Question about upgrading and scheduled arrival time at Galveston

[mellvswdw1]

I have a question about Galvestons rules with scheduled arrival time. The one and only time I've cruised on DCL was in 2002 on the Magic out of Port Canaveral. We are scheduled to cruise on the Wonder on January 20th, and due to us booking late the scheduled arrival time is 1pm. We are currently in a 9C and we are wanting to arrive early to see if we can upgrade at port. There are a few rooms with an white wall veranda that are still open. I know it's a long shot that we can upgrade, but we would like to try. We have a hotel room with shuttle service to the port, and I was hoping that even if we arrive earlier than our scheduled time we would be allowed and not be out of place or rude. We know the sooner we arrive and check in the faster we can get to the supervisors desk and I also know and understand it could be a long shot. My question is has anyone done this with a later check in time? Thanks for the help!

 

[mmouse37]

So your PAT (port arrival time) is at 1:00 pm? I think if you arrive early you should be OK...not 100% but I am pretty sure the PATs were put into place for the bigger ships like the Dream/Fantasy because there were too many people in the terminal and it was a fire hazard.

The worst that can happen would be that they asked you to wait if the terminal was too crowded. It is worth a shot to go early if you want to try for an upgrade.

I have not embarked at Galveston yet (only disembarked after the Panama Canal cruise last year) but will be boarding the Wonder on January 6th in Galveston. If I can find out anything for you as far as how strict they are enforcing PATs I will report back when I return.

MJ

 

[mellvswdw1]

Yes...thank you, I'm not up on the DCL lingo. Our PAT is 1pm. I'm wanting to be there at 11am or when the check in opens because everything I've read about trying to upgrade is detirmined on if rooms are still available and if you get there early. I would really appreciate if you can report back! Have a great cruise!

 

[PurplePencil]

So your PAT (port arrival time) is at 1:00 pm? I think if you arrive early you should be OK...not 100% but I am pretty sure the PATs were put into place for the bigger ships like the Dream/Fantasy because there were too many people in the terminal and it was a fire hazard.

The worst that can happen would be that they asked you to wait if the terminal was too crowded. It is worth a shot to go early if you want to try for an upgrade.

I have not embarked at Galveston yet (only disembarked after the Panama Canal cruise last year) but will be boarding the Wonder on January 6th in Galveston. If I can find out anything for you as far as how strict they are enforcing PATs I will report back when I return.

MJ

I'm not sure ( you or others know more than me) but at non-home base port do you upgrade at supervisors desk? In Copenhagen we upgraded at our respective check-in desk so I was curious.

 

[Sloane]

We just travelled the Wonder out of Galveston, it was my family of four and our friends, a family of two. Our PAT was 11:30 but theirs wasn't until 3:30. We all went together thinking maybe we could all go through at the same time. We ended up getting separated at the counter and they got through with zero issues, questions or needing to use us as the earlier PAT. So in our case, they certainly didn't enforce anything. The terminal wasn't all that crowded either at 11:30.

 

[mellvswdw1]

thanks for the replies...I'm hopeful that we get there early enough to find upgrades available and the ability to check in early. If any others that have cruised from Galveston and have upgraded can share their stories, I would be very appreciative!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

One thing about upgrades is that some early upgrades can open up other room types.

For example: if you're booked in an inside room and want to upgrade to an ocean view room but they are sold out if someone in an ocean view room upgrades to a veranda you now have an open ocean view room to upgrade into