Port Arrival Time Selection

[Mommb]

I can completely understand reserving PATs for Pearl and concierge, but since when is DCL transport getting preference?!?

As PrincessShmoo said, people using Disney transportation from Disney World or the Hyatt at MCO don't have control over when they arrive -- they arrive when the bus does. Rather than make people who arrive on a bus wait outside the terminal for 30 minutes or more, DCL decided to allow them to enter the terminal when they arrive. If a lot of people are expected to arrive by Disney bus, this may result in a small delay for arrival times for people getting to the port on their own.

Once boarding begins, it's often less than 5 minutes between boarding groups, so the difference between boarding group 4 and boarding group 8 is probably less than 15 minutes. On my recent Dream cruise, my family had boarding group 6. When we boarded, we were told that the Dining Changes table wouldn't open until 1 pm and Animator's Palate opened for lunch just as we walked up. We could have boarding 30 minutes later and still had a sit-down lunch and time to stop by Dining Changes and Guest Services before staterooms opened.

 

[jerry557]

As PrincessShmoo said, people using Disney transportation from Disney World or the Hyatt at MCO don't have control over when they arrive -- they arrive when the bus does. Rather than make people who arrive on a bus wait outside the terminal for 30 minutes or more, DCL decided to allow them to enter the terminal when they arrive. If a lot of people are expected to arrive by Disney bus, this may result in a small delay for arrival times for people getting to the port on their own.

Once boarding begins, it's often less than 5 minutes between boarding groups, so the difference between boarding group 4 and boarding group 8 is probably less than 15 minutes. On my recent Dream cruise, my family had boarding group 6. When we boarded, we were told that the Dining Changes table wouldn't open until 1 pm and Animator's Palate opened for lunch just as we walked up. We could have boarding 30 minutes later and still had a sit-down lunch and time to stop by Dining Changes and Guest Services before staterooms opened.

Was never a problem before COVID. Platinum members could show up at any time pre-2020. They took that PAT perk away. Of course its not surprising for a company that doesn't value returning guests. The perks are REALLY watered down on this cruise line compared to others (and DCL is more expensive).

And it can be a big deal depending on the situation. You got guests in silver tier or first time cruisers getting boarding groups 1-2-3 getting on before noon. And then you have Platinums with 15+ cruises under their belt forced to stand outside and wait. Sorry, but that's rediculous.

 

[otten]

Just an observation but it also seemed like among those taking Disney transport, resort guests got earlier PAT and bus pick up times.

 

[FastPasser.]

it’s not surprising for a company that doesn't value returning guests.

The perks are REALLY watered down on this cruise line compared to others

Sorry, but that's rediculous.

Agreed, I would get rid of needing to get a PAT. There’s got to be a better way.

Not only do they not value returning guests, they also don’t value current and retired Disney CM cruisers.

 

[Bonnie1222]

Well, stayed up to midnight to do my online check in hoping for an earlier time slot than what I had last trip (1 pm) for check in upon arrival. Last trip I didn’t even realize my window was open until I received the email.

Took me 16 minutes to go through it all and the soonest slot was 12:30 pm. I was like….. (DOH).

We flip to Plat after this one so I do hope that will help secure earlier slots for the next one. If I’d known I wasn’t gaining much, I would have just gone to bed to begin with.

When I checked in as Platinum for our cruise 12:15 was the earliest. I drive in and show up early no matter what because traffic on I-4 can add an hour or more to my 90 minute trip if I don't. I will sit in my car in the parking garage and wait until my time.

 

[FastPasser.]

Well, stayed up to midnight to do my online check in hoping for an earlier time slot than what I had last trip

I don’t do the midnight thing. I know of a bunch of people that stayed up a couple of nights ago to check in and when I checked in two days later for the same cruise I got the same PAT & BG as they did.

 

[drew64]

Boarded Dream last Friday - it was NYC - did online checkin at midnight as Silver, took a little less than 10 minutes to do both cabins and was able to get PAT of 1145-12 and boarding group 7.
Arrived at 1130, group had just been let in, so walked in to security, then to castaway club check-in, 1 party ahead of us.
Finished and walked over to sitting area just as they called groups 6&7 to board. Total time from curb to ship was 25 minutes.

 

[Calantha]

I’ll post in more detail on my short trip report, but here’s what happened to us last Saturday (28 October) on the Fantasy.

Our PAT was 12:15 with BG 11. I booked an 11:45 shuttle to put us at PC right after noon. Shuttle guy convinced us to take the 11:15 shuttle and said it wouldn’t be an issue. Ha!

We proceeded to stand around for almost an hour outside. They had lines set up for 11:15/11:30/11:45/etc - no one showed up for any of them! Finally a little after noon, they let the 12:15 people get in a line. We breezed right through security and when we got in the terminal they were already doing BGs 1-30. Right on the ship at that point.

There were probably at least 100 people in the 12:15 line. I guess they were dropping off the DCL bus people on the side of the terminal, but when we went inside, no evidence of them either.

I think the new system is terrible but since our cruises next year are out of Ft. Lauderdale, I guess I won’t worry about it.

 

[anjuan]

We're platinum and just checked in last night. I was finished with the process by 12:07 and received a 12:15 PAT and boarding group 10. This is the latest time I've received in a very long time. We are driving to the port.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

We're platinum and just checked in last night. I was finished with the process by 12:07 and received a 12:15 PAT and boarding group 10. This is the latest time I've received in a very long time. We are driving to the port.

Exact same experience last night (platinum, driving to port), except I finished at 12:08. Well over 20 cruises finished and we get BG 10? Nice. We've got cruises booked through Pearl, but c'mon...

I know. First world problems

 

[FastPasser.]

From what I have read, on my cruise all Platinum Castaway Club members seem to be getting the 12:15 to 12:30 PAT. It doesn’t matter when they checked in.

 

[happycamper47]

Exact same experience last night (platinum, driving to port), except I finished at 12:08. Well over 20 cruises finished and we get BG 10? Nice. We've got cruises booked through Pearl, but c'mon...

I know. First world problems

Probably a lot more Pearl members out there than most of us realize and they are getting the earlier times along with those who use DCL transfers.

 

[soniam]

So are gold and lower getting PATs of 1 or even after 2 Seems ridiculous. However, we got a very late PAT summer 2022. Got there early, and after maybe 10 minutes, they called open boarding,

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

So are gold and lower getting PATs of 1 or even after 2 Seems ridiculous. However, we got a very late PAT summer 2022. Got there early, and after maybe 10 minutes, they called open boarding,

Now, however, they queue up everyone outside the terminal based on their PAT. I can show up at 11, but they check my boarding pass and herd me to the 12:15 line. Last month, they didn't let us in until the PAT time. Ours was 12, and they didn't let us in the terminal until 12 and even then it was based on the line we'd queued up in.

 

[Skippyboo]

Question, first time cruiser. Staying at DS Drury inn day before Fantasy cruise out of Port Canaveral. Have a 1 pm PAT . Say we leave at 11am at hotel checkout and get there a bit early like at 1230. Can we drop checked luggage and park at garage or will they not let us into garage area?

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

Question, first time cruiser. Staying at DS Drury inn day before Fantasy cruise out of Port Canaveral. Have a 1 pm PAT . Say we leave at 11am at hotel checkout and get there a bit early like at 1230. Can we drop checked luggage and park at garage or will they not let us into garage area?

You can drop your luggage & park. From there, head over to the terminal on the ground level and get into the 1PM PAT line

 

[soniam]

Now, however, they queue up everyone outside the terminal based on their PAT. I can show up at 11, but they check my boarding pass and herd me to the 12:15 line. Last month, they didn't let us in until the PAT time. Ours was 12, and they didn't let us in the terminal until 12 and even then it was based on the line we'd queued up in.

Ours may have been late enough that they didn't bother lining anyone up. There wasn't a line to get in or to go through security. There weren't even very many people inside.

 

[Mommb]

Ours may have been late enough that they didn't bother lining anyone up. There wasn't a line to get in or to go through security. There weren't even very many people inside.

That may be what Disney is hoping for — staggering arrivals so that there are not large numbers of people in the terminal waiting to board.

From what I have read, on my cruise all Platinum Castaway Club members seem to be getting the 12:15 to 12:30 PAT. It doesn’t matter when they checked in.

It could be that DCL is holding the earliest Port Arrival Times for Pearl and those arriving on Disney busses from hotels. That would give Platinum members access to the next earliest time. If that time typically corresponds to Boarding Group 10 or so, I wonder if there are equal numbers of guests in the earlier groups or if, say, groups 7-9 are smaller and being held in case more people take busses than expected.

 

[dvcscott]

Exact same experience last night (platinum, driving to port), except I finished at 12:08. Well over 20 cruises finished and we get BG 10? Nice. We've got cruises booked through Pearl, but c'mon...

I know. First world problems

Same experience for me as well tonight for Dec 16 Fantasy cruise. Driving to port, we are platinum, I finished at 12:05. BG 10, 12:15 PAT.

It would be interesting to know if anyone driving in is getting anything earlier.

 

[mmouse37]

Okay, I did wonder if the arrival had anything to do with it as it does ask you how you are arriving. I see a pre-arranged Disney transport got an early time of 11:30. While we are driving, the earliest selection was 12:30. It may be they are using these earlier times those taking their transport. Spreading out the early times across their transport buses. Hmmm……

It absolutely makes a difference. For example. In March, for our Fantasy cruise we had 3 cabins booked. We were going to drive ourselves from Cocoa Beach to the port via a one-way rental. All 3 cabins checked in and we all got different port arrival times as we are all different CC levels. I am Pearl, one family was Plat and one was first timers. We got PAT's ranging from 12:30 to 1:45. Boarding groups were in the double digits.

Our plans changed and we decided to spend the night before cruise at WDW and take DCL transfers from Coronado Springs to the Port. As soon as I booked the transfers for everyone via calling DCL all of our PAT's and boarding groups changed to 11:15 with Boarding Group 2 or 3 (I forget).

From what I understand if you are taking DCL transportation from WDW or the Hyatt (not just from MCO) you are pretty much guaranteed a PAT around 11:15 to 11:30 and a very early boarding group. If you take DCL transportation from MCO (not the Hyatt) then you still pick a PAT during online check in.

MJ