What is your personal "target" PAT?

[mrsgthatsme]

What time do you consider your ideal PAT? In the past, we took DCL transportation from WDW so had no say in what time we arrived. The later arrival seemed to lead to a nice quiet terminal and we were able to just walk right on, which was fantastic, but I didn't love eating lunch so late, especially with early dining. Do you find that you wait a really long time before boarding when you have an earlier PAT? We are cruising out of Miami this time and in a VGT (assuming an earlier PAT would make it more likely we could upgrade at port if needed?) in case that makes a difference in your response! Thank you!

 

[CarouselofColor]

Well, for my upcoming cruise my goal was around 12:00pm-1:00pm, since we have to take a bus down from Miami the morning of. We got 12:00 pm, and I'm happy! I was worried about it being too late since we have no control over what time we'll get there, and I didn't want to just dick around Miami without a car for several hours until they'd let us into the terminal.

In general though, I've never been super fussed about my PAT time as long as it's early enough to grab Cabana's lunch. Early is cool because you're on the ship earlier but you have to deal with it being super busy. Later is cool because you can just walk on without a lot of fuss/stress about timing. So really, as long as I can grab a plate at Cabana's once I'm on, I've never cared beyond that!

 

[anjuan]

I prefer to have an early PAT because I like to have as much time on the ship as possible. I checked in last night when the booking window opened for a cruise out of Miami and was able to get a PAT of 11am and boarding group 2. (Note that I'm not taking DCL transportation.) This is the earliest PAT I've had since I haven't cruised concierge. I booked an OGT rate and am still waiting for my room assignment so depending on where we're located I am thinking about checking into an upgrade at port.

 

[limespy]

Great question! I've been curious about preferred PAT and didn't think to ask.