What a check in nightmare I had

[Donna M]

First time Platinum and was on line at 12 on the dot. I tried my iPhone first because I thought it would be easier with my lower level of computer skills. Even at 12:15 am, check in was not letting me in, so I tried on my Chromebook. I could get into check in but got the spinning wheel a lot. Then when I was able to enter some info and needed to go to the next page it would deny me access. So, I waited, and waited and tried again but, no access again. Went back to the phone, more issues there. After TWO hours, I was done! Got a PAT of 12:00-12:15 and boarding group 13. The next day I went to check for mistakes and saw the same BG available, getting up early wasn't necessary, I guess. After an hour of waiting on the phone, I was told to expect an email to fix my error in about 24 hours, nothing yet 2 days later! I also was on hold for an hour after that call to fix a DVC error on birth dates.

For people who aren't real computer savvy, this can be a nightmare when your kids aren't around to help. All in all, I am okay with the times. I was able to get the reservation for Palo when that opened, so I don't need to get on a line after boarding. We are bringing family with kids who have never been on Disney and maybe the terminal won't be as packed as it usually has been when we had been able to get early slots. Can't get early slots anymore because of all the people on the busses, doesn't seem fair.

It's a Disney cruise, first for the grandkids, and it will be a great time!

 

[CamColt]

Ugh! That does seem very frustrating. Sorry you had to go through that, but you seem to have the right perspective. You will have a wonderful cruise!

I agree the busses are really putting repeat cruisers at a disadvantage now. We even had one experience where guests getting off multiple busses were given hand written BG 1 cards (like what they used to give when you checked in at the terminal). As Pearl with BG 2, we sat there and watched a ton of people boarding before us.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

JMHO but they do that because they have to give some incentive to book transfers with DCL. Unless you're just 2 people traveling, it's much cheaper to Uber or use a private transportation service.

 

[keishashadow]

For people who aren't real computer savvy

i'm not quite savvy, know my way around checking in for cruises.

it took be at least 15 min last night @ 12:01 AM to upload passports & pics

over & over, had pics already saved-no go. took new ones, rousing my mr from sleep (looked a bit rough in new pic lol) Still, no go

app in a roll of death on ipad. same on my iphone. the mr's let me in. weird wouldn't open with crime on desktop or app capability i
have there either

finally, got boarding group 14, 12:15 pm arrival - Treasure

plan was to pick up rental car & stay OF @ cocoa beach; dripping it off morning of cruise.

as we will be doing WDW for four days afterwards, picking another one up after cruise & returning @ airport

I am seriously considering booking something @ WDW for that 1st night & having the TA book the DCL bus

no idea if u can switch ur original check in info tho.

 

[DCL58]

Checked in 2 days ago as platinum. I no longer go on at midnight - too many people trying at the same time and too many errors. Did checkin at 7:30 the next morning. Took 5 minutes and got PAT of 12:00 and BG 13 - the earliest I have seen platinum receive since the change.

Oh, and DCL has finally made online checkin easier. My info was already there. Name, address, emergency contact and passport info. I just had to add the pics, travel plans and credit card info. A win for DCL IT and that doesn’t happen very often.

 

[RedHead0186]

i'm not quite savvy, know my way around checking in for cruises.

it took be at least 15 min last night @ 12:01 AM to upload passports & pics

over & over, had pics already saved-no go. took new ones, rousing my mr from sleep (looked a bit rough in new pic lol) Still, no go

app in a roll of death on ipad. same on my iphone. the mr's let me in. weird wouldn't open with crime on desktop or app capability i
have there either

finally, got boarding group 14, 12:15 pm arrival - Treasure

plan was to pick up rental car & stay OF @ cocoa beach; dripping it off morning of cruise.

as we will be doing WDW for four days afterwards, picking another one up after cruise & returning @ airport

I am seriously considering booking something @ WDW for that 1st night & having the TA book the DCL bus

no idea if u can switch ur original check in info tho.

You can. If you book after the fact it should update your PAT and Boarding Group (I've not experienced this myself, but have heard from others that they've done this.

 

[serrem2]

In my opinion, DCL should do away with online check-in. It probably made sense during the pandemic when they wanted to avoid as much face-to-face interaction as possible. But it makes no sense now.

We could pick boarding times and add payment information when reservations open, email them copies of passports and selfies, and if there were any problems, they would have plenty of time to contact us to correct them. The current check-in process doesn't work, largely because Disney has a terrible IT system and refuses to acknowledge that it needs a major fix. Hence the kinds of problems people are reporting on this thread, and which I've experienced myself when trying to check in for past cruises.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

In my opinion, DCL should do away with online check-in. It probably made sense during the pandemic when they wanted to avoid as much face-to-face interaction as possible. But it makes no sense now.

We could pick boarding times and add payment information when reservations open, email them copies of passports and selfies, and if there were any problems, they would have plenty of time to contact us to correct them. The current check-in process doesn't work, largely because Disney has a terrible IT system and refuses to acknowledge that it needs a major fix. Hence the kinds of problems people are reporting on this thread, and which I've experienced myself when trying to check in for past cruises.

Online check in didn't begin with the pandemic. It began with the Dream. In the early days of when the Dream first entered service, everyone showed up at the port, the terminal at PC, made for 2400 passengers, couldn't handle 4000. Thus the PAT was born to stagger arrivals.

Uploading a photo and passport began with the pandemic. That is the most troublesome part imo. That's where I encounter the most glitches. People should be able to upload those images anytime once they PIF. That would save the mad rush at midnight with so many people at once.

Even before the pandemic, if we had cruised recently, they would tell us at the port that they don't have to take our pictures again.
So why not save them again now? We cruised last year in April and October. I keep uploading the same pictures. I wish they could just save them. It would be nice if their system saw that we have cruised within the last year and we are not sailing with children therefore we don't need another photo.

 

[DCLMP]

They should do it like Royal and let you pick your port time at 12am and then do the rest of it at your leisure.

 

[DCLMP]

Ugh! That does seem very frustrating. Sorry you had to go through that, but you seem to have the right perspective. You will have a wonderful cruise!

I agree the busses are really putting repeat cruisers at a disadvantage now. We even had one experience where guests getting off multiple busses were given hand written BG 1 cards (like what they used to give when you checked in at the terminal). As Pearl with BG 2, we sat there and watched a ton of people boarding before us.

Some cruise lines charge for early boarding. I guess staying at WDW resort and taking DCL transport is the equivalent of charging for early boarding....but that is a hefty price tag just to be on the ship an hour earlier. If I wasn't pearl I'd show up at 2pm and avoid all the chaos.

 

[Donna M]

Checked in 2 days ago as platinum. I no longer go on at midnight - too many people trying at the same time and too many errors. Did checkin at 7:30 the next morning. Took 5 minutes and got PAT of 12:00 and BG 13 - the earliest I have seen platinum receive since the change.

That's what I'll be doing next time. It wasn't worth the frustration, and the same boarding group was available the next day.

 

[DCL58]

That's what I'll be doing next time. It wasn't worth the frustration, and the same boarding group was available the next day.

Checked in this morning for the second half of our B2B. Took 5 minutes. Got 12:00 PAT and BG 13 again. No need to stay up until midnight.

And all my info was there again! Such a positive IT update.

 

[CamColt]

Some cruise lines charge for early boarding. I guess staying at WDW resort and taking DCL transport is the equivalent of charging for early boarding....but that is a hefty price tag just to be on the ship an hour earlier. If I wasn't pearl I'd show up at 2pm and avoid all the chaos.

Avoiding the chaos is exactly why I like the early boarding. Back when Platinum got BG 1 (pre covid) we got accustomed to being in Cabanas before noon, waiting for them to open. We could get a table in the corner to keep out bags out of the way, grab drinks, and then get our food (even sometimes seconds) with no line at all. It was perfect. We are then at the Cove Bar having our "kick off the cruise" cocktail before 1:00, while we wait for the rooms to be ready. No crowds, no chaos...a very relaxed way to start the cruise. We sort of lost that perk for a while after covid, but since they started Pearl, and gave us BG 2, it's usually back to that (unless bus loads of guests are given BG 1 when they arrive at the port ).

 

[4Ds4Diz]

First time cruising DCL in over 10 years. Did the online check in yesterday. On the cruise line app it says "pending review". How long does that typically take?