Port Arrival time

[TBHewatt]

Has anyone had an issue with the port arrival time when going on disney cruise line. We have a total of 10 people in three rooms and have three reservations. Due to not have a working internet and all the information one of the reservations could not registered online until later. Since this happen our Arrival times are not different by hours. Disney is not willing to work with us and change the time on this type of case and we are talking about 3 people out of 10. This something new and I am now wondering if Disney is worth the extra cost if they are going to also cause you extra stress and issues. I know that my cruise agent does not like Disney and really did not want to book this for us.

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

They didn't cause you extra stress and issues in this case. If your internet was not working properly, that is not DCL's fault. Would it be great if they could do it? Absolutely but they can't do every little "pixie dust" for everyone, it's just not possible.

We have decided that they are generally getting to the point they aren't worth it for us simply because of the insane (in our opinion) price increases.

The party with the later PAT is welcome to try and get in earlier, it just depends on whether the terminal is full or not. If they are able to get in, they will also have a higher boarding number. That means they could not board with you, although some will say just have them walk with you because they don't really check that.

 

[Aby]

I agree with the previous poster - your internet not working was not the fault of DCL, and although adjusting the times for you for 3/10 people in your party may not seem like a big deal, if they make an exception for you, what about all the other people in similar situations? Will they change times for anyone who calls with a good excuse?

Keep checking regularly on your reservations as sometimes people change their plans and earlier PAT's may open up, so you might be belt to change as the cruise gets closer.

Sorry for the stress that this is causing you. I've done both early and late boarding, and in reality, both were just fine, and we were able to get everything we wanted when we got on board late.

Aby

 

[ForMyBoys]

The vote options seem a little odd. Our travel agent linked all our reservations so I checked us all in on this cruise to make sure we all got the same port arrival time. But honestly arriving a little later isn't a big deal. We had a rental car issue last time. It took forever for us to get a shuttle to the port. By the time we got there we had missed our PAT and they were basically letting everyone walk on. Honestly it ended up being way less stressful. When we got on board there were still tickets for stuff we wanted, we were able to grab lunch and then no waiting for our rooms. If you really want everyone to check in together, which I think would make for a more enjoyable experience, I would just have everyone arrive later. Just my opinion.

 

[Weedy]

Don't stress the people on these boards making arriving early more of a big deal than it is.
They don't start boarding the ship until 11:15-11:30. Once boarding starts it goes very quickly. Everyone waiting in the terminal is usually onboard by 12:30. At that time they go to "open boarding" your PAT won't matter at this time and you won't have to wait in line. Plan on arriving about 12:15-12:30 by the time you finish checking in you should be able to walk right on the ship.

 

[mom4fun]

The rest of you could wait on the 3 if that's important to you.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I agree with Weedy. I don't see what the big issue is here. They don't start boarding the ship until between 11:15 and 11:30 and are generally doing open boarding by around 12:30. You could all arrive around noon and by the time you are through with check in, it would be close to time when all of you could just walk on together. I certainly wouldn't say it's bad customer service since it's not Disney's fault one of the rooms was having internet issues. It seems you are adopting your TA's attitude about DCL without even truly having experienced the cruise line. This is not something to stress over.

 

[lanejudy]

Very sorry your party had a challenging time with online check-in and getting the PATs you wanted; that's got to be frustrating, and it sounds like your TA hasn't been much help with your planning, either, if s/he doens't care for DCL. However, I agree with other posters who suggest aiming for "open boarding" which means arrival around 12:15 or so. You don't mention which PATs your group have, but you aren't locked in to arriving at those exact times. And while it's possible that arriving earlier than your PAT could mean you are asked to wait outside, there have been very few reports of that occurring. Most likely everyone can enter and check-in, it would be the boarding numbers that differ -- and in reality that may not be a very big time difference. Many groups end up with different boarding numbers and wait for the highest to board together.

For future reference, one does not need "all the information" to do online check-in and select a PAT. You can use defaults and go back to change settings another time (assuming someone was waiting on a passport number, flight info, etc.). You could even ask a friend or family member to do it for you if having trouble with an Internet connection -- especially since you are traveling together anyway.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[kiford]

It`s not a customer service issue. There are fire codes that dictate how many people can be in the terminal at any one time so they have to manage the crowds. They can`t let additional people in just to be nice so that they can all be together - that could cause problems if there was an emergency and safety must always come first.

You don't say what your PAT times are but I assume two are early and one is late. We don't personally ever do an early PAT because there can be lines in the port and I hate waiting, I hate carrying my bag around (your room won't be ready until 1:30) and there's really very little to do. We find it much more leisurely to arrive at what is generally open boarding, which isn't really very late (12:30-ish). You also don't say why it's important that you all arrive at the same time. While it may be nice to board all at the same time you don't need to be together to board unless one of you is holding important papers for the others. You can just meet up later. I presume you know each other's room numbers. You can let each other know when you've arrived by leaving a message on their stateroom phone.

We were meeting up with several friends on our last cruise but none of us knew when the others were arriving. So we hadn`t made any plans as to when and where to meet up but we ran into each other on deck within a short period of time after boarding.

You don't say what your TA dislikes so much about DCL but I would suggest that the poor customer service could perhaps be hers and not DCLs. Had she been better informed about DCL rather than being reluctant to book it for you (or had helped you by doing some investigation about DCL as it is her job to do) you might have been better informed about why PAT was required, how to do it, what was or was required in advance, and why it may not be such a big deal to worry about it rather than having you stress out about not all being able to board at the same time.

 

[SonicGuy]

Its not like they are going to leave without you. It will be OK. Once you get on board and get through the stress you will forget about PAT very quickly. Have a great time!