to see where we need go to get off the ship. I did not realize they had exits on more than one level that they use. I hope the Navigator states the deck we will be exiting from so we don't have to wait for the announcement (or count decks!). Planning on doing an early room service that morning so we don't have to go to Cabanas for breakfast.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Thank you so much for the great information! It is good to know we might have a shot at getting off even 5-10 minutes early! I will follow your instructions, we have a Deck 10 aft port verandah, so we should be able to see where we need go to get off the ship. I did not realize they had exits on more than one level that they use. I hope the Navigator states the deck we will be exiting from so we don't have to wait for the announcement (or count decks!). Planning on doing an early room service that morning so we don't have to go to Cabanas for breakfast.

Yes we always are ready and check from our verandah first, maybe cabanas etc, on my recent Iceland cruise they used all locations, so it was deck three port side a couple days, starboard deck three once, ( unusual) Clayton the CD had a chat with us, then went off to do his announcement after we got off, we had deck two, either forward or aft, or both, note from higher decks it's best to get the elevator that's going directly to the location of the exit.

So if you see they are using deck two aft only, then use the aft elevators only, if forward the forward elevator only, if atrium then that's the exception you can use all three and forward and aft elevators will be used less.

The navigators do not say the exit location, as they do not want people queuing up early and it can change, re tides etc, if cruisers are concierge, then thier hosts will know and guide you there early. The navigators fir the day do state the expected port times.

 

[RafikiTiki21]

I wouldn't bank on this, but keep in mind that "you're in the islands, mon" and the 7:45am ferry could also become 7:50 or 8:00 ferry based on my experience. Esp if its the first one of the day. So definitely aim for earlier/on time, but it just may all work out.

Perhaps also ask your DCL servers the night before if they know if you're on schedule for the morning. That first leg of your journey is a long haul at sea and some storms or anything else may alter your arrival time slightly that morning (for better or worse).

Enjoy, the BVIs are one of my favorite places in the world-- can't wait to return on our own cruise next month!